Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Industrial Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tonight I want to raise concerns I have about the way in which the government has failed to address concerns of residents in the electorate of Gorton. I too am concerned about the paucity of funding provided to families in the electorate of Gorton in recent times. It is unfortunate that the Howard government concerns itself with its own hide and not with those in need of support, encouragement and resources. It is most upsetting for me and for others that this 11-year-old, weary government focuses upon the marginal seats rather than the marginalised in our community. I rise tonight to express my disappointment on behalf of the residents in my electorate at being ignored by the Howard government over this long, 11-year period.

This government has provided little or no support for the infrastructure needs of my electorate. Gorton is a fast-growing electorate in Victoria—indeed, it is the fastest-growing electorate in Victoria. When it was constructed nominally by the Australian Electoral Commission in 2002 it was designated on electorate numbers of 80,000 voters. Since then the number of voters in the electorate has grown to more than 107,000. By any stretch of the imagination that is a very fast growing area of Melbourne. Unfortunately, whilst there has been a massive exponential growth in the population of the area, there has not been growth in infrastructure commensurate with that growth.

I have seen that in the failure of the government to respond to concerns with respect to the Medicare office. In fact, I would like to dwell on the Medicare office proposal. There were more than 4,000 signatories to the petition tabled in this place wishing to have a Medicare office. We are one of very few electorates in Victoria that have not been provided with a Medicare office.

Gary Nairn (Eden-Monaro, Liberal Party, Special Minister of State) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Nairn interjecting

Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Industrial Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I hear the Special Minister of State, Mr Nairn, opposite, but it is not true. I have asked the 39 medical offices in my electorate whether they have taken up Easyclaim, and none of them at this point have taken up Easyclaim—not one. I have been told by the Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Mal Brough, that we will not need a Medicare office because we have this new system called Easyclaim. If that is the case, will the minister opposite tell me whether, given that there is a new system, he is about to close down every Medicare office in this country? If I do not need a Medicare office because of Easyclaim, clearly no electorate needs a Medicare office. Would you like to answer the question, Minister: would you close down every Medicare office in this country? Of course, he does not want to answer that. The fact is there has been total contempt and disregard for the constituents in my electorate. It is an electorate that deserves a Medicare office.

Gary Nairn (Eden-Monaro, Liberal Party, Special Minister of State) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Nairn interjecting

Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Industrial Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Of course, Minister, you will not respond to the question: would you close down every Medicare office? Of course you would not. I am sure there is an office in Eden-Monaro, and there should be one in Gorton. The fact is, there is not one in Gorton and there should be. The Easyclaim facility proposed by the Minister for Health and Ageing has failed in any sense to properly attend to the needs of the constituents of my electorate. So I am happy to see it as a complementary service that has failed.

The other failure by this government, of course, has been its silence on the Calder Freeway. In my electorate there are three major ground-level intersections into the Calder Freeway that are causing congestion, fatality and injury. They are three intersections that must be fixed. The Brumby Labor government is willing to commit itself to 50 per cent of the contribution required to have those intersections improved, but, unfortunately, this government has failed to propose, in any way, any support for those intersections. We need support in some way so that there will be fewer casualties and no congestion—not only for my electorate but for the electorates of Calwell and McEwen. I had hoped that the Minister for Small Business and Tourism would have already lent her weight to this debate, but, unfortunately, she has no concern for her people in Gisborne, New Gisborne and Woodend. There has been a failure by this government to respond to the concerns of my electorate and indeed the electorates north of mine and I hope they attend to these concerns as soon as possible. (Time expired)