Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Those of the 46th Parliament would remember that I spoke in this place on numerous occasions about the need to improve access to child care in our regions. I rise in the 47th Parliament to continue my advocacy in this space. While the Labor government held a talkfest last week about skills and employment and have indicated they will support the unions in their fight for more membership, they've failed to do something very simple to assist the Kingston South East community see more parents re-enter the workforce. Lack of child care has been holding back that community for many, many years. Enrol children before birth and drive 140 kilometres or don't work: those are the options available to parents crying out for childcare services in this regional town already struggling to fill jobs. The existing childcare service has a waiting list as long as the coastal town's jetty. Despite the Labor Party making an election commitment to match the coalition's funding of $1.8 million for a new childcare centre to be built, the community has heard nothing but crickets about the election commitment from those opposite.

The project all hinges on this funding. Without written confirmation from the federal Labor government—and Minister Aly in particular—of the $1.8 million and the time frame on delivering this funding, the project cannot move forward. An issue that has been talked about for 40 years, a proactive community who have been working on this issue together, with my full support, and a local council working hard over five years all culminated in the announcement of federal funding from both major parties during the recent election campaign. And, yet, now the dust has settled from their election win, the Labor Party are now nowhere to be seen or heard.

The community who suffered during the Black Summer bushfires but didn't receive the same support or attention as other regions are now feeling forgotten all over again. To those opposite, I say: it's about time you put your money where your mouth is. Don't turn your back on this community. I'm going to remain a thorn in your side until you make good on your election commitment to the people who live, work and are raising a family in the community of Kingston South East of South Australia.

Child care isn't the only issue facing regional communities. Seeing a GP in a rural and regional community has never been simple. There has always been a distribution issue in this country, where GPs are plentiful in metropolitan areas and scarce in the regions. While the pandemic migration pause has seen this issue become more widespread, there is no doubt the issue is still more acute in rural, regional and remote Australia and those opposite, in all their wisdom, have decided to take away incentives for GPs to work in regional areas.

The Distribution Priority Area classification identifies locations in Australia with shortages of medical practitioners and ensures overseas doctors are prioritised to work in those regions. Upon coming to government, the Labor Party wasted no time in changing this system. To increase the supply of GPs in suburban areas, internationally trained GPs can now work almost anywhere they want. The evidence suggests they will more than likely choose to work in the suburbs, rather than the regions.

To spell it out for those opposite, I want to give an example of just how desperate we are in regional South Australia for a GP. Kimba, in the member for Grey's electorate, is so desperate for a doctor that they're offering a rent-free house and rent-free use of a brand new medical centre. The local council there have commissioned a video, starring local residents and outlining the positives of living in Kimba, to try and attract a GP. In my own electorate of Barker, the Lameroo and Pinnaroo district is offering an annual salary package of—wait for it!—$750,000 for a GP who is willing to come and work in that area. Communities are going to extraordinary lengths, I'd suggest to you, to get a practitioner to come and work there. And, while our regions are so desperate, the Labor Party are making policy that funnels potential GPs away from the regions and into the metropolitan centres that they represent.

Now, I've got an offer for the minister, a fellow South Australian. I invite him to come with me to the regions. Come to Keith. Come to Lameroo. Come to Pinnaroo. Come to Kimba. I'll drive. But talk to the community—understand their issues and the impacts your policies are having on them.