Joanna Gash (Gilmore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I certainly do not envy my Labor colleagues in Throsby and Cunningham when it comes to defending the current CPRS legislation on the table. With the coal industry bearing the brunt of the emissions reduction target and the loss of jobs that regions rich in coal like the Illawarra will incur, I wonder whether MPs will choose to protect their own jobs or the jobs of their constituents when push comes to shove. Where once coalminers were held in such high regard in Wollongong, today they are the forgotten people. Coal has become a dirty word despite the enormous wealth it has brought the country. Now much of our steel is being imported and the once-great Australian coalmining industry is in danger of going the way of the merino. Where once the mighty steelworks at Port Kembla directly employed almost 25,000 people, today it is less than 10 per cent of that figure. Jobs have gone and Wollongong has become impoverished.

The unemployment rate around Wollongong is amongst the highest in New South Wales. The latest round of unemployment figures for some areas are in double digits, with Shellharbour recording a 24 per cent jump in unemployment. Unemployment affects families and communities as a whole. In order to pay the extra tax on food, petrol, milk, electricity and more people will need their jobs. The coalition is putting forward amendments that seek to cushion the initial blow. The cap-and-trade approach for electricity generators means prices go up gradually. More compensation for big and essential emitters means less cost passed on to us as consumers, who cannot pass on the costs any further down the line.

Lastly, we are looking out for farmers and small business, who have also been neglected in the government’s proposed scheme. There are now, in 2009, approximately 73 dairy farms in Gilmore. They were, in the year 2000, some 168. Deregulation hit the area hard some years ago. With the drought and all sorts of indirect taxes already being added to these hardworking people, the last thing they need is the threat of a direct ‘burping cow tax’. We want direct tax out and offsets for all the environment work that farmers do in. The community are willing to embrace environmental practices and should be rewarded for their voluntary contributions.

Small business also deserves our support, particularly those who depend on electricity. There is currently no provision for them in the government’s emissions trading scheme. Why do we as residents on the South Coast, who face the threat of job losses and higher commodity prices, need to be locked into a scheme that will help Australia reduce five per cent of the total global emissions contribution of 1.4 per cent before we even know what the rest of the world is doing? It has been suggested that only 91.5 per cent of people actually understand what an ETS is and how it works, and that figure is alarming. I do not want to see Australia lose the ability to grow our own food. I certainly do not want to be drinking reconstituted milk from Japan and eating beef from Brazil because livestock are just too expensive to hang onto in our country. And I will certainly be asking that question of my constituents. Most of us want to make a difference to our environment for the sake of future generations, but this flawed ETS is certainly not the best way of doing that in my books. I support the coalition’s amendments for the sake of jobs, farmers and small business.

In the time I have left I would like to touch on the concern we have in Gilmore that this Labor government is slowly dismantling Medicare by removing items from the Medicare Benefits Schedule. I have received letters from very concerned doctors and patients in my electorate in relation to the removal of items 50124 and 50125 from the MBS, stating that this will triple patient costs and cause pensioners, in particular those who suffer from arthritis, to choose between having to pay for much-needed injections and having to pay their electricity bill. The items which will be removed at midnight on 31October  relate specifically to corticosteroid injections for the treatment of arthritis, particularly in frail elderly people for whom anti-inflammatory medication is often unsafe. In Gilmore we have almost 27,000 people over the age of 65, and for many of them this treatment is crucial for their mobility and wellbeing. These changes would see them go from paying about $15 for their specialist visit to around $45—a move I simply cannot support.

Why is it that, when the government wants to make savings to make up for its prolific spending, it draws from the limited resources of our elderly population? I have written to the Minister for Health and Ageing regarding this issue, calling for the government to immediately roll back its planned changes to MBS and focus on adding to healthcare rather than taking away from it. To date I have received no response. I am told by a local rheumatologist and clinical associate professor that these injections are specifically for patients who suffer from inflammatory conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, gouty arthritis and degenerative arthritis. If such patients present with a painful swollen joint they may require an immediate injection, particularly to prevent septic arthritis, which can be life threatening. I call on the government to make these specific changes.