Bruce Baird (Cook, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I support the member for Gellibrand in her statement to the House on the death penalty, and I want to say that this is a bipartisan committee. It has been formed within the parliament to express our concern at the widespread use of capital punishment as a deterrent to those who commit significant offences. Despite the circumstances which surrounded the death of Van Nguyen in Singapore, we still experience the problems of the imposition of the death penalty.

We have many reminders that the death penalty continues to apply in our neighbourhood. We are faced with constant examples in Indonesia of the death penalty being applied to Australians there who have been accused of various crimes, particularly drug trafficking. In the case of the Bali nine, two of them are facing the death penalty. This is a very important motion. Those of us on the coalition benches who support this motion ask members to consider the implications of the death penalty for our region, to see that we ensure we do not see the re-emergence in any of our states of the death penalty, and to continue to encourage our Asian neighbours to use other forms of punishment.

Tonight I want to speak in particular about developments at Bundeena. Bundeena is a unique site in my electorate. It comprises an artists’ colony. It is a unique environmental centre—a unique village that has changed very little in the past 50 years. It adjoins a national park and it has a population of 2,000 people. In many ways it is an environmentalist’s paradise. It has rock carvings by the Indigenous people who were there and it presents a wonderful vista across Port Hacking. That it adjoins a national park—one of the first national parks declared in Australian history; in fact, it was one of the first in the world—is the reason why we should take great care over the planning requirements that apply in Bundeena.

We have had several examples. The first is the Uniting Church site, which was divided into small housing sites despite the objections of local residents. The second is the question of the old corner store. The site was heritage listed, and one night it mysteriously burned down. There is now a proposal to put up a rather unattractive group of houses and home units there. As one of the local councillors said, ‘Instead of saying welcome to one of the unique villages in the Australian community, we have got a building which says Hello Rockdale.’ Not that there is anything wrong with Rockdale, but Bundeena is a unique environmental area. We want to see this area preserved and appropriate planning measures applied. I encourage Frank Sartor, as the Minister for Planning in the New South Wales government, to develop a special code that relates to Bundeena, recognising its unique nature.

The final point I want to draw to the House’s attention tonight is the doctor shortage in Bundeena. Its physical isolation has been a great asset, but it is also the cause of disadvantage. It is short of doctors. I have been in touch with the federal Department of Health and Ageing in relation to this problem. I am very pleased to say that the department has agreed to classify Bundeena and Maianbar as a district of workforce shortage, which means that the Australian government would offer financial incentives to doctors to locate their practices in the area and that overseas trained and even overseas based doctors could be recruited to meet the doctor shortage. This is a win for Bundeena. I am really pleased that we have started to address this issue.

However, it still leaves Bundeena with 3,000 people to one part-time GP. An acceptable ratio is considered to be 700 people to one full-time doctor. I urge the New South Wales health department to classify Bundeena as an area of need to help relieve the chronic shortage of medical services. It is a unique area, a wonderful site and an environmental paradise; it needs appropriate services. (Time expired)