Emma McBride (Dobell, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to speak on the three appropriation bills relating to our first budget—Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2022-2023, Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2022-2023 and Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2022-2023. Our budget delivers on our election commitments and begins the process of repairing the near-decade of neglect under the previous government. Since the election we've gotten straight to work, delivering on our commitments across Australia and in my community on the Central Coast of New South Wales.

Looking back to when I was first elected in 2016 and to all the budgets handed down since under the former government, communities like mine, on the northern end of the Central Coast of New South Wales, were consistently overlooked. In May, Australians voted for change and elected an Albanese Labor government. I'm proud to be part of this government, working with Minister Butler, with responsibility for mental health and suicide prevention, and rural and regional health. I'm determined, in these roles, to work with others to try to improve the health and wellbeing of all Australians, wherever they grow up, wherever they live and wherever they age.

I'm also finally relieved to be able to deliver much needed support for my community on the Central Coast. The northern end of the Central Coast is one of the fastest growing regions in New South Wales, with a population set to grow by another 75,000 people by 2036. But, under the previous government, this growth was not matched by investment, not matched by investment in transport infrastructure, investment in health care or investment in local jobs.

As a pharmacist who worked our local hospital at Wyong for almost 10 years, I understand, like so many people do, the importance of quality and affordable health care close to home. I also know that in Australia today the further you live outside of a big city, the worse your health care is likely to be. I want to help change that. I want to make sure that every Australian, no matter where they live or where they grow up, has access to the health care they need. In the lead up to the 2022 election, our government made several key commitments to improve health care right across Australia. One of those was addressing the GP crisis that's impacting rural and regional communities and people from the outer metros, including my own electorate on the Central Coast of New South Wales.

During the election, we committed to recognise affected regions around Australia as distribution priority areas so local practices could recruit GPs from a wider pool of doctors. Locally, we committed to recognising the entire Central Coast as a DPA given the acute shortages. Less than three months into government, the member for Robertson, Dr Gordon Reid, an emergency doctor; the member for Shortland; and I visited a local GP practice in East Gosford to confirm that the entire Central Coast is now a distribution priority area. This change will help take the pressure off local GPs in health, primary health care and our emergency departments, but it's only part of the solution.

Another key commitment was our plan for 50 Medicare urgent care clinics across Australia, including two on the Central Coast. In the government's first budget, funding to build two of these urgent care clinics on the coast was confirmed. These clinics will help take the pressure off hospital emergency departments by giving people another option to receive care.

As I said, I'm a pharmacist of over 20 years, and I spent nearly 10 of those working at my local hospital in Wyong on the Central Coast. I understand the difficulty that many people have in accessing health care in my local community, including MRIs. That's why one of our key election commitments was providing Wyong Public Hospital, our community hospital, with a Medicare funded MRI licence. I'm pleased that this commitment has been met and that an MRI machine is now being installed at Wyong hospital. I'm told the machine should be up and running before the end of the year. This means that locals who were previously wheeled out of the hospital will be able to get affordable, life-saving scans in our own hospital rather than having to go elsewhere.

I committed to this licence in 2019 after joining community efforts to save our hospital from privatisation under the state Liberal government, alongside my state colleagues the members for Wyong and The Entrance, David Harris and David Mehan. The former government tried to sell off our hospital and, at a federal level, refused to grant this license. Together, our community saved our hospital from privatisation, and now we're delivering an MRI licence for our community. The Central Coast and the people in communities like mine are a priority for the Albanese government.

One of the key priorities of this budget is manufacturing, building Australian capability. We saw the vulnerabilities through the COVID pandemic, and we're determined to shift this. I'm pleased to confirm in this budget a food manufacturing hub for the coast, which will receive $17.14 million from the government backed up by $37.5 million from industry. This is a project that industry has been pushing for years. It will create more than 280 local jobs, including 85 during construction and 200 ongoing jobs in food manufacturing. It will also drive economic growth in the region and help the Central Coast expand its unique food and beverage market. The hub will be based at Lisarow and will further develop Australia's onshore manufacturing capabilities. It will also support the local economy by increasing opportunities for training, education, skills, research and development. Funding for the hub will be provided over three years from 2022-23. It's part of the government's broader 'future made in Australia' plan to develop local manufacturing capabilities and upskill the manufacturing sector workforce.

This project, as I mentioned, has the full support of local industry, including Central Coast Industry Connect and their partners Trendpac, the RDA and the University of Newcastle. I recently heard from the Executive Director of Central Coast Industry Connect, Frank Sammut, who is partnering with us on this project. He told me:

The food and beverage industry contributes $1.4 billion in output to the region. This project will boost the local food and beverage manufacturing ecosystem and will make the Central Coast a competitive food manufacturing and innovation destination.

This is a significant investment in our food manufacturing industry, and it could help local food manufacturers grow their ideas nationally and even globally.

Our budget also confirms $40 million in roads funding for the Central Coast. One of the No. 1 issues people raise with me is the condition of our local roads. The Central Coast has some of the worst road in New South Wales, and, after recent weather events, there are more potholes and hazards on our roads than there have been before. A $40 million injection into local roads will make a difference. It will improve safety, ease congestion and reduce the wear and tear on people's cars.

Our government is also delivering $4 million towards Tuggerah Lake, with the funds to go towards programs including flood mitigation and stormwater management. After the recent flooding events our community has faced over the past years, we need to make sure locals are safe when disasters hit but also that we're better prepared ahead of future disasters. Our $4 million commitment will help address these concerns, while improving water quality in the catchment—something that locals so welcome.

We're also delivering much-needed upgrades to community infrastructure. Our budget includes $1.5 million to help fund stage 5 of Tuggerawong Pathway. I've worked closely with the state member for Wyong, David Harris, and the Tuggerawong Pathway Community Group over many years to make this happen. I'd like to recognise Jodie Davis from the Tuggerawong Pathway Community Group and the others who have been working tirelessly to support this project. Jodie said to me, 'We're thrilled to see this financial support to complete stage 5 of the project.' Our community made their wishes clear when council asked us to vote on which option we wanted, and 87 per cent of people voted for option A, which was to continue the pathway around the foreshore all the way to Don Small Oval. This project is a community-led project, in partnership with local council, which will mean so much to our local community and boost tourism.

We're also delivering a much-needed $1.2 million in the budget to bring life back to The Entrance. This includes funding for Vera's Water Garden, making the waterfront plaza play space more accessible, and renovating The Entrance ocean baths, which is an iconic heritage listed site which has been popular with visitors and locals on the coast for generations. We're delivering $250,000 for the Baker Park master plan and another $100,000 to help Wyong Tennis Club renovate their clubhouse.

These are much needed upgrades in a community which, unfortunately, was overlooked by the previous government for almost a decade. Our community is growing rapidly, and yet that growth wasn't matched by investment in infrastructure, wasn't matched by an investment in health care and wasn't matched by investment in our local economy.

I am so pleased to be part of a Labor government which is finally delivering for the northern end of the Central Coast. These community upgrades will breathe life back into the Central Coast, help our community recover from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and make sure that our community is ready now and into the future.

As a pharmacist—and still the only pharmacist in this place—I've spoken many times about affordability of medicines, about people who have come to me and said, 'Which medicine can I skip?' 'Which one can I take every second day?' or 'Which one can I do without?' I've had patients, particularly mums with children, walk into the pharmacy after a medical appointment and hand me a bundle of prescriptions and ask which medications they could skip or avoid. I've had a mum ask me could her children share a bottle of antibiotic mixture because she couldn't pay for both. This is a common problem. For the first time in the 75-year history of the PBS, our government has now passed legislation to reduce the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme general co-payment from $42.50 to $30 from 1 January 2023. This will make a significant impact, particularly with the rising cost of living for many families in my community.

We've also committed to cheaper child care, and I am so pleased that this will benefit more than one million Australian families, including around just under 7,000 families in my community in Dobell. It will cut out-of-pocket costs for families with children in early education and care and help them save more than $1,700 in that first year. It will help local parents—if they want to—to go back to the workforce or to work more hours. I've heard from families, particularly women, about this. One young woman I spoke to had got back into the workforce. She had a four-year-old and a soon-to-be six-year-old. She'd worked really hard for a promotion and when she secured that promotion most of it disappeared in the cost of child care. This has to change, and under our government it will, for families like hers and families like that all across Australia. It will help more parents return to the workforce and work more hours if they want to.

We're also doing the same for age and veteran pensioners, helping them to work more if they want to, while keeping their age pension. Following the government's Jobs and Skills Summit in September, we introduced legislation to credit $4,000 to age pensioners from 1 December this year. In a community like mine, where one in five people are aged over 65, a popular place for retirees, and with workforce shortages, this could be a real boost to the local economy, as Paula Martin, the regional director of the New South Wales Business Chamber Central Coast has told me. It'll increase the amount pensioners can earn before their pension is reduced, which will increase incentives for those receiving a pension who want to work more and help us address those acute labour shortages we're seeing, particularly in regional Australia.

As I mentioned, my community on the Central Coast is a popular place for older people to live. One in five people are aged over 65, and many people in my community live in residential aged care, receive at-home care or have a family or loved one receiving aged care. Before I was elected in 2016, this was very close to my heart and I know it is something that touches so many people across Australia. No individual or family is not touched by the crisis that we have experienced in aged care in Australia. I have heard from countless local people about their experiences and from older people who are fearful about being forced to end up in aged care. Many of them voted for Labor at the last election on the issue of aged care. They have asked me, as their local MP, for urgent action on recommendations handed down by the Royal Commission into Aged-Care Quality and Safety.

I was so pleased when Minister Wells introduced this legislation to parliament. This is now the first legislation to go through the House and, as recommended by the royal commission, it will address the urgent funding, quality and safety issues. It will also provide additional protection for older Australians living in residential aged care with a series of measures to increase transparency and accountability for providers. I know this will give so many people and families peace of mind at this time, for themselves and for the older people they love and care for. This legislation has now passed through the Senate and it implements three more of the government's urgent election commitments that put security, dignity, quality and humanity back into aged care.

As I conclude, I want to thank our aged-care workers, who, as has often been said, deserve more than thanks. I did some work in aged-care homes as a pharmacist and I have so much respect and admiration for those capable, dedicated and hardworking yet undervalued workers. I am so pleased about the decision of the commission last week to lift their wages to give them a living wage so that they can afford to do the work that they love that so many of our families and loved ones benefit from.

I am so proud to be able to speak as the first Labor government and I look forward to being part of shaping the direction of Australia.

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