General News
12 November, 2026
D-day for scanner looms
A DECISION date for longtime Computed Tomography (CT) scanner advocate Penny Haberfeld is coming much sooner than she believed possible, with an answer of yes or no expected on 26 November.
The Cooya Beach resident presented well over 2300 signatures to State Member for Cook David Kempton, via the Douglas Shire Council offices, in Mossman, on 22 October.
Ms Haberfeld has been campaigning for a dedicated CT scanner at Mossman Hospital for the last few months and more recently distributed a petition for signatures around businesses and organisations in the Shire.
Apart from the speed that both Mr Kempton and the State Parliament processed the petition, Ms Haberfeld was pleasantly surprised that, in total, 2359 signatures were accepted as legitimate ones by Parliament.
“When David Kempton decided to go with us, he decided to go with us full bore,” Ms Haberfeld said.
“Mr Kempton took them to Parliament on Monday 26 October, with Parliament sitting that week in Brisbane. He delivered them to Tamara Vitali, the executive secretary of the Clerk of the Parliament.”
“Seeing the number of signatures, the Clerk of the Parliament then sponsored it to the full house. So, it is already up on the Parliament petition’s website,” Ms Haberfeld said.
“There are 2359 accepted signatures, so well done everybody.
“The Clerk of the Parliament initially informed me the Minister for Health, Tim Nicholls, had 30 days to make a decision.
“Then I was informed that the actual decision would be made on 26 November.”
State Member David Kempton confirmed his commitment to Ms Haberfeld’s campaign saying: “I absolutely support the implementation of a CT scanner and other services into Mossman.”
“It’s about having the correct infrastructure, but I am supporting Penny and the community for a whole number of reasons, including access, interruptions to the roads, costs and the whole socio-economic issue,” he said.
