Radio Interview - ABC North and West Breakfast with Marcus Wilson
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC SA REGIONAL
FRIDAY, 7 JANUARY 2021
SUBJECTS: GP shortages; rapid antigen test shortages.
MARCUS WILSON, HOST: Labor’s duty Senator for the federal state of Grey will spend this weekend in Whyalla as part of a four-day trip to the upper Spencer Gulf. Senator Karen Grogan was in Port Pirie yesterday, and she’s in Port Augusta today. Good morning to you, Senator.
SENATOR KAREN GROGAN: Good morning, Marcus. Thanks for having me on and good morning to your listeners.
WILSON: Senator, you came to this role under unfortunate circumstances with a casual Senate vacancy left by the passing of Alex Gallacher. What's that experience been like for you?
GROGAN: Yes, it was very sad - Alex’s passing - but it has created a vacancy and I was selected for that vacancy in late September and took up the position in October. It's been a bit of a whirlwind Marcus. It really has. There's a lot to learn, a lot to get your head around. I've been in Canberra for the last number of weeks, so this is the first opportunity I've had to get out and get around and start hearing from people what the issues are that are really important to them and the things that they would like to see being debated and acted upon from Canberra.
WILSON: As a Labor Senator, why is the upper Spencer Gulf of particular interest to you?
GROGAN: It's a place that I used to do a lot of work in, not for the last number of years but previously, I think it's a very vibrant place that has been struggling to find its feet over a number of years. I think one of the great things when I was in port Pirie yesterday, the vibe was so positive with the announcement of the hydrogen project with Nyrstar. So that's been great, but the region has so much potential and I know people have struggled to sort of realize that potential in the last number of years. So, I'm hoping to be able to get as much information and insight into how people think that development should go and then advocate that.
WILSON: What else did you take away from that tour of Nyrstar?
GROGAN: Well it's a fascinating place. It's large, industrial, and a very interesting process. They were very generous with their time and took us around the plant and explained a lot of their processes. But I think the opportunity there is the development piece. They have confirmed that to a lot of people about the development, and how jobs rolled out, how to get people to commit to the region, come here and actually invest in the area, come here for a job, bring their family and become part of the community. And I think that's going to be really important. One of the things that was raised by just about everybody I spoke to yesterday was housing, affordable housing, and secure housing for people. So I think that's something I'm definitely going into.
WILSON: What could you do to address that problem?
GROGAN: Well Labor announced some housing policies a short while ago which includes significant investments in affordable housing. And so having affordable housing that people can get committed to, so that people can afford to purchase their home if they're in that situation. But the affordable housing piece is for people to have a secure home to live in, and there's a lot of opportunity to build that housing. The homelessness situation - I was talking with United Country SA yesterday - what they were saying is that there's a number of people who are living rough in Port Pirie, and they’re providing them with backpack sleeping bags to sleep in, and there are caravan parks and that’s not what we should be accepting – that’s a situation we should be running against.
WILSON: Did you get out to some of the farms yesterday?
GROGAN: I did, yes. I went out to some farms out at Telowie and that was fascinating, they’ve been shearing this week. But understanding some of the challenges they face in terms of the increase in pricing for things like fertilizer and how that then impacts on farmers decisions in how they move forward for their crops for the coming year. So that was a very interesting conversation with that group of farmers. They also had some great ideas though and I think as we look to the future there’s so many opportunities in sustainable farming, renewables, recyclables and they’re things that these guys are all thinking about quite seriously. They’re thinking about how they can ensure that their farms are sustainable into the future, leveraging off the kind of policies that Labor is putting forward in the renewable space and in the recycling space to help them make their farms sustainable and profitable into the future.
WILSON: You mentioned fuel and fertilizer. What's your understanding of what's happening in Canberra to address the urea or AdBlue shortage that is seen on farming properties, but also for the trucking industry?
GROGAN: I think that situation is alarming and I think we're expecting the supplies to really dry up in January. So the government has got a very short period of time right now to address that, to actually find a solution, to make sure that the AdBlue doesn't disappear and we're left with nothing on the shelves, which would seriously impact our transport and farming industry.
WILSON: Well what’s planned for today in Port Augusta, Senator Karen Grogan?
GROGAN: Today I’m going to meet with the Mayor and find out what his issues are, and what he sees as some of the challenges in the community and things that could do with addressing. Then I’m meeting with Eddie Hughes, the local Member for Giles, from the state arena, and we’re going to meet with some local ALP members as well. Then I’m going to the book launch of Fantastically Great Women Who Saved the Planet which is a book that was written by an English author actually, but includes stories of some local women from around here, Eileen Wingfield and Eileen Brown, stories of how they advocated for the community and how they have invested very seriously in terms of their education and their advocacy for a safer planet so I’m really looking forward to that.
WILSON: And then Whyalla for the weekend?
GROGAN: Yes, off to Whyalla for the weekend. Eddie Hughes is going to introduce me to some people and we're then going to go out and see some more farms and talk to some more people about jobs, agriculture, and a sustainable future for the region.
WILSON: So once the tour is complete, how will you use the information you've picked up over these days?
GROGAN: So one of the things that occurs in the Senate is that we do a lot of inquiries and basically they’re put forward by Senators to look into issues of concern and invite people to come and present their views, do a bunch of research and come up with solutions and then try and advocate those issues through the Parliament. One clear example of that is we just got, very recently got up a Senate inquiry into GP access. I just got confirmation yesterday that we’ll be holding a hearing in Whyalla on the 1st of March and my intention early next year is to contact as many people as possible and organisations who advocate for people and access to GPs to get them to submit to the inquiry and they can do that quite simply – either they can write a submission or they can do that through me. So I’ll be sending out some information and methods so that people can actually provide their views and their experiences to help us address the GP shortage across the regions and that’s the kind of thing that we do in the Senate but also it allows me to then provide those views of people back to the Labor party and help shape our policy based on the views of people in this beautiful region of Australia.
WILSON: Senator, does anything come to mind for you about the GP shortages and retaining them in the regions?
GROGAN: I think it’s a really sticky problem – the fly-in, fly-out does address some of the issue but it doesn’t build the community and I think that’s where we need to focus. The communities here are rich in culture and rich in that community connectivity and we need to be building that and encouraging people to come and invest their lives in this region as opposed to just calling on someone when we need it. The fact that you may be in a situation where there is no surgeon or no emergency services at a hospital when you need them is highly concerning. We need to be able to find solutions to that.
WILSON: Senator, thanks for your time this morning, it's going to be a warm weekend so I hope you’ve got a decent hat with you.
GROGAN: I've got a good hat Marcus, so I'll be fine, but thank you so much. It was great to talk to you.
WILSON: That was Senator Karen Grogan, touring the region, a bit of a fact finding mission for her and she’ll use that information on return to Canberra.