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GLENN KOLOMEITZ
(ALP) SENATE CANDIDATE FOR NSW
Infrastructure: The Maldon-Dombarton freight rail link, between the Main South line near Picton and Port Kembla, will significantly improve freight access for the Illawarra. This will have a direct and tangible effect on growth in the region. A feasibility study gave the following reasons: increases in coal and other freight; increased congestion on the Illawarra line; heavy truck traffic on Mt Ousley; encouragement of investment in the Port Kembla area; and reduced noise and pollution in urban areas. Such scope for opportunity and growth in the Illawarra was recognised by the federal government in its allocation of $25.5 million under the Nation Building Program to advance the project.
Health: As in other rural and regional areas, there is a shortage of doctors in the Illawarra. Under a Labor federal government, the number of GP training positions increased significantly. Under the former NSW Labor state government, the number of intern positions increased significantly. It is incumbent on both state and federal governments to ensure the impetus of increasing intern and specialist training positions continues. This would assist medical graduates from UOW to train and remain in the Illawarra. While in recent years we have been appropriately reliant on importing overseas trained doctors to fill the breach, the new influx of Australian-trained doctors will reduce such reliance.
Unemployment: Regional Australia will benefit from the identification, by research and competitive intelligence, of innovative business opportunities in order to supply the domestic and global markets with needed goods and services.
Regional communities in China coupled innovation with skills and manufacturing adaptation to exploit that country’s economic emergence. Communities in the United States, which have failed to embrace such innovation and adaptation in the manufacturing and technology sectors, have suffered a decline in investment and employment.
The University of Wollongong is already converting research into innovative business opportunities and is attracting investment.
Innovation plus skills adaptation is a recipe for investment, growth and jobs.
Cost of living: The government has consistently emphasised the need for flexible and affordable childcare arrangements and increased wages for childcare workers. To that end, Labor has pledged to roll out trials aimed at meeting the needs of shift and low-income workers. Further, Labor has committed to a $300m boost to the wages of childcare workers in the next two years with a view to long term increases in the sector.
Labor MPs and candidates have been working to develop housing affordability options at the local level. This real action augments Labor’s commitment to increased supply and incentives to build.
Schooling and job prospects: Did not respond.
Higher education: Did not respond.
Climate change: Did not respond
CUNNINGHAM
SHARON BIRD (ALP)
Infrastructure: Building the Maldon-Dombarton rail link, like the roll-out of the NBN, is transformational infrastructure for the Illawarra region. The Maldon-Dombarton rail link will become a new gateway between Wollongong and the third-biggest economy in Australia: south-west Sydney. The regional asset of the port of Port Kembla can become the port of choice for the export businesses of south-west Sydney.
Labor has put $50 million on the table to work with the private sector to build this rail line. When I started campaigning for Maldon-Dombarton seven years ago, many people thought I was dreaming. Now it’s on the way and every candidate supports it.
Health: Illawarra residents deserve access to good, quality, affordable healthcare. Federal Labor has invested in our local hospitals. We’ve invested $12.1 million to build a new Illawarra Cancer Care Centre and $5 million to build a new clinical teaching and training facility at Wollongong Hospital. We have a fairer funding system for hospitals.
Federal Labor is investing more in doctors and nurses. We’ve invested $950,000 in upgrading local family GP clinics in my electorate. This has meant expanding facilities so more patients can be treated by local GPs. And we have improved Medicare bulk billing and increased PBS-listed medicines.
Unemployment: Did not respond.
Cost of living: Federal Labor has helped families and pensioners manage cost of living pressures.
We have provided the biggest increase in the age pension in a century. We have helped 7150 families with back-to-school costs for over 12,000 in my electorate with the Schoolkids Bonus.
The Liberals will abolish this assistance.
We have increased the Child Care Rebate from 30 per cent to 50 per cent and provided the rebate up-front helping more than 5700 families. We have delivered Paid Parental Leave benefiting nearly 2000 local families in Cunningham.
We have delivered record low interest rates lowering the cost of the average mortgage by up to $6000 each year.
We have cut income taxes with the average wage earner in Cunningham paying nearly $2000 a year less in tax than in 2007-08 and tripled the tax-free threshold to $18,200.
Schooling and job prospects: The Illawarra economy is transitioning from heavy industry to high quality manufacturing and services. This requires a skilled, highly trained workforce.
In Cunningham, Federal Labor has invested nearly $100million on modernising each local school. Labor’s Better Schools package will deliver an average $1.6million extra to every school in our area.
We’ve provided more than 7800 computers and invested nearly $4million in local school Trade Training Centres. We’ve invested in record numbers of apprenticeships and traineeships.
We’ve invested nearly $13million in improving TAFE facilities at the Wollongong and West Wollongong TAFE campuses. We are determined to protect our TAFE system for the future.
We’ll also connect every premise to the NBN infrastructure that will deliver high speed fibre broadband because education doesn’t stop at the school gate and our children need and deserve the broadband of the future.
Higher education: Labor has always invested in university education and worked to improve access for all to a university education since we were elected in 2007.
Federal Labor has invested substantially in University of Wollongong since 2007 because as a regional institution it is a key part of the Illawarra’s economic transition.
We have built three brand new buildings: $43.8million for the Australian Innovative Materials Facility; $35million for the SMART Facility; and $25.5million for the Sustainable Buildings Research Centre.
We have invested an additional $31million to construct the Early Childhood Facility and provided substantial funding for UOW’s research and development capacity, which will create the jobs and products of the future.
This year alone, nearly 200,000 more students are attending university across Australia.
Climate change: Federal Labor is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing energy efficiency. Federal Labor’s policy is to place a price on carbon. We introduced a carbon price after 2010 and we will now transition even sooner to an emission trading scheme in 2014. Households and industry have been compensated for the one-off price impact. Federal Labor has introduced a 20per cent renewable energy efficiency target, which is seeing an investment in renewable energy. Energy efficiency in Australian households and businesses is improving and emissions are falling. I announced only last week that the University of Wollongong would receive a $2.2million Clean Technology Innovation Grant. Federal Labor has established an Independent Expert Scientific Committee on coal seam gas to ensure assessment processes consider the impact of any proposals on water resources. It remains the case that CSG proposals are statutorily regulated by State and Territory Governments. NSW Labor has adopted a policy to ban CSG activities in ‘‘special areas’’ of the Sydney catchment.
JOHN FLANAGAN (NON- CUSTODIAL PARENTS PARTY (EQUAL PARENTING))
Infrastructure: Completion of the Maldon-Dombarton rail link. The estimated cost is $624 million to $667 million (reference ACIL Tasman "Maldon-Dombarton Rail Link Feasibility Study", September 2011).
From the ACIL report, the reasons for the completion of the railway line would be: Increased exports through Port Kembla. Less goods trains and more rail passenger services to and from Sydney. Reduced truck traffic on Mount Ousley. More investment in the Illawarra area. Reduced noise and air pollution.
As a result, all residents of the Illawarra would benefit from the completion of the link.
Health: The national health budget in 2012-13 is $74.5 billion. These funds are mainly spent just trying to fix the physical and mental health problems after they have occurred. We would fix the reasons behind many of these physical and mental health problems in the first instance.
These reasons include: family court and child support problems; family violence order bias; false sex abuse claims; gender discrimination.
The need for additional doctors would not only be reduced, the people of the Illawarra and the nation would also benefit from this change of direction.
Unemployment: There are 43 per cent of child support payers out of work because of the child support scheme.
This equates to 1500 people in Cunningham (with similar numbers in other electorates).
To overcome this problem, the Non-Custodial Parents Party (Equal Parenting) would reverse the taxation treatment of child support payments and exclude overtime pay from child support calculations and/or set a fairer payment cap on child support payments. We will also ensure non-custodial parents are not financially penalised because the custodial parent chooses not to work when they have the ability to do so, and create a link between court-ordered custody arrangements and child support payments.
Cost of living: Poverty in the Illawarra is worse than in most other areas (Illawarra Mercury page 5, 17 August 2013).
Children from single parent families are further disadvantaged.
They are also twice as likely to live in poverty as compared to children that live in intact families (ABS 1370.0).
Affordable housing and childcare are significant problems for single parent families in the Illawarra.
Equal parenting after divorce or separation is the only way.
This shifts the balance of the costs to both parents.
There are also bonuses. For example there is less of a need for childcare facilities as there is for single parent families.
Schooling and job prospects: Structural changes in the Illawarra can have a significant adverse impact on family relationships with its subsequent social problems.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics published a report titled Parental Divorce Or Death During Childhood in September 2010. This ABS Report found that on average, those who experienced parental divorce or separation had lower levels of school completion, less employment participation and lower personal income as an adult than those who did not. To help reduce the effects of these outcomes, we support the need for strengthened shared parenting legislation. This is to ensure the full implementation of a rebuttable presumption of equal-time shared parenting.
Higher education: The University and the TAFE institution are an important part of the Illawarra economy. Unlike previous elections, school education is not playing a role in the 2013 election. The Coalition has locked in funding for the next four years by supporting Labor’s Better Schools Plan.
There is a fine line between simply just providing funding to an education facility and providing funding that is properly spent.
If the University and the TAFE continue to deliver a product that the community want to use, then there will be inevitable funding.
The onus is on the University and TAFE to provide this product.
Climate change: Carbon tax is an additional unnecessary tax. However climate change and CSG activities are more complex issues. Climate change and CSG are issues that have proven to be divisive. This is because of the emotive nature of community concerns, competing interest groups and a lack of reliable factual information. The impact of agricultural and normal mining activities on our groundwater systems is much more significant than CSG mining in Australia. Both of those two activities still proceed. We would support CSG mining. However, this should only occur after there has been a satisfactory detailed risk assessment done.
CHRIS ATLEE (PALMER UNITED PARTY)
Infrastructure: I believe the most crucial piece of infrastructure for the long term is the F6 extension. It will make the region more accessible to business by making us a shorter drive from Sydney Airport. Being more accessible, we will be able to compete with areas such as Western Sydney and the Macarthur. More business in the area means more local jobs. The extension will also cut the travel time for local residents who currently commute, giving them more time with families.
Health: We have a policy that would inject $80 billion in direct funding to hospitals, including those in the Illawarra. We believe that people have a right to adequate and affordable healthcare. The Illawarra has been ignored as it is viewed as a safe Labor seat. Let’s make it marginal.
Unemployment: Did not respond.
Cost of living: Did not respond.
Schooling and job prospects: Did not respond.
Higher education: Did not respond.
Climate change: Scrap the carbon tax, bipartisan commission to study climate change and work on locations and immediate ban on CSG until its true effects can be determined.
PHILIP CLIFFORD (LIBERAL)
Infrastructure: The Illawarra has long been neglected by Labor, which has held the region back in terms of infrastructure and services delivery. Transport connectivity for both commuter and freight is incredibly important to our region. We need to get heavy haulage off major congested roads and onto other transport routes to increase safety and improve commuter times. This will improve the economy and create more jobs. I believe that with hard work we can achieve great results for the Illawarra and I will provide strong representation for the people of Cunningham to ensure that our region gets the infrastructure and attention it deserves.
Health: The Coalition will invest in Australia’s medical workforce and prepare the health system for the demographic changes ahead. Among other measures, we will strengthen primary care by providing $52.5 million to expand existing general practices for teaching and supervision and invest $119 million to double the practice incentive payment for teaching in general practice. We will also provide 500 additional nursing and allied health scholarships for students and health professionals in areas of need as well as $40 million for 400 medical internships.
A healthier Illawarra means a stronger and more productive region. The last Coalition government delivered a world-class health system underpinned by a growing, strong economy, and we can do it again.
Unemployment: Only the Coalition has a plan to reduce unemployment and build a stronger, more stable and more prosperous economy in the Illawarra and across Australia.
We will create one million new jobs over the next five years and two million over the next decade. We will promote the Illawarra as an ideal place to set up enterprises, help boost consumer confidence and support the more than 28,000 local employers with tax cuts.
Our Coalition team will improve job security and increase employment opportunities by getting the basics right with strong leadership, sound economic management and supportive soft and hard infrastructure.
Cost of living: Did not respond.
Schooling and job prospects: If elected, one way a Coalition will support young people after school is to help apprentices to complete their training with interest-free Trade Support Loans of up to $20,000. The Illawarra has high youth unemployment levels and apprenticeship completion rates are far too low. Our region’s productivity and competitiveness depends on a skilled and trained local workforce and this policy will help to lift apprenticeship completion rates, build a skilled local workforce and strengthen the Illawarra’s economy. Providing better support to apprentices is just part of our Real Solutions Plan to build a stronger region and a better future for all Australians.
Higher education: Higher education is vital to our regional economy and the University of Wollongong is the educational heartbeat of the Illawarra.
During the Howard years, students in higher education increased by 63per cent, total government funding increased by 13per cent in real terms and total funding increased by 65per cent.
The Coalition will again help to foster the creative and economic potential of universities by reducing their compliance burdens and helping to expand their share of international markets, particularly important for the University of Wollongong being so close to Sydney. I am proud of our world class higher education system, but it can be even better.
Climate change: The Coalition will provide direct incentives to reduce carbon emissions and implement ‘‘green army’’ projects to deliver positive environmental change in the Illawarra. We will also reduce cost of living pressures by abolishing Labor’s carbon tax and ensuring the benefits are passed to consumers through lower prices. The carbon tax has increased electricity prices by 10per cent, gas prices by 9per cent and next year alone, an average family will be $550 better under our plan. With respect to coal seam gas, we support a two-kilometre buffer zone around residential areas and an independent federal panel to ensure scrutiny and safeguards for CSG exploration
HELEN WILSON (GREENS)
Infrastructure: The Greens want better public transport so my choice is to improve the rail line to Sydney. Many Cunningham residents travel to Sydney daily. The long journey is burdensome and is causing a "brain drain" from the region. Infrastructure NSW has recommended that there should be a 60-minute commute from Wollongong to Central and has costed a pilot program at $100 million. This could be funded through the next round of Infrastructure Australia grants if there was a strong Cunningham advocate. There should also be a separate freight line.
Health: Access to doctors (and dentists) needs to be more affordable but this might not be the only way of solving our health problems. The Greens would put more resources into preventative health. We’d promote healthy eating and active transport, and would restrict alcohol and junk-food advertising.
The Mercury reported that the major burdens on our health system are aged care, chronic disease and mental health. These lend themselves to community solutions: better support for living at home, for chronic issues like pain management and for mental health conditions.
Greens health policies address the gap between city and country services.
Unemployment: Youth unemployment here is 10 per cent higher than for adults, so job creation schemes should focus on getting young people into the job market. They need work experience and educational opportunities.
TAFE should be strengthened and university funding increased. Apprenticeships need boosting, with living wages and adequate training. The Greens also see creative jobs as jobs of the future. We’ll value and promote our creative young people through living wage support and royalty schemes for young and emerging artists, startup funding for new arts businesses, and live music protections. The Greens will defend penalty rates and job security, especially to ensure better rights and conditions for weekend and casual workers, who are often young people. Secure jobs are sustainable jobs: jobs that will be available for the next generations.
Cost of living: Low income individuals and families have more than cost of living pressures. Many are living well below the poverty line and can’t afford basic necessities. For a start the Greens would increase Newstart, Youth Allowance and Parenting Payments. The supply of public and community housing is woeful, with up to 10 year waiting lists. We’d make substantial investment in more social housing. Almost a third of Illawarra households are rented and the Greens would improve renters’ rights. Like other levels of education, child care is an essential service and should be funded as such. Greens MPs have called for an inquiry into this.
Schooling and job prospects: Our public high schools educate most of the students at risk of unemployment. To help schools encourage disadvantaged students the Greens will add a further $2billion to Labor’s Gonski funding plan in its early years.
Now that students have to stay at school until they’re 17, these schools must have the resources to give them skills, confidence and resilience. Students need to be aware of local job and study opportunities. Schools need to liaise with TAFE, prospective employers and community services. They need well-targeted and funded vocational programs.
Higher education: A strong higher education sector is crucial to Wollongong’s future as a smart and innovative city.
Look at the wonderful success of Team UOW’s Illawarra Flame House. We need more projects like this to solve problems and make what we need for our low carbon future. We must invest in research to grow our knowledge and skills. The Greens would increase university funding, not cut it. We also need to maintain a vital and equitable vocational education sector to address looming skills shortages.
TAFE should not have to compete with private providers. We’ll spend an extra $400million per year to protect its viability as a strategic public asset.
Climate change: The Gillard government’s Clean Energy Act, designed in partnership with the Greens, set up an excellent framework for tackling climate change. The carbon price paid for an array of programs to reduce emissions and develop renewable energy. Many Illawarra manufacturers have increased their energy efficiency through the Clean Technology Fund. The Greens want to keep these programs in place and grow them. We need our coking coal for steelmaking, but coalmining should not be allowed where there are possible risks to our water catchment. CSG operations should never be permitted to compromise the quality of our water, farm lands and national parks.
JOHN BURSIL (KATTER’S AUSTRALIA PARTY)
Infrastructure: Did not respond
Health: Did not respond.
Unemployment: Did not respond.
Cost of living: Did not respond.
Schooling and job prospects: Did not respond.
Higher education: Did not respond.
Climate change: Did not respond
