Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I was on the topic, with respect, and I will continue. While keeping people out of hospital is the goal, Labor has significantly refurbished the only Commonwealth owned hospital, the Mersey Community Hospital in Latrobe. Labor committed in 2007 to following through with the Commonwealth takeover of the hospital and, since then, has ensured that it is a valuable community asset. With over $200 million in investment, a significant boost on previous agreements for the hospital, there have been major refurbishments and the purchase of new equipment. Where the Coalition has seen and used this hospital as a political plaything, Labor has got on with the job of delivering a funding boost and ensuring that the people of north-west Tasmania get access to the quality health care they deserve. Importantly, the hospital is being run by the Tasmanian government as part of the north-west Tasmanian health system. With two quality hospitals within 40 minutes' drive, the Tasmanian hospital system is able to provide specialist care and services in either one facility or the other. This maximises the services available to north-west Tasmanians.

Labor has not stopped with just a refurbishment to suit existing conditions and existing staff. Ever with an eye to the future, we have invested over $1 million in a centre of excellence in clinical education at the Mersey hospital. This centre of excellence is ensuring that existing staff at the hospital are continuing their professional development, and it allows for the training of doctors and nurses and for allied health professionals to access quality training in their discipline.

Along the coast, in Burnie, Labor is on track to deliver a regional cancer clinic to provide treatment and support to north-west and west coast residents suffering from cancer. This $16½ million investment is the result of tremendous lobbying by the member for Braddon, Mr Sid Sidebottom, and the community at large, which unfortunately has the second-highest incidence of cancer in the country. When it opens, most north-west Tasmanians will not have to travel that distance away from their support networks, while those in the remote parts of the region will have less distance to travel.

Turning to education, no-one can drive across north-west Tasmania without noticing the 65 schools that were enhanced through the Building the Education Revolution. From the over $6 million invested in new classrooms at the amalgamated Romaine Park Primary School, in Upper Burnie, to the new $2 million science centres at Ulverstone High School and Yolla District High School that are giving students hands-on experience at botany, biology and applied science, these are real investments in the learning environment of students and in facilities for teachers. They are not overpriced school halls that the opposition so often shout about in this place. It is interesting that, when they are in here or when we catch them on a news interview, those opposite are more than happy to talk down these investments in school infrastructure which they know provided a much-needed boost to the schools both in Braddon and right across the country.

My advice to those opposite in this election year is simple: do not talk about them. Just pretend they do not exist, because we are really proud of them on this side of the chamber and we know millions of Australian children and their parents are proud of them too. Take the multipurpose halls and libraries that were built across the north-west coast, including at Spreyton Primary School. These halls are now the pride of a community like Spreyton, and they can be used after hours by other groups and on weekends to run events. A new library provides a warm and welcoming environment for students to become excited by reading, setting them up for a lifetime of learning.

Across the north-west, Labor's Nation Building Program has boosted the economic infrastructure that gets the fantastic goods our region produces to market and the social infrastructure of sporting halls and facilities and nature reserves. The new swimming pool at Devonport will enable year-round swimming lessons and recreation in an undercover pool for the people of the north-west. The shared pathways built from Ulverstone to Turners Beach and from Burnie through to Somerset are a now vital piece of community infrastructure connecting outer suburbs, with little or no public transport, to the larger centres. To see the hundreds of children and their families using these paths after school and on the weekends is evidence that they are worth every cent—families that no doubt receive the Schoolkids Bonus, a twice yearly payment designed specifically to help with cost-of-living pressures associated with raising a family and getting kids back to school. Most of these same families that use this pathway and benefit from the Schoolkids Bonus are benefitting now from the low-income superannuation co-contribution and cuts to taxes delivered by Labor. These are measures that this Labor government has implemented to make it easier for families to make ends meet, but those opposite would take them all away. They would take away the tax cuts, take away the boost to retirement savings and take away the cash assistance to help with the costs of raising kids.

Today the issue raised is about dysfunction, and we are here to talk about dysfunction. It is well and truly on display with the priorities of those opposite.