Situated 1,500km north of Perth, Tom Price Hospital has operated as a crucial regional medical hub since it was built in the 1960s.

Alongside Paraburdoo Hospital, it services 22,000 locals and FIFO workers and is often required to treat some of the 330,000 people who visit nearby national parks each year.

The hospital also provides specialised care to the 10 per cent of the region’s population that is Indigenous – a demographic that often faces unique healthcare challenges and disparities.

Despite this, Tom Price Hospital only has the capacity to support 5,000 people in its current state.

The facilities are outdated, and it is consistently under-resourced and understaffed.

The former Liberal-National Government had committed to upgrading the hospital.

But when Labor was elected in 2017, it shelved those plans.

Four years later, Labor finally promised to build a new hospital with Rio Tinto stumping up more than half of the project cost ($20 million) and the State Government allocating $12.8 million.

Construction was supposed to begin in 2021.

But nothing has happened.

The Cook Labor Government has failed to deliver its promised new hospital and has now pushed the project back further –until 2027.

The residents of Tom Price deserve better.

The WA Liberals will not let this local community wait any longer.

Fast-tracking the build and completion of the new Tom Price Hospital is critical in addressing the health care disparities in regional and remote areas.

Every Western Australian deserves access to the best healthcare services, regardless of where they live.

Only a WA Liberal Government will deliver it.

The WA Liberals understand the importance of health and its impact on regional communities.

In a state as big as Western Australia, providing efficient medical services in key regional locations is critical to the health outcomes of residents.

Despite the Pilbara delivering much of the resources boom, locals have felt none of it – less than 0.01 per cent of the royalties generated in the region were spent there by the Cook Government.

For seven years, the Tom Price community has been left in limbo by a Labor Government that has failed to deliver its promised upgrades.

The Labor proposal doesn’t even start until 2027. It’s not good enough.

A WA Liberal Government will fast-track the build and completion of a new Tom Price Hospital to ensure that every Western Australian – regardless of where they live – has access to the best possible healthcare.

Our commitment is to finish the new hospital in our first term, to provide better health outcomes and to close the gap in regional and remote healthcare.

No one should have to wait for healthcare.

Fast-tracking the commencement date will also minimise the impact of long-term economic pressures on the cost of the project, such as future cost increases and inflationary pressures associated with the 2027 plan.

Western Australians across our regions deserve a government that will listen to them and deliver the infrastructure projects necessary to keep their communities strong.

Only the WA Liberal Party is committed to delivering high-quality healthcare closer to home for every Western Australian.