Page 411 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 4 March 2008
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
MR SPEAKER: Order! Mercifully, Mrs Dunne, you weren’t interjecting, but Mrs Burke was. It helps the passage of question time if people do not interject, as you would all appreciate.
MS GALLAGHER: It also gives me the opportunity to talk about the $28 million linear accelerator that we have built at the Canberra Hospital in order to meet the demand for radiation therapy, which has arrived from the United States—a $3 million state-of-the-art machine that is currently in place, in the bunker that cost $18 million to build. That is what the government does about making sure we can meet the demand for radiation oncology needs into the future. This single machine, with the capacity to put in place another machine, will increase our capacity to provide radiation oncology services in July by an additional 30 per cent. That is what the government has been doing to make sure we meet demand, Mrs Dunne.
MR SPEAKER: Is there a supplementary question, Mrs Dunne?
MRS DUNNE: Thank you, Mr Speaker. I will go back to the original question: what has the minister done to ensure the continuation of supply of radiopharmacology following the closing down of the Lucas Heights reactor, and can the minister tell us whether any cancer sufferers have been left waiting for treatment as a result of the closing down of the Lucas Heights facility?
MS GALLAGHER: I will take that question on notice. From my understanding and advice as of today, no, but I will take it on notice. What the government has been doing in every single budget is increasing our funding to the Capital Region Cancer Service because of the increase—
Mrs Burke: Not pharmacology.
MS GALLAGHER: Well, that is what it is, Mrs Burke.
MR SPEAKER: Order! Direct your comments through the chair. Take no notice, please.
MS GALLAGHER: The Capital Region Cancer Service provides a whole range of cancer treatments to cancer patients, and every year we have increased funding. The most significant increase has been reflected in our capacity to provide radiation oncology through our LinAcc machines. We have an additional one in place and we will have another one by 2012. That is what this government has been doing. We have been looking into the future, looking at our demand and building that into our plans for the future, because that is the only way we are going to be able to meet demand for cancer services into the future.
Balloon Aloft
MR SMYTH: My question is to the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation. Minister, at just after midday on 19 February this year, you announced that Balloon Aloft had been named as the operator of a then unnamed but now called balloon
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .