New petition push for Medicare office

By Rebecca Fraser
FIRST it was Fountain Gate and then Cranbourne.
Now Endeavour Hills residents are being urged to throw their support behind a petition to establish a Medicare office in the suburb.
Management from Endeavour Hills shopping centre and Narre Warren North MP Luke Donnellan have already collected 2300 signatures backing calls for the establishment of a Medicare office at the Heatherton Road centre.
Mr Donnellan said he had found during his travels that there had been strong support in the community for a Medicare office at the centre.
However, he said the number of people signing the petition was quite low, compared to the Fountain Gate petition, which had more than 22,000 signatures.
Mr Donnellan said more signatures were needed in order to lobby the Federal Government to open an office in Endeavour Hills, in order to cater for pensioners and people from non-English speaking backgrounds.
The Narre Warren North MP said previous statistics showed that one in five people were aged 55-years-old in Endeavour Hills and one third of the population only had one car.
Mr Donnellan said the need for an office in Endeavour Hills, was imperative when you considered that all major bus services were connected to the major shopping precinct.
He said there were not enough bulk-billing services in Casey and residents had told him that they were unable to claim their Medicare rebates. “With a population of over 220,000 people in Casey and growing- the establishment of a third office, is definitely warranted, when you consider the City of Monash with a population of approximately 165,000 has three Medicare offices.
Casey deputy mayor Rob Wilson, whose ward encompasses Endeavour Hills, said the suburb definitely needed a Medicare office and urged residents to sign the petition.
Cr Wilson, said many country towns with populations far smaller than the 30,000 people living in Endeavour Hills had a Medicare office and the demand was certainly there to warrant one being opened at the shopping centre.
“It was crazy that the City of Casey with a population of more than 200,000 did not have a Medicare office. Then Narre Warren opened and then Cranbourne. The next move is to get one in Endeavour Hills,” he said.
Cr Wilson said a new office would be a big attraction for the shopping centre and the move would also benefit residents living in nearby Narre Warren North.
Mr Donnellan has en-couraged all residents within the Endeavour Hills shopping precinct- to lodge their support for a Medicare office at Endeavour Hills shopping centre or alternatively his office, also located within the centre.