Committee members working on a parliamentary inquiry into health outcomes and services in rural, regional and remote areas of New South Wales are heading out into the regions to explore the issues
first-hand.
The inquiry’s finalised schedule of regional hearings and health site visits are as follows:
29 April Deniliquin
30 April Cobar
18 May Wellington
19 May Dubbo
16 June Gunnedah and Taree
17 June Lismore
6 October Wagga Wagga
2 November Walgett
5 October Tumut
3 November Broken Hill
The chair of the Upper House Health Committee, the Hon. Greg Donnelly MLC, said this was a critical stage of the inquiry process.
“This is such a significant inquiry, in both importance and sheer size. We began with more than 700 written submissions, and have already heard from 12 health and medical organisations in our first hearing in Sydney.
But of course, to ensure we’re doing this important issue justice and gathering all the evidence we can, we now need to get out and hear from the people, the organisations and the services
that are based in the rural, regional and remote areas that are the subject of this work.”
Mr Donnelly said the formal hearings will involve invited witnesses, and the locations for site visits were being carefully chosen.
“The locations we’ll be going to will take us across the state. They’ve been selected based on where the written submissions have told us some of the key or recurring issues are, and in locations where invited
witnesses can travel to more easily if they’re a little further out.”
“We appreciate that this inquiry will attract a lot of interest, and so remind everyone that they can find full details, including hearing transcripts, at www.bit.ly/health-inquiry,” Mr Donnelly said.
Yass Valley Mayor Rowena Abbey made a detailed submission to the inquiry on the current and future health needs of Yass Valley residents.
