House debates

Wednesday, 27 November 2019

Governor General's Speech

4:24 pm

Photo of Emma McBrideEmma McBride (Dobell, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Mental Health) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to start by acknowledging the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples as traditional owners of Canberra and pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging. I want to speak today about a part of Australia that is often overlooked by this government. I want to talk about the regions on the fringes of our major cities: the outer suburbs—places like the Central Coast of New South Wales, home to my electorate of Dobell. Nestled, or sandwiched, between Sydney and Newcastle, the New South Wales Central Coast, and regions like it, are left behind by this government. There are many other communities who face similar neglect. We're not remote. We're not rural. The Central Coast is one to two hours from the Sydney CBD in the south and the same distance from the city of Newcastle to the north. We're proud of our community. And we should be recognised as a distinct region.

Securing funding is a constant struggle, because the Central Coast is conveniently 'part of Greater Sydney' when there's money on the table for the regions but 'regional' when there is money on the table for parts of Greater Sydney. Either way, my community too often misses out. The Morrison government has a track record of overlooking regional communities on the fringes of Australia's big cities, including the Central Coast of New South Wales. As a representative of a regional community, I believe that it's time our federal government recognised the economic and social potential of the regions.

In 2016, the Morrison government's Liberal counterparts in New South Wales sacked our two local councils, the former Gosford City Council and the former Wyong Shire Council, replacing them with a mega Central Coast Council, which is now one of the largest local government regions in Australia. The resulting economies of scale—we were told—would strengthen our bargaining power for state and federal funding. Three years later, our community is still waiting.

Since 2018, the Central Coast has been expecting to receive its share of the $4.2 billion Hydro Legacy Fund, earmarked for regional infrastructure. To date, our community has not received a single cent of this promised funding. The New South Wales state Liberal government has big plans for the Central Coast. Its Regional Plan 2036 projects population growth of 92,400 people, or 28.6 per cent. Housing stock will need to increase by 45,000 to accommodate that projected growth, yet local jobs numbers are only forecast to grow by just over 24,000 during the same period.

We currently have around 116,000 local jobs on the Coast. We currently have around 40,000 locals commuting to work in Sydney or in Newcastle each day. This commute often takes two or more hours each way for a local person, door to door, particularly from the north of the coast—to get from home to the train station and then change trains to get to their job in the city. If local jobs grow by only 24,000 but our population grows by over 92,000, we can expect even more people on the trains and the motorway each day travelling to work in Newcastle or Sydney.

The Central Coast needs more local jobs. Are the federal and state Liberal governments trying to create a giant dormitory sprawl for the cities to our south and north? Today, the Coast's top six employment sectors are heath care and social assistance, retail, accommodation and food services, manufacturing, education and training, and construction. I recently surveyed local small-business owners and operators, and they named skills shortages as one of their major concerns in growing or expanding their businesses. At the same time, the Central Coast's youth unemployment rate, which has ranged from 9.2 per cent up to 19 per cent over the last decade, remains stubbornly high and above the state average. The Central Coast business owners need skilled staff. Central Coast young people want the skills to secure a local job and a good future. The Morrison government's cuts to TAFE are making it even harder for young people on the Coast to get the qualifications they need and that employers want—

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 16:29 to 16:49

The Morrison government's cuts to TAFE are making it even harder for young people on the Central Coast to get the qualifications they need and that employers want. Three billion dollars: that is the amount this government has cut from TAFE and training, and young people in the regions on the Central Coast are bearing the brunt of those cuts. Students and young people tell me local TAFEs are no longer offering the range of courses they need, so they have to travel to train. Higher fees and travel costs mean many can't afford to finish their courses. In fields like community services and aged care, where there are jobs locally and where courses are available locally, the TAFE facilities are outdated and funding is not being made available by either the federal government or the New South Wales Liberal government to provide Central Coast students with the learning environments they so desperately need. It could cost as little as $1 million to upgrade a building at Wyong TAFE so that students have the facilities that are taken for granted on major city campuses.

I committed to this at the May election and I call on the government to match this commitment. It's urgent. If a Central Coast school leaver wants to go to university, they are likely to commute to find their preferred course. We have a campus of the University of Newcastle at Ourimbah, and it offers some sound opportunities in the areas of health, food sciences and construction. However, many local students still have to travel to gain the skills they need and that local employers want. The Morrison government's restriction on student places in universities further restricts the opportunities available to regional students. Urgent action is needed to reduce the coast's stubbornly high rate of youth unemployment. A good start would be restoring funding for TAFE, creating more apprenticeships and making TAFE more affordable.

Regions like the Central Coast also really need fast-tracked infrastructure. Good governments invest in infrastructure. It improves the lives of all Australians, particularly those in regional and remote Australia. Good governments understand that they have an important role in boosting the economy during tough times by investing in infrastructure. However, this Morrison government will be remembered for wage stagnation, record-low retail sales and a floundering economy. It was the stewardship of Labor's Rudd, Gillard and Swan that saw this country through the global financial crisis without falling into recession. That's what we need from this government now.

In recent months the Reserve Bank governor, the AI Group, business leaders and most recently, the International Monetary Fund, or the IMF, have all called on the Morrison government to provide fiscal stimulus, invest in infrastructure, support the economy, improve productivity and create jobs. While the government has now, under pressure, announced a grab bag of measures, these do not amount to the responsible, proportionate and measured stimulus that our economy needs. You just have to look at how many projects are going to coalition seats to know that this is not the comprehensive plan Australia needs to turn the economy around. And, once again, the Central Coast and other regional areas have been overlooked.

In terms of the infrastructure needs of the coast, I want to talk about our local roads. The NRMA has calculated that years of underinvestment have created a backlog of roadworks on the Central Coast valued at $84 million—the largest backlog of any region in New South Wales. And what is this government's response? To invest $70 million and to skew 90 per cent of that funding to the Liberal-held seat of Robertson. Given that the northern suburbs of the Central Coast in my electorate of Dobell are expected to shoulder the growth of the region, this is just outrageous. The federal government needs to put road safety before politics and properly fund roads in Dobell.

One major transport infrastructure project that would make an enormous difference to many people on the Central Coast is the upgrade of the Pacific Highway through Wyong. The New South Wales Liberal government has said it will not commit to a time frame to even start work on this major upgrade until it has finished works on the M1. Local business people, commuters and every Central Coast resident and visitor who has ever been stuck in traffic on the single-lane highway through Wyong all want to know how much longer it's going to be before work starts. Treasurer Frydenberg asked the states to nominate priority projects for infrastructure funding. It appears that either the Pacific Highway upgrade through Wyong was not put forward by the New South Wales Liberals or the proposal was not listened to by the Treasurer. We have waited over 10 years and, to date, almost $30 million has been spent on planning.

The New South Wales government has announced another $2.5 million for more design works and a plan to stage the upgrade. My understanding is that the designs and planning are largely complete. A commitment of $20 million would cover enabling works, including the relocation of services, the Wyong train station upgrade, a car park expansion and bridge work, that are all part of this major infrastructure project. It is what was committed to by the state member for Wyong, David Harris, at the recent state election. If the government were to commit to this, it would at least give our community hope that this project is on the radar.

When asked recently in New South Wales budget estimates for a start date, the New South Wales RMS said, 'It was a complex project, subject to budgetary support.' No approximate start date was given. As the New South Wales government appears to push even starting work on the Pacific Highway upgrade through Wyong further and further into the future, there is a solution. There is a way to get this upgrade started and delivered for the people of the Central Coast before another decade passes.

The Morrison federal government needs to step up. It needs to invest in projects like the Pacific Highway upgrade through Wyong. As the coast population grows, as new housing estates are built, the congestion through Wyong will only get worse. At a recent rally I saw southbound cars backed up for a kilometre—all the way back to Watanobbi, the next suburb. This was normal weekend traffic flow. No accident, no emergency, just normal traffic.

The economic cost of not building this road is significant. A major call centre is moving from Tuggerah to the Wyong Business Park, located in North Wyong. I recently met with the business park owner, who said the new call centre would mean over 600 local jobs for the area. He told me he believed the construction cost for the new call centre would be increased because of the traffic delays through Wyong. As I've already outlined, the Central Coast needs more local jobs. We need to attract more businesses to the coast. The Morrison government's failure to invest in infrastructure in our region is costing thousands of local jobs.

I want to now turn to our local hospital. Health care is critical to our community. We have young families and older people ageing in place—the biggest user groups of public hospital services. Wyong hospital, where I worked for almost 10 years, was officially opened on Saturday 22 November 1980, so it will be 40 years old next year. Before it was built, local workers contributed money from their pay packets so the community could have a local hospital. I am sure you can understand the pride from our community in our local community hospital. That's why, in 2017, when the New South Wales Liberal government tried to privatise Wyong hospital, my community fought with all its might to keep our hospital in public hands. We won that fight, and just last month the New South Wales Liberals finally turned the first sod for the public hospital's long-awaited redevelopment. The hospital is already struggling to keep up with the demand, so the redevelopment is critical.

The latest statistics from the Bureau of Health Information show that waiting times for surgery in the emergency department at Wyong are among the worst five in the state. The report shows a 12.5 per cent increase in presentations to Wyong hospital in the past three months. Our hospital staff are overworked and under strain. Our hospital is understaffed. Our community looks forward to—and needs—this redevelopment. One element of the redevelopment that could give the community false hope for better services is that the plans include a shell for an MRI machine. The New South Wales Liberal government designs include a shell to house the MRI but the Morrison government has no intention of providing a publicly Medicare-funded MRI licence for Wyong hospital. Patients of Wyong hospital have to be taken by patient transport to an MRI provider for, at times, life-saving and urgent scans. This affects patient care and is expensive for the taxpayer. Without a Medicare-funded MRI licence from the federal government, the state government has no reason to pay for a machine at Wyong for my community. Our community deserves better from this government.

Another cause for concern is the introduction of pay parking at Wyong hospital. The hospital is not close to a train station and bus services are really limited. As a result, hospital workers, patients and visitors are forced to drive their cars to and from the hospital. I have written to the New South Wales health minister, Brad Hazzard, to voice my community's concerns about pay parking being introduced at the hospital. His response was bureaucratic. The car parking fees will be brought in, in line with New South Wales health policy. It's just not good enough. Either they don't get it or they don't care.

Just as we fought the privatisation of our hospital, we will fight the introduction of pay parking. A 10,000-signature petition has already been tabled in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, and we are well on our way to collecting another 10,000 signatures. Brad Hazzard must reverse his decision, must act in the interests of local regional communities and not introduce pay parking.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 17:00 to 17:20

I want to turn my attention now to the Central Coast's natural environment—in particular, to the Tuggerah Lakes. The last major commitment of federal funding to improve the Tuggerah Lakes was under the Rudd government: $20 million. Since then, only $3 million has been invested in our lake system. More money is desperately needed. In particular, we need to invest in gross pollutant traps, erosion works and foreshore restoration.

Our care for the coast's lakes, rivers, wetlands and estuaries must keep ahead of population growth. More housing and population growth means more run-off. Measures like gross pollutant traps improve water quality. This is what we committed to in the federal election, and I implore the government to do the same. Because, when asked why they live on the Central Coast, most people say, 'Because it's beautiful, because I like the outdoors, because I enjoy fishing, swimming and being on our lakes, beaches, rivers and bushlands.' They need to be properly protected.

I want to turn now to aged care. This is something that I've experienced personally through my father's experience with young onset dementia. On the Central Coast at the moment there are 1,455 older people on the waiting list for home care packages. The royal commissioner has rightly called this neglect. The government's response of 10,000 extra home care packages—less than 10 per cent of the people on the current waiting list—is neglect. People in my community can't wait, particularly for level 3 and level 4 home care packages.

I've met with people like Enid, who's 96 and who is waiting for a level 4 home care package. She was told that she might have to wait 12 months. People who are 96 don't have 12 months to wait for the support that they need. If they don't get this support, then they end up in emergency departments, having had a fall, and then they end up in residential care sooner than they want to be or need to be. It must be a priority of this government to properly address the crisis in aged care, particularly in home care packages.

I will turn now to where I started, at the beginning of this speech. The economic and social benefits of investing in regions like the Central Coast are obvious. They're plain for everybody to see. The economic and social costs of not investing are profound. As I mentioned earlier, on the Central Coast, unemployment rates for young people are stubbornly high and consistently above the state average. Urgent action needs to be taken by this government now for young people in our community. I caution this government that, if they continue to allow the major cities of Australia to sprawl into their nearby regions, they must properly invest in those communities. Otherwise the economic and social costs will be profound.

In closing, I would like to thank the many people who worked hard to see me re-elected in this place. I hope I don't miss anyone. They include Ken and Cheryl Greenwald, John Leonard, Bill Donaldson, Bill Smith, Tony Booth, Ruth Punch, Josh Lucock, Josh Aspinall, Renee Daniels, Margot Castles, Jean Laffan, Bill Thompson, Narelle Anderson, Bruce Rowling, Kim Newham, Ken Zajicek, Narelle Rich, Liam O'Neill, Jim Swanson, and all the Labor Party branch members, supporters and unionists who helped me to be able to win the fight for Dobell.

I'd also like to thank my family, in particular my mum, Barbara, who celebrated her 70th birthday yesterday. Thank you to my mum, who has tirelessly supported me. This was the first election campaign that we had without dad, and it was something that I know was very difficult for my mum, but I want to thank my mum for the support that she has given me in the work that I do. I couldn't do it without you, Mum. I also want to thank my brothers and sisters and their families. This is the sort of job where you need the support of your entire family to be able to do the job you need to do for our community.

It is such an honour to represent the community I grew up in. It's such an honour to represent my home town. It's such an honour and a privilege to be here on behalf of our community. I will do all I can in this place to stand up for our community, to make sure that the regions and the outer suburbs get the attention that they need from this government, to make sure that communities like ours aren't left behind, and to make sure that they have the right infrastructure, the health care and the jobs that people need to make the good life that they deserve. I will make sure that our community is not left behind by this government. I will continue to hold them to account and make sure that our regional communities get the very best that they deserve.

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