Sharon Bird and Stephen Jones today slammed the Federal Liberal Government for refusing to listen to the local community in Warrawong, Port Kembla, Cringila, Lake Heights, Primbee, Kemblawarra and Berkeley who are angry at the Liberals decision to close the Warrawong Centrelink and Medicare office effective from Monday, 30 July 2018.

Shortly after hearing news of the proposed closure back in June, local Members Sharon Bird and Stephen Jones met with Human Services Minister, Michael Keenan, to let him know that the community needs the service and urge him to reconsider this decision.

The local MPs held numerous community meetings and street stalls and collected over 1000 signatures on their petition.

Sharon Bird and Stephen Jones have today released a number of real case studies compiled by the Illawarra Legal Centre and the Macedonian Welfare Association which demonstrate why our community needs this service.

Warrawong and the surrounding suburbs are home to many people who migrated to the Illawarra from the 1950s to work at Port Kembla Steelworks many of whom are now elderly and have English as their second language.

Closing the Warrawong office just isnt right. Malcolm Turnbulls Government has cut staff across Human Services as this is having a dramatic impact on local people accessing services this office closure will just make this worse. Is the Government just hoping to make it so difficult for local people that they give up?

This out of touch Liberal Government only cares about giving massive hand-outs to big business they dont care about a local pensioner with a disability being forced to catch a bus to Wollongong to get the help they need.