Michael Ferguson,Minister for Health
The Hodgman Liberal Government is proud to partner with the Australian Government and University of Tasmania to further enhance our state’s reputation as an Antarctic and Southern Ocean centre of excellence.
The new Centre for Antarctic, Remote and Maritime Medicine, launched in Hobart today, will spread Antarctic and Southern Ocean expertise into Tasmanian and Australian remote communities as well as on ships at sea.
It will extend Australian Antarctic operations’ specialised healthcare to other remote and extreme environments. We are placing Tasmania, and Australia, at the forefront of remote and extreme medicine, medical research and response.
The Polar Medicine Unit of the AAD has collaborated with NASA since 1987 on extreme medical research and operations, and this centre has the potential to play a role in the field of space medicine in the future. It will also attract more international students and researchers to Tasmania.
This is a great example of Tasmania’s medical and science expertise leading the world through Australian Antarctic Division, Tasmanian Health Service and UTAS capabilities.
The centre will provide accredited training and education pathways for generalist Antarctic, maritime and remote health practitioners, as well as human biology and medicine research in polar, remote and extreme environments.
Tasmanian-based scientific research and education institutions, goods and services providers and logistics support services employ more than 850 Tasmanians and bring $180.6 million a year into our economy.
The Tasmanian Government is maintaining its focus on working with other stakeholders in the Antarctic sector to ensure Tasmania remains a centre of Antarctic and Southern Ocean excellence in science, logistics and specialised goods and services.
