Fiona Phillips (Gilmore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

People in my electorate of Gilmore put their faith in me once again at last year's election because they know, as part of the Albanese Labor government, I will continue to deliver for my local community. I've delivered important community infrastructure, like the Jervis Bay intersection flyover, which is well underway, the new RFS sheds at Manyana and Lake Conjola, a new surf lifesaving club at Gerringong and the reconstruction of the Mogo Local Aboriginal Land Council building, which was destroyed in the Black Summer bushfires. The people of Gilmore voted for cheaper medicines, cheaper child care, free TAFE, reduced student debt and tax cuts. They voted for more bulk-billing GP clinics and wage increases for our wonderful aged-care workers, and they voted for Medicare urgent care clinics, with the new Nowra Medicare Urgent Care Clinic due to open very soon. I can't understand on what planet any of these significant local projects or important cost-of-living initiatives equate to reckless spending. Do those opposite want to pull the pin on the new Nowra Medicare Urgent Care Clinic, leaving people in my community waiting hours for medical attention at the overcrowded Shoalhaven Hospital ED? Do they want to slash the $752 million for the Milton Ulladulla bypass, which has been in the 'too hard' basket for more than two decades? Will they tell my community that the Princes Highway duplication between the Jervis Bay road turnoff and Tomerong is a waste of money? Do they want to scrap plans for the revitalisation of the Nowra Riverfront Precinct, which will support local jobs and provide more housing? Or maybe they want to sink the upgrade of the Shoalhaven marine rescue base? Or maybe those opposite can tell the kids at Gerringong that plans to upgrade their clubhouse at Gerry Emery oval have tanked or notify the Batemans Bay Seahawks Football Club that their new clubhouse has been axed?

I'm proud that the Albanese Labor government is backing our regions, our families and our communities. We've made a record investment in funding for regional roads through the Black Spot program, Roads to Recovery and, in my area, a special $40 million Shoalhaven roads package to help the council fix local roads. Should we scrap that essential road funding and put drivers at risk? Do those opposite, who claim to support regional and rural areas, want to slash funding for the New South Wales South Coast? We're boosting our regions with better roads, more doctors, full funding for our public schools and more funding for our hospitals, and we're helping people buy their first home. What's got to go from those opposite? To say that these important investments are reckless spending just goes to show how out of touch they really are with everyday Australians. Like everyone on this side of the chamber, I know people in my electorate are doing it tough. That's why we're doing something about it. We're helping families, students, our older residents and small businesses with tax cuts for every taxpayer, more bulk-billing and cheaper medicines. We're backing higher wages. We're helping train young people in Gilmore to become doctors, nurses, social workers, builders and electricians, with free TAFE, supported uni places and by slashing student debt—all policies those opposite opposed.

We're getting on with the job of rolling out responsible cost-of-living relief, just like we said we would. People in the Gilmore electorate tell me every day how the expanded hours at the Batemans Bay Medicare Urgent Care Clinic have helped them or their loved ones, and people in Nowra are champing at the bit for their new Medicare urgent care clinic to open—as am I. I'm so thrilled that the number of fully bulk-billed medical centres in my electorate has almost tripled, from 10 to 27, in just the past three months. And so many people in Gilmore have told me that our cheaper medicines are making a huge difference to their household budgets, with PBS scripts now costing no more than $25. We'll continue to deliver across every portfolio to help people with the cost of living.

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