Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Digital Economy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can you imagine, Deputy Speaker Wicks, with a tight family budget and your wages not growing, being told that you will have to pay up to $500 to get a life-saving scan, all because the Liberal government won't fund a Medicare licence for the MRI machine at your local hospital—and then being told that the money isn't there to support such a licence because Malcolm Turnbull has to shovel out billions in a corporate tax cut for the big end of town? That's exactly what's happening in Mount Druitt.

We had a hard enough fight to actually get an MRI funded for the local hospital, only to see the funding for it cut by the coalition government in 2013. The state Liberal government, to their great credit, funds a machine, but Malcolm Turnbull still won't fund an MRI licence for the hospital in Mt Druitt.

I recently started a campaign calling on the Turnbull government to provide the Medicare licence, because it is simply unfair to make people in our part of Western Sydney pay those huge costs up-front to get an MRI. These campaigns require people power, and in the last few weeks we've had thousands of locals respond, all wanting to send a message to the Turnbull government to back our local hospital. A massive thank you to everyone who supported the campaign to date. The fight isn't over yet. If you live in Chifley, between Mt Druitt and Blacktown, and want to support the issue, please email or call my office for a copy of the petition. Together we can ensure Chifley residents will have more accessible, affordable health care.