Federal Member for Capricornia Michelle Landry and State Member for Burdekin Dale Last are calling on the Albanese Labor Government to clarify whether Hinterland Community Care will receive $250,000 in funding, which was promised by the Labor Party during the 2022 Federal Election campaign.
These calls come after a recent meeting between Mr Last and the proponents of the project indicated the proponents have not received funding for the project and conversations with Senator Anthony Chisholm has not yielded a definitive answer if the project will be funded.
Labor’s candidate for Capricornia made an election commitment on May 15th, a week before the election, that a Labor government will invest $250,000 with Hinterland Community Care in Dysart to allow them to offer telehealth services. The project would also allow the centre to deliver wellness classes, a space for visiting allied health professionals providing support for the NDIS, and a dedicated educational space to support locals living with diabetes
Ms Landry said she is seeing a concerning trend of feedback from the community.
“I called on Anthony Albanese to honour all the previous Coalition Government’s much-needed funding commitments to vital community groups and councils. Now, it looks like they are not even going to fund their own commitments.
“Proponents of projects are contacting my office and they have been incredibly concerned. Mr Albanese needs to provide clarity as soon as possible and deliver certainty to all proponents and tell them if they will be supported or not.
“Labor have already reneged on their election promise to reduce household power bills by $275 a week and they have threatened to turn their back on regional and rural communities by ripping funding out of these areas,” Ms Landry said.
Mr Last said Hinterland Community Care has not been supported by Labor at any level of Government.
“At a state level, Labor has also failed to properly resource Hinterland Community Care. Jackie Trad charged resource companies $70 million in ransom money and promised, in return, to support organisations like this but, clearly, that promise has been broken.
“More money than ever is being generated in royalties and, despite that, we have a key organisation that supports the communities that generate those royalties being failed by Labor at both the state and federal level,” Mr Last said.
Hinterland Community Care helps more than 3,000 rural and remote residents within a 400km radius, which will help prevent hospitalisations.
