House debates

Wednesday, 12 September 2007

Adjournment

Holt Electorate: Medicare Office; Holt Electorate: Cranbourne Aquatic and Leisure Centre

7:41 pm

Photo of Anthony ByrneAnthony Byrne (Holt, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs) Share this | | Hansard source

Tonight I rise to discuss a couple of issues that are very relevant to the constituents of Cranbourne—

Photo of Chris BowenChris Bowen (Prospect, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | | Hansard source

Federal issues.

Photo of Anthony ByrneAnthony Byrne (Holt, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs) Share this | | Hansard source

Yes, not state issues. We are not trying to hide behind state based issues; we are talking about issues that relate to federal matters. I would like to talk about the federal Medicare office—

Photo of Gary HardgraveGary Hardgrave (Moreton, Liberal Party) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr Hardgrave interjecting

Photo of Anthony ByrneAnthony Byrne (Holt, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs) Share this | | Hansard source

Thank you, off you go, Member for Moreton. I want to talk about the Medicare office in Cranbourne. That is what concerns my constituents.

Photo of Chris BowenChris Bowen (Prospect, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | | Hansard source

A federal issue.

Photo of Anthony ByrneAnthony Byrne (Holt, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs) Share this | | Hansard source

Yes, and let me tell you about this particular federal issue, Member for Prospect. It is about a Medicare office in Cranbourne. In fact, this Medicare office took 10 years of hard and consistent lobbying before it was actually opened. It was closed, as I understand, in 1995. For 10 years, the residents of Cranbourne lobbied for a Medicare office. Cranbourne is a large and growing area. It has a very large population base around it. It is part of the growth belt which extends from Fountain Gate through to Cranbourne and Berwick. This Medicare office was opened on 4 April 2005—after the federal opposition gave a commitment that if it was elected in 2004 it would put a Medicare office in Cranbourne. Lo and behold, after that commitment was made, Member for Prospect, guess what? The federal government funded the Medicare office in Cranbourne. Be that as it may, it was a successful campaign by the residents of Cranbourne and that office was opened on 4 April 2005.

However, the member for Prospect will be interested to learn that this is the only Medicare office in the region—and this is a region which incorporates Fountain Gate, Dandenong and Frankston—which is not open until 7 pm on Thursday and is not open between 9 am and 12.30 pm on Saturday. It may have escaped the federal government that, in fact, there are a lot of working families who live in Cranbourne. There are a lot of first home buyers who have shifted into Cranbourne. There are a lot of people who cannot get to a Medicare office after, say, 5 pm on Thursday. They would like to be able to access the service of an open Medicare office particularly on a Saturday morning, for family payments, for example.

All we are asking for, on behalf of the residents of Cranbourne, are the 5½ hours of access that are available at the other offices that I have mentioned—Fountain Gate, Dandenong and Frankston. I wonder why that is too hard. On behalf of the residents of Cranbourne, I have written to the Minister for Human Services, Minister Ellison, and he has advised that, unfortunately, he believes, on behalf of the federal government, that there is not enough demand to extend those hours. That is plainly wrong. I say in this House on behalf of the residents of Cranbourne that that is not acceptable. We will continue to lobby on behalf of my constituents to ensure that they are given access to a service that is granted to people in Fountain Gate, Dandenong and Frankston. They deserve it. They pay their taxes. We will continue to lobby and perhaps, on the eve of the federal election, under the shadow of a federal election being called, the residents of Cranbourne, having fought for 10 years to get a Medicare office established, which was opened in April 2005, might get justice again. It seems it will take a federal election and consistent lobbying to actually force the government to deliver what people pay their taxes for, which is a Medicare office.

I would like to touch on the issue of the incredible Cranbourne Aquatic and Leisure Centre, which is being constructed in Cranbourne East. This is a very innovative pool. It has a 50-metre lap pool with movable boom, a toddler’s pool, a hydrotherapy pool, a water slide, spa, sauna, steam room and gymnasium. A particularly unique feature of this pool is that it will be the most environmentally self-sufficient local government pool in Australia.

During the construction stage and after completion, the project will not use any potable water and will save approximately 30 million litres of water a year. This is going to set the standard for water usage in pools constructed from here on in, which is critically important in our new era of water shortages, particularly with water storage being at about 38 per cent in Victoria at the moment. This water saving is being achieved by the installation of a two-million-litre underground water tank connected to stormwater pipes in the City of Casey. The stormwater pipes will be used to collect the rainwater to be used for the pool.

There has been no federal government funding for this $37 million project. The state government has committed $2½ million, but there has been no federal government funding. I am aware of the fact that there is an application before the area consultative committee for $1.5 million. It is about time the federal government funded this project. (Time expired)