Detention centre highlights regional neglect, Crook

Author: Tony Crook
Published on: 14-June-2010

The Nationals WA candidate for O’Connor, Tony Crook said the Federal Government’s continual neglect of medical services in regional WA has been highlighted by the recent arrival of asylum seekers in Leonora.

Mr Crook said it was disheartening to see how quickly the Federal Government was able to provide medical services for the asylum seekers, considering so many regional communities have been crying out for these services for years.

“It should not take 90 refugees arriving in Leonora to make the Federal Government suddenly act,” Mr Crook said. Mr Crook said he hoped local communities would be able to have access to the medical services. “I have no issue with the service being there.

If it can provide support and assistance for the asylum seekers then that is a positive outcome. What we need to know is if the local residents of Leonora can also have access to that support.

“There needs to be questions asked in Parliament as to whether the local community will benefit from the services as well.” Mr Crook said the attitude shown by the Federal Government only emphasised their lack of support for regional WA.

“Suddenly, Mr Rudd is paying attention to regional WA because it suits his election strategy to do so. It is a slap in the face for those regional communities who have been campaigning long and hard to improve medical services in regional WA,” Mr Crook said.

“Just last week we heard that the Shire of Yilgarn is about to lose its only medical clinic, simply because the government is not giving regional health the support and attention it deserves,” he said.
“The Nationals WA have made health staff a key priority, with the Rural Generalist Pathways program to support the training of junior doctors in regional areas receiving more than $8 million from Royalties for Regions in the recent State Budget.

“The Nationals are committed to representing regional WA and will work to get WA’s fair share back.”