Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has had an early look at an urgent care clinic before it opens on the Sunshine Coast.
Mr Albanese joined Queensland senator Corinne Mulholland at the Caloundra Urgent Care Clinic, which will officially launch on June 17.
The Sunday visit followed an annual meeting with New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at Noosa on Saturday.
“It’s been fantastic to have a couple of days here on the Sunshine Coast,” he said.
“This (clinic) fills a really important gap: a gap between GPs and a gap in hospitals.
“You can get the care that you need when you need it, and all you need is your Medicare card. (That) makes an enormous difference and takes pressure off emergency departments, while giving people that really important care.
“If you have a health issue: a broken arm or an issue that needs to be dealt with that isn’t life-threatening, this is the place to come.”
The clinic will be along Pierce Avenue at Little Mountain but will ultimately be relocated to Aura.
“This is pretty good temporary facility, before it moves up the road on a permanent basis,” Mr Albanese said.
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It’s the second urgent care clinic on the Sunshine Coast. The other, at Buderim, has had more than 6500 patients since it opened in December.
Ochre Health director Hamish Meldrum said the clinic will be open from 8am to 5pm, before its hours will be extended to 14 hours a day.
“Then, in one year, we’re going to move to a new site about 10 minutes south of here, in Aura, where there’s a lot of new housing development and huge amounts of population growth,” he said.
The care clinic visit came after Mr Albanese met Mr Luxon for annual talks a day earlier.
The pair discussed how to deepen defence and security co-operation, particularly in the Pacific.
“We have a defence personnel embedded in each other’s defence forces: that is very important,” Mr Albanese said.
“We co-operate and see huge opportunities in not just in the defence of our respective nations and working together, but in defence industry as well.”
Mr Luxon told reporters the relationship between the two nations was “in the best shape it’s ever been”.
Mr Albanese and his wife Jodie Haydon hosted a reception for Mr Luxon and Amanda Luxon on Friday evening, with business leaders from the two nations in attendance.
