CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS

Mr CHAFFEY (Parkes) (16:59): Twelve-year-old Kian, from the Parkes electorate, has written a speech for the Raise Our Voice competition, and it's a beauty. Before I read it out, I'd like to tell you a bit about the story of Kian Al Habbas and his family as told to me by their friend Al Karanouh, a councillor on the Coonamble Shire Council. Al, who owns the Global Village Restaurant and Cafe in Coonamble, is very proud of Kian and his family.

Kian's mum, Janice, originally from the Philippines, married an Australian and came to Coonamble, working to earn enough money to bring her three children all the way out to Coonamble. Unfortunately, Janice's husband died not much more than a year after she arrived in Australia. Janice continued to work hard in Al's cafe, working day and night to save money.

Within five years she had earned enough money to buy two homes. She brought her children, Mustafa, Sofia and Kian, to Australia, where they have become a very integral part of Coonamble life. The family is over the moon that Kian's speech is one of the speeches chosen in the Raise Our Voice competition.

There are two other stand-out speeches from young people in the Parkes electorate for the competition. They were from Lilah, aged 12, and Molly, aged 16. Today I would like to read Kian's speech: Yaama.

My name is Kian and I am 11 years old. I am going to tell you about a big issue that is shaping my future—access to resources. For us to get access to medical facilities we have to travel a long distance.

Dubbo is our closest place for big medical services. It is 160km away from Coonamble. In Dubbo hospital, there are only 210 beds, for 130,000 people in its area.

This is not enough. People have to wait weeks or months for important appointments. Why would you let thousands of people wait and nearly die when they need hospital support?

The health service in Coonamble is even worse. With only 11 beds and limited doctors, we have to wait over an hour to be seen. This is horrible.

We also do not have specialists in town and need to travel to visit bigger towns to see special doctors. People in country towns deserve stronger government support for better access to medical facilities. Access to medical services is important to make sure that everyone in our town is safe and healthy.

Yes, Kian, it is important, and we—the Liberals and Nationals in a coalition—will continue to fight to make sure that better access to health care is available. Thank you for your speech, and I wish you and your family and the beautiful Coonamble community all the best.