On 28 March this year I rose to speak in this place about a massive reduction in the after-hours GP services at the Dianella Community Health Centre in my electorate of Calwell.
I tabled petitions of 1,406 signatures of very concerned residents calling on the federal government to provide the much needed funding to continue this vital service. With the failure of the federal government to date to provide this funding—and we are talking about $150,000 per annum to restore our after-hours services—understandably our community’s frustration is growing. But so is the community campaign.
As such, today I have a further 818 signatures to add to this ongoing community petition, which I would like to table. The petitions that I would like to table today, together with the ones that I tabled in the last sitting, give us a total so far of 2,224 signatures—not to mention over 700 letters that have gone to Minister Abbott regarding this matter. I want to make the point on behalf of my community that we will continue to petition the federal government until such time as those necessary funds are made available to restore this very vital community service.
The Dianella Community Health Centre is now engaging in a partnership with the Northern Division of General Practice and will be applying for funding under the government’s around-the-clock Medicare program. My constituents and I would like to plead with the federal government—in light of the massive budget surplus and its commitment to the wellbeing of the Australian community—to provide the funds required to continue this vital service.
I would like to table another petition today regarding an issue of concern to the people of Sunbury in my electorate of Calwell. I refer to the Calder Highway, which is a main arterial road, a federal road, that runs through my electorate and the neighbouring electorate of Gorton. The Calder Highway is horrifically dangerous and congested between the intersections with Kings Road, Sunshine Avenue and Calder Park Drive. There have been a record number of serious traffic accidents along the Calder Highway resulting in deaths and injuries—not to mention the countless and endless delays for motorists who use that arterial road to go to work and to return home. In fact the situation has been so bad at times that VicRoads have had to temporarily seal off some entrances and exits.
The petition that I have today of some 492 signatures, and more to come, calls on the House to (a) acknowledge that this section of the Calder is in desperate need of upgrading, (b) guarantee funding for the construction of proposed interchanges at Kings Road, Calder Park Drive and Sunshine Avenue, (c) subsequently enable the intersections with Robertsons Road to be closed and (d) support the general improvements to the Calder Highway. The Victorian government recognises the urgency and is prepared to provide 50 per cent of the $40 million required to construct the proposed interchanges.
The petitions read as follows—
To the Honourable Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives assembled in Parliament.
This petition of certain citizens of Australia draws to the attention of the House the significant reduction of the after hours medical service at the Dianella Community Health Centre in Broadmeadows due to the rejection of funding for this service by the Federal Government.
We are concerned that the loss of this excellent, affordable and accessible 7 day per week service, which has operated successfully for the past 30 years, will disadvantage many patients, as over 250 patients use the after hours service each week, fifty-one percent of which are health care card holders, unable to afford other GPs.
We are further concerned that this reduction in service will increase pressure on the already overstretched public hospitals as this is the only affordable and accessible after hours clinic in the area and 49% of patients seen by the clinic after hours would have attended a hospital Emergency Department if the after hours service did not run.
Your petitioners therefore ask the House to take immediate steps to provide funding to the Dianella Community Health Centre in Broadmeadows, to allow their after hours service to continue and expand.
from 818 citizens.
To the Honourable Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives assembled in Parliament:
This petition of certain citizens of Australia draws to the attention of the House the dangerous and congested condition of the Calder Highway between the intersections with Sunshine Avenue and Calder Park Drive. We call on the House to:
(1) Acknowledge that this section of the Calder Highway is in desperate need of upgrading; (2) Guarantee funding for the construction of proposed interchanges at Kings Road, Calder Park Drive and Sunshine Avenue; (3) Subsequently enable the intersection with Robertsons Road to be closed; and (4) Support general improvements to the Calder Highway. from 492 citizens
