Ms JENNY AITCHISON (Maitland) (17:10): Exactly ten years ago today, the New South Wales Liberals promised that they would build a new hospital in Maitland. Less than a month ago, the new Maitland Hospital finally opened. I know many of Temporary Speaker Layzell's constituents will go there, hopefully for nice events like births. The entire Labor movement fought so hard for this new hospital to be fully public—our local Labor branch members and the State parliamentary party working hand-in-hand with our industrial wing, the mighty trade union movement, including the Health Services Union, the NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association and the Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation of NSW.

It was not just the health unions that stood with us against the privatisation of our health facilities but also every other union and our local communities. We collected more than 30,000 signatures on petitions. We had three parliamentary debates. We held rallies in Maitland Park, outside the new Maitland Hospital, outside the old Maitland Hospital, and here on Macquarie Street. We worked our hearts out for the Maitland community to have a fully public hospital. Everyone—with the exception of members opposite—knows that it does not matter how much you can pay and how much private health insurance you have. We all need our public health system to be functioning properly because, at the end of the day, we can all end up in it.

It was a great day when the hospital finally opened. I get so many comments from people in the Maitland community who are proud of the work that we did together as a community, against the ideology of others, to reach a common goal of a half-a-billion-dollar hospital that we can all be proud of. There have been issues with the transition to the new hospital. People have reached out to me with them and I have raised them with the Minister. I will meet with him formally later this week to discuss them. I encourage people to continue to let me know if there are issues. There is a lot of goodwill behind the hospital, but there is an enormous amount of work. The staff are working their guts out. It is so difficult to be transitioning in a time of COVID, and the community needs to understand that what we saw on Tuesday shows that there are just not enough resources for nurses to do their work. I had nurses in my office in tears. They are so exhausted by their workloads.

We have healthcare staff who just cannot go on and on. When they go off on stress leave or sick leave, the hospitals are short‑staffed and that creates a bigger issue. Add to that the general exhaustion of dealing with COVID and I can understand how difficult their jobs are. I thank them every day for the work they are doing. That is why I was really shocked this week—a week when tens of thousands of nurses rallied around the State about the lack of support, the lack of wages, the high workloads, the risks to patient care—that supporting our nurses was not everyone's highest priority. It should have been. The Federal member for Paterson, Meryl Swanson, has been putting together submissions to the State and Federal governments to get a fully funded MRI licence for the brand new, state‑of‑the‑art MRI machine at Maitland Hospital. It still does not have a public licence.

An article came out from the Federal Liberal candidate for Paterson. She was swanning around the electorate saying she was going to start a petition for a new railway station at Maitland Hospital. I hate to say it, but she has missed the train. We have been asking for that for many years. In fact, her Liberal and Independent councillor colleagues at Maitland City Council derided Labor councillors who put forward a proposal for that station. I have been calling for a station. In fact, just last month we got bus services because the Government would not build a station. The nearest station is a 17‑minute walk away.

Former State transport Minister Andrew Constance refused to even consider purchasing the northern part of the Metford station, which would have helped, when that proposal was put to him a year or so ago. The Liberals can argue that the Federal Australian Rail Track Corporation owns the track, but we all know that the State Liberal‑Nationals Government runs the trains and builds the new train stations and services. When I spoke to the Hon. Sam Farraway, the new Minister for Regional Transport and Roads, on the topic earlier this week, he had no idea there was an issue. So I do not understand how the Liberal candidate for Paterson could have raised it with him. Who was she talking to? It is very strange.

Labor advocacy got the bus service, and in time Labor advocacy will get the train station for the hospital. Our community will not be relying on the Liberals and the Independents. My message to the candidate for Paterson is this: Yes, sure, support Labor's calls for better rail connections and transport, but get out and actually do something about the achievable things, like an MRI licence. While she is focusing on health issues, how about slinging us some cash for the hardworking staff in our hospitals, or maybe focusing on the Federal issues and funding our successful GP Access After Hours service properly, or addressing the six‑week wait to see a GP caused by the Liberal‑Nationals Government cuts to Federal funding. She needs to be real.