Sarah Courtney,Minister for Health
The Hodgman majority Liberal Government is focused on continuing to deliver our plan to build a better health system for all Tasmanians, backed by a record investment.
We have been clear that health is a top priority, which is why we are devoting an unprecedented $8.1 billion to health services over the next four years, hundreds of millions more than last year's budget and $2.3 billion more than the last Labor-Greens budget.
We are investing more in services and we are building more capacity through Stage One of the Royal Hobart Hospital redevelopment, which is now approaching completion and is Tasmania's largest ever health infrastructure project.
The RHH Redevelopment is a critical component of delivering improved patient outcomes and in another massive boost for Tasmanians, the project itself has injected around $1.6 billion into our economy, creating an estimated 4,000 jobs.
This is a project that the Labor-Green Government failed to start, and it has taken the Hodgman majority Liberal Government to pick up the pieces and deliver the biggest health investment in the State's history.
Let's be very clear, Labor failed to lay a single brick on Tasmania's largest ever health infrastructure project, at a time when the State was bleeding jobs,
This failure not only held back our health system, it also punished our economy.
Last week's helipad testing marked a historic occasion for health service provision in Tasmania, the first aeromedical retrieval helicopter to and at the RHH.
The K-Block helipad also allows us, for the first time, to provide an integrated trauma system between Tasmania's major hospitals, facilitating access to the State's tertiary trauma care centre.
And we have hundreds of millions of dollars more in health infrastructure coming down the pipeline, with projects around Tasmania including:
- A new ambulance station for Campbell Town;
- The $92 million LGH redevelopment;
- The $35 million Mersey Hospital Redevelopment; and
- $15 million of upgrades to other rural hospitals and ambulance stations.
The Hodgman majority Liberal Government is committed to its Plan, investing record amounts in job creating infrastructure and essential services, including significant long-term health infrastructure. There are now 15,000 more Tasmanians in work since we came to office, and we are restoring the essential services that Labor cut to the bone.
