Barker Electorate

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (15:47): I rise today to talk about the federal electorate of Barker, in particular the south-eastern part of that electorate where I live. Labor's candidate for Barker, Mat O'Brien, has been working extremely hard across this electorate, which covers more than 65,000 square kilometres. He has travelled from his home city of Murray Bridge to the Riverland, the Barossa and throughout the South-East, sincerely listening to people's concerns.

Mat joined me at many community corner meetings last week, in places such as Millicent, Mount Gambier (where he ran the gauntlet with The Border Watch journalist Raquel Mustillo), Mount Burr (where he survived a grilling from local The South Eastern Times journalist Fred Smith), and Port McDonnell, where I live. We also attended a number of events in Naracoorte and had the opportunity to speak to many residents about the issues that matter to them.

One thing was very clear: people in Barker want a local member who is focused on the area, not someone who is focused on Canberra game playing, the Canberra chaos that is otherwise known as the Liberal Party caucus room. The member for Barker, Tony Pasin, continues to duck and weave about his role in creating the Canberra chaos that we have seen over the last few years. After all, it was not just Nicolle Flint from South Australia who signed the party room petition to roll Malcolm Turnbull as prime minister and attempt to install Peter Dutton. No; we know the member for Barker played just as much a role and has been central to the chaos and dysfunction that we have seen in Canberra since that time.

While the member for Barker plays political games in Canberra, his residents miss out in the regions. We have seen nothing from the member for Barker, while residents of Keith have had to beg for their hospital to remain open. In fact, it has now got to such a poor state that the local council has had to step in while the federal and state Liberals shuffle and obfuscate.

Of course, we saw from the very first Abbott budget that the Liberals will cut funding for health at every chance. For the residents of Keith, that now means cost shifting to their local council, which means they are paying more through their rates. Yet, we had promises before the last state election that there would be no cost shifting—clearly just another broken Liberal promise.

While the member for Barker is adding to the Canberra chaos, the Labor candidate for Barker is actually out in the community talking to people about Labor's positive plan for the South-East. People value Labor's commitment that every public school in the South-East will receive a boost in funding, from the smallest schools to the largest. Unlike the Liberals, Labor believes in education as a top priority, and every one of the public schools in Barker, will receive better funding under a federal Labor government, if elected on Saturday, than under the federal Liberals.

I was at McDonald Park primary school recently with Labor Senate candidate Emily Gore, and parents there were pleased to hear that their children's school will receive $810,000 extra in funding. Mount Gambier High School will receive over $1.3 million extra; Naracoorte High School, which I visited last week with Mat O'Brien, $730,000; Grant High School over $1.2 million; Millicent High School $840,000 extra; Millicent Newbury Park Primary School, which we also visited last week, $180,000 extra; Reidy Park Primary School (my old primary school, which I visited also with Mat O'Brien and another Labor Senate candidate, Marielle Smith, last week) $740,000 extra; and Mount Burr Primary School $90,000 extra.

In total, more than $35 million extra will be directed to schools in the electorate of Barker should a federal Labor government be formed after Saturday. Residents in the South-East have also welcomed federal Labor's announcement that it will boost funding and give local people access to a specific prostate cancer specialist nurse. Labor's Medicare cancer plan will invest $2.3 billion in cancer care and dramatically slash out-of-pocket costs for cancer patients.

Health and education, after all, are areas that a Labor government cares about, whereas a Liberal government just cuts, with South Australia's regional hospitals set to lose $21 million under a Liberal federal government. That is 14 doctors and 30 nurses from regional hospitals.

An honourable member: How many?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: Fourteen doctors and 30 nurses from regional hospitals, and regional residents should rightly be outraged by that. The people of Barker need a member who will listen to them. Labor's Mat O'Brien was warmly welcomed at the meetings across the South-East last week. Even those who do not support Labor's policies appreciated that Mat was out in the community willing to listen to their concerns.

I believe the residents of Barker are well and truly sick of having their vote taken for granted by the Liberal Party. They deserve better than that. The Labor candidate, Mat O'Brien, is focused on the people of Barker, not on game playing in Canberra. Let us hope that Tony Pasin's Canberra chaos is resoundingly defeated on Saturday.