For more than 30 years Dr Mike Freelander was a local paediatrician devoted to the health wellbeing of children in Campbelltown and Camden.
A year after he stood for the Australian Labor Party and was elected the Federal Member for Macarthur, Dr Freelander is still standing up for the best possible health care outcomes for children.
At the same time as learning the ropes in politics, he has immersed himself into developing a holistic new approach to Australian children’s health.
“I am trying to do a policy at the moment, a child health policy called First 1,000 Days, which will cater to children’s health from before conception right through to just after their second birthday,’’ Dr Freelander explains.
“It looks at educating people about being parents, making sure people have access to good pregnancy care, good obstetric and post natal care, hearing, vision, childhood health assessments, immunisation, growth, all those things.
“First 1,000 Days would be available to every Australian child,’’ he says.
“So every child will get the best access to the support they need.
“I want the party to adopt this as our policy, but the costing and dealing with all the state issues is really frustrating.
“Next week I’m going to Tasmania to speak to health people there, then I’m off to Queensland, where I will also be speaking to Indigenous health people as well.’’
Dr Freelander offered up his First 1,000 Days policy proposal to explain some of the things that he has been disappointed with since arriving in Canberra.
“Everyone agrees it’s a good policy and we should be doing it, but trying to get them all working together is very frustrating,’’ he says.
[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]“I think that I was expecting changes would happen more quickly than they do.[/social_quote]
“It does take a long time to get policies looked at, costed, debating with caucus whether they will take it up or not – it takes a lot of effort
“But I am sure we’ll get there.’’
But while Dr Freelander has found change is very slow and frustrating in the world of politics, he admits that there have also been “lots and lots’’ of things which have given him hope over the past 14 months.
“When parliament works well you can get a lot of things done,’’ he says.
“I’m on a couple of standing committees – which are bipartisan and set up by the parliament – one’s the Health, Aged Care and Sport committee, and I think we have done some really good things.
“We have just finished an enquiry into hearing and how best to assess and manage people with hearing difficulties, from newborn babies to elderly people needing hearing aids, and we’ve come up with solutions that first of all won’t cost a lot of money and secondly make it a lot easier for people with hearing difficulties to get help.
“That’s been really good,’’ Dr Freelander says.
“One of my colleagues, Trent Zimmerman, a Liberal from the North Shore, lovely guy, he’s the chairman of the committee and Steve Georganas, a Labor guy from Adelaide is the deputy.
“They’re the two nicest people you are ever going to meet.
“I’m also on the Social Policy committee, doing an inquiry into family violence.
“It’s a huge issue, over 60 people killed by their spouses last year, and we’ve had some horrible submissions, but I think we can do some good there too.
“They’re the sort of things I want to be in parliament for, and I reckon the majority of the politicians are there for the right reasons.
“What you see on Question Time is not really what it’s like in parliament.
“We sometimes carry on like turkeys in Question Time.’’
Of course it’s not all about Canberra and back here in the real world of Campbelltown and Macarthur Dr Freelander’s electorate office staff hold the fort while parliament is on.
It comes as no surprise to hear that access to health care, the nbn rollout, lack of transport options and pension entitlements top the list of concerns which have been received by his office since the July 2 election.
“Because a lot of the public outpatient clinics are closed, people from this area when they go home from hospital or they have a serious medical problem, instead of going to an outpatient clinic they are forced to see specialists in their rooms,’’ Dr Freelander says.
“And many of them don’t bulk bill.
“If you’re a pensioner and you’re referred to a cardiologist you may have to pay $500 up front, you may get half back, but many of them don’t have the $500 to pay up front.
[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]“We’re trying to get the government to see that there is a problem.[/social_quote]
“The government feel at the moment that those costs are affordable and I think they are affordable if you’re on a reasonable income, but if you’re a pensioner they’re not.
“We’re talking about people on pensions, single income families – it’s a lot of money for these people.
“Even to see a paediatrician it’s $300 up front or more, maybe $350,’’ he says.
The other frequent complaint that has been coming in to Dr Freelander’s office since he was elected has been about the rollout of the nbn in Campbelltown and Macarthur.
He says that between 80 and 90 percent of locals are getting reasonable service, but the 10-20 per cent who aren’t will “never get good service with the current system’’.
“And we know which suburbs; it’s in Glen Alpine, parts of Ingleburn, Kentlyn, and it’s because they are relying on the old copper network, and we know that a lot of the old copper networks around here are up to 50 years old.
“They knew this when they started, and went ahead anyway,’’ Dr Freelander says.
Transport infrastructure, both road and rail, leaves a lot to be desired for residents of his electorate.
“Someone was telling me it takes them an hour and a half to get from Campbelltown to the city, morning and night, so three hours a day – the roads are really bad,’’ he says.
“With trains they have actually cut back on services and what infuriates me is that it’s going to get worse; they are putting in all those developments without proper planning for public transport.
“In Oran Park they’re telling people they’ve put aside land for the rail corridor, and it’s just not true.
[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]“They’re expecting half a million people between here and Penrith.’’[/social_quote]
On pension entitlements, Dr Freelander says his constituents are entitled to be concerned because the government keeps changing the rules.
“Right now asset tests are much stricter, so people who have investment properties are getting caught so they’re losing their pension or a part of their pension.
“We are getting lots of complaints about that and it’s really hard to deal with because the government, they are quite rigid, they don’t want to compromise.
“And remember that pension payments haven’t increased by much in the past 20 years, haven’t kept pace with inflation.’’
If Dr Freelander had to make a decision right now whether to stand again he leans towards having a go, but only to try to get things done.
“I am enjoying it, I contribute, and in many ways feel re-energised, so the answer to your question is yes, I would stand again,’’ he says.
“But I’ve always said if they find a better candidate then I am not here just to warm a seat or do nothing.’’
We have as our representative in Canberra a person who is obviously not there for his own good but for the good of the community