Meryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, which August? I take that creative interjection from my friend and colleague the member for Herbert. I daresay August will come and go into the future, and that letter will never be responded to.

I'll tell you what: it is a great travesty to treat our regions with such disrespect. People from the bush and people from the regions are some of the hardest working, most decent, most generous and most caring people. They're looking for good representation. They want to see our country go forward. They want to see their kids do well. They want to see them go to well-funded schools. They want to be able to go to a hospital and not sit in emergency for five hours plus. In fact, someone said to me last week: 'Meryl, my father-in-law went to hospital. He'd had a stroke. There was one doctor for 800 people, and now the thing that has happened to him has irrevocably changed his life.' That's because, as we all know, with stroke victims, you need to have very, very prompt attention. Well, that wasn't coming. That was in a big hospital. The government are a joke. They are not delivering the leadership that we need and deserve in our regions.

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