Mrs PADGHAM-PURICH - 1995-08-17
I understand that the Mayor of Palmerston is pursuing discussions with officers of the Department of Health Services in an endeavour to have a hospital built in Palmerston, an idea with which the members for Brennan and Palmerston would agree no doubt. Can the minister assure members that, before a hospital is built at Palmerston, consideration will be given to the establishment of at least one health clinic in the Darwin rural area?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I am not at all aware of moves by the Mayor of Palmerston, unilateral as they would be, to see a hospital built at Palmerston. The feasibility of that proposal would require a little more than the 5 seconds deliberation I have just given to it, an outcome that I think that the Mayor of Palmerston would not be too impressed with.
Given the high cost of delivering health services and, more importantly, hospital facilities - not to mention the matter of the practicality of having a hospital for a small population base, because obviously it could not deliver the same diversity of specialist and other services - it would seem to me that, particularly given that Palmerston is not ...
Mr Bailey: If Barry wanted it, you would get it.
Mr Coulter: We will have a hospital, don't worry about that.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr FINCH: The current Treasurer has one in Katherine.
Mr Coulter: We have the same population as Katherine, and it has one.
Mr FINCH: In relation to access to Royal Darwin Hospital, patients come not only from Palmerston but also from right across the top end of the Territory, including from smaller hospitals such as Katherine and Nhulunbuy. Probably, there is not a great deal of substance to this move. I certainly have not been apprised of it. If the mayor were serious about seeing an hospital built at Palmerston, I would think that he would have made some approach to us.
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ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I am not at all aware of moves by the Mayor of Palmerston, unilateral as they would be, to see a hospital built at Palmerston. The feasibility of that proposal would require a little more than the 5 seconds deliberation I have just given to it, an outcome that I think that the Mayor of Palmerston would not be too impressed with.
Given the high cost of delivering health services and, more importantly, hospital facilities - not to mention the matter of the practicality of having a hospital for a small population base, because obviously it could not deliver the same diversity of specialist and other services - it would seem to me that, particularly given that Palmerston is not ...
Mr Bailey: If Barry wanted it, you would get it.
Mr Coulter: We will have a hospital, don't worry about that.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr FINCH: The current Treasurer has one in Katherine.
Mr Coulter: We have the same population as Katherine, and it has one.
Mr FINCH: In relation to access to Royal Darwin Hospital, patients come not only from Palmerston but also from right across the top end of the Territory, including from smaller hospitals such as Katherine and Nhulunbuy. Probably, there is not a great deal of substance to this move. I certainly have not been apprised of it. If the mayor were serious about seeing an hospital built at Palmerston, I would think that he would have made some approach to us.
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Last updated: 09 Aug 2016