The Australian Government has thrown its support behind Specsavers Australia & New Zealand’s new audiology business as the sixth audiology clinic opens its doors.

Aged Care Minister Ken Wyatt, whose portfolio includes the national Hearing Services Program, officiated on behalf of the Turnbull Government at the formal launch of Specsavers Audiology in Australia at Specsavers Mandurah in Western Australia on 3 October 2017.

Among a host of local dignitaries and new Audiology Partner Ji Park, Minister Wyatt was joined by WA’s federal MP for the Canning electorate, Andrew Hastie, along with Specsavers Audiology Executive Director Darrel Magna.

Declaring Specsavers Audiology “open for business”, Minister Wyatt welcomed an approach that is seeing Specsavers open outer-metro and regional audiology businesses initially over inner-city metropolitan businesses.

The Mandurah opening grows the total number of Specsavers Audiology business locations to six, with two locations in Western Australia, two in the ACT, one in northern New South Wales, and one on Queensland’s Gold Coast. The latter business, Specsavers Audiology Runaway Bay, was the first to launch in Australia, opening on 30 August 2017. Multiple additional locations are due to open around Australia before the end of 2017 and throughout 2018.

Responding to the Minister’s words, Darrel noted that “the launch of the first six locations foreshadows a national rollout in 200 Specsavers locations over the coming 12 to 18 months. All Specsavers Audiology businesses will be hosted within Specsavers optical stores, meaning a national footprint of business locations is already in place. In time, we will offer audiology services in all our optical stores.”

Specsavers’ optical franchise currently extends to more than 320 store locations across Australia.

Following the formal launch event, Minister Wyatt voiced his support through a series of radio and press interviews and in a ministerial press release, which stated that Specsavers Audiology would “bring better access to hearing services across Australia” and “increase choice and convenience for customers”. He also shared photos from the event through social media, as seen below.

The latest Twitter posts come after Minister Wyatt posted a video encouraging Australians to take a “simple test for glaucoma” following his attendance at the Parliamentary Glaucoma Testing Day jointly organised by Specsavers, RANZCO and Glaucoma Australia on 12 September 2017.

For more information about Specsavers Audiology and partnership opportunities, contact Julia Hewagama, Specsavers Audiology’s professional recruitment manager, on 0409 015 519 or anz.audiology@specsavers.com or visit audiology-anz.com