MARK BUTLER MP
MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE
 
SENATOR MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY
MINISTER FOR INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS
SENATOR FOR THE NORTHERN TERRITORY
 
LUKE GOSLING OAM MP
MEMBER FOR SOLOMON
 
MARION SCRYMGOUR MP
MEMBER FOR LINGIARI


STRENGTHENING MEDICARE: ANOTHER $10 MILLION PLANE TO SEND CAREFLIGHT CAPACITY SOARING IN THE NT
 

When Territorians need emergency medical care, a re-elected Albanese Labor Government will ensure that CareFlight is there - even in the most remote parts of the country, with $10.1 million for another much-needed plane.
 
The Albanese Government will provide $10.1 million to CareFlight to purchase a plane for aeromedical retrievals to support medical evacuations and transportation in the Top End.
 
The investment will mean another specially-equipped CareFlight plane is available to fly 700 people to hospital each year for the urgent and emergency care they need.
 
The King Air B250 fixed-wing aircraft will be based in Darwin and will come online within 6 to 12 months, providing care to the entire Top End.
 
CareFlight has increased the number of patients it treats by one-third in the past five years.
 
Last year, CareFlight delivered care to over 7,000 patients in the NT, with 9 in 10 patients from Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander remote communities.
 
Following a 2022 election commitment, Labor delivered $20 million for CareFlight to purchase a second rescue helicopter and aeromedical jet, increasing the charity’s Top End emergency rescue coverage in remote and difficult terrain and allowing it to operate all year round.
 
This investment builds on the Albanese Labor Government’s commitment to deliver free, quality healthcare for the NT:

• Boosting funding to NT public hospitals next year by 30 per cent to $560 million, to help cut waiting lists, reduce waiting times in emergency rooms and manage ramping.
• Opening another Medicare Urgent Care Clinic in Darwin, building on the 8 Urgent Care Clinics that have already treated over 50,000 people. This is free healthcare, and all you need is your Medicare card.
• Making the largest investment in Medicare since its creation 41 years ago, so more Australians can see a doctor for free. This will mean an additional 168,000 free GP visits in the NT and boost the number of bulk billing clinics to around 80.
• Making cheaper medicines even cheaper, with a PBS script to cost no more than $25 next year – providing important cost of living relief on top of the $6 million that Territorians have already saved from cheaper medicines.

This investment in public health care is in stark contrast to Peter Dutton, who was voted the worst Health Minister in Medicare history by Australia’s doctors, after he cut $50 billion from public hospitals – including $590 million from NT hospitals – and tried to end bulk billing with a fee for every GP visit.
 
Consistent with past practice, election commitments will be delivered in line with Commonwealth Grants Rules and Principles.
 
Quotes attributable to the Health Minister Mark Butler:
 
“This election is a choice between Labor's plan to keep building or Peter Dutton's promise to cut. Only a vote for Labor is a vote for stronger Medicare.
 
"The Albanese Government delivered on our promise to expand the CareFlight fleet at the last election, and we will deliver on our promise to expand the fleet again at this election.
 
“I know my Northern Territory colleagues have campaigned so hard to make sure this additional plane became a reality for their community.”
 
Quotes attributable to Senator Malarndirri McCarthy:
 
“I’ve been travelling across the Top End and have heard from communities a deep appreciation for the important work of CareFlight.
 
“Their patient care covers a vast area of the NT and with this investment they can continue their life saving work.”

Quotes attributable to Member for Solomon, Luke Gosling OAM MP:
 
“At the last election, Labor promised to grow the CareFlight fleet with an additional AW139 rescue helicopter and a G150 gulfstream jet to safely transport Top End patients.
 
“We promised to grow the CareFlight fleet and we delivered. A re-elected Albanese Labor Government will grow the CareFlight fleet again, with an additional King Air B250 fixed-wing aircraft.
 
“The addition to CareFlight’s fleet in the Top End will deliver a significant, tangible and positive impact on NT aeromedical service availability, and enhance access to timely and quality care available to residents across the NT.”
 
Quotes attributable to Member for Lingiari, Marian Scrymgour MP:
 
“In the NT most people who have a health emergency can be saved, but distance and time are often their biggest enemy. The other factors are terrain and whether there is a queue for services.
 
“An additional plane in the CareFlight fleet will deliver emergency medical services faster in the NT.”
 
Quotes attributable to CareFlight CEO, Mick Frewen:
 
“CareFlight is very thankful for this funding announcement of a specially configured King Air aircraft to bolster aeromedical retrieval in the Top End of the Northern Territory. Operating from CareFlight’s Darwin base, this “hospital in the sky” will be used to deploy our specialist medical teams to patients in remote communities right across the expanse of the Top End.  It will ensure patients have access to vital healthcare services and it will save lives.
 
“This support recognises the need to prioritise patients and to ensure all communities in the Top End have access to the level of care required.
 
“Over the many years of our operations in the Top End, CareFlight have had great bipartisan support at the Federal Government level. This funding announcement of an additional aircraft will make a positive difference to health outcomes for remote First Nations communities, which represent the vast majority of patients in the region.
 
“We would like to again thank the Federal Government for their support to the patients of the NT, following on from their support to Helicopter and Jet Operations in previous years.”
 
FRIDAY, 4 APRIL 2025
 
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