STATEMENTS BY SENATORS

Senator DEAN SMITH (Western Australia) (13:36): Labor is punishing families in Perth's northern suburbs—punishing them by underfunding critical health services. Today I'm calling on the government to do more—to build a public hospital in Yanchep, in Perth's northern suburbs. The electors of Yanchep, Two Rocks, Alkimos, Eglinton Butler and Jindalee deserve better healthcare services.

They're asking themselves what they have done to cause Labor to punish them by not giving them important, urgent and desperately needed better healthcare services. There is a healthcare black hole in Perth's northern suburbs, and I'm calling on federal Labor to begin filling it. We already have land, and the Yanchep-Two Rocks District Structure Plan already supports a hospital.

Yet we have no commitment from federal Labor that they will fund a hospital and deliver better healthcare services to Perth's northern suburbs. Perth's northern suburbs are growing at a tremendous rate; 200,000 additional residents are expected in the city of Wanneroo over future years. A hospital is a legitimate need of residents in Yanchep, Two Rocks, Alkimos, Eglinton, Butler and Jindalee.

I have a simple question: why does federal Labor refuse to give families and pensioners the healthcare services that they deserve in Perth's northern suburbs? The clock is ticking—another day, another week, another month, another year. Labor will be punished by these residents if it doesn't lift its game and fund desperately needed healthcare services.