OPPOSITION Leader Bill Shorten bought the Nowra CBD to a standstill on Tuesday afternoon.
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Mr Shorten, accompanied by his wife Chloe, son Rupert and Gilmore candidate Fiona Phillips walked down Junction Street, visited a number of local businesses and stopped to chat with people in the street.
Medicare, education and health were again Mr Shorten’s message.
Local resident Justin Bradley was just walking up the street and took the opportunity to ask Mr Shorten a few questions, including what would he do for the country if his party formed government.
“He said he would help young people get jobs and help with technology,” the 21-year-old said.
Mr Bradley said he had decided who he would vote for and urged young people to take voting seriously.
“Every votes counts on the day,” he said.
There were also questions from a number of school children and Mr Shorten was even showered with a number of kisses from supporters.
“It is lovely to be in Nowra,” Mr Shorten said.
“Nowra is a town with a great history and we want it to have a bright future.
“The people who live in this district understand the quality of life that’s possible.
“But in order to maintain your quality of life and standard of living and in order to be a district where young people can get an education and a job we need a Labor government that is in touch with this community.
“Fiona and Steven Jones from the Illawarra have been at pains to explain to me that an elected Labor government should prioritise the education of young people, of needs based funding as set out in the Gonski report. The importance of quality NBN to end the digital divide between suburbs and streets. If we have access to the best technology NBN, small businesses can flourish here.
“People can make their decision to move here and make a living here because technology here is just as good as any part of Australia.
“They have also been at pains to tell me that climate change is an important issue in this election but what people want is to take action now. Not leave it to future generations to deal with it.
“And what matters to voters in Gilmore is saving and defending Medicare. That’s what’s important.
“We can save and defend Medicare because it would never occur to us to set up a privatisation task force.
“We believe fundamentally we should unfreeze the payments that go to GPs, we want to stand up and scrap Mr Turnbull’s price hike for prescription medicine and we are committed to maintaining bulk billing for diagnostic testing.
“It’s not a case of making Gilmore marginal. If we vote Labor in the seat, we will give Gilmore the overdue attention it hasn’t had because it’s been treated as a safe seat for the Liberals with lazy policies prioritising the middle of the big cities and ignoring the regions.”
Mrs Phillips said it was great to have Mr Shorten in town.
“Our region has been taken for granted for too long,” she said.