Search
Speeches
Ms VAMVAKINOU (Calwell) (12.07 p.m.)—Access to affordable health care and to adequate health services is a key priority for any community. This is certainly true for my electorate of Calwell. However, under the current government, the gap between service demand and service capacity in health care has continued to widen in Calwell. For the last 11 years the Howard government’s record on healthcare funding and allocation has been a story of neglect, coupled with a misleading campaign to blame state and territory governments for Australia’s healthcare woes. A report released in June this year entitled Caring for our health? A report card on the Australian Government’s performance on health care revealed that the Commonwealth’s share of funding for public hospitals has dropped from 50 per cent in 2000 to 45 per cent in 2007.
Ms VAMVAKINOU (Calwell) (4.27 p.m.)—Today I rise to speak on behalf of the many constituents living in my electorate of Calwell who currently have family living in Iraq, or family members who have been forced to flee Iraq as refugees. My electorate of Calwell is home to over 5,000 Iraqi Australians. They represent a number of different ethnic and religious groups, all of who share a strong commitment to Australia.
Ms VAMVAKINOU (Calwell) (12.30 p.m.)—Today I want to refer to a petition of 179 signatures from my constituents in Calwell calling for the re-establishment of a Commonwealth dental health program, calling for the easing of the cost pressures on working families by contributing to the cost of dental care, calling for some assistance to keep people out of hospital for preventable dental conditions and calling for the end to the blame game and to work with the states and territories to fix Australia’s dental care system.
Ms VAMVAKINOU (Calwell) (11.13 a.m.)—I rise today on behalf of the many constituents living in my electorate of Calwell who continue to be affected by the very high cost of petrol.
Ms VAMVAKINOU (Calwell) (11provides additiona.25 a.m.)—The Australian Technical Colleges (Flexibility in Achieving Australia’s Skills Needs) Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2007 l funding for three more Australian technical colleges in line with measures the government announced in the 2007 budget. This bill commits an extra $74.7 million over the next four years to build three additional Australian technical colleges that will cater for approximately 900 students.
Ms VAMVAKINOU (Calwell) (7.40 p.m.)—This evening I want to bring to the attention of this House some of the concerns local constituents in my electorate of Calwell have raised with me over the government’s Welfare to Work reforms and the impact these reforms have had on individuals receiving the disability support pension.
Ms VAMVAKINOU (Calwell) (9.43 a.m.)—I rise today to raise serious concerns I have over community safety, especially for Australia’s senior citizens. In particular, I want to draw to the attention of the House the recent assault on Mrs Rachael Williams, who is one of my constituents. At 91, Mrs Williams is a long-time resident of Broadmeadows. Mrs Williams has lived in the same house, in Cooper Street, Broadmeadows, for close to 60 years, 40 of those on her own. According to her granddaughter, whom I spoke to yesterday, she relishes the independence of having her own place.
Ms VAMVAKINOU (Calwell) (6.08 p.m.)—Australia is a country built on opportunity, and as elected members of parliament we have a responsibility to uphold that tradition and make sure that it means opportunity for all Australians.
