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Joint Release

The Hon Nicola Roxon MP
Minister for Health and Ageing

The Hon Simon Crean MP
Minister for Regional Australia,
Regional Development and Local Government

7 December 2010

More than 230 applications totalling over $5 billion from regional and remote Australia have been received for the ‘regional priority round’ of the Gillard Government’s Health and Hospitals Fund (HHF).

The Minister for Health and Ageing, Nicola Roxon, and the Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government, Simon Crean, explained that this new round of funding will allow many regional hospitals and health services around Australia receive critical upgrades of their infrastructure.

“Fewer long trips away from home, less stress and better care. That’s what regional Australians can look forward to,” Ms Roxon said.

“This investment will help make it easier for regional Australians to access medical care closer to home,” Mr Crean said.

This boost to regional health infrastructure comes on the back of the Gillard Government’s strong investment in regional training positions for doctors and nurses and, just last month, over 100 upgrades to local GP clinics.

The primary focus of this funding round is to provide capital funding to projects in regional communities to support upgrades to health infrastructure, hospitals and to expand clinical training capacity of regional hospitals.

“This is the right investment for regional Australia. It will support more beds and better health services,” Ms Roxon said.

“We appreciate there is such strong interest in the round and it is important to note there is a transparent process for assessment of the applications,” Mr Crean said.

As with all HHF funding rounds, the independent HHF Advisory Board will now assess the applications and advise the Government which applications satisfy the evaluation criteria. Applications meeting the criteria will then be considered for funding as part of the 2011-12 Budget process.

An extension to submit applications has been granted to the Victorian Government until 17 December 2010 to allow the incoming government to confirm its priorities.

The two previous HHF rounds funded in the 2009-10 Budget committed $3.2 billion to health infrastructure projects comprising:

• $1.3 billion for cancer infrastructure
• $1.5 billion to upgrade hospitals
• $430 million for translational research and clinical training

Of this funding approximately 37% was committed to regional and rural areas.

State breakdown of HHF applications

State	Bids	Projects
ACT	$148.4 million	4 projects
NSW	$1541 million	39 projects
NT	$306.8 million	19 projects
Qld	$993.8 million	48 projects
SA	$253.7 million	16 projects
Tas	$280.3 million	6 projects
Vic	$1136.4 million	78 projects
WA	$627.5 million	23 projects

Media note:

• Applications have been received from a range of applicants, including state and territory governments, private providers and non-government organisations.
• This state breakdown represents the primary location of the application and not necessarily the beneficiaries of the applications. For example, we have received applications from cross-border organisations who want to deliver services across a number of jurisdictions. For the purposes of this release, those applications have been allocated to the state which submitted the application.

For more information contact Ms Roxon’s Office (02) 6277 7220
Minister Crean Media: 0403 369 588