Mr THOMAS GEORGE (Lismore) [5.24 p.m.]: I also wish to offer the congratulations of members on this side of the House to Father Doug Rheinberger on 50 years of service and dedication to the priesthood. His support for the community has been well and truly documented, and I am sure all members join in passing on our congratulations. Today I bring to the attention of the House the concerns of the Lismore electorate about the 400 jobs to be axed from the North Coast Area Health Service. On the Ray Hadley program on 13 November the Premier said, "The health budget was quarantined, and there haven't been cuts." In his media release on 11 November, Remembrance Day, he said, "This mini-Budget protects frontline services for the families of NSW the Government is tightening its belt from the top, but we're quarantining frontline services." That is not what we are being told.

It was highlighted to us last Saturday at meetings held simultaneously at Tweed Heads, Grafton, Maclean, Casino and Coffs Harbour to bring these matters to the community's attention and to give people the opportunity to express their concerns about the cutbacks. The Lismore rally was attended by Mayor Jenny Dowell, Mayor Phil Silver and Mayor Ross Brown, Marshall Fitler from the Regional Community Watch Group, Therese Croller from the Health Services Union and Don Page and I, together with David Hughes from the New South Wales Nurses Association and representatives of a cross-section of the community. They highlighted their concerns and their disappointment at the announcement during the budget discussions that stage 3 of Lismore Base Hospital has been taken off the development program. I place on record the community's appreciation that stage 2—the cancer unit and catheterisation unit—has been signed off. We are very pleased that that has happened.

I also acknowledge the efforts of our hardworking front-line nurses, doctors and allied workers, including the ambulance staff, who do a tremendous job in the electorate providing services at all hours of the day and night. The community is gravely concerned about this lack of services. Last week I wrote to the Minister on behalf of the member for Port Macquarie, the member for Oxley, the member for Coffs Harbour, the member for Clarence, the member for Ballina, the member for Tweed—who is 100 per cent for the Tweed—and me seeking an urgent meeting. We are still waiting for the Minister to give us an opportunity to hold that urgent meeting so that we can express concern about cuts to funding for the North Coast Area Health Service.

Twelve months ago I attended a meeting at Liston, which is located at the top of my electorate, where I was told about a gentleman who had died from a heart attack because the ambulance took 1½ hours to arrive, in the main because of triple-0 cross-border problems. I have since made representations and I thought that the problem had been resolved. On 18 November an accident involving one person occurred in Liston. Four ambulances, five fire trucks, two State Emergency Service members, four police vehicles, an associated police recovery vehicle and a helicopter arrived at the scene. Those are the sorts of things that are happening when cross-border emergencies occur. Those problems must be resolved.