Ken O'Dowd (Flynn, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise in the House today to speak again about another blow to regional Australia from the federal Labor government. I will provide you yet again with evidence that this government has absolutely no regard for the people who live outside the big cities and towns. In a cruel blow to the small communities throughout Flynn, the Labor government has closed 24 Medicare Australia access points in the electorate and will close a further three within the next year or so. Towns like Wowan, coal mining towns like Tieri, Blackwater, Moura and Theodore, which has just been devastated by floods for the second year in a row, and communities like Boyne Island, with an aluminium smelter, and Tannum Sands are being affected. People are now being told they have to either access Medicare information via the internet or travel to larger towns or cities to conduct their Medicare business.

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