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Sharon Claydon’s passion shines through for all to see

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The words “passionate” and “inspirational” immediately spring to mind when describing Newcastle MP Sharon Claydon.

Whether it’s fighting to save the GP Access After Hours (GPAAH) service in the region, preventing oil and gas companies from drilling off our beautiful seaboard or going into bat for her local community, the fifth generation Novocastrian puts her heart and soul into everything she does.

It is probably why she was re-elected by such a huge margin at the recent federal election, which saw her beloved Labor sweep into power for the first time on her watch.

“I was ecstatic with the result,” Ms Claydon said.

“To be honest, I just felt as though Newcastle ‘got it’ this time around.

“They understood the importance of the election, the agenda that Labor ran, and were absolutely ready to change the government.

“And, I’m really indebted to my electorate for backing me in so solidly.

“I think it’s a statement about the values of Novocastrians more than anything.

“We have an exceptionally strong sense of fairness and equity in this town.

“People didn’t believe they were getting that under the former government.

“When Labor put up a positive plan, they grabbed it with both hands – and voted in support of it.”

However, the hard work was done by Ms Claydon well beforehand.

Nine years, in fact.

“I love being a local member,” she admitted.

“Being connected to my community is imperative to me.

“We witnessed in this election across the nation that people, who were well-connected in their local communities, who were seen as being a voice for them in the parliament, were rewarded.

“It’s always been important to me, long before my life in politics, to be involved in local groups and organisations.

“It is how you build good communities of people who are there to support one another when they need – to be strong advocates not just for themselves, but for those who don’t have a voice.

“That’s the vital work [of communities].

“So, anything I can do to facilitate that is something I’ve always thrown both hands up to say ‘yes, let me help’.

“We’ve had some great local campaigns that have been hugely successful, too.

“We have endured some David and Goliath battles with oil and gas companies wanting to drill off our precious coastline.

“PEP-11 (Petroleum Exploration Permit 11) was a hard-fought community campaign that I was really happy to lend my support to.

“Likewise, our crusade for GPAAH.

“It was a huge issue for this community.

“And, despite giving the former government every opportunity to do the right thing, they just didn’t get it; they truly didn’t.

“So, it was an absolute gift to me in the sense to be able to run a campaign around restoring those funding cuts.”

However, politics was the furthest thing in Ms Claydon’s mind when she attended Lambton High School back in the 1980s.

“Yes, I’m a Lambtonian,” she proudly confessed.

“I run into former students in all forms of life.

“It’s great and I always make time to get back to Lambton High to talk to the kids, to engage with its youth leadership.

“They boast a really strong structure at that school, which sees pupils play an active part in lots of community groups.

“I literally see them popping up everywhere – that’s fantastic.

“Newcastle is definitely my hometown.

“I also love the fact I’ve still got my old high school mates around; they keep me grounded and real.

“My family, grandparents, it’s terrific to have your cousins, aunts and everyone else [here] making sure I don’t get too ahead of myself.

Newcastle MP Sharon Claydon.

“But, when I left Lambton High, my real desire was anthropology, the holistic study of humanity.

“Sadly, there were no opportunities at the University of Newcastle [back then]; although I’m pleased that’s not the case anymore.

“So, I had to go to Sydney to study.

“And, it gave me a love of a lot of different things.

“I was always fascinated there was more than one way to view the world.

“I guess that’s what cross-cultural work and studies have reaffirmed for me.

“People think differently and understanding that is important when you want to try and unify them.

“The curious thing about anthropology is you spend all the time studying ‘difference’ but it is actually in order to better understand your common humanity.

“I found it to be really great groundwork for me.”

That’s when Ms Claydon ventured west.

She not only completed most of her field work in The Kimberley region, she also tried her hand as a jillaroo, a stock camp cook and “all sorts of great life experiences”.

“I spent 10 years in an Aboriginal community out of Fitzroy Crossing, at the top of Western Australia,” she told the Newcastle Weekly.

“Then, I went back into those communities to work later as an anthropologist.

“I’d like to say it was part of a long, wise plan [into politics].

“It wasn’t.

“But, it turned out having done all that work on cattle stations was really helpful because all of the older people I worked with in those communities had all been born and raised on cattle stations.

“So, understanding that life was important to build those relationships over a decade.”

Ms Claydon worked at the height of two landmark decisions in the nation’s history – Mabo and Wik, too, which politicised her efforts “enormously”.

On 3 June 1992, the High Court of Australia recognised that a group of Torres Strait Islanders, led by Eddie Mabo, held ownership of Mer (Murray Island).

In acknowledging the traditional rights of the Meriam people to their land, the court also held that Native Title existed for all Indigenous people.

Then, in 1996, the Wik decision determined Native Title could, in some circumstances, co-exist with certain types of leasehold, such as pastoral.

“I found myself travelling up and down, visiting Canberra and politicians, trying to influence the negotiations of a Native Title Act,” Ms Claydon said.

“Then I did plenty of community work through national advocacy organisation Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR) where I worked with Queensland pastoralists at the pinnacle of the Wik decision-making process.

“There was a lot of worry and concern.

“So, they looked at me and said: ‘You’ve worked on cattle stations and you’re an anthropologist… you can talk to the pastoralists and Aboriginal community.

“And, we did some great work bringing landholders and Native Title holders together, which is now a bit of a template for Indigenous land use.

“That period of my life was also a terrific insight, for me, on how politics worked.

“I realised they were just humans doing an important job.

“Even though it [politics] hadn’t entered my mind at that stage, I returned to Newcastle, got involved in my communities, stood for local government (in 2008) – and loved it.

“It was hard work but really great.

Newcastle MP Sharon Claydon with Lifeline Hunter CEO Rob Sams.

“Then when former Newcastle MP Sharon Grierson decided to retire, I made the decision to put my hand up. 

“And, I’ve never looked back… I have no regrets at all.

“I absolutely love my job and you probably wouldn’t last if you didn’t.

“It’s a career that requires a lot of commitment, however it’s an enormously rewarding one at the same time.

“It is an incredible privilege and, now that I’m in government, I’m literally pinching myself every day.

“I can actually pick up the phone and talk to Ministers.

“We now get to set the agenda – and make a difference.

“I have grand plans for Newcastle, as well as our region, based on lots of conversations with people over many years.

“I’m really conscious of many issues, from diversifying our economic base to critical energy supply and distribution, investment into our university and education pathways to green hydrogen and renewable spaces, and much more.

“We boast an enormously-skilled workforce in the Hunter, so not only do we have an important role to play for generations to come but we also need to be at the forefront of any changes moving forward.”

Ms Claydon’s initial priority, though, is the GPAAH service.

The facility at the Calvary Mater Hospital closed its doors in December, while operating hours at similar amenities at the Belmont Hospital, John Hunter Hospital, Maitland Hospital and Westlakes Community Health Centre in Toronto were reduced, too, due to continuous Liberal cutbacks and freezes to Medicare.

“I’ve got a commitment from the Australian Labor Party that we will restore funding,” she said.

“It’s my main goal now that I’m in government.

“It is a passion project for me and tens of thousands of Novocastrians.

“Honestly, I don’t think I’ve met a family in Newcastle who hasn’t used that service at some point.

“Anyone with children have absolutely utilised it.

“Now, we’re in a climate where it’s hard to find a bulk-billing doctor in Newcastle.

“It’s difficult to locate a GP that’s even got their books open if you’re new to town.

“GPAAH, while it fills a different kind of need in terms of the health system, it’s there to triage people out of the emergency departments and get them into good primary health care.

“But, residents are increasingly using that service because they actually can’t afford anything else.

“Sadly, we’ve seen what should be an universal health care system chipped away over time.

“We saw the former government take away our financial incentives for regional bulk-billing.

“Consequently, you can’t find a bulk-billing doctor in this city.

“Or, if you have been able to locate one, hang on to them because they are far and few between.

“There’s a real scarcity around access to affordable health care; that was the whole reason for Medicare.

“So, that’s a social contract we have to honour with the community.”

GP Access After Hours
Back, Hunter MP Joel Fitzgibbon, Labor candidate for Hunter Dan Repacholi, Shortland MP Pat Conroy, Dr Charles Robinson, Dr Lee Fong; and, front, Paterson MP Meryl Swanson, Dr Annette Carruthers AM and Newcastle MP Sharon Claydon with the petition containing 10,700 signatures.

Ms Claydon admitted “health” was a subject very dear to her – and Labor’s – heart.

“Having seven years of freezes on Medicare rebates really hurt that system a lot; changing the regional bulk-billing incentives did likewise; altering the way that you were classified as to whether or not you qualified for a doctor recruitment program – Newcastle got chopped out of that because we were deemed ‘metropolitan’; all those things compounded to make health care a really critical issue for people,” she said.

“That’s why when the government couldn’t find it in themselves to stump up what was a lousy $500,000 for GPAAH in a Commonwealth [health] budget, I thought ‘right, that’s it, enough is enough’.

“I went hard on it, too, not just in my seat but across the region.

“All my Labor colleagues – from Joel Fitzgibbon and Dan Repacholi (Hunter), Pat Conroy (Shortland), Meryl Swanson (Paterson) – and those on a state level jumped on board.

“We all had a GPAAH clinic, we knew the role it played.

“I’d already experienced the closure at the Calvary Mater on 24 December.

“That was the Christmas present we received from Scott Morrison.

“I could see immediately what that flow-on effect was – and what was happening in the ED of the Calvary Mater.

“If any of us were to lose another clinic, there would have been devastating consequences for Newcastle families.

“So, Labor will be delivering on that [GPAAH] promise ASAP.

“We’re just negotiating with our new Ministers now as to the roll-out of all our commitments.

“We have a budget to bring down in October.

“But, Treasurer Jim Chalmers has assured me we’ll be honouring our promises.

“You want healthy citizens, it’s good for productivity.”

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