Labor’s Huon candidate Abby McKibben says healthcare is the biggest issue facing the Huon Valley, describing a system where an 81-year-old woman lay on her kitchen floor for hours because no ambulance was available.
McKibben, who has lived in the Huon for more than two decades, is running for Tasmania’s upper house seat and says the state government has badly let the region down on health.
This story is part of a Pulse deep-dive series on the May 2 Legislative Council elections. To read more about the candidates standing, click here.
“We have so many health promises that have been made to the Huon that we, that it just seemed to be being stalled,” she told Pulse.
She pointed to the promised Huon health hub, which she says neither council nor the minister’s office can provide updates on more than a year after it was announced.
McKibben said the region urgently needs more nurse practitioners available on weekends and better out-of-hours emergency care.
The Huonville ambulance, staffed by just two paramedics, is regularly called into Hobart and doesn’t return for the rest of the shift, she said.
She recounted the story of a Geeveston woman who fell in her kitchen at 10:00am and was told the ambulance wouldn’t be back at the depot until 5:30pm that day.
“She was asked if she could wait till then, and then she ended up, she was laying on the floor of her kitchen,” McKibben said.
The woman’s neighbour eventually drove her to Hobart, where she spent three weeks in hospital and needed two surgeries on her arm.
McKibben said she also heard two stories of people giving birth on the side of the road during four months of doorknocking across the electorate.
“The Huon unsurprisingly is an aging population, so, you know, we need to look after our community and the healthcare they need,” she said.
She acknowledged the new urgent care clinic in Kingston had seen 1,855 patients since February 23, but said it was still too far away for many in the electorate.
“I live in Dover, which is still an hour and 20 minutes away from Kingston,” she said.
Originally from Tasmania’s North West Coast, McKibben grew up around the Penguin area and moved to the Huon Valley in 2003 after meeting her husband, a Geeveston local, at university in Launceston.
She took a graduate role with Huon Salmon and fell in love with the area.
Her career has since spanned professional services consulting in Hong Kong, a stint at Aurora Energy and most recently four years as communications and community engagement manager at Hobart City Council.
She also travelled to 14 countries in 2015 on a Nuffield farming scholarship.
McKibben said she joined Labor in July last year and was encouraged to consider running for Huon after completing the Pathways to Politics course.
She said she chose to run with Labor rather than as an independent because party membership gives her a direct line from community concerns to government action.
“I can actually take it straight through to the party channels in the lower house where government is formed and decisions are made,” she said.
She also pointed out the legislative council only sits for around 14 weeks a year, meaning a representative needs to be active in the community for the remaining 32 weeks.
“I’m here to get things done. I’m not here just to review legislation and tick boxes for those 14 weeks,” she said.
On salmon farming, McKibben drew on her years in the aquaculture industry to argue the sector is held to a far higher standard of transparency than other farming industries.
She said salmon producers must report their antibiotic use, feed ingredients and environmental data, while poultry, pork and cropping operations face no such requirements.
“I think it would be really interesting, I think, to see how people thought about salmon when they actually had all the data as well from all the other industries,” she said.
McKibben said she supports sustainable aquaculture with strong independent regulation but stressed that farmers depend on a healthy environment to survive.
“Without the ecosystem, without the environment, they just, they don’t have money,” she said.
She also highlighted a proposed project in the D’Entrecasteaux Channel that would establish seaweed and kelp forests on existing lease sites to absorb nitrogen levels and restore the waterway.
The second stage would look at farming the seaweed and turning it into biodegradable packaging for seafood, she said.
“There’s some really clever, innovative people in this space,” she said.
Beyond health and aquaculture, McKibben flagged housing, childcare and transport as major concerns across the electorate.
She said just eight rentals were available across the entire Huon Valley and that new housing developments in Huonville were not being matched by services.
“Our services, so health and childcare and family services is just not keeping up with the population growth,” she said.
Cost of living was overwhelmingly the top issue raised during doorknocking, she said, along with access to GPs, ambulance wait times and fuel costs for young apprentices driving long distances.
“It doesn’t feel like it’s the number one priority for this government or some of the other people in this campaign,” she said.
Asked whether she could win, McKibben said the campaign had only deepened her desire to take on the role.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed every part of the campaign. I’ve loved every day of door-knocking, and that was the bit I was the most nervous about,” she said.
