Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Community Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to talk about a very successful community cabinet that was held in my electorate last Monday evening. The community cabinet was held at the brand-new Kingston High School. Twelve government executive members were in my electorate. It was a fabulous event. More than 350 people turned up to the community cabinet. I am proud to say that we also hold the record for the fastest registrations and fill up. My understanding is that we had 150 registrations for the community cabinet in the first three hours. This goes to show how keen members of my local community are to engage with government.

Certainly the one-on-one meetings were a sell-out. Members of my community and the broader southern Tasmanian community had a great opportunity to have one-on-one meetings on specific issues with the ministers. During the broader forum we were also able to ask questions of the Prime Minister and the cabinet ministers. A broad range of questions were asked on the national road toll to the National Disability Insurance Scheme, education for children with disabilities, foreign affairs, overseas aid, immunisations, Regional Development Australia projects, thermal pools, climate change, health issues and the NBN. A whole broad range of issues were raised with ministers.

I want to thank the ministers who did that day in the electorate and stayed the next day to do a range of community events. A broad range of events were held in my electorate and the neighbouring electorates over those two days. I am pleased about two in particular. The NBN was rolled out in Kingston with the Prime Minister. To hold the fibre cable and roll it out along one of the streets in my electorate was a fabulous experience. I was really pleased to be able to do that.

I also did a great event with the Assistant Treasurer and Anglicare on payday lenders. That is obviously a big issue, particularly in low-socioeconomic areas in my electorate. We were able to talk about what the government are doing in relation to payday lenders and in my own portfolio what we are doing in terms of other options and finance options for people who find themselves in difficult situations and having a cash flow issue. The next day, with Minister Roxon, we were able to open the PET scanner at the Royal Hobart Hospital. It was an election commitment that I made in 2007, with then member for Denison Duncan Kerr, to have a PET scanner—the first PET scanner in a public hospital in Tasmania. It was fabulous to be there for that. That obviously did take some time to build, because they needed a new lead-lined bunker and it has taken a long time to get all the lead in to build this specific facility at the Royal Hobart Hospital. So thank you to all those ministers who came to my electorate.