Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today on behalf of my community to speak on an incredibly important issue facing the regional township of Murwillumbah in my electorate of Richmond. Recent changes under the Modified Monash Model have seen the Morrison government change the classification of Murwillumbah from a regional area to a metropolitan area. So Murwillumbah, which is a regional town of 9,000 people, is now classified in the same category as major cities like Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane. This is truly absurd. The fact is that Murwillumbah is not a major city, and my local community are rightly concerned and angry about this unfair classification.

The direct result of this government's actions will have severe implications for Murwillumbah, including, firstly, the reduction of incentives for medical professionals, including rural bulk-billing incentives, the Workforce Incentive Program and the Bonded Medical Program. The reclassification to metropolitan also means that medical practices in Murwillumbah will only be available to general-pathway registrars and no longer to rural-pathway registrars. That means that young doctors who choose the rural pathway can no longer train in medical practices in Murwillumbah. Incentives that attracted and maintained medical practitioners in our area have now been completely removed. Make no mistake: this decision will mean less bulk-billing and fewer doctors in Murwillumbah, so I urgently request that the government reclassify Murwillumbah back to regional.

It's important to note that there's a very high proportion of elderly people in the town and surrounding areas, so of course they have more complex healthcare needs and require more intensive levels of ongoing care. There's also a huge lack of public transport in Murwillumbah and on the North Coast generally, so, quite simply, these locals just can't get to GPs in other areas.

I have spoken in the House many times before about this government's harsh cuts to our healthcare services, and this change in classification will make it extremely difficult to attract new GPs to Murwillumbah, as those incentive payments just aren't there. The GPs are an integral part of the town in Murwillumbah. Their skills reflect the specific needs of people in the area. It's also important to note that Murwillumbah is renowned as an excellent centre for training our young doctors, and the town has an outstanding local hospital, which must be maintained.

As I often say, National Party choices hurt, and this decision by the Liberal-National government will really hurt my community in Murwillumbah. In this case, it's clear that this reclassification of Murwillumbah from regional to metropolitan is unfair, damaging and, quite frankly, makes no sense. I urgently request that the Morrison government change the classification of Murwillumbah back to regional to attract those incentives.

Ian Goodenough (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If no member objects, three-minute constituency statements may continue until 10.55 am.