RSS Feed
August 29th, 2011 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda Queensland Premier Anna Bligh will push the federal government harder to continue funding tuberculosis (TB) clinics in the Torres Strait.
Earlier this year, Queensland Health announced it would close TB clinics that open fortnightly on two islands from July 1, after losing federal government funding.
The commonwealth would instead send $43 million in AusAid funding to PNG-based health services, including the improvement of TB treatment at Daru hospital.
Transitional arrangements are now in place at the clinics, which have drawn the concern of the World Health Organisation.
Torres Strait leaders argue it wouldn’t be the subject of buck passing if the disease were threatening the mainland, and on Monday they met with the premier.
Ms Bligh said she understood the community’s concerns.
“What I want to see is that the TB clinics don’t close until there’s alternative services in place but I do think we need to push the feds a bit,” she told reporters on Thursday Island on Monday before a cabinet meeting.
“I mean this is a national responsibility.
“The state can’t keep picking this up on behalf of the federal government.”
She said discussions between the federal and state health ministers regarding transition arrangements were continuing.
But Torres Shire Mayor Pedro Stephen said the federal government had a responsibility to fund PNG infrastructure and services to address a lack of quality health in that country.
If not, TB could threaten Australian lives, he said.
“If there’s a threat to Cairns by TB, there is no debate,” he told AAP.
“You would put up infrastructure to ensure that the security of the constituents around Cairns region are protected.
“But in the Torres Strait there is a debate about ‘is it justifiable (to fund)’
“It is justifiable, because you have Queenslanders and Australians lives at risk.”
Posted in 
Tags: 
