Mount Gambier Electorate

Mr BELL (Mount Gambier) (15:53): I rise to speak on a few issues today, but of most importance is a young man in my electorate. His name is Hamish, and he is about to lose his job. He is a hardworking, diligent apprentice, and the reason for his job loss is nothing to do with him. It is the case that the apprenticeship he is undertaking has not fit under the Skills for All umbrella and, while we are in a state of transition to the new WorkReady program, nobody in this government can make a decision on what traineeship this individual can undertake.

Hamish will lose his job due to bureaucracy and also a lack of effort from Chris Pyne, who is manager of the traineeship and apprenticeship program. I have emailed Chris Pyne, and the response was, 'Talk to the minister.' Well, I will be talking to the Minister for Higher Education, because this is unacceptable. It is something that I want to stand up for and try to work through in a bipartisan way for a young person who is about to lose their apprenticeship.

I want to give some context to this because it is to do with the South-East Electric Motor Rewinds, a business that has been in operation for over 25 years. It is not a massive business with gold plating and all the rest. It has been in business since 1989, and in that time the owners, Peter and Virginia Harkness, have employed over 10 apprentices. Every two years, they put on an apprentice and train them up, and then those apprentices go on to bigger and better things.

We are at a stalemate, a stalemate where nobody will make a decision about the training this young person needs, which is the Certificate III in Electrical Machine Repair, UEE30611. It astounds me that I am standing here even talking about this, and it will be heartbreaking when I deliver the news to the parents, who are very supportive parents, of this young person that, due to bureaucracy and inertia that we just cannot move, a training solution at this point cannot be found. It disappoints me greatly to raise this matter.

Another matter I want to raise is the palliative care cuts to the Mount Gambier hospital. It is reported that up to 15 people will be losing their jobs due to these cuts; that is yet to be confirmed, but that is the report I have. There are real fears that the Geriatric Evaluation and Management (GEM) team will also suffer the likelihood of closing down. In country areas, these services are vital, in country areas like Mount Gambier where we have an ageing population. In fact, one of our growth industries in the South-East is retirement villages.

People are selling up in cities, coming down and buying into a retirement village at a reduced price and having disposable income. It is a good industry for country areas like Mount Gambier to be participating in, but the impact of that is an increase in demand for health services, particularly palliative care. These cuts are cruel and unnecessary and they are certainly going to hurt not only people within my region but also people who are thinking of transitioning to the region of Mount Gambier.

I also want to talk about a person I have got to know in my electorate, Paul Jenner, who is an ex-councillor and a productive member of our community. He has had a workplace injury, and the shoddy treatment by EMI—in fact, I cannot even call it shoddy treatment; it is the 'no treatment', no communication—has put an amazing amount of stress on Paul and he has been under suicide watch. The Attorney-General has not answered my calls to support Paul. All we are asking for is a level of communication to reduce Paul's stress. He is under the illusion that after 1 July he will lose any payment, a payment he actually agreed to back in January, yet there has been no communication with EMI whatsoever. I find that situation is totally unacceptable.

At 15:58 the house adjourned until Tuesday 30 June 2015 at 11:00.