Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak to a clear case of the public's healthcare interests taking a backseat to the political self-interest of the coalition. This month the New South Wales coalition sought to shore up the political future of one of its own, Tanya Davies, in the state seat of Mulgoa. To much fanfare that MP, along with the state Minister for Mental Health, gathered at a building on the edge of the grounds of Mount Druitt Hospital to announce the establishment of a new methadone clinic there. There was no sign of the New South Wales health minister, Jillian Skinner, mind you. She would not be seen touching this hot potato, and no surprise too, because she is too busy overseeing the funding of healthcare needs to the North Shore coalition electorates by denying proper facilities to the people of Sydney's west.

This announcement in Mount Druitt signalled the end of a state coalition government campaign to export political problems out of its own seats. As I have said previously, this is simply a case of political interest at work, because the former methadone clinic at St Marys was situated in seats held by both state and federal levels of the coalition. There is a great need for treatment for Australians struggling with a drug addiction, and they need access to that treatment in a timely way. We need that support and there are places in our area that are already providing this support. What was interesting was the state member for Mulgoa telling the media that the grounds of a hospital were an appropriate place for a clinic of this type—really? If that logic is followed then the clinic could have easily been relocated on the grounds of the Nepean Hospital at Penrith. Nepean Hospital is roughly a nine-minute car ride from the location of the clinic in St Marys. Its new location in Mount Druitt is about 13 minutes drive. So it is not a case of putting a clinic in hospital grounds to make it easier for patients; this was about making life easier for the coalition.

The Nepean Hospital sits in the state seat of Penrith and is covered by the federal seat of Lindsay. On Tanya Davies's logic, the clinic could have been located on hospital grounds in Nepean. And at Mount Druitt Hospital the coalition government would have given us what is higher on the priority list for local health care. GPs in my area tell me that three of the critical health issues in the Chifley electorate—in fact, this is a threat that runs throughout much of Western Sydney—are heart disease, diabetes and obesity. Yet Mount Druitt Hospital has been robbed by the coalition of the very unit that was at the front line of tackling issues associated with heart disease, and that is what makes this latest decision so hard to cop, because we are told the money is not there to maintain a cardiac unit, but money can be found to satisfy coalition political interests. I have spoken numerous times, for example, about the denial of funds for an MRI at Mount Druitt Hospital. If you are a Mount Druitt resident who wants help detecting cancer or other life-threatening conditions, the coalition takes away your money for an MRI. If you have heart disease and need urgent local treatment, the coalition stops you getting that too. It is a disgrace and people should not be copping it.