Russell Broadbent MP said today young people at risk of homelessness in McMillan Electorate would receive greater support through increased Government funding.

Mr Broadbent said the Turnbull Government had provided up to $1,025,458.56 to Reconnect services in McMillan.

“Reconnect provides support and assistance to young people who are homeless or at risk of being homeless,” Mr Broadbent said.

“Reconnect services will help stabilise the lives of vulnerable young people in McMillan by keeping them connected with their families, communities, and education or employment opportunities.

“The Reconnect program in McMillan is operated by Quantum Support Services and I encourage anyone who knows someone in a vulnerable housing situation to use this service.

“The Turnbull Government’s long-term funding of Reconnect is enabling services to intervene before crisis occurs.”

The Turnbull Government has provided up to $117 million over five years to 102 Reconnect services across Australia, on top of an additional $375 million to frontline homelessness services over the three years from 1 July 2018.

For more information on Reconnect services, visit the DSS website.

Russell had the great pleasure of launching Neil Everitt's history of hydro-electricity generation on the Franklin River north of Toora.

Neil's book, "The Power of Water" traces the history of this amazing accomplishment all those years ago.

The launch was extremely well attended, not only by locals, but by interested people from inter-state.

Russell had the great pleasure of launching Neil Everitt's hsitory of hydro-electricity generation on the Franklin River north of Toora (South Gippsland).

Neil's book traces the history of this amazing accomplishment all those years ago, involving the excavation of a tunnel,  the building of a wier in order to divert the water to the turbines and disitribution to the neighbourhood.

A very well attended launch was held at the Foster museum which had prepared an exhibition to compliment the book.

Mr BROADBENT (McMillan) (10:02):  I'm not angry very often, but I do get angry when there are attacks on Latrobe Valley people, residents and community when they are without foundation. Doctors for the Environment claimed that 8.5 per cent of babies born in the Latrobe Valley are of low weight compared to the Victorian average of 6.6 per cent, so just under a two per cent difference. This is very misleading. There are lots of factors that may cause lower weight babies in the Latrobe Valley, including mostly socioeconomic reasons.

The Latrobe Valley comes under attack far more often than any area in the whole of Australia. What did the recent study say? The Victorian government commissioned the recent Hazelwood Health Study, after the fire. It used medical and scientific advice to determine if there'd been any impact on mums and bubs from the mine fire and concluded that there was none, including no impact on low-weight births. Yet here we have these Doctors for the Environment coming out with a direct attack on the Latrobe Valley again.

I've had enough of the attacks on the Latrobe Valley. That very morning when that article came out, I was driving across to the Latrobe Valley. I was just thinking how pristine and beautiful it is. Yes, there was a wisp of smoke coming out of one of the power stations, but mostly what you see is steam. It is an outrageous attack on a community that has struggled over a long period of time with massive economic changes—privatisation of all the power stations. Recently there was the closing of Hazelwood, which was an old power station which was going to close eventually anyway and be replaced by another power station.

I am of the view, and I've said this before, that the brown coal that has stabilised the economic powerhouse that Victoria is from Sir John Monash's time—and the great engineering that went into the Latrobe Valley—is still gold for many reasons, whether you're going to turn it into magnesium, use it for fertiliser or use it to power future power stations that will be more efficient than the ones we have today, which are 50- to 100-year-old engineering.

Leave the Latrobe Valley alone. You may want to win a by-election in Batman, Greens, but leave the Latrobe Valley alone. You have never created a job. You have never looked after the people of the Latrobe Valley. You have never worried about whether they'll get the best education they can possibly get, the best health care they can possibly get or the best future that they can possibly have. The Latrobe Valley has a great future. It is up to us as leaders to find our way through that—find a way to that place where the Latrobe Valley will once again be the focus of pride for the Australian community and not the focus of the attacks that it has been subject to in this terrible article.

New Medicare data shows a record amount of Australian patients are seeing their doctor without paying a cent, with the bulk-billing rate increasing to 85.8 per cent in the first half of the 2017–18 financial year.

This is the highest GP bulk-billing rate on record for the July to December period and it is nearly 4% higher than Labor’s 81.9 per cent, which they achieved when they were last in Government.

More than 65.9 million bulk billed GP visits were provided to patients over this time period, an extra 3.1 million services compared to last year.

The total cost of all Medicare services during the six month period was $11.6 billion, with the bulk- billing rate for all services increasing in every state and territory.

These figures put to bed the shocking lies that Labor continues to peddle about Medicare. Medicare has never been stronger.

And we’re investing more than ever – with record Medicare funding increasing each and every year from $23 billion in 2017-18, to $24 billion, to $26 billion to $28 billion in 2020-21.

Spending under Labor was $19.5 billion in 2012-13.

And although more Australians are benefiting from these record bulk-billing figures than ever before, we must continue to drive down the cost of private health insurance and address out-of- pocket costs.

That’s why the Turnbull Government will work with the medical profession to address the large and sometimes unanticipated out-of-pocket medical fees some patients face.

A new expert committee chaired by the Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer, Professor Brendan Murphy, will investigate out-of-pocket costs and options to ensure that consumers are better informed of fees before agreeing to treatment.

Our commitment to Medicare is rock solid and the figures released today show that under the Turnbull Government, Medicare is providing more support to Australian patients than ever before.

CHG is a federally funded grants program, operating since 1994, which offers grants of up to $15,000 to assist in preserving cultural heritage collections of national significance. Not-for-profit organisations, such as historical societies, regional museums, public libraries and Indigenous and migrant community groups throughout Australia, are encouraged to apply.

For more information on CHG see http://www.nla.gov.au/awards-and-grants/chg

The round IS open and closes on 7 May 2018.

 

Russell Broadbent MP
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