Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

In the short time that is remaining, I would like to put on the record my absolute disgust at the facts that (a) one of the first acts of the Howard government was to close the Belmont Medicare office, when it was an office that performed at a level much higher than offices held within Liberal electorates and was in an area that catered for older Australians, and (b) the government has since failed to reopen it. Shortland electorate has the 10th highest number of grey voters in the whole of Australia. The government has totally ignored those people. People have to travel one hour to be able to attend the Medicare office to be able to get their refund or, alternatively, they have to rely on neighbours or friends to collect the money for them. Shortland electorate is not a wealthy electorate; it has a large number of pensioners and a large number of people on low and fixed incomes, and they rely on being able to get their refund from the Medicare office to be able to purchase their medicines. I am disgusted that this cold-hearted Howard government has ignored the people of Shortland and has failed to reopen the Belmont Medicare office, which is the demand of all the people in the Shortland electorate.

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