JOURNALIST:Federal Labor today will announce funding towards a hospice in Launceston if elected. The Shadow Minister for Regional Communications and the Shadow Assistant Minister for Health is in Devonport for that and other announcements. Stephen Jones, good morning to you.
STEPHEN JONES MP, SHADOW MINISTER FOR REGIONAL COMMUNICATIONS, SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR HEALTH: Good Morning Leon, good to be with you.
JOURNALIST: You are starting the day in Devonport talking about the drug Ice. What specifically will you be announcing?
JONES: Today Ill be with Justine Keay and Senator Anne Urquart. We will be announcing that an elected Shorten Labor Government will invest $970,000 to support Mission Australia to expand its Youth Beat Program - which operates very successfully out of Hobart - into Northern Tasmania. The reason we are doing this is that we know prevention is always better than treatment and cure and what we want to do is ensure there are preventative services to stop people taking up drugs like methamphetamine or getting involved in other drugs of addiction.
JOURNALIST: Is this about rehabilitation or is this about prevention in the first place?
JONES: Its about prevention. This specific investment is about prevention. Its about providing Mission Australia with both the capital cost to purchase a van and some staff running costs as well so they can have youth workers out on the street at night in places where young people at risk are congregating to provide education services, harm minimisation services and if there are people they believe are in need of referral to treatment services then they can provide that first line of assistance and referral as well.
JOURNALIST: Youve looked at this issue on the mainland where your own electorate is, is the problem in North West Tasmania any worse that communities than what other regional communities nationally are feeling?
JONES: What we know is that theres a stubborn correlation between areas that are struggling with high unemployment, lower than average incomes, with other social problems. We know theres a stubborn correlation between that and problems with addiction, whether its alcohol or other drugs. We know that those things are often going hand-in-hand so, in an area thats going through challenging times like we are in Northern Tasmania and in my own electorate in the Illawarra in NSW we know that we have spikes in these sorts of problems.
JOURNALIST: What about tougher, Queensland-style laws to deal with the sorts of people who deal in these drugs in the first place?
JONES: Look I think we need a balanced approach. I think we cant be tough enough on the people who are pedaling drugs who are pushing drugs at our young people and preying on the vulnerable. But what we know is that those strategies alone arent going to lick this problem. The head of the Governments own Ice Taskforce said last year that we cant arrest our way out of this problem. Weve got to look at the causes of addiction, weve got to look at the causes of the problem. And when somebody wants to turn their life around, when they stick their hand up and say my lifes a mess, I need help, we should be there wrapping around and helping them, getting them detoxed, getting them into treatment and getting their life back on track because its a lot cheaper than sticking somebody in jail or some other sort of institution.
JOURNALIST: Of course, briefly, this is an election promise and little more. If you were elected, when would that $970,000 be delivered to North Western Tasmania?
JONES: Itll be over a three-year period, starting in the first year of an elected Labor Government. So its providing capital costs up front for the van and staffing costs over the next three years.
JOURNALIST: On other matters this morning, two months ago the State released a controversial report that showed Northern Tasmania does not need a palliative care hospice, that there are enough services available that exist at the moment. Youre going to come out an announce support for a palliative care hospice today in Launceston why?
JONES: We know that there are 10,000 people in Launceston to date living alone. Weve got an ageing population, stress on our hospitals and we see that were going to have a problem down the track. A hospice provides an alternative, a very good alternative to hospital-based care, a cheaper alternative to medical-based, hospital-based care for people who are in their end of life, in palliative care, that cant, for one reason or another, receive that at home. There are a lot of people that might be living alone, not unwell enough to have to go to hospital but still need support at the end of their life or they may have a carer who is themselves struggling so a hospice provides if you like a half-way between that highly medical, intensive model of care that is provided in a hospital and the very very low levels of medical intervention or care that are available in somebody&rsqu o;s home. Its always better if somebody is in their home but a hospice if you like provides a halfway house between those two, three models of care.
JOURNALIST: So youll be announcing support for one today in Launceston. Will you be announcing funding for one or funding to look at establishing one?
JONES: Ill be in Launceston later today with Ross Hart and Senator Helen Polley and well be announcing that an elected Labor Government will provide $3 million to build a hospice. This is capital money and on the reports that weve had and the discussions weve had from proponents, the $3 million will meet the capital costs of building the hospice, which will provide that facility and which will provide an alternative model of care for the people in Northern Tasmania.
JOURNALIST: The communities of Devonport and Burnie want fibre to their businesses and the residents in that area want fibre to their home. Theyre slated to get fibre to the node which is not necessarily what theyre telling us they want. I want to take you to your recent policy announcement on the NBN in Australia. Your policy says youll deliver what the Libs have already promised on the current schedule and you might change things from there. That effectively means that NBN in Burnie and Devonport will be fibre to the node, doesnt it?
JONES: We cant tear up contracts Leon, but we think Malcolm Turnbulls made a mess of this and the heavy rains, tragedies up here in Northern Tasmania and in my own electorate as well Ive got to say so I know what the communities are going through one of the things you find in the aftermath of it, it exposes all of the rotten copper networks that have got to be remediated and phone signals and internet signals go down immediately after those sort of heavy weather events. So we know that problems are there. We are for those areas where fibre to the node has already been rolled out or is underway where contracts have been let we are going to commission Infrastructure Australia to put together a pathway for us to look at what we can do to get them a first class service.
JOURNALIST: But to be clear, in Devonport and Burnie, contracts have been let for fibre to the node, for copper in other words, to businesses and homes in Devonport and Burnie and under your policy, thats also what theyll get under Labor.
JONES: As I said Leon, we cannot tear up those contracts. Its almost impossible under our Constitution for us to be tearing up those contracts and what wed find ourselves in is a situation where wed be paying for the contract that Malcolm Turnbull made and not getting any service whatsoever into those areas.
JOURNALIST: So under Labor, to be clear, fibre to NBN, for Devonport and Burnie, will be the same, whoever gets elected in July?
JONES: No thats not quite true Leon. Weve announced that lets tell the whole picture for Northern Tasmania we have announced fibre to the premises for Queenstown, Zeehan and Rosebery a significant announcement for Northern Tasmania. We are able to do it in those areas because the Malcolm Turnbull mess has not yet arrived in those towns. But in those towns where the rollout is already underway or is just about to commence, we cant tear up the contracts but what we will do is to commission a panel of experts, immediately on coming to government, to provide advice to us to the pathway of how we untangle that mess, how we provide a first class service the best way to provide a first class service for those towns that have currently got fibre to the node. Now weve got to be upfront with people, we cant unscramble this mess overnight.
JOURNALIST: And just finally this morning, the Mersey Hospital at La Trobe, survives on a two-yearly funding commitment that rolls over with much debate and concern in the local community, every 700 or so days. It is very difficult to run a hospital on that basis. Would that change if you were elected?
JONES: Weve got no plans to change any of the funding arrangements for the Mersey Hospital but Ill obviously be talking to locals about all of the health issues as Im up here today and Im sure that theyll want to get into my ear about that as well.
JOURNALIST: They no doubt will and they will be asking for a more concrete commitment, a long term commitment to the future of the Mersey Hospital. Do you have any plans to change the structure of the funding arrangement at the moment?
JONES: Like I said Leon, Ill listen and talk to locals but Im not in a position to make any announcements about the Mersey Hospital today.
JOURNALIST: Appreciate you talking with us today. Stephen Jones, Shadow Minister for Regional Communications, Shadow Assistant Minister for Regional Health.
