Mr KIELY - 2006-03-28
Can you inform the House what the government is doing to improve services for Territorians diagnosed with cancer?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I am glad this question was asked, because I can give the member for Greatorex a couple of days to get some answers for us for the debate he has foreshadowed for Thursday.
I had great pleasure last week in announcing two new health appointments at Royal Darwin Hospital. Dr Mathew George replaces Dr Sid Selva as the new head of the oncology team at Royal Darwin Hospital. The cancer support nurse, Nicole Robert, has also started in a new position to support patients needing to travel interstate for radiation therapy, and also to oversee data collection from patients receiving the latest treatments in national trials. They join Dr Ferenc Szabo, a haematologist who was appointed to the staff last December. We now have a solid team of oncology specialists who can provide the treatment of …
Dr Lim: They need facilities. Where is your oncology unit?
Dr TOYNE: … and the deposition of patients for treatment coming in to the Royal Darwin Hospital.
I would like to deal with the issue of the radiation oncology unit. We need to keep on the record the facts of how this issue was presented by our government as an election promise in the first place. We said right from the start that it was highly likely we would need to have support from the federal government to provide such a high-level service within the Northern Territory system.
It is a major project. We are talking about …
Dr Lim: They have given you $750m. What have you done with it?
Dr TOYNE: Madam Speaker, I am having a lot of trouble giving this answer with this constant noise in the background.
Dr Lim: You cannot hear yourself talk.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Greatorex!
Dr TOYNE: Madam Speaker, this is a major project. We estimate it would cost in the order of $50m to set up and run in the first five years. We are talking about some very serious financial commitments, both in capital and recurrent costs. Additionally, there is the need to reliably source high-level specialist people to actually run the service. After some very extended investigations and a couple of consultancies that came back to us, we have now seen the model that would need to be followed. This is a model where we have a private sector partner, a third party, in the establishment of the centre, and a joint effort by ourselves and the Commonwealth government to get the project together.
We are now at that point. I reminded Dave Tollner the other day that there is work to be done in Canberra to convince the federal government to use part of their $72.7m fund for the support of cancer patients, including the establishment of radiation and oncology units around the country, and offer some of that to the Northern Territory to help us get this project under way.
I give the member for Greatorex a two-day job. Why does he not go and see Dave Tollner, and see if we can get something out of the Health Minister, Tony Abbott. Maybe we can all celebrate it in this House on Thursday. It would be wonderful for Territorians.
We have written twice to Tony Abbott. There is no secret in that we need to have federal support for it. We have let the federal Health minister know that twice. It is now a question of getting a decision out of the Commonwealth government to contribute to this project.
I say to the opposition: join in the spirit of getting this service going for Territorians who are unfortunate enough to be diagnosed with cancers of the form where radiation oncology treatments are indicated. We have work to do and, as my colleague, the member for Barkly, said earlier today, it is time the member for Greatorex rolled his sleeves up and helped us with these developments for Territorians instead of just simply scoring points.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I am glad this question was asked, because I can give the member for Greatorex a couple of days to get some answers for us for the debate he has foreshadowed for Thursday.
I had great pleasure last week in announcing two new health appointments at Royal Darwin Hospital. Dr Mathew George replaces Dr Sid Selva as the new head of the oncology team at Royal Darwin Hospital. The cancer support nurse, Nicole Robert, has also started in a new position to support patients needing to travel interstate for radiation therapy, and also to oversee data collection from patients receiving the latest treatments in national trials. They join Dr Ferenc Szabo, a haematologist who was appointed to the staff last December. We now have a solid team of oncology specialists who can provide the treatment of …
Dr Lim: They need facilities. Where is your oncology unit?
Dr TOYNE: … and the deposition of patients for treatment coming in to the Royal Darwin Hospital.
I would like to deal with the issue of the radiation oncology unit. We need to keep on the record the facts of how this issue was presented by our government as an election promise in the first place. We said right from the start that it was highly likely we would need to have support from the federal government to provide such a high-level service within the Northern Territory system.
It is a major project. We are talking about …
Dr Lim: They have given you $750m. What have you done with it?
Dr TOYNE: Madam Speaker, I am having a lot of trouble giving this answer with this constant noise in the background.
Dr Lim: You cannot hear yourself talk.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Greatorex!
Dr TOYNE: Madam Speaker, this is a major project. We estimate it would cost in the order of $50m to set up and run in the first five years. We are talking about some very serious financial commitments, both in capital and recurrent costs. Additionally, there is the need to reliably source high-level specialist people to actually run the service. After some very extended investigations and a couple of consultancies that came back to us, we have now seen the model that would need to be followed. This is a model where we have a private sector partner, a third party, in the establishment of the centre, and a joint effort by ourselves and the Commonwealth government to get the project together.
We are now at that point. I reminded Dave Tollner the other day that there is work to be done in Canberra to convince the federal government to use part of their $72.7m fund for the support of cancer patients, including the establishment of radiation and oncology units around the country, and offer some of that to the Northern Territory to help us get this project under way.
I give the member for Greatorex a two-day job. Why does he not go and see Dave Tollner, and see if we can get something out of the Health Minister, Tony Abbott. Maybe we can all celebrate it in this House on Thursday. It would be wonderful for Territorians.
We have written twice to Tony Abbott. There is no secret in that we need to have federal support for it. We have let the federal Health minister know that twice. It is now a question of getting a decision out of the Commonwealth government to contribute to this project.
I say to the opposition: join in the spirit of getting this service going for Territorians who are unfortunate enough to be diagnosed with cancers of the form where radiation oncology treatments are indicated. We have work to do and, as my colleague, the member for Barkly, said earlier today, it is time the member for Greatorex rolled his sleeves up and helped us with these developments for Territorians instead of just simply scoring points.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016