Fiona Phillips (Gilmore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was recently at a community event at Moruya, in my beautiful electorate of Gilmore, where the community got together and presented me and the member for Eden-Monaro with a petition, which I have with me today. The petition is calling for a new level 4 Eurobodalla hospital. Currently around two-thirds of patients have to travel outside of the area for treatment. Often that means a really long drive to Canberra. We currently have a level 2 hospital in Batemans Bay and a level 3 hospital in Moruya. But the idea is to have a new Eurobodalla hospital that is a level 4 hospital.

People thought that the new Eurobodalla hospital would actually provide those level 4 services, but they found that that was not going to be the case—that the hospital, when built, was not going to open with those much-needed services. The petition that I have, which I'm going to table later as a document, calls on the government to provide a level 4 service. If the hospital does not open at level 4, it will mean having no intensive care unit. Imagine having no intensive care unit. That means, again, a long drive to Canberra. The hospital is actually going to have fewer emergency beds, fewer maternity beds and no acute mental health beds. So it's really no great replacement for the current Batemans Bay hospital and the Moruya hospital.

Needless to say, people are pretty mad about that. I have been flooded with emails, comments and phone calls. The community are really getting together to act on that. We're also finding that the current Batemans Bay hospital is being run down. In the words of Phil: 'I write this from my bed in the high-dependency unit in Batemans Bay hospital. This is the last time I'll be treated here, due to the closure of this unit. The same treatment I receive today is now only to be had in Moruya. I am extremely disappointed with New South Wales Health's dismantling of our hospital before the supposed level 4 is even started. Yes, I'm old, so an appropriate saying is "Put the cart before the horse." This government department is dictating our medical wellbeing and health care. I for one have lost faith in them. The general public have been treated like mushrooms.' That's pretty much what people are thinking. They feel like they've been ripped off with what is currently happening. At the petition presentation—

Trent Zimmerman (North Sydney, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Are you seeking to present the petition?

Fiona Phillips (Gilmore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes.

Trent Zimmerman (North Sydney, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You should do it within your three minutes. Is leave granted for the document to be presented?

Leave granted.

Fiona Phillips (Gilmore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I present the document.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER : The document will be forwarded to the Petitions Committee for its consideration. It will be accepted subject to confirmation by the committee that it conforms to the standing orders.