Ms Atkinson and Mr Park met with Betty Connelly from the Katungal Aboriginal Medical and Community Service on Monday morning, before meeting with teachers and students at Moruya TAFE to talk about the Stop TAFE Cuts campaign.

Ms Connelly was keen to talk to talk to the pair about the increasing school suspension rate for students, the need to encourage children, particularly in the Aboriginal community, to go to preschool, and the need for an early intervention health service in the Eurobodalla.

“There’s a lot of interest around getting an early intervention team, or therapy in Batemans Bay,” Ms Connelly said.

“(We need) a wrap around service of a child psychologist, paediatrician, speech therapist, occupational therapist, and to have access to them.

“You find a lot of families that have relocated because of lack of resources and services down here.

“If we can put an intervention program in place now, and work with the young ones, it’s going to be a challenge for us but I think we’ll be giving them a much better start.”

The meeting was part of Ms Atkinson’s “listening tour” of the electorate.

She said the listening tour was important so she could reflect the views of the community that she would like to represent.

“I’m so pleased that Ryan has offered to come down getting a rural and regional perspective, having a look at the Far South Coast and some of the challenges here, and also the opportunities, and listening to people firsthand,” Ms Atkinson said.

“I think it’s very much about us listening to the community, getting ideas from them and also understanding what some of the issues are that they confront.”