Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I, like yourself, Mr Deputy Speaker Southcott, will not be contesting the next election. I made that announcement yesterday. What I would like to put on record here in the House is my thanks to the people of the Shortland electorate for giving me the privilege of being able to represent them in this parliament. I know that, like yourself, being elected as a member of parliament is one of the greatest honours that can be bestowed upon a person. I was only the 949th person to be elected to this parliament. That shows how few people are actually given the privilege to represent their communities. The people of Shortland are phenomenal. They are the reason that I have been involved in politics for a very long time. I have tried to make their lives better and deliver to the communities that I represent. I thought it was appropriate that I formally thank them today in this parliament because they have been such a motivating force. I think that, together, we have done lots of good things. We have built a strong community and will continue to do so right up until the election is called.

There are a couple of projects that I have been working hard on with people. One is the National Broadband Network, and the problems with the NBN, in the Shortland electorate. Hopefully, we can resolve those problems before the next election. But there is one way that people can bring about a resolution to that problem, and that is to vote for the Shorten Labor government at the next election. There is also the issue surrounding the Belmont Medicare office. The Howard government closed it, Labor opened it and now this government is seeking to close it again. I had overwhelming support from people this weekend when I was in the shopping centre outside the Medicare office. People were lining up to sign the petition. The closure is a very bad decision.

There is another issue I want to mention. We all know this is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. I was very disturbed and very upset this morning when I found out that Jill Emberson, who is the morning presenter on 1233 ABC Newcastle, has been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. It really brings home how common ovarian cancer is. The symptoms are very vague; the outcomes are very poor. I wish Jill all the best in her journey and in the battle that she will have with ovarian cancer.