CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS

Mr SMALL (Forrest—Opposition Whip) (10:13): Healthcare in this country, despite the political spin and the press releases, is under real pressure. In regional communities like mine that pressure continues to mount on families who simply can't afford it. We are seeing hospitals under strain and emergency departments stretched thin despite the best efforts of our nurses and doctors.

Last year, I rose in this place to draw attention to the ambulance ramping crisis in Forrest, and since that time neither Labor government has taken any meaningful action to address it. Ambulance ramping is unacceptable anywhere, but in the regions it's simply worse because there isn't another hospital just down the road. The reality is that in regional communities like mine the consequences are sharper and felt more deeply in our community.

I was recently contacted by Kim, who shared his telling experience with our healthcare system. Kim doesn't often need to see a doctor, but on this occasion required a basic consultation over the phone. He was told that it would cost him $75—that is, $75 for a 10-minute call.

How can we expect people in our regions who can't travel easily to manage their health when their first point of contact has become a financial burden? We all know that, at the same time, families are dealing with a lot right now. The cost of living is rising.

Groceries, power bills, rent—you name it. It's all going up. For those managing an ongoing or chronic condition, those pressures don't just add up; they multiply.

What that creates is a situation where people are forced into a choice: getting the care they need or keeping up with the bills they need to pay. That's simply not good enough. Despite the talking points from the government, people in the regions, people in communities like mine, don't see the progress that's claimed.

I turn to Margaret River, for example, where a growing, indeed surging, population for the last quarter of a century has placed huge demand on healthcare services locally. The community is crying out for upgrades to the Margaret River hospital because the current situation is unsustainable, and I stress that that is through no fault of the local staff, who are doing their darndest to make ends meet.

Every time I go to Margaret River, locals bail me up in the street to tell me that this is a major problem for their community. So I encourage everyone to have their voice heard, to sign my petition and to send a message to the government that this needs to be upgraded. Together we've got to stand for better health care in our regions, because this government sure isn't.