Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

New South Wales Premier Mike Baird, the good friend of the Prime Minister, and his coalition government have forgotten the people of Western Sydney that I represent at a federal level. The things our area needs, like a cardiac ward at Mount Druitt Hospital, have been taken from us. The Liberal candidate for the seat of Mount Druitt did not fight the closure, she actually justified it, preferring to protect Macquarie Street than the people of our area. The things our area needs, like simple lifts at Rooty Hill and Doonside railway stations, have been ignored, and Mike Baird's good mate Tony Abbott has been just as bad at hurting Mount Druitt. When Tony Abbott slashed billions of dollars from state hospital and school budgets, Mike Baird put up as much fight as a doormat. Not content with that, Tony Abbott went on to make cuts to 14,500 Chifley pensioners. He axed the schoolkids bonus to 27,000 families, clamped down on family tax benefit B and ended trade training centre programs. With friends like that, Mike Baird needs more enemies! On March 28, Western Sydney can tell Mike Baird and his surfing buddy that Tony Abbott is not good for our state and we deserve better. Here is your chance to tell New South Wales we do not need a Tony Abbott mate; we need a fighter for our state.