Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

TEMPLEMAN () (): I want to pay tribute to retiring GP Dr Mike de Vries, who has served the Winmalee community, including my family, for pretty much as long as I've lived in Winmalee. I know Mike is looking forward to retirement, but he will be much missed at the Winmalee Medical Centre, which grew out of his original practice, where his wife, Jennifer, was practice manager for many years.

I don't know how many patients Mike will have seen in his four decades of caring for the mountains' locals, but last evening when I was speaking to a Canberra local who mentioned he had spent many years in the Blue Mountains, we somehow got onto the topic of GPs and, of course, Mike de Vries was his GP, and held in very high regard. Mike's a past chair of the Blue Mountains division of general practice. He has also had a long commitment to training up new GPs, which was really key in ensuring that we have had sufficient doctors available. Some loved it so much that they stayed. I note that for his efforts, among the many wonderful mountains' GPs who do supervise students, Mike was named supervisor of the year for the Nepean, Western Sydney and Northern Sydney training region back in 2021. I know he plans to continue doing GP training in his retirement.

We do need to see more doctors signing up to be GPs and there are some green shoots of promise. In 2024 close to one-in-five medical graduates said they aspired to a career as a GP or rural GP, with 17.5 per cent nominating general practice or rural generalism as their prefer speciality in the annual medical deans' survey. The numbers of junior doctors actually choosing to go into general practice grows each year. In 2024 more than 1,600 doctors accepted a place on a government-funded training program to become a GP or a rural GP—that's a 13 per cent increase on the year before. For 2025 more than 1,750 offers are expected to be made to junior doctors to begin government-funded GP training, leading to an intake that could be up to 10 per cent larger than 2024. It's a start, and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners expects to fill every one of the placements that it has available for the first time in years.

Australian GP training is delivered jointly by the two GP colleges that exist—the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine—and is fully funded by the Australian government. We will continue to look to GPs like Dr Mike de Vries to be training up the next cohort of GPs so needed throughout so many of our communities.

I haven't always been a Halloween fan, but when I went doorknocking several years ago in Bligh Park in the Hawkesbury part of my electorate, I started to see the fun of it. There were houses decorated with spiderwebs and pumpkins, and such a sense of fun and community. Now it's one of my favourite afternoons, as Bligh Park Community Services has picked up and run with the theme, holding a huge event at the Tiningi centre, bringing volunteers in from local schools and elsewhere to help. There is face-painting, ghoulish games and a very scary-looking haunted house adventure, and babies through to grandparents are there in costumes of all descriptions. The pair dressed up as Beetlejuice and the magnificent Day of the Dead characters were real highlights this year. Congratulations to Bligh Park Community Services and all the volunteers involved. To the Bligh Park residents who decorate their homes and take part in the event, you show an incredible sense of community through those actions.

I had the pleasure of celebrating women in small businesses at the ALIBI Awards in Penrith last month. Organised by Kylie King and emceed by the dynamic Olympic gold medallist beach volleyballer Kerri Pottharst, it was an evening where women encouraged and inspired each other. I don't think it was a coincidence that I was asked to present the golden entrepreneur of the year award—that's for someone over 60—and that went to Sue Mitchell. We also send big congratulations to Shelley Cootes from Penrith's Narrow Escape Rooms, Jess Chalk, Lynda MacCallum, Liesl Perryman, Jane Tweedy, Lisa Brownlie, Ebony Lowry, Melanie Cage, Sarah Knight, Teresa Tidball from Tidball Accountancy, Bianca Moore, Anna Simms from The Colour Blue Hairdressing, Monika Rodger, Megan Patterson, Alice Bullivant, Chantal Gerardy, Abbey Shepherd, Amee Dennis, Rach Mac, Fiona Harrison and ALIBI Business Lady of the Year Antoinette Stonham from All About Style. Congratulations to you all.

I want to thank the officers, defence personnel and civilians who made the RAAF Base Richmond open day last month such a success. Yes, it was a bit challenging getting in because no-one wanted to miss a minute and everyone turned up at the same time. But if you were one of the 15,000 people who came to that community day, once you were in, there was a wealth of Air Force and Army aircraft and military equipment on display, to explore inside and out and in the air, from Hercs to the F-35A Lightning II.

There was the Air Force balloon. There were military working dogs—and I've been in one of those Michelin suits, and it's as scary on the inside as it is watching from the outside. There were people to talk to—our air men and women, civilians and the incredible cadets based at Richmond. I hope that they were inspiration for some of the many young people who came. This was an overdue event. It's been a long time since there was a community open day, and it really gave the community access to something that is much loved and much valued in Hawkesbury.

And I can confidently say that RAAF Base Richmond is not going anywhere. The Labor government has committed to the biggest investment in the C-130J fleet that's ever happened. Not only does the $9.8 billion investment replace the 12 ageing planes but it adds eight more Hercs, so we'll have a fleet of 20, all produced by Lockheed Martin, starting from 2027. They'll be allocated to No. 37 Squadron at RAAF Base Richmond. Of course, this means we'll see more investment in the base. There will be additional simulators for training, more personnel will need to be accommodated and it will be busier than ever.

This is on top of the expansion of the National Aerial Firefighting Fleet, which has its New South Wales home in Richmond. I recently joined emergency management minister Jenny McAllister to check out the new national large air tanker and a Cessna Citation lead plane. There are two new Blackhawks and a Sikorsky added to the fleet—based in Sydney as well—so the fleet has the capability for fires and floods. This has been a big expansion of the fleet over the last couple of years, as recommended by the royal commission into the 2019-2020 bushfires.

So RAAF Richmond has a crucial role for our security in multiple ways, as far as the eye can see, and I reckon a full-on air show next year would be a perfect way to mark the 100th anniversary of the base.

I'm going to put on my Special Envoy for the Arts hat for a moment, alongside being the member for Macquarie. I recently had the privilege of officiating at the naming of a room in one of our oldest buildings, the Richmond School of Arts. The school of arts was officially opened by Premier Sir Henry Parkes in 1866, and it has hosted an array of events over the years, including lectures and classes, dinners, plays, concerts, dances and flower shows. It's used today mainly by artists, visual artists, and performers of all types, young and old.

The site's managed by a volunteer committee, and Margaret Thorne is one of the longest serving volunteers on the committee. And now, when the nervous performers get ready to go on stage, the green room they're in is called the Margaret Thorne Green Room.

Margaret joined the school of arts committee back in 1977, and she was elected the first female president in 1981. She stayed on as president until 2021 and is still involved as a volunteer with the school of arts. Among her many achievements was the incredible refurbishment over many decades of this beautiful facility, and installing a fully equipped kitchen, which the community loves having there, not to mention air conditioning and an audiovisual system. So she has made a huge contribution, and her name will now live on for many generations.

I was also privileged to be able to hand over life membership to Katrina Roberts, the treasurer of the Richmond School of Arts committee. That's a position she has held continually for the last 15 years. There have been many changes in that time, including the move from manual accounting systems to computer based systems, electronic banking and all sorts of partnerships, and I know she's the one who does a lot of the hard yards of grant application writing. Congratulations to both Margaret and Katrina and all the volunteers at the Richmond School of Arts.