COMPASSION and humour come quickly to Catherine King\u2019s mind when she\u2019s asked to describe herself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI spend a lot of time laughing with my 10-year-old and family. I really enjoy life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Swiftly, the conversation turns the other way, to focus on other people. It\u2019s clear this life the Federal Member for Ballarat enjoys, has always been one of community service.<\/p>\n
Beginning her career in Ballarat at Child and Family Services, Ms King was initially a social worker.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was working mostly with young people who were in pretty awful circumstances of poverty, crime, homelessness, drug addiction, and really trying to provide them with opportunities to get out of the circumstances they were in,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Still pre-politics, Ms King worked for the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care, and even developed health policy at \u2018Big Four\u2019 accounting firm, KPMG.<\/p>\n
In her time as Ballarat\u2019s representative, she\u2019s been Parliamentary Secretary for the Health and Ageing portfolio.<\/p>\n
So it makes sense that Federal Opposition Leader, Bill Shorten has announced Catherine King will be Australia\u2019s new Health Minister if a Labor government is formed after May 18\u2019s election.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s looking forward to what she can deliver if this happens, including\u201cinvigorating\u201d the reform agenda in health.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve announced a major package towards helping people with cancer with out-of-pocket costs,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can imagine, $21 million injected into public schools here\u2026 More teacher assistants, more capacity for school to be able to have learning spaces where they can help kids who are struggling.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen it in my own electorate here, with people having to pay high out-of-pocket costs for diagnostic imaging, and I see that across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Labor has also pledged further investment in public hospitals.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been incredibly disappointed to see the huge cuts to public hospitals that the Liberals have inflicted across every single community in this country, including my own,\u201d Ms King said.<\/p>\n
She said deep cuts from the Coalition have treated health as a \u201ccash cow.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether it be public hospitals, whether it be the GP tax, whether it be cuts to public dental, which have been over $300 million per year\u2026 They\u2019ve just used health.<\/p>\n
\u201cNone of it\u2019s been about reforming the health system and making it better for people, so I\u2019m looking forward to doing that if we get the opportunity,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
But the opposition has made some specific local pledges, including $10 million to Sovereign Hill, ensuring the facility can expand to benefit the city, its employees and visitors.<\/p>\n
The Ballarat Innovation and Research Collaboration for Health will also receive $10 million, building on previous Labor projects.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen the terrific work that the Hunter Medical Research Institute has done out of Newcastle, and trying to see how we might grow a regional education and research facility here in Ballarat is very exciting for me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt builds on the work we did in government of investing in the [Ballarat Regional Integrated] Cancer Centre. You don\u2019t often get to be involved in a project that literally saves lives, but that project did, and does every single day, so I\u2019m very proud of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms King said she wants to return funding back to schools affected by cuts.<\/p>\n
Labor has pledged over $20 million for the Ballarat electorate\u2019s public schools over the next three years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI spend a lot of time in our schools, particularly our public schools, and I talk to teachers and I talk to parents. I know they\u2019re really stretched, particularly trying to help kids who\u2019ve got learning difficulties or have other disabilities, to reach their full potential,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can imagine, $21 million injected into public schools here\u2026 More teacher assistants, more capacity for schools to be able to have learning spaces where they can help kids who are struggling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Broadly, Ms King wants to see quality jobs growth for Ballarat\u2019s community, wage improvement and better overall wellbeing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s one thing for people to have employment, but if they can\u2019t live on the wage that they\u2019re getting because their penalty rates have been cut, if they\u2019re in retail or hospitality, then that\u2019s not good for anybody in our community,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut there\u2019s also grinding poverty as well, and awful circumstances that people are born into or find themselves in,\u201d Ms King said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBetter investments in education, better investments in early childhood, better investments in our public health services\u2026 Through these things, I want to try to provide the opportunities for people to actually improve their circumstances. They\u2019re the things that drive me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms King said there are plenty more positive announcements to come before the country heads to the polls in just over two weeks, but some Ballarat budget negativity is still on her mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re incredibly disappointed that the government knocked [Her Majesty\u2019s Theatre] back out of its Building Better Regions fund. I\u2019ll be lobbying again with my colleague, Tony Burke for funding for that facility,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe saw a lot of money pork barrelled, frankly, into Corangamite and I don\u2019t think that was particularly fair for our community here.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo my job is to try and do that for as many people as I possibly can\u2026 To be there for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
COMPASSION and humour come quickly to Catherine King\u2019s mind when she\u2019s asked to describe herself. \u201cI spend a lot of time laughing with my 10-year-old and family. I really enjoy life,\u201d she said. Swiftly, the conversation turns the other way, to focus on other people. It\u2019s clear this life the Federal Member for Ballarat enjoys, […]<\/p>\n