Dr Mike Freelander plans to be harasser in chief if the Albanese Government wins a second term at the coming federal election.
The Prime Minister is yet to name the date of the election, but every man and his dog knows the latest possible date is Saturday, May 17.
However, candidates of all hues are already out on the hustings, including Dr Freelander, the member for Macarthur since 2016.
A week ago we sat down to discuss both what he delivered for Macarthur in the past three years and what his goals were if he got three more years as our man in Canberra.
Purely by coincidence, that morning he had joined the Prime Minister and infrastructure minister Catherine King, who announced a $1 billion commitment towards acquiring land for a railway corridor to connect Macarthur with the new airport at Badgerys Creek.
This will mostly likely see the extension of the heavy rail line from Leppington to the new airport, and a metro style rail link form the airport and south to Macarthur.
Current assessments suggest the extension, at $3 billion, will be done first, with the $25 billion metro afterwards.
And that’s where the harasser in chief role comes in for Dr Freelander.
“One billion dollars is an important first step – it is something concrete,’’ says Dr Freelander.
“Land acquisitions, I am told, will start very quickly, and they have already started the planning process.
“My job is to keep the pressure up, and make sure we get the process moving as quickly as possible.’’
I ask if he plans to “harass’’ the government to get stuck in and start the extension from Leppington to Badgerys Creek, where some of the land corridor is already reserved.
“Harassing? I don’t have a problem with it, it’s my job, I’m already doing it, don’t worry,’’ Dr Freelander said.
“I told [minister] Catherine King that my ambition is to see that started sometime during the next term.
“We don’t want to be waiting around for it the next 10 years – it needs to start in the next 3 years.
“I think that if this airport is going to be successful, we do need to have those public transport links.’’
Leaving the future to the future, I asked Dr Freelander to talk through what he delivered in the past three years as the local member.
“We’ve done some good things; we could have and should have done a lot more when you look at the population growth,’’ he says.
“We’ve finally started work on Appin Road, got $150 million as the first part of widening it, to make it safer for motorists and for wildlife. But there’s more to be done.
“The multi storey carpark for Campbeltown rail station is almost finished.’’
Health care is Dr Freelander’s area of expertise, and he says he was pleased to help deliver better health resources in local hospital paediatric care.
“Now we have regular paediatric surgeons, gastroenterologists, cardiologists, doing a clinic at Campbelltown Hospital so people don’t have to travel to the major hospitals. And that’s a good thing,’’ he says.
“We also got some better child mental health resources – we opened up a headspace in Oran Park, second one for the area.
“Also got funding for local sports clubs, such as the Harlequins rugby club, Macarthur FC, a couple of local league teams.
“I wish we got funding for a Raby Road bridge, to make the intersection with Hume Highway safer and quicker – it’s a mess at peak hour.’’
While Dr Freelander was happy to be given the title of harasser in chief, he made it clear he would also continue to come up with ideas to improve our health care system if he won another term.
An area where he thinks he could make a difference is in specialist care, which is increasingly unaffordable for many people.
“If am re-elected at the next election I would like to push for the state and federal health ministers to work together to get better outcomes for people,’’ he says.
“I have already been trying to get the health ministers to work together to expand our public hospital outpatient system.
“There’s a huge problem people seeing specialists and the gap fees they have to pay; many people can’t afford it.
“If we could expand our outpatients services, who would see people without having to be billed, it would make a huge difference,’’ Dr Freelander said.
“I will ask for a trial to be held here in Campbelltown.’’
