Doctor aims for Canberra
RESPECTED Jewish paediatrician Dr Mike Freelander is set to run on a platform of improving access to health and education services as Labor’s candidate for the marginal federal south-western Sydney electorate of Macarthur.
RESPECTED Jewish paediatrician Dr Mike Freelander is set to run on a platform of improving access to health and education services as Labor’s candidate for the marginal federal south-western Sydney electorate of Macarthur.
Although Macarthur has not been held by Labor since 1996, sitting Liberal MP Russell Matheson’s margin has fallen from 11.4 per cent to just 2.8 per cent, ensuring a tight contest.
Freelander, 62, is a senior paediatrician at Campbelltown and Camden Hospitals with more than three decades of medical practice in the region, and is not shy to speak out about public health issues.
Speaking of his motivation for entering the federal election race, Freelander said, “I want to serve the families of the Macarthur region and ensure that they get proper access to medical support and education – that is why I decided to stand.
“Health and education are great levellers in an unfair society.
“As a doctor, I have seen the impact of the federal and state Liberal-National cuts to health, and seen first-hand the effects of the $57 billion cuts to hospitals and Medicare.”
A supporter of the Gonski education reforms and a stronger Medicare system, Freelander told The AJN he will continue to speak up on behalf of the community. “My allegiance is to the people I look after.
“I’m reasonably optimistic [about my chances in the election]. But I know I need to get out there and push the policies I believe are important.”
A proud Zionist, Freelander has family links that go back to Abraham Amos Rheuben, a convict transported to Tasmania on the Second Fleet who later helped establish Hobart Synagogue. His paternal grandfather, William Freelander, was one of the first country Jewish mayors, serving as mayor of Katoomba.
Dr Freelander had his bar mitzvah at Emanuel Synagogue and moved to the Macarthur region in 1984 where he established his own practice.
“I’m not a particularly religious Jew, but I still describe myself as Jewish,” Freelander said.
In addition to his senior duties at the two hospitals, Freelander is a lecturer at Western Sydney University.
Freelander’s selection was welcomed by NSW Parliamentary Friends of Israel deputy chair and NSW Deputy Opposition Leader in the NSW Legislative Council Walt Secord, who described him as living “by the Jewish principle of tikkun olam”.
“He has strong principles and will stand up for his community,” Secord said.
SHANE DESIATNIK
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