This week, The Bugle sat down with Ryan Park MP, the NSW Minister for Health, Minister for Regional Health, and Minister for the Illawarra and South Coast in the aftermath of the 2023-24 budget announcement.

It was a bumper budget for the healthcare sector in the Illawarra, including $721.9 million for the new Shellharbour Hospital and $438 million to redevelop Shoalhaven Hospital.

Amid the upgrades for hospitals, Minister Park says the thing he’s most proud to see in the budget is the additional $34.3 million going towards the 20 Women’s Health Centres over the next four years. These Women’s Health Centres provide support to the state’s most vulnerable women, offering assistance with physical and mental health, sexual and reproductive health, and classes and events to support women in the community. The closest Women’s Health Centres to Kiama are in Warilla and Nowra.

Minister Park said it’s the first time since the 1990s that the centres have been “properly funded.”

“This increased investment means more counselling sessions, it means more support for women in need, means more care and support for women fleeing domestic violence, it means they’re able to access primary health care services that they sometimes find difficult to access, it means better care for women with mental health issues,” said Minister Park.

“I think these things are pretty important to the fabric of society, and they might not be on the front pages of newspapers all the time, but for those of us who go into public office to make a positive difference, these things are nice to see eventuate in the budget.”

As would be expected, the number one topic asked of Minister Park when he faces locals is about hospitals, but particularly staffing levels. 

“Every week, I do an unannounced visit to a hospital, and without a doubt, one of the first things they will talk to me about is the staffing challenges they face,” said Minister Park. “The community will often write to me about ongoing challenges with staffing, but also that the staff who are there gave very good care.”

The NSW Labor Government is attempting to address these challenges, announcing in the 2023-24 Budget that it will invest $2.5 billion over the next four years on the healthcare frontline workforce alone. This includes $438.6 million to recruit an additional 500 rural and regional paramedic, $419.1 million to recruit an additional 1200 nurses and midwives, and $572.3 million to save 1112 nursing and midwife jobs it says were left unfunded by the former government.

“I think there has been a focus on building new health facilities without enough focus on staffing,” said Minister Park. “And I want to try and bring a new focus to that. And that’s something that me and my team are certainly focused on every single day in this job.”

As for his other portfolio, Minister for the Illawarra and South Coast, Minister Park’s has lofty ambitions for our region as the tourism destination of choice in NSW. Minister Park is specifically keen to see an expansion of our region’s mountain bike trails using the existing Illawarra escarpment.

“Essentially, what I’d like to get to is a network of mountain bike trails from the National Park in the north all the way down to the far south coast, and making it almost a destination place where people ride, spend a few days, eat, stay, etc.,” Minister Park said.

“We’ve got to have a look at that, and part of my focus will be to highlight our natural beauty and to ensure that they’re able to continue not only to service and support the existing communities who already live there, but also be an economic attraction for people to come and use them to visit our region.”

One of the topics on the minds of every Australian is the looming cost-of-living crisis and how the skyrocketing demand for affordable housing impacts that crisis. Minister Park explained what NSW Labor is doing to remedy the lack of affordable housing.

“We’re trying to make the planning process faster, we’re trying to make sure that we have some affordable housing built into our major infrastructure,” said Minister Park.

“We’re doing a pilot project around rent-to-build on the south coast, which is really important. We’re making sure that Landcom are actually fast-tracking development sites so we can increase housing in these areas. We're doing an audit of public land to make sure that there’s not land sitting around that should be used for housing that we can’t. We’re making sure that we’re doing rental reforms with things like ending no grounds evictions, portable bond schemes so people aren’t forced to rack up the money for a bond every time they move. 

“These are things that will take time, but are really important because housing is a big challenge.”

Housing supply in the Illawarra could become an even bigger issue when the new Shellharbour Hospital opens, as with new jobs, there needs to be places for them to live.

“It’s why the infrastructure plan for Wollongong is critical,” says Minister Park. “These are growing communities and we live in an area that is constrained in terms of the space for development, which makes it challenging. Most of us live between the mountains and the ocean, which means the availability of land is sometimes challenging, and that means we have to be really careful and diligent in our planning.”

The Bugle will continue our series asking the politicians that represent Kiama and the surrounding region what issues are most important to them.