Sam Rae (Hawke, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's always a pleasure to stand in this chamber—a little bit higher than the other one in the building—for the airing of grievances. I'm always reminded of Frank Costanza's great line: 'I've got a lot of problems with you people, and now you're going to hear about them!'

In the past few weeks, my electorate of Hawke has played host to a number of outstanding community events. Just two weeks ago I informed the chamber of the tremendous return of Melton's Djerriwarrh Festival. Since then, more communities across Hawke have got in on the action.

The weekend before last, my hometown of Ballan welcomed the return of the Ballan Autumn Festival, hosted this time, of course, in spring. The township was so keen to come together again that we simply couldn't wait until the leaves turn brown. Inglis Street was alive and bustling with activity as almost 10,000 people enjoyed live music, art and even a bit of magic. There were pony rides for the kids and, of course, the traditional woodchopping competition. I didn't win. Traders and community groups cooked up a storm, feeding the hungry locals while talented craftspeople showed off their wares. The highlight, however, was no doubt the Bloomin' Marvellous Grand Street Parade. I was honoured to be a member of the judging panel alongside the local state member for Eureka, Michaela Settle, and I would like to congratulate some of the winners: Myrniong Primary School, who won the mayor's trophy; the Community Bank Ballan branch, for best commercial entry; and St Patrick's Primary School, for best school entry. There were many others.

The Ballan Autumn Festival wouldn't be possible without a dedicated team of volunteers, led by President Kevin Harper. I would like to extend my thanks to Kevin and the whole team, as well as the schools and community groups for their enthusiastic participation in the street parade and the local business sponsors who made the event possible. Despite the raging success in spring, the Ballan Autumn Festival will resume regular programming in March next year, and I know that our community can't wait for another fantastic event.

The Bacchus Marsh Strawberry and Cherry Festival returned for the first time since 2019 as our community marked the start of the strawberry and cherry season. The festival kicked off on Friday night with local families enjoying carnival rides and food trucks before 150 market stalls set up shop along Main Street on Saturday, selling their incredible local goods and produce. I joined the state member for Eureka, Michaela Settle, at those markets, chatting to locals, who were thrilled to see the return of this great festival. Despite the recent cooler and much wetter weather, strawberries and cherries were also available at the festival from local growers, while local cafes, restaurants, food trucks and stalls provided much-needed sustenance for festival-goers. The festival featured fantastic entertainment, with the live music hub hosting some incredibly talented local musicians, and the kids were thrilled to see face painters and the petting zoo. The highlight of the festival was of course the fireworks spectacular on Saturday night—a wonderful celebration of the return of such a significant community event.

Thank you to the hundreds of local businesses and traders who contributed to the event and to the event organisers for putting together such an outstanding festival. The success of the Bacchus Marsh Strawberry and Cherry Festival demonstrates the strength of community spirit across our electorate of Hawke and makes me incredibly proud to represent them in this place.

I recently had the privilege of attending the Sikh Sports Day at Khalsa Shaouni in Plumpton in my electorate of Hawke. Hosted every year on the anniversary of the birth of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the family sports event brings together the very strong Sikh community in the area to celebrate this significant occasion. This year, the festival featured a huge range of activities, including traditional sports and a demonstration of gatka, a form of martial arts long practised by Sikh people, as well as athletics, tug of war and a push-up and pull-up challenge. The kids participated in competitions to tie the best patka and dastar, the two forms of Sikh turbans, as well as hotly contested trivia on the legacy of Guru Nanak. I was honoured to be invited to this important and impressive celebration of Sikh culture. My thanks go to Avtar, Gurdashan, Simar and all those who contributed to the organisation on the day. I look forward to joining them all again soon.

With my remaining time, I'd like to discuss the issue of GP shortages affecting the people in my electorate of Hawke. Unfortunately, many people in my electorate face significant challenges in accessing bulk-billed or affordable GP appointments. In fact, after nine long years of cuts and neglect of Medicare by the former Liberal government, it has never been harder or more expensive to see a doctor than it is now. The former government froze the Medicare rebate for six years, ripping billions of dollars out of primary health care and causing gap fees to skyrocket. Recently, in Melton, one of the largest bulk-billing GP clinics had to end bulk-billing and begin charging patients for GP appointments. This was a product not of greed but rather of necessity in order to maintain some form of primary health care in that facility. Unfortunately, as costs have risen and the Medicare rebate has remained frozen, operating bulk-billing clinics has become increasingly unworkable without some kind of other external subsidy.

Whilst the cause of this issue is a prolonged lack of financial support from the previous Liberal government, the impact is far more personal than merely financial. The inaccessibility of primary health care can have long-term, significant impacts on the personal wellbeing of people in communities like mine. It puts more pressure on our hospital and ambulance systems and results in worse health outcomes by denying people the chance of earlier medical intervention. It denies people access to preventive medicine and exposes them to an increased risk of developing both chronic and acute medical conditions. Sadly, there is no quick fix to address such a prolonged period of mismanagement. People in Hawke and indeed across the country will continue to pay the price for the Liberals' healthcare freeze for a time to come.

However, like the great Labor governments of the past, the Albanese Labor government is getting on with the job of cleaning up the mess left to us by those opposite. This started with the appointment of the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce, which has several key objectives, including improved patient access to general practice and greater patient affordability. The task force is backed by the $750 million Strengthening Medicare Fund to enable the delivery of the task force's highest priority improvements. The Albanese Labor government is also committed to delivering 50 new urgent-care clinics, including one in Sunbury in our community in Hawke. The clinics will provide high-quality care for urgent but non-life-threatening health issues and will be open with extended business hours seven days a week to provide the care people need with no out-of-pocket costs.

Like many other sectors of our economy, health care is facing a skills shortage, particularly in primary health care. That's why the Albanese Labor government will work to ensure that GP clinics can attract and retain qualified healthcare workers. That's also why I will fight for Hawke specifically to see improvements in this space.

Whilst I would like to see an immediate improvement in the accessibility of primary healthcare for our community in Hawke, it is important that the government ensures the longevity and sustainability of our improvements by taking considered and well-thought-out action. I welcome and commend the efforts of Minister Mark Butler in fixing the healthcare system that was crippled by the neglect of the former Liberal government. Labor built Medicare and we will always protect it.

Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There being no further grievances, the debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 19:22