Janelle Saffin ‘gets things done’.

The member for Page is confident her constituents will turn to her consecutive successes, rather than Labor’s internal struggles, in the upcoming election, writes La Trobe Journalism student, Campbell Elmer.

 

Pictured: Janelle Saffin, current Labor representative for the electorate of Page.

The long neglected electorate of Page was one of the poorest electorates in Australia when Saffin took office in 2007, but that hasn’t stopped her from becoming one of the loudest backbenchers in parliament.

This MP’s entrance into the political arena was an evolution of her ‘desire to be a part of the world at large’, she says. Being an active member of her community, Saffin had always petitioned for change for the better but eventually realised that ‘change needed to come about through political means’.

Growing up in commission housing in Ipswich, Saffin says she is well aware of the importance of advocating social justice in society, recalling the attitudes of people she grew up around towards other cultures and the less privileged. Perhaps this is the reason she has a long history of supporting international causes such as the plight of Burmese opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi and reducing international poverty.

Despite taking on these massive causes, Saffin has not lost sight of local issues.

‘I have a list of Page priorities’, she assures me. ‘It’s on my window, and I publish it and tick it off.’ The state of the health industry in Page was a cause for worry before Saffin won her seat in 2007, but since then millions of dollars have been pumped into the region’s hospitals and health care services.

In addition to becoming a proponent for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, Saffin has secured approximately $25 million in federal funding for the upgrade of the Grafton Base Hospital, including new CT, PET and x-ray scanners as well as crucial renovations of the facilities. She also says that she has received money for the Lismore Hospital’s Integrated Cancer Research Centre and played a part in acquiring money for Our House; accommodation services for families with children receiving cancer treatment at Lismore.

Having earned her teaching degree at the Northern Rivers College of Advanced Education, Saffin says she understands the importance of education and tertiary opportunities within her region. Also, with the interstate pacific highway passing through her electorate, improvement of road infrastructure has been a vital issue for her constituents, and Saffin has delivered with funding for upgrades of the pacific highway and other regional roads having been approved.

Adding to the common problems of health, education and infrastructure, the rural nature of the Page electorate makes environmental sustainability a hot issue; particularly when it comes to the mining of coal-seam gas.

‘Because we are the northern rivers and that says a lot about water,’ Saffin says as she praises the beauty of her region.

‘We are deeply concerned about our water, the amount of water that is taken out with coal-seam gas mining and the quality of the water… It’s about the impact on our aquifers.’

The mining of coal-seam gas requires the use of a process known as fracking, which involves pumping gas or water based fluids containing carcinogens, heavy metals and radionuclides, in order to crack the coal deposits and release millions of years’ worth of methane gas from the ground. However, the process is not fool-proof as it requires large amounts of ground water to be used and it is entirely possible for the fracking fluids, or even the released methane, to seep into and contaminate the underground aquifers sprawled around the northern rivers. Aquifers that local industries such as farming and tourism, as well as fresh water supplies, are almost completely dependent on. This is what Saffin and her fellow Page residents are worried about.

‘The whole community is united. Not wanted. Not welcome. Go away’, she firmly states.

This issue has not been the only one the member for Page has taken up with the federal parliament. Her strong stance of social justice not limiting itself to humans, Saffin has been a supporter for the halt of live export.

Opposition MP John Cobb criticised Saffin’s view as contradictory to her passion for human rights, asking why she is trying to take the food from the mouths of ‘the underprivileged’. Saffin responded to these comments as ‘rubbish’, pointing out that many abattoirs have closed since the live export trade began.

‘If you want to talk about taking the food out of people’s mouths, Cobby needs to look closer, but he won’t because he was just taking a pot-shot. Absolute rubbish.’

Ms Saffin believes it is this unwavering support for justice and willingness to be outspoken for the good of her division that will dominate voter’s decision making; not the current leadership crisis that has plagued the Labor Party in recent weeks. She stepped down from her position as whip during the culling of Rudd supporters that followed the anti-climactic spill.

‘I’m confident that people know, and will know, that I have their best interests at heart. My best interest, their best interests, one in the same’, she says.

Her confidence is not unwarranted with Page locals having created a bumper sticker that reads ‘Janelle gets things done’. However, Saffin was quick to point out that ‘every election is hard’ and that she can never be certain of victory until the votes are tallied.

‘But I’ll be working with the will to win and keep representing the region in the best way that I can’, she says.

‘I mean, we had the National party in for nearly a hundred years, and we got nothing!’