Ambo delays ‘ a betrayal’

Station still on the drawing board

AMBULANCE Tasmania’s promised new $ 6m Burnie station is still on the drawing board with no site selected despite the facility earmarked to be completed next year.

Paramedics at the North West station have complained of leaking roofs, cramped conditions and substandard training facilities and Braddon Labor MP Anita Dow says the delays are unacceptable and a “betrayal” of hardworking ambulance personnel.

The Tasmanian government promised the new facility in 2018. The Department of Health said planning works were under way but the efforts put into the state’s COVID- 19 response had impacted on the department’s capital program.

“Not only is the new ambulance station needed in the local community, but it is a critical piece of infrastructure that could help the region’s recovery from COVID- 19,” Ms Dow said.

“The government promised before the 2018 election to invest $ 6m to build a new stateof- the- art ambulance station on a greenfield site in Burnie.

“More than two years down the track, we still don’t even have a confirmed site and the initial completion date in 2021 is looking increasingly unlikely.”

The new station was intended to cut ambulance waiting times by providing better access to the highway.

Labor’s COVID- 19 Recovery Package includes a recommendation to fast- track a Burnie Ambulance Station.

A Department of Health spokesman said detailed planning works were under way to progress the “new state- of- theart Burnie Ambulance Station.

It said the new station would provide greatly improved facilities, including dedicated staff meeting facilities, a bigger garage to ensure service vehicles did not have to park outside and better parking and disability access.

Health Minister Sarah Courtney said the government “remained committed to delivery of the Burnie Ambulance Station, as well as improvements of other ambulance stations across the North West.”