Electorate Achievements
I enjoyed making a real difference for my fellow Australians as well as for my local electorate community. Some of these achievements included:
- Leading the successful local community campaign against the proposed Holsworthy Airport
- Prevented a nuclear waste reprocessing plant at Lucas Heights
- The creation of ARPANSA (Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency)
- Taxation (Structured Settlements) Amendment Act 2002, with local resident Judie Stephens, successfully lobbied for amendments to the taxation legislation to allow structured settlements in compensation payouts for accident victims after representations from the Moorebank Junior Cricket, I was able to secure “Kokoda Field” near Harris Creek in the Hammondville Sporting Fields complex, plus $750,000 in federal funding for Liverpool Council to develop the field for our young Bradmans
- Successfully stood against mandatory sentencing in the Northern Territory in l998 and secured $20m from the Government for juvenile diversionary programs, a junior court protocol and interpreter services for the people in the Northern Territory
- Secured $1million in Federation funding for the development of Sutherland Shire’s Hazelhurst Regional Art Gallery
- Successfully lobbied the federal government for a new $1.3 million community footbridge at Voyager Point
- Making our roads safer through an extra $9.1 million allocated to local councils under the Roads to Recovery program providing an additional 2170 local Aged Care places through an extra $25 million in funding
Some achievements as Minister for Veterans’ Affairs 2001-2004 included:
- The extension of the Gold Card to veterans aged 70 years with qualifying service in 2002
- New indexation arrangements for War Widows Income and Support Supplement 2002
- Established the Clarke Review of Veterans’ Entitlements and delivered an additional $260million in support services to the veteran community in 2004
- Had carriage of the new Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004 to meet the needs of our serving men and women and their families
- Established the Centre for Military and Veterans’ Health based at the University of Queensland, 2004
- Established the Australian War Memorial in London in 2003, a beautiful, unique tribute to those Australians who served in the two World Wars.
- Established the memorial at Isurava on the Kokoda Track in recognition of those young Australians who died on the Track and in Papua New Guinea fighting for our homeland in WWII.