Land buy a key step in health plan

A SECOND major medical facility for Cairns is a step closer to becoming a reality with the Palaszczuk Government buying a property south of the city to develop a new health precinct.

Queensland Health has bought a 5.2ha block of land opposite the Edmonton PCYC on Walker Rd to establish a community health centre with scope to expand services in the future.

It is understood the vacant land, which was owned by Sugarworld Estate, cost the department about $6 million.

Funds for the property were allocated in the Government’s 2016/17 budget.

Queensland Health director-general Michael Walsh said planning would soon be under way to decide what exactly the property would be used for.

He said with an extra 67,000 people tipped to be living in the Cairns area by 2026, it made “absolute planning sense” to have a health precinct in the city’s growth corridor.

“It’s important that you identify the land and secure the land ahead of needing to actually build on it, but not too far,” he said.

“You don’t want to land bank for decades.

“You want to be able to have the land and secure it slightly ahead of when you think you’re going to be needing to put something on it.”

Mr Walsh said at this stage it was likely the property would be used to develop a community health facility, rather than a second hospital for Cairns.

“Going forward there’s going to be a point where there’s going to need to be a second hospital if growth continues like that,” he said.

“But I think, before we see a second hospital, we would see the existing hospital expand its current services or take on tertiary services. That, I think, is in a closer time frame than a second hospital.”

Last month it was revealed that taxpayers were forced to pay out at least $5.25 million in the failed attempt to build a second major health facility on a 22ha parcel of land along Mill Dr at Edmonton.

The Bligh government initially bought the cane property, known as “Mann’s Farm”, in 2010, however, the deal fell through following two changes of government. The Mann family lodged a compensation claim of $40.15 million in 2014 and were handed back the land earlier this year after the Palaszczuk Government settled for an undisclosed sum.

Mr Walsh would not comment on the reasons behind the failed land purchase, other than to say the changes in government made “continuity challenging’’.

Former Cairns councillor Fran Lindsay, who has been campaigning for a second hospital south of the city for years, said the location of the new health precinct was not as good as Mann’s Farm, but it would still service the area well.

“It’s a bit of a travel off the highway, but with future roadworks, anything’s possible,” she said. “It’s certainly better than being on the eastern side of the highway.”