Ms Magdalen Rogers:

The teams up and running at the moment precede the 2019 implementation plan. Those teams are in CHO 1 and CHO 3. It is important to say that they are not full teams. The team in CHO 1 in the north west has a whole-time equivalent of just three, whereas the recommended whole-time equivalent is 12. The team in CHO 3 in the mid-west has been up and running for over a decade. It has a whole-time equivalent of seven; it should have a team of 12. A submission was made to the Estimates process in 2023 for an uplift of the CHO 3 team. That was not funded in the service plan. Our understanding is that this will go forward to the Estimates this year. In response to the Senator's question, those are the only two teams up and running. A commitment was given to this committee in May last year that the teams in CHO 2, CHO 4, CHO 6 and CHO 7 would be up and running by early 2024. Parliamentary questions we received recently have stated it will be late 2024 before those teams are up and running. We understand that the primary notifications have not gone out yet to get those teams up and running. On the composition of those teams, I will defer to my colleague, Ms Flanagan.