Hansard 2008-03-12 South-West Helicopter

Title: Emergency services: south-western Victoria helicopter
House: COUNCIL
Activity: Questions without Notice
Members: KAVANAGH
Date: 12 March 2008
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12 March 2008 COUNCIL

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Emergency services: south-western Victoria helicopter

Mr KAVANAGH (Western Victoria) -- My question is for the Minister for Planning, representing the Minister for Police and Emergency Services in the other place, and relates to a rescue helicopter for western Victoria. On Thursday, 28 February, representatives of the south-west, led by Dominique Fowler and Keith Meerbach, came to the steps of Parliament. They provided evidence that a rescue helicopter

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is needed in the south-west more than 400 times a year. They also movingly and powerfully recounted experiences of illnesses and injuries being exacerbated by delays due to the lack of a dedicated emergency helicopter service. Will the government now reconsider its position and take action to ensure that western Victoria does not remain the only region of the state which does not have its own rescue helicopter service?