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Dr ANDREW McDONALD (Macquarie Fields) [11.36 a.m.] [Inaugural Speech]: At the height of the Campbelltown Hospital crisis I was part of a group invited by Graham West, the member for Campbelltown, to meet Morris Iemma, then the Minister for Health. On that day I learned that both these men shared my commitment to social justice and the rights of our children. They wanted, as I did, a fair go for our people in south-western Sydney. It is a great honour and privilege for me to stand here with them today as the Australian Labor Party [ALP] member for Macquarie Fields. I thank you, Mr Deputy-Speaker, and my colleagues for the opportunity to address the Legislative Assembly today. Two things matter most to me in life: social justice, and the rights of the child. Social justice means the right of the child to the same life opportunities that everyone else has. The fight for every child to have social justice is what I have been working for all of my professional life. It embodies what the Australian Labor Party stands for. To me it is no accident that the first paediatrician ever to be elected to an Australian Parliament enters this place as a member of the Australian Labor Party. As the Hippocratic oath states:
In every house where I come I will enter only for the good of my patients. . . .
Today, using my themes of social justice and the rights of the child, I will tell my story of the three parts of my professional life: my electorate, my issues relating to children's health, and a bit about myself. I have worked with the community for the 17 years, so I will start by talking about Macquarie Fields. The electorate stretches for approximately 20 kilometres west of the railway line between Casula and Macquarie Fields and, like many of the electorates represented by others in this place, has a mixture of older suburbs, new housing developments, and semi-rural areas. The actual suburb of Macquarie Fields is only one of many. People in Macquarie Fields work long and hard. At 5.30 this morning the M5 at the Crossroads was bumper to bumper. At 6.00 a.m. both Macquarie Fields and Glenfield stations are packed. The trains are crowded, the trip long, the parking very difficult. The toll on health and family life is considerable.
I eagerly await the installation of lifts for the disabled at Glenfield railway station. At 6.00 one morning during the campaign I saw a mother carry her three-year-old sleeping child in one arm and her stroller in the other up the steep stairs. I did not get a chance to speak to her that morning, but I resolved that her silent struggle should not go unreported to the Parliament of New South Wales if I were elected. We have a large number of young families. To ensure social justice for our children, families need only two things from any government: time together as a family, and a future where the children are given the opportunities they deserve to take their place in our society. This is the most important challenge for the New South Wales Government. Just as the family that looks after its children looks after itself, so does a government that looks after its children look after itself. And the opposite applies: governments that neglect the needs of children do so at their peril. Mr Howard's WorkChoices will cause the children of my electorate to miss the one thing they need most for their futures: the gift of being parented. The parents I spoke to during the campaign were as acutely aware of this as the parents to whom the member for Wyong spoke.
One of the most attractive things about our area is that it has working multiculturalism. Our area is enriched by its ethnic diversity. For example, I visited three mosques during the campaign, where I was wonderfully welcomed by a fine set of fantastic Australians. Like most, my electorate of Macquarie Fields has a mixture of socioeconomic groups. The future of the children in my area, who are most disadvantaged, is largely determined by the time they sit for the basic skills test in year 3. Poor educational achievement and family disharmony are two adverse determinants of outcome in adulthood that the State Government can do, and is doing, something about. Labor initiatives, such as reduction in class size, are so important to the future of my people. As the Minister for Emergency Services, and Minister for Water Utilities, Nathan Rees, said last night, socioeconomic status strongly influences both perinatal mortality and life expectancy. Things are better than they were, but we still have so much more to do.
Members may recall the riots in Macquarie Fields two years ago. Since then significant improvements have been achieved for those who live in the public housing estate in Macquarie Fields. Father Riley's Youth Off the Streets Program greatly improved community police relations, and many hours of hard work by a large number of people, including those from many Sate Government agencies, have been major contributors to these improvements. Nevertheless, too many of our young people remain separated from the opportunities they deserve. As a paediatrician, I have had much contact with our local primary and high schools, and I can only say how proud this Parliament should be of the teachers at our local schools. They are among the most admirable professionals I have ever met. I will continue to work closely with the local schools during my time in politics. The schools I once visited for case conferences as a paediatrician I will continue to visit as a member of Parliament. Macquarie Fields TAFE and the University of Western Sydney are also central to the future of our area.
The other major problem for my area is meeting the challenge presented by the planned developments in the Bringelly, which will bring 300,000 extra people into the area. This is also a time for opportunity. I look forward to helping to implement the statewide plan for development. I will lobby for the infrastructure required for children who will come into the area on my watch. For example, the plan is that Liverpool Hospital will almost double in size to cope with the expected influx. I pay tribute to Mike Wallace, the Chief Executive Officer of South Western Sydney Area Health Service. He is committed to our people and is fair in distributing resources, even though he rarely gave me all of my "most reasonable" requests.
Having spoken briefly about my electorate I will share with the House my views on the future challenges statewide for my specialty of paediatrics. I have worked for 27 years in paediatrics in the New South Wales public hospital system. Paediatrics is changing. For example, the rotavirus vaccine will mean less demand than ever for paediatric in-patient care in a children's ward. The viability of these smaller acute care children's wards will affect every member in this House because the greying of Australia will mean competition for resources. Care once given in hospital can now be carried out in a child's home. Campbelltown and Liverpool paediatric ambulatory care units already lead the way in such care. These days, most of the workload of a paediatrician is caring for children with a disability. This can range from severe physical or developmental disability to more common and equally disabling physically invisible learning disabilities and autism. State Government services will bear the brunt of the increasing demand for the necessary assessments and ongoing care.
Fifty per cent of all paediatrician referrals are now for learning and behavioural problems, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder [ADHD]. All these new problems need a separate set of professionals—allied health professionals, including physiotherapists, educational psychologists, and special needs teachers such as the Speaker's wife, who flew out early this morning so as not to miss a day with her students in Armidale. These are vital areas that may be left behind when all levels of government allocate scarce funds. All of those services will be provided outside of the acute hospital system, which means that children will be at the cutting edge of the current Federal-State discussions on out-of-hospital funding. To prevent children, especially those who are already disadvantaged, from slipping through the cracks requires a better partnership among all levels of government, including the Commonwealth Government.
Another challenge for the medical profession in my electorate is the continuing shortage of doctors. As the House well knows, over the last 20 years the commonwealth has not trained enough doctors to meet demand. The Campbelltown Clinical School of the University of Western Sydney Medical School, as mentioned by the member for Wollondilly, Phil Costa, was opened by the Premier and the Minister for Health in February this year. The greatest day in the history of my hospital did not get a run on the evening news. I remain an Associate Professor at that school. The University of Western Sydney Medical School gives me great hope for the future of health care in my area and all of Western Sydney.
Over the last 10 years I estimate that over 3,000 local young people who had the ability to graduate as excellent doctors graduated from local high schools in my area. This is a lost generation who have been denied the opportunity by the commonwealth to obtain university places. The people of my electorate are the ones who will suffer more than most from the shortage. For that reason, I will continue to work one day per week pro bono as a teacher and clinician in Campbelltown and Liverpool. This will allow me to continue to see the children who mean so much to me, to pass on my skills to the medical students who will follow me, and to encourage them to seek their future in my district.
Turning now to my own life, I look forward to the challenges of politics. Doctors are not uncommon in Canadian parliaments. The Canadian Medical Association Journal states that doctors have the "soothingness of their bedside manner to compose the ruffled nerves of a feverish parliamentary assemblage". [Extension of time agreed to.]
In Canada, however, they believe that bearpits are best left to bears. My connection with politics dates from my childhood when my father became a local alderman. In 1975 I was fortunate to hear Jack Lang speak; my great-uncle was his parliamentary draftsman. To this day I remember the burning desire in his eyes to improve the lot of working families. From a medical point of view my road to Damascus was five years after graduating, when I moved, as one of only three staff, from the Mater hospital at North Sydney to Mount Druitt, as part of the initial Labor Government's Beds to the West Scheme. During my first shifts I was confronted by the dying young. I saw men younger than 40 dying of heart disease. I resolved to be a paediatrician in Western Sydney.
I trained in Australia and in England, where I was able to view firsthand the destruction that the Thatcher ideology wrought in the British public health system. I moved to south-west Sydney in 1990 with my wife, Jenny, who is present today, and our then six-weeks-old son. We have both worked for the last 17 years as paediatricians in the Macarthur district. For the past 10 years I have also had the privilege of working with the Aboriginal community at the Tharawal Aboriginal Health Service, and I intend to continue to do so. My next clinic is on Monday. Despite the best efforts of many, the state of Aboriginal paediatric health remains a national disgrace. I know what it was like to beg an ear, nose and throat surgeon to see a child who had no money and pus draining from their ears.
During my 17 years at Campbelltown and Camden most of my days have been filled with love. The parents' love and concern for their children permeates our children's ward. This love is coupled with the caring and professionalism of our nursing staff, with whom I have been truly privileged to share my working life. When asked by one of my parliamentary colleagues why I would leave a life of love for one of conflict, such as in the bearpit, the answer is simple: I see it as an extension of my role as a paediatrician, because politics determines how our children live and their futures. I feel that my presence here can be most helpful to those who mean so much to me. I am keen to contribute my skills to the Parliament and to the people of Macquarie Fields. The quiet courage shown by the families of sick children I have known gives me inspiration and strength to advocate for them. These families inspire me. They help me remember that what really matters to all of us, in this place as in all others, is the value of family and love for one another. It is why I am here. It is for them that I am here.
Before concluding my speech I will say a word of thanks to those who got me here. I look forward to working with all my parliamentary colleagues and to their guidance and support. The help I have received over the last three months has been magnificent. I pay special tribute to Melanie Atlee, my campaign manager, whose encouragement, support and enthusiasm were central to winning the seat of Macquarie Fields for the Australian Labor Party. To all those 101 people who stood out in the boiling hot sun in Western Sydney on election day, handing out for a cause that they believe in, thank you. Special mention needs to be made of John McLaughlin, Abdur and the Young Labor team for their work in the weeks prior to the election.
The biggest cheer on election night was for the success of Team Macarthur. The other members of Team Macarthur—the Minister for Gaming and Racing, Graham West; the member for Camden, Geoff Corrigan; and the member for Wollondilly, Phil Costa—were most supportive of my team during the campaign. In Macarthur we now have the Federal Member for Werriwa, Chris Hayes, Team Macarthur at state level, and committed local councillors led by the admirable Mayor of Campbelltown, Aaron Rule, all of whom are committed to improving the daily lives of those with whom we live. The Australian Labor Party local branch members have been most welcoming and helpful. I very much look forward to their support and advice during my time in politics. I suspect they will let me know in no uncertain terms what needs to be done!
Lastly, my family are everything to me. My wife, Jen, my mother and my father-in-law are present today. To Jenny and my children, Douglas and Edward, I give my thanks for simply putting up with me. As well as being one of the best paediatricians in New South Wales, Jenny has a never-ending commitment to our local community, coupled with a shared commitment to social justice. She is the real reason behind every success I have had in my life. In conclusion, Mr Deputy-Speaker and colleagues, thank you again. My commitment to my electorate is simple. It is the commitment I have always given to the parents of the kids who come to see me. While I am the member for Macquarie Fields, I will be there to listen to them, to help them whenever I can, not to make commitments I cannot fulfil, and to be honest with all.