\u201cI just find it outrageous that the most basic level of radiation service was not offered in this part of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
That is how newly anointed South Australian Opposition Leader Vincent Tarzia started his address to members of the Radiation Treatment Limestone Coast Working Party, as well as City of Mount Gambier Mayor Lynette Martin and Member for Mount Gambier Troy Bell during a whirlwind visit to the city at the beginning of this month.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe (the Liberal Party) will commit to a radiation service here in the Limestone Coast,\u201d Mr Tarzia said.<\/p>\n
Announcing the election commitment, flanked by Shadow Minister for Transport and Infrastructure and Limestone Coast local Ben Hood, Shadow Minister for Regional South Australia Nicola Centofanti and Federal member for Barker Tony Pasin, the Opposition Leader made a $6million commitment across four years when returned to power.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve listened and got on with making sure that if we\u2019re elected we will deliver the service.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to make it really clear that your postcode shouldn\u2019t decide your level of care.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy hope is that the government will come to the able and match us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m an outcomes guy \u2013 where there\u2019s a political will there\u2019s a way \u2013 we\u2019ve listened and we\u2019re delivering.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Pasin, who has played a frontline role in the campaign to bring radiation treatment services to the Limestone Coast, including creating the working party and spearheading a petition that garnered more than16,000 signatures, welcomed the announcement.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of them (political leaders) listen but very few of them take action,\u201d Mr Pasin said. \u201cThis is not just an exercise in listening but an exercise in doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Federal MP was quick to give credit to the determination and persistence of the working group.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never worked with a harder working group of more civically minded individuals,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd just how important you\u2019ve been in moving the needle nationally.<\/p>\n
\u201cHad you not stood up when we had our initial disappointment, this announcement wouldn\u2019t be happening today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Pasin also was quick to caution that this was just another step in what would still be a marathon to see radiation treatment services established in the region.<\/p>\n
Mr Bell also welcomed the commitment with a degree of caution.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a great outcome by the State Liberal Party to make a commitment to radiation therapy,\u201d he said. \u201cThe challenge now is to get Labor to commit the same otherwise my vote at the next election is pretty easy to determine.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the role I see as an Independent. No matter who gets into government our community should get the benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Issues including recruiting the workforce, where to build the service and financing any required construction to house the equipment, which will initially be funded by the long standing $4.3 million of Commonwealth allocated funding for the project.<\/p>\n
Mr Hood was confident those issues would be resolved.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe workforce issue will sit with the third party provider delivering the radiotherapy,\u201d he said. \u201cIt works in Griffith, Mildura, Warrnambool. I acknowledge it can be an issue but it\u2019s not something that should stop a service.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt could be fly in, fly out as are many specialists in regional health \u2013 that\u2019s the nature of regional health care but it shouldn\u2019t stop us from doing something.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also said given the treatment would service mainly outpatients, it was a quite modular set up and could be built anywhere.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt could be on the footprint of the hospital or delivered in the CBD of Mount Gambier,\u201d Mr Hood said.<\/p>\n
He also referenced further Federal Government grant funding that could be accessed by the project for up to eight years at around $375,000 a year to ensure the maintenance of the equipment and any required updating of the technology.<\/p>\n
“I want to thank the tens of thousands of South Australians, and the hardworking grassroots working party, who have fought long and hard to get a commitment from government to establish radiotherapy services in the regions,” Mr Hood said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m proud to stand side by side with my community today, and all those that fought hard, including those 16,000 people who signed the petition, to promise them that we will deliver the care they deserve, closer to home.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Radiation Oncology Access Coalition considers the recently unveiled Feasibility Study and response by the Limestone Coast Local Health Network, that did not support the viability of a service in this region, to be flawed and based on inappropriate criteria.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cI just find it outrageous that the most basic level of radiation service was not offered in this part of the world.\u201d That is how newly anointed South Australian Opposition Leader Vincent Tarzia started his address to members of the Radiation Treatment Limestone Coast Working Party, as well as City of Mount Gambier Mayor Lynette […]<\/p>\n