Pat Conroy (Shortland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence Industry) Share this | Hansard source

I want to congratulate you, Deputy Speaker Buchholz, in continuing on the Speaker's panel. Your knowledge and experience in this chamber is an asset to all of us. Your cooperation across the chamber when occasionally things don't go smoothly is appreciated.

I'm pleased to make this contribution on the Governor-General's address-in-reply. This is the fourth time after an election I've had an opportunity to do so, and I want to begin by sincerely thank the people of Shortland for giving me the honour and privilege of continuing to be their advocate in this house for them and their families. The trust they continue to place in me to be their voice is something I'm truly humbled by, and it remains and will ever remain the greatest privilege of my life to represent the 150,000 people who live in my community. This is my fourth term in the House of Representatives and I must say that so far it's a tremendous improvement to be speaking from this side of the House and I hope I continue to feel that privilege.

It's been some months since I've had the opportunity to update the House on what is happening in Shortland, and I'm thrilled to be able to use my contribution on the Governor-General's address-in-reply to provide a Shortland update. I will begin with the floods that have plagued our community over the last few months. Like much of New South Wales, the Central Coast and Hunter regions have been impacted over the past months by severe storms and subsequent flooding from them. Some communities in the electorate of my neighbour, the member for Hunter, have been particularly impacted by these natural disasters. I'd like to thank my colleague the Minister for Emergency Management, Senator Murray Watt, for swiftly including both the Central Coast and Lake Macquarie local government areas in eligibility for disaster payments for affected households. I also note the remarks of the Premier of New South Wales commending the Albanese government for the swiftness with which these decisions were made. At times of natural disasters, there is no place for party politics, and both the Commonwealth and New South Wales governments have worked collaboratively to address this terrible situation.

Unfortunately, we have been warned for many years now that more severe and frequent weather events are a consequence of climate change, and that's why I'm proud to be part of the Albanese Labor government, which takes climate change seriously and is implementing policies that will both reduce emissions and lower power prices.

I'm very proud of the ambitious commitments Labor made to the people of Shortland and I look forward to working on them to see them come to fruition. Labor's commitments included funding health services that had been cut by the previous Liberal government, including restoring our much-cherished GP Access After Hours service and classifying the region as a distribution priority area for GPs. It also included the Lake Macquarie Economic Development Package, which will unlock over $1.8 billion of economic benefits and help create over 12,000 jobs. This package includes $20 million for a much-needed permanent dredge for the Swansea Channel and extending the Newcastle grouting fund to the Lake Macquarie local government area. Sadly, the people of Lake Macquarie have been neglected for over a decade by the New South Wales government regarding a permanent dredge. The Albanese government will provide funding to Lake Macquarie City Council for the purchase of a dredge. I particularly want to acknowledge the advocacy of Phil Donoghoe and the Bring Blacksmiths Back group and thank them for their support.

Lake Macquarie is the largest saltwater lake in the Southern Hemisphere. It is one of the jewels of Australia and it is very under-utilised because of the issues around sand build-up blocking channels and causing boats to be stranded on sandbanks. So the provision of a permanent dredge will be a hit from both an economic point of view in terms of opening up the areas for tourism and helping with environmental factors so that we can enjoy this beautiful lake so much more. A part of our commitment is that we will be talking to Lake Macquarie City Council to allow the use of the dredge for neighbouring Central Coast lakes when it's not needed in Lake Macquarie.

The Albanese government will also co-invest with telecommunications companies to install mobile phone towers in some of Shortland's worst black spots, to cover areas such as Lake Munmorah, Budgewoi, Halekulani, Eleebana, Jewells and Redhead. Again, the refusal of the last federal government to provide this much-needed infrastructure was a sad indictment on them, and I'm proud that Labor is acting on the concerns of my constituents. The fact that my area was excluded from the Mobile Black Spot Program was a disgrace. The fact that half the funds from that pool of money was being returned to Treasury each year demonstrated that that program was not working effectively and was failing to meet the needs of constituents of mine in regional areas. I'm very anxious to see these services restored.

I'm also very keen to work hard and keep the pressure on Optus, Telstra and Vodafone to fulfil their commitments around improving mobile phone reception in the Windale-Mount Hutton area. It's a disgrace that, even after a tower was constructed at Lake Macquarie Square, the Mount Hutton shops, mobile phone reception is still poor. I accept that Optus are trying to do their best, but my constituents deserve to be able to use mobile phones when they are only 15 minutes from the seventh-largest city in the country and only a 90-minute drive from the largest city in Australia.

Another of our commitments it was $2.5 million to construct up to three digital television broadcast towers. Again, for a regional area in such close proximity to our global city to not have free-to-air digital television reception is just incomprehensible in the year 2022. Access to free-to-air television is essential not only for entertainment but also for accessing news and current affairs so that our citizens can make informed choices and exercise their democratic rights. So these commitments are very, very important.

Today I'm also pleased to report that the Albanese Labor government is already delivering on its health policy commitments made to the people of Shortland. Recently I was pleased to announce that the Hunter and Central Coast regions have been classified as distribution priority areas. This policy will have a significantly positive impact in addressing the GP crisis that is affecting my region. Finding a bulk-billing doctor is becoming even harder in Shortland, but this change will enable medical practices to now employ what are now called Commonwealth bonded doctors and doctors trained overseas. Incomprehensibly, both these sorts of doctors were prevented by the previous Liberal government from practising in my community. When this issue gets raised in the chamber, I note that there are some objections from some of the National Party MPs, saying that somehow my electorate getting access to GPs is to their disadvantage. That is not true. There are specific incentives for remote and rural areas. The last government prevented bonded doctors and overseas trained doctors working in my community, which meant that my region, which is very fast growing, was effectively being prohibited from getting access to very significant pools of general practitioners.

Our commitment to restore the region's GP Access After Hours service is well underway. I can report to the House that the Department of Health and Aged Care is working with the Hunter Primary Care Network, which runs this vital service, to reverse the cuts. This service is the absolute bedrock of the Hunter community. It is a service that most, if not every family, in the Hunter have had cause to use. It provides bulk-billing doctors out of hours and it gives families peace of mind. It relieves massive pressure on our emergency departments, which are overstretched already. It's essential that this funding is restored. Importantly, when the Liberals cut funding to this service on Christmas Eve we saw an immediate jump in waiting times in our emergency departments. Some nights the waiting time went from 2½ hours to six hours, so this is an important commitment that we are delivering on.

Today I'd also like to acknowledge and pay tribute to my constituents who have been recognised in the Queen's Birthday honours list. Francis Kitcher was awarded an OAM for his services to tennis and rugby league. Janelle Shakespeare also received an OAM for her service to medical research institutions. Fiona Leatham was awarded the Public Service Medal for outstanding public service to the city of Newcastle during the COVID pandemic. James Wright received the Emergency Services Medal. On behalf of all the people of Shortland I pay tribute to these recipients for their dedication and service to our community.

One of the highlights of the year is the annual June Independence Day Dinner hosted by the Filipino-Australian Society of the Hunter Valley, which also marked the 41st anniversary of FASHVI and the 161st birthday of Philippine national hero Dr Rizal. I've been involved with FASHVI since my time as the member for Charlton. I have been proud to support their work. I thank Bob Bell, Rebecca MacDonald and their team for always making me and my wife, Keara, so welcome. I look forward to continuing to work with them in the years ahead.

After the election but before parliament resumed I was fortunate to attend the 75th anniversary for the Lakes United rugby league club. Lakes is one of the premier teams in the real NRL—the Newcastle rugby league competition—and it has produced many greats that have played not just locally but in the national rugby league and on the international stage. They include Paul Harragon, Brett Kimmorley and Adam Muir. It has a proud history. I'm so glad that the Albanese government will be providing funding to upgrade facilities at their home ground of Cahill Oval. I wish the Seagulls all the very best for their next 75 years.

Importantly, that funding will make sure that the club and the sport will be much more open to female rugby league players. I was at an event yesterday where the CEO of the NRL, Andrew Abdo, made the point that over the last few years the number of women and girls registered to play rugby league has exploded from 10,000 to 40,000. It is the fastest-growing part of rugby league, and it's something we should be doing everything to support.

I always have great confidence in our future because of the youth of Shortland. I take this opportunity to recognise two local sporting legends and sisters: Erika and Mikayla Enderby. Erika, who is 15, competed in the Junior World Orienteering Championships in Portugal in July. She started orienteering at the age of six and has received multiple state and Australian titles, alongside winning the women's 10 at the 2015 Oceania Orienteering Championships. Mikayla competed in the 18s division. This is an incredible achievement for the Enderby sisters. I wish them all the best in their future sporting endeavours. They are certainly two athletes to keep an eye on.

NAIDOC Week is a very special time of year for Australia. There was much to celebrate in Shortland. I take this opportunity to say how proud I am to be a member of the Albanese Labor government, which is implementing the Uluru Statement from the Heart. The Prime Minister in a very powerful speech at the Garma festival outlined the way forward in establishing an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

In June I visited Redhead Public School to participate in their NAIDOC Week celebrations. Over the last few years students and the Redhead community have been busy creating the Awabakal Learning Space, which features a yarning circle with native plants and Australian animal mosaics made by students in 2019. Kiel Crofts and Marley Smithfrom Bahtabah land council performed the smoking ceremony. I would like to thank Redhead Public School, their teachers, their student leaders and the broader school population for having me participate in such a special occasion.

While I can't recognise all the NAIDOC celebrations, I do want to highlight a few. The suburb of Windale is one of the most disadvantaged communities in the country, and it has a large Indigenous population. It is a special place and a wonderful community. Windale Public School's NAIDOC celebration included wise words from local elders, singing and dancing. Swansea Public School also recognised NAIDOC Week in a special way. In line with this year's NAIDOC theme, Swansea students are getting up, standing up and creating a better future for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. NAIDOC Week celebrations are central to us celebrating the fact that we live in a land with the oldest continuing civilisation on earth, and I take this opportunity to pay my respects to the Awabakal and Darkinjung people of my home region and pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging.

Over the weekend, it was a pleasure to be back at the Living Smart Festival at Speers Point Park. It was the first time in three years that this was able to be held, because of COVID. It was brilliant to see thousands of people attend this event focused on sustainable living. The ABC's gardening guru, Costa, was certainly popular with those who attended. On the second day, the event became the Living Together Festival, celebrating our community's diversity and the wonder that is multicultural Australia. This is a great festival, and I pay tribute to all the organisers of it, especially Lake Macquarie City Council. Some of the messages that I received at the stall—I was there from nine o'clock to 2 pm in the afternoon, when the festival closed for the day—were about the importance of Labor delivering on its election commitments, particularly around climate change, a national integrity commission and a mature, adult government that will think before it acts and not use megaphone diplomacy.

In the time remaining, I'd like to thank a few people who were instrumental in helping me get re-elected. First off, I'd like to thank my family. To my wife, Keara, and kids, Rachel and Mikey: thank you for all your support. I could not be here without you. One of the privileges of being a member of the House of Representatives and, at the moment, a minister is the requirement to be away from my community, my home, for so many weeks of the year. So I want to thank Keara, Michael and Rachel for your unstinting support, your belief in what we are doing here and your support for a progressive agenda for our nation to improve our country and the world. Thank you very much, Keara, Rachel and Michael.

I'd also like to honour the Labor branch members. I would not be here without them. I am their proud delegate in this place. I'm proud to have been selected by the rank-and-file members of the Australian Labor Party. It was they who worked tirelessly to support me to win re-election, so I want to thank them for their hard work and their dedication during the campaign. For the first time in almost a decade, they now have a Labor member who is part of a Labor government, and I look forward to working with them over the next three years to deliver Labor's progressive agenda. I say to each of them that I value their guidance and counsel, and I know this will be forthcoming over this term of parliament.

I'd also like to thank the many volunteers who weren't members of the Labor Party who got so involved in the campaign, from doorknocking to phone banking to helping on street stalls. This was a community campaign that was critical and instrumental in us winning re-election, so I'm particularly proud of the grassroots campaign we ran. I want to thank my campaign manager, Lisa Piefke, and my volunteer coordinator, India Jones, for organising the most engaged and energised campaign I've been involved in.

I'd like to conclude my remarks by saying that the Albanese Labor government has a strong and progressive agenda, as exemplified in the Governor-General's address to open the parliament. It's incredibly important that we deliver on the commitments we've made. We've already done that, and we are working hard and smart to deliver on those commitments to fulfil the honour that the Australian people have given us by granting us the privilege of government. We intend to maintain that trust and deliver for all Australia. Thank you.

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