Wee Waa Hospital petition presented and debated in parliament

A double sitting week in parliament, and there were some interesting things happening in those two weeks. One of the most notable was the presentation of the petition to save Wee Waa Hospital followed up the next week by a debate on the petition. But I also gave evidence to the power outage inquiry, had some productive meetings with ministers and attended a few events.

This week I am heading out around the electorate again. Where possible I will be taking a look at some of the flooded areas around Narrabri and Wee Waa, along with planned meetings in both towns.

In the coming weeks I will be accompanying the Roads and Regional Transport Minister on a long trip through Barwon.

Petition to Save Wee Waa Hospital

Recently we heard news that Hunter New England Local Health District had restored Wee Waa Hospital to normal operating hours in response to the flood emergency. The hospital has been operating at “temporarily reduced hours” since May 2023. But HNE LHD said that they are only “temporarily extending the operating hours of Wee Waa Hospital” and that those “extended hours” would end on March 31.

This raises two issues: First, to say they were “extending” the operating hours for this brief period makes it sound like the reduced hours are the normal operating hours; Second, if they are so easily able to extend the hours now, why couldn’t they do it any time over the last two years?

During the sitting weeks the Save Wee Waa Hospital group, including Narrabri mayor Darrell Tiemens, travelled to parliament to present me with a petition of nearly 12,000 signatures. As I said Wee Waa Hospital has been at “temporarily reduced” opening hours (since May 2023), and Hunter New England Local Health District has failed to recruit the health staff needed to return it to full operational hours.

The petition asks for the hospital to be provided with an “onsite doctor”; for the restoration of 24-hour operation including emergency services, inpatient beds (general medicine, rehabilitation, respite, and palliative care), outpatient services, and primary and community health care services”; and for monthly reporting from the Hunter New England Health district to the minister, myself and the mayor of Narrabri on the status of the hospital until it is restored to 24 hour operation.

Petitions are a way of putting an issue before parliament, because when a paper petition gathers more than 10,000 (20,000 for online petitions) and is presented to parliament it can trigger a debate. While the debate doesn’t actually compel the government to do anything, it does raise awareness.

Sometimes it can take weeks or months from the time of the petition being handed over to the time it is debated, but in this case the debate took place the next week. The mayor returned to parliament for the debate, accompanied by representatives from the Save Wee Waa Hospital group.

It was a respectful debate, all speakers were united in wanting to see the hospital return to normal operations, although there were some differing opinions on how that should happen. I want to thank my parliamentary colleagues for their contributions – including the Member for Coffs Harbour Gurmesh Singh, the Member for the Blue Mountains Trish Doyle, the Member for Wagga Dr Joe McGirr, the Member for Northern Tablelands Brendan Moylan, the Member for Tamworth Kevin Anderson and the Health Minister Ryan Park.

The next steps are the independent inquiry into Hunter New England and the decisions it made in closing the hospital, which will reveal the decision making process of the executive. There is also a bill before the house to split the Hunter New England LHD, which would give the New England region back some control over its health services.

The hospital is a vital medical hub of a much larger area, if it continues to operate at reduced hours, it will cost lives.

With everything that is happening—the bill, the debate, the petition, and the independent review—the priority is to get a solution that will get the hospital back to serving the community as it should. I am working with people to make submissions to the independent inquiry and the inquiry into my bill. With what we reveal about Hunter New England’s decision-making processes, we will bring about some positive, lasting change.

Notice of Motion on vehicle tax change

It seems a bit of no-brainer to say that there are many aspects of life that differ for people living in the country, but it is always worth reminding parliament of some of the specifics. For one thing, living in the bush means having to buy vehicles capable of driving on unsealed country roads and of negotiating the landscape on properties where there are no established byways.
People in the country need mostly heavier 4WD drive vehicles, which also means they end up paying higher taxes and fuel costs.

To help raise some awareness of this during the March sitting period I moved a notice of motion in the NSW Legislative Assembly asking that the house:

1. Acknowledges that many people in the bush need to drive heavier, 4WD vehicles, just to get around.

2. Agrees that people in regional NSW pay more fuel excise through driving bigger vehicles and driving longer distances.

3. Notes that incomes in regional NSW are lower than in Sydney or most of the east coast.

4. Asks that weight based vehicle tax be capped for specific regional postcodes to reflect a standard sedan vehicle weight tax.

But it won’t end with a notice of motion, I am also having a bill drafted to reflect this motion.

Bush babies matter

This week I met with Jen Laurie, a mental health professional who runs HerHerd, a practice supporting rural women on the various stages of their motherhood journey. Jen’s practice is based in Armidale and Uralla, but she reaches out much further through Telehealth.

Jen has recently launched a petition titled “Bush babies matter” asking for a restoration of maternity services in the bush.

This is a cause that is of particular concern in Barwon, where there are few places that a woman can confidently give birth. It is something I have spoken on before in Parliament and I hope to see the petition gain enough signatures to bring it back before the Legislative Assembly.

I will be helping Jen in any way I can, and I urge you to sign the petition: www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/la/Pages/ePetition-details.aspx?q=9GuFd35ngbLKbL4bLXz0bw