Ahead of the federal election on May 21, the Mercury is asking candidates in the Whitlam electorate questions on the issues that readers have identified as the most important to them.
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One of these issues is health.
The questions the Mercury put to the candidates were:
- What steps will you take to ensure the Illawarra bounces back from the pandemic?
- How will you address healthcare pressures for Illawarra residents?
You can read the candidates' responses below.
The recent budget delivers the largest improvement to the budget bottom line in over 70 years. Unemployment is down to 4% - the lowest in 48 years. Despite the pandemic, there are 1.9 million more Australians in jobs than when the Coalition came into government. This shows our economic plan is working.
JobKeeper saved 700,000 jobs. HomeBuilder helped more than 100,000 Australians into a home. Taxes are lower for 12 million Australians and 3.6 million small businesses and sole traders.
We are providing incentives for businesses to take on more apprentices. There are incentives to invest in up-skilling staff and for the take up of new technology with 120% tax breaks. This is because a strong economy means we can afford to invest record amounts in healthcare.
We're investing heavily in affordable and accessible child care reforms to complement the Child Care Subsidy, to help more working families participate in the work force. We are increasing the subsidy by 30% for second and subsequent children in a family aged five or under, to a maximum rate of 95%. We have also removed the annual subsidy cap for families earning over $190k. These changes mean 250k families across Australia will be on average, $2,260 a year better off. These changes will result in an estimated 40k parents being able to work an extra day per week.
In addition to record funding of Medicare, our plan also includes; ensuring every Australian with Type 1 Diabetes has access to monitoring devices. Providing $58 million to help improve access to diagnosis, treatment and care for people who have endometriosis.
In Whitlam, we have contributed to the $700m re-development of Shellharbour Hospital, almost 1 million telehealth services have been provided locally. In our community, it is now easier to see doctors with a 93.20% bulk billing rate and more than 2.5m affordable medicines have been delivered locally under the PBS.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed exactly how fragile our health system is. The Greens will create and fund and a national Centre for Disease Control, and use the knowledge and research of this facility to ensure that Australia can produce our own vaccines as future health crises evolve.
In Whitlam, the Greens plan will have both Federal and State governments co-fund our health system, and accelerate the new hospital at Shellharbour. This will ensure that the people of the Illawarra have access to health support when they need it, and in the capacity that our growing population demands.
The healthcare pressures for the Illawarra are echoed all across Australia - our healthcare system is not universal. The Greens will correct the inequities by expanding gap-free Medicare services, including dental treatments and psychological treatments, and remove the cap on visits. By improving access to these services, we can treat issues before they need hospitalisation.
The Greens will provide additional funding and logistic support to First Nations community based health centres, and remove the institutional obstacles to culturally based healing services.
We recognise that the needs of women are not being met by our current system. We will guarantee free access to tampons and sanitary pads in schools, and provide more funding for Birthing on Country support services.
The Greens will also bring drug use out of the criminal justice system, and into the health system, where it can be treated beneficially. We will decriminalise drug use, introduce safe pill testing, and fund support services to help people who need it, instead of punishing them.
All of this can be funded by reinvesting the billions of dollars paid in private health insurance rebates, so that we all have access to public healthcare services.
Our region did it tough during the pandemic. We had businesses shut up shop and our major industries like tourism and retail were devastated by the economic downturn. We have to build back stronger after this pandemic.
The pandemic highlighted two areas in particular where our health system could not cope with the pressure of the pandemic.
Firstly, our aged care homes were at breaking point as a result of the pressures on the system from the pandemic. The Aged Care Royal Commission highlighted the failures of nine years of Liberal Government in this sector. Along with Anthony Albanese, I'm determined to put nurses back in nursing homes. Our Aged Care policy will ensure there is a registered nurse in nursing homes 24/7.
Secondly, families in our region are waiting too long to see a GP. We have families that are forced to wait weeks to just to see their local doctor. This is a result of Scott Morrison's cuts to Medicare and I'm determined to strengthen Medicare so our families can see their doctor when they need to.
Finally, if we want to build a stronger region out of this pandemic, we need a plan for local jobs. We can't be using Government investment in infrastructure, defence and renewable energy to create jobs in other countries.
We must use those opportunities to create future jobs for our children right here in Australia. That's what I'm determined to do through Labor's Future Made in Australia Plan. It includes a plan to ensure government rail purchases, defence procurement and renewable energy investment are used to create jobs right here in Australia.
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