Greg Combet (Charlton, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Procurement) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to update the House on some of the issues relevant to my electorate of Charlton in New South Wales. The electorate takes in the western area of Newcastle and Lake Macquarie. It is an area where many people are experiencing the pressures of increased costs of living. As members of the House well know, petrol prices have been increasing and interest rates have been rising, and it is an electorate where a lot of people are feeling the pressure of housing affordability. A higher proportion of people in the electorate than the national average are aged pensioners, the overwhelming majority of whom rely solely on the age pension. In fact, some of the data that was released this week showed that, across the Hunter region generally, about 25 per cent of households have an income of less than $500 per week. This is partly a reflection of the number of households which are dependent upon the pension. It indicates very clearly the sorts of financial pressure that people are feeling.

There is also in the electorate a significant shortage of GPs. The ratio of general practitioners to the population at the moment is in the order of one GP per 2,000 people. In practice what this means, as in many other regional areas across Australia, is that people cannot get access to a general practitioner. A lot of the general practitioners in my electorate have closed their books and a number of people that I have met have had to travel to Sydney on a number of occasions in order to be able to see a general practitioner.

There are significant infrastructure needs in the electorate. Transport is a problem, particularly with the cost of owning a private motor vehicle. Many constituents—a higher proportion than average—completed school only to year 10 and there is a key interest in improving education and access to trades training in the electorate. The future of the electricity industry and climate change are important issues. Eraring Energy, which supplies around about 25 per cent of baseload electricity generation in New South Wales, is located in the electorate, plus about seven or eight coalmines which supply the New South Wales generation industry. The manufacturing industry is important, too, in the region. Too frequently in recent times I have seen workplaces in the electorate close down, highlighting yet again that many working people do not have adequate protection for their accumulated entitlements. These and many other issues are extremely relevant to the people of Charlton. They are issues that I anticipate will be discussed at a summit that will be held locally on 5 April. That will be co-convened by the member for Shortland and me, focusing on issues in particular in the Lake Macquarie region and western Newcastle area. I imagine many of the issues I have adverted to will be brought forward by people in the electorate.

Some of the initiatives that I as the newly elected local member am taking to try and address some of the issues I have raised include the following. Firstly, Labor made an election commitment to locate a GP superclinic within the electorate. I have begun the consultations with Hunter New England Health in the region, local general practitioners and other members of the community to settle upon a model and a location for the GP superclinic. This will provide much-needed funding to assist in the establishment of infrastructure to enable an existing general practice to expand, for example, as one alternative amongst others, but ultimately with the objective of trying to attract more GPs to the area. In addition, one of Labor’s election commitments was to establish a youth outreach centre in Morisset at the south end of the electorate. We also committed in the campaign to trying to ensure that there is an flood early warning system installed in the suburb of Wallsend, which experienced heavy flooding in the June storms last year. The computers in schools program that Labor has at a national level will be very important for the electorate. I am lobbying very hard for an integrated transport centre in the suburb of Glendale, which will be important in linking up two parts of the electorate where there is a large industrial estate and a large retail area currently divided by a railway line and the transport centre. I am aiming with the support of local government—the Lake Macquarie City Council and the New South Wales government—to establish a railway station and road overpass at Glendale. There are many other issues which will require attention. I wish all members of the House a happy Easter. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.