New Yass Hospital & Maternity working group representative Mrs Jasmin Jones recently met with Federal Member Kristy McBain to learn where past election promises now sat regarding reinstating maternity services and upgrades to Yass Health Services.
In her capacity as a private citizen and mother of five, the Deputy Mayor has been advocating for improved health services for 11 years, since the roadside birth of her third child, one of many ‘Barton Baby’ births following the closure of local maternity services two decades ago.
Minister McBain responded positively to Mrs Jones’ enquiries on the election promise to restore maternity.
“I’m committed to making sure that with the community, and our local state member, we actually see that come to fruition,” Kristy stated.
According to Ms McBain, the government is currently reviewing all election commitments to ensure they are of value for money.
“The Treasury is running their eye over all of our election commitments, which I think is a good thing. It’s a good thing that there is scrutiny of public funds being spent.”
The Albanese Government is currently reviewing and working on a budget to hand down in October.
“Which is quite unusual, unusual in our system. But we feel really strongly that there were there was far too much waste and rorts in the previous Morrison government’s budget,” Ms McBain said.
“We’ve identified savings out of that. Come October, we will be putting in place some of our election commitments, and we’ll be working with the NSW government to implement how that is actually spent in Yass. The NSW Department of Health runs the hospital system, so there will need to be a working relationship with them to put in place our election commitments,” she said.
The Hon. Kristy McBain – Federal Member & Minister for Regional Development, Local Government & Territories & Cr Jasmin Jones
Ms McBain said she is committed to a working relationship with the NSW Department of Health regarding upgrades to Yass Hospital, especially concerning maternity care, and is happy to work with the community regarding what model of care could be implemented such as GP-Obstetrician or midwifery team led with consulting OB.
“It’s not for me to say what should be delivered; it’s actually up to community to acknowledge what they need. I’m pretty big on those locally-led ideas and solutions. I am happy to work with community to actually understand the model that you want to implement here and there are a multitude of models that happen across regional rural Australia.”
“It can be done, ” stressed Ms McBain.
“It’s been done in a whole range of other places. And what we want to see is those services return so there’s an option for women in Yass for where they birth their children”.
