Queensland residents draws to the attention of the House the urgent need for an Ambulance Service located in Kenilworth. Presently, volunteers from the First Response Unit at Kenilworth are on call to attend a high volume of incidents, including serious accidents, over a large area, stretching north to Imbil (often including Imbil), east to Obi Obi near Mapleton and south to Conondale and Witta. (Maleny has an ambulance service but is unable at times to cover Witta.)

The number of volunteers is dwindling and the current volunteers are ageing, therefore this situation is untenable.  This emergency service, paid for by every resident of Queensland, should be available to every resident of, or visitor to Kenilworth.

Points to consider:

• High volume motorcycle traffic - numerous incidents involving cyclists
• MotoCross track requires attendance to incidents at least once each weekend
• Ambulance Servicesstretched to the limit and too distant to assist
• First Responders cannot transport injured people to hospital for urgent attention
• Police Stations in smaller Sunshine Coast towns, in much closer proximity to each other; eg. Beerwah and Landsborough
• Vital, life and death service provided by Ambulance Services should not be given less importance than that of a Police presence. Police Stations are currently located at Kenilworth, Imbil and Maleny
• Population growth in this area and Kenilworth is a popular day trip destination with tourists
• This situation requires urgent review and review.

Your petitioners, therefore, request the House to take immediate action to provide an Ambulance Service permanently stationed in Kenilworth.