Emergency helicopters—Mid West
Statement
Hon Rob Horstman (8:48 pm): I rise this evening to speak in relation to the Mid West rescue helicopter, or lack thereof, in light of Labor's recent announcement about upgrading the existing fleet. As a lot of members may be aware, the government recently launched its new fleet of Leonardo AW139 rescue helicopters to replace the ageing Bell 412EPs that operate from Jandakot and Bunbury. There is no doubt that these new helicopters are very impressive. They are able to travel faster, at up to 309 kilometres an hour, and 300 kilometres further. However, the glaring omission in this $26.7 million investment is that the Mid West is still left dangerously exposed.
There is still no plan to expand our rescue helicopter fleet beyond Perth and the South West, despite the enormous distances that need to be travelled and covered when there is an emergency that needs a rescue helicopter. This failure comes among repeated warnings from the Department of Fire and Emergency Services, the State Coroner, the Chief Health Officer and even an inquiry into aeromedical services in 2022, which basically said that we need to double our rescue helicopter fleet. Yet two years on, the communities in the Mid West and the North West still remain dangerously exposed. The report went further to suggest that a state as vast as WA would in fact require at least nine helicopters. I will quote from the Chief Health Officer's Inquiry into Aeromedical Services in Western Australia. The notes on principle recommendation 5, "Improve regional rotary wing aeromedical capability", state:
The findings of the Inquiry strongly support a networked expansion of capability. Interstate benchmarking of rotary wing capability (per population) suggests a need for WA to at least double its rotary wing fleet and when geographical challenges are factored, the WA Rotary Wing fleet should be in the order of 2.5x the current. Additional technical backup fleet may increase the fleet size further to a future total of 7–9 aircraft.
There is a strong case for a rescue helicopter to be based in Geraldton to service the Mid West, because that is where the Royal Flying Doctor Service is busiest. St John WA reports that demand for the rescue helicopter in the Mid West is significant. In an emergency every second counts, and right now people in the Mid West are being forced to wait the golden hour, which is something members may be aware of. It is that critical period immediately after a traumatic injury when prompt medical intervention can seriously increase the survival rate of people in those incidents. The government talks about modernising our fleet, yet continually ignores the glaring gap in the Mid West. Every Western Australian deserves equitable access to lifesaving services and emergency response cannot be postcode dependent.
