Memo from Mayo October 29

29 Oct 2018

Question Time

Last week during Question Time Rebekha asked the Health Minister, Greg Hunt, for an update on ‘headspace services’ for the South Coast and the Adelaide Hills and the progress of drug rehabilitation services promised for the electorate.

The Minister provided some good news and it looks like more services are on track.

You can read watch the Minister's answer here and read Rebekha's press release here.

Get the kids off Nauru

Rebekha was also proud to second a Private Member's Bill by Andrew Wilkie, the Independent Member for Denison, to temporarily bring any of the children on Nauru to Australia if they needed urgent medical treatment.

In the same week Centre Alliance cautiously welcomed Labor’s move towards finding a solution for families on Nauru.

You can read Rebekha's Private Member's Bill speech here.

Rebekha has done a number of media interviews on the issue, including The Feed SBS VICELAND & Stan Grant's Matter Of Fact on the ABC and Barrie Cassidy's Insiders.

Crossbench meets Kerryn Phelps

Independent candidate for Wentworth Kerryn Phelps visited Federal Parliament last Thursday.

While the result of the by-election was not yet official, Kerryn was conscious of the fact she would have to wait nearly a month before Parliament returned.

Rebekha and other members of the crossbench welcomed the opportunity to speak with Kerryn.

"While we move into a minority government, this will not change my focus to work constructively with the Government to ensure the needs of Mayo are met," Rebekha said.

You can watch a Facebook Live video of the press conference here.

ANZ update

Besides tabling a petition in Federal Parliament signed by more than 1800 local bank customers, Rebekha Sharkie has written to the head of the ANZ to ask him to overturn a decision to close the bank branches in Lobethal and Goolwa.

Rebekha sent the personal email to the ANZ's Chief Executive, Shane Elliott, after senior bank officials rejected a proposal to postpone closing the Lobethal branch for 12 months so the local community could increase the number of face-face transactions at the site.

"I have also written to Bendigo and Adelaide Bank and Beyond Bank regarding services to our community and I will keep you posted of any progress," Rebekha said.

You can read Rebekha's press release here.

Climate change

Rebekha also used the recent week in Parliament to introduce a Private Member’s Bill to force the timely release of climate change data so the Government cannot hide unwelcome emissions information.

"In the past, the Government has sat on its quarterly climate change data and quietly released it on the eve of major news events such as the AFL Grand Final weekend and even Christmas Eve," Rebekha said.

"The Australian public deserves better and obviously the Senate agrees because last week, the day after I lodged my intention to present my Private Member’s Bill, Senators took action to make sure the spirit of my legislation takes effect."

You can read Rebekha's press release here or the Hansard of Rebekha's speech here.

KICE are in the 'House'

In only their second visit EVER to Canberra for a civics education camp, the senior students from all three campuses of Kangaroo Island Community Education (KICE) visited Parliament last week.

This time KICE was able to access the Government's new $180 subsidy for remote location students, something Rebekha has been advocating for since winning office in 2016.

You can read Rebekha's press release here.

National apology institutional child abuse

This week Rebekha placed on the record Centre Alliance’s endorsement of the national apology to the victims of institutional child sexual abuse. Rebekha expressed her heartfelt apology to the survivors on behalf of the electorate of Mayo.

The Hansard of Rebekha's speech can be read here.

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