PM Transcripts

PRE; RiLELEASE
MT. GRAVATT HOSPITAL
The Prime Minister today visited the site which the
Queensland Government has been holding for a hospital at
Mt. Gravatt. Mr Whitlam said that the sorry history of the proposal
for a major teaching hospital complex at Mt Gravatt was yet
another instance of how the Queensland Government's unwillingness
to co-operate'with the Australian Government stopped Queenslanders
from getting the benefits of essential services.
" In the 1973 Budget the Australian Government offered
Queensland $ 250,000 for initial planning for the Mt Gravatt
teaching hospital complex. To date they have spent only
$ ii0,000 and claim that the project has a low priority andw
will not be required before the 1980s," the Prime Minister
said. " Tile Australian Government will pay the whole cost
of the new Griffith University and has offered to-pay the whole
cost of the teaching hospital.
" A teaching hospital ought to be in operation as soon
as possible after the University opens, but so far the Queensland
Government has ignored our offer to fund the major teaching
hospital complex. " Residents of the southern metropolitan area and
of the Gold Coast urgently need access to the comprehensive
medical services that the proposed hospital complex at Mount
Gravatt would provide.
" Meanwhile the most overgrown and overcrowded hospital
complex in Australia, the Royal Brisbane Hospital, has a major
expansion under construction.
" Mr Tooth now proposes a further major expansion in
the inner city area, on the overcrowded mater hospital site,
before proceeding at Mount Gravatt.
" The Australian Government is convinced by the expert
opinions expressed by hospital administrators for years, that
major teaching hospital facilities in Brisbane need decentralising
urgently," he said.
ø 17 November 1974