Latest news with #KellieSloane
Sydney Morning Herald
3 hours ago
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
In an electorate that screams privilege, an MP needs to pick a side on the housing crisis
The NSW Liberals face a wicked problem. How does the party walk the political tightrope of being pro-housing at the same time many of their constituents, not to mention local councillors, remain wedded to one word: overdevelopment. As Sydney, and indeed the country, contends with a chronic shortage of homes, no NSW Liberal will feel this conundrum more acutely than Vaucluse MP Kellie Sloane. Overdevelopment, once the mainstay of local campaigning for both sides of politics, has morphed into the politically charged term NIMBYism. On the other side of the argument is YIMBYism, which is becoming synonymous with wanting to fix one of the greatest social problems of this generation. Sloane, a moderate who is seen as a future leadership contender, has the seemingly impossible task of ensuring her party reflects the needs of modern Australia (which, as the federal election showed, the Liberals are failing to do) while representing the voters who put her into office. Examining one of Sloane's biggest obstacles to assuming the leadership paints a good picture of how hard her task will be. A major impediment to securing the top job is not a lack of talent, nor party room support. Rather, it is the name of her seat. No electorate in NSW screams privilege has much as hers. While it takes in areas including Bondi Beach and Edgecliff, Vaucluse – with its sprawling homes – is the antithesis of many other areas of the state, not least western Sydney. And the Liberals know this, so much so that there is talk that when the next boundary redistributions are drafted, the Liberals will lobby to have the seat renamed, perhaps back to Bondi (abolished in 1971) or even Waverley (axed in 1990). Loading Seat name aside, Sloane, a former television journalist turned businesswoman, is keenly aware of the housing challenge she has to face in her seat. How she manages it is a different question. At an eastern suburbs housing community forum last month, Sloane told the attendees that the Labor government's policy to build townhouses, terraces and six-storey apartment blocks within 400 metres of town centres was 'quite confronting'. Sloane singled out Rose Bay as being unfairly targeted, arguing the suburb lacked critical services such as a major supermarket or a train line. Later, after her federal colleague Liberal housing spokesman Andrew Bragg took a veiled swipe at her stance, Sloane said she rejected being labelled a NIMBY. 'I am pro-development,' she said, 'it's a responsibility for every community, but I want a guarantee that it comes with investment in infrastructure.'
The Age
3 hours ago
- Politics
- The Age
In an electorate that screams privilege, an MP needs to pick a side on the housing crisis
The NSW Liberals face a wicked problem. How does the party walk the political tightrope of being pro-housing at the same time many of their constituents, not to mention local councillors, remain wedded to one word: overdevelopment. As Sydney, and indeed the country, contends with a chronic shortage of homes, no NSW Liberal will feel this conundrum more acutely than Vaucluse MP Kellie Sloane. Overdevelopment, once the mainstay of local campaigning for both sides of politics, has morphed into the politically charged term NIMBYism. On the other side of the argument is YIMBYism, which is becoming synonymous with wanting to fix one of the greatest social problems of this generation. Sloane, a moderate who is seen as a future leadership contender, has the seemingly impossible task of ensuring her party reflects the needs of modern Australia (which, as the federal election showed, the Liberals are failing to do) while representing the voters who put her into office. Examining one of Sloane's biggest obstacles to assuming the leadership paints a good picture of how hard her task will be. A major impediment to securing the top job is not a lack of talent, nor party room support. Rather, it is the name of her seat. No electorate in NSW screams privilege has much as hers. While it takes in areas including Bondi Beach and Edgecliff, Vaucluse – with its sprawling homes – is the antithesis of many other areas of the state, not least western Sydney. And the Liberals know this, so much so that there is talk that when the next boundary redistributions are drafted, the Liberals will lobby to have the seat renamed, perhaps back to Bondi (abolished in 1971) or even Waverley (axed in 1990). Loading Seat name aside, Sloane, a former television journalist turned businesswoman, is keenly aware of the housing challenge she has to face in her seat. How she manages it is a different question. At an eastern suburbs housing community forum last month, Sloane told the attendees that the Labor government's policy to build townhouses, terraces and six-storey apartment blocks within 400 metres of town centres was 'quite confronting'. Sloane singled out Rose Bay as being unfairly targeted, arguing the suburb lacked critical services such as a major supermarket or a train line. Later, after her federal colleague Liberal housing spokesman Andrew Bragg took a veiled swipe at her stance, Sloane said she rejected being labelled a NIMBY. 'I am pro-development,' she said, 'it's a responsibility for every community, but I want a guarantee that it comes with investment in infrastructure.'
News.com.au
15 hours ago
- Health
- News.com.au
New pictures raise fresh concerns over Blacktown Hospital
New pictures have raised fresh questions about conditions at a major Sydney hospital where patients have been forced to wait 24 hours for a bed. The images show a woman connected to a drip as she tried to sleep in a car outside Blacktown Hospital, in the city's west, after hours sitting in the emergency department (ED). It is the second similar incident revealed by 2GB host Ben Fordham this week, with the NSW opposition's health spokesperson saying the photos look like a 'third world system'. On Wednesday, Fordham shared another 'horror story' from the $700 million hospital, which underwent a major redevelopment from 2012 to 2020. He said a woman named Anna Maria presented to the ED last week with an obstructed bowel and also waited an entire day for a bed to become available. 'I waited 24 hours at the waiting room because there were no beds,' she said, in a letter to Fordham. 'I witnessed people lying on the floor and bringing in camping chairs to sit down on. 'I was so tired that my husband parked the car out the front of the ED so I could lay down and have a rest.' A day earlier, Fordham told listeners that a 70-year-old man resorted to lying on the ED floor at the hospital as he sought treatment for severe diarrhoea. The man, named Raymond, waited 24 hours for a bed. Another 80-year-old man was also seen lying on the ED floor. Vaucluse MP Kellie Sloane, the health spokesperson for the NSW opposition, said the images provided of Anna Maria in her car were 'shocking'. 'This should not be happening in our hospitals and it is happening all to regularly particularly at Blacktown Hospital,' she said. Ms Sloane took aim at Premier Chris Minns, who this week accused the former Coalition government of under-investing in western Sydney hospitals. She said people 'sick of the spin' from the Premier, and called for action. 'You just cant believe it is happening in Sydney, in New South Wales,' Ms Sloane said. 'A place where we have one of the best health systems in the world. 'But when you look at this, it looks like a third world system. It's not good enough.' Western Sydney Local Health District were contacted for comment. Staff at Blacktown, which services one of the most populous local government areas in the country, have long voiced concerns about understaffing. In 2018, under the former state government, workers described the staffing situation as 'untenable' and the hospital has dealt with several scandals since. Up to 20 obstetricians vowed to quit in November 2020 citing staffing and resource issues, following the deaths of four newborn babies there in the previous 18 months. Mr Minns told Fordham on Tuesday that conditions at Blacktown were 'not good enough' and acknowledged there was an 'enormous challenge' in front of the government. 'The situation today is not where we need it to be, and we need to do better with the massive investment that we're putting into health,' he said. 'We're putting more money into health than any government in the state's entire history – and that includes parts of the Covid emergency.' Mr Minns said his government would deliver 60 new beds across Blacktown Hospital and its sister facility at Mount Druitt.
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
Ben Fordham exposes shocking photos from Blacktown Hospital emergency department
Distressing photos have emerged of elderly patients in excruciating pain, lying on the floor of a hospital waiting room for hours. Raymond, 70, presented to Blacktown Hospital's emergency department in Sydney 's west on Saturday, experiencing severe diarrhoea and life-threatening haemoglobin levels. Despite his condition, he spent 24 hours waiting for a bed—much of it trying to sleep on the cold, hard vinyl floor in excruciating pain. Raymond's daughter, Hayley, shared a photo of him in the heartbreaking predicament with 2GB breakfast host Ben Fordham. She also shared a second photo of another elderly man, 80, sleeping on the floor, covered in a blanket. The man had already been waiting for a bed for at least 12 hours. To make matters worse, Raymond was then told by staff that he couldn't sleep on the floor near reception. 'What do you expect a 70-year-old to do?' Hayley told Fordham. Raymond rang his daughter numerous times during the harrowing ordeal, wanting to discharge himself. 'He said he'd rather go to a small country town, which is where he's from, because the wait times aren't as bad,' she added. Opposition health spokeswoman Kellie Sloane was saddened to see the latest images from one of the state's busiest and most overstretched hospitals. 'This shouldn't be happening in our hospitals,' she told Fordham on Tuesday. 'I'm terribly sad for this gentleman and his family, decent people who have paid taxes their entire lives. 'And when they're at their most vulnerable, the system has let them down.' Only 41 per cent of emergency department patients are being treated on time at Blacktown, according to the latest NSW Health data. It also ranks 20th out of 20 hospitals in the category for treatment of emergency department presentations. 'We need solutions at Blacktown, it's one of the poorest-performing hospitals in the west of Sydney,' Sloane said. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Western Sydney Local Health District for comment. The new images emerged almost a year after NSW Premier Chris Minns singled out Blacktown as he vowed to address the state's overstretched public hospital system after more photos of patients sleeping on the waiting room floor emerged. 'We'll have to look at Blacktown in particular - there's major stress on our public hospitals,' Minns said last September. 'We want to do better when it comes to health outcomes.'
