Simon Kennedy
Cook · Liberal Party · Australia
“Can you guess how long it took Cory to have his injuries accepted? Eight years—eight years of forms, reports, appointments, assessments, delays and uncertainty. Cory, as I mentioned, is president of the Cronulla RSL Sub-Branch.”
“This Albanese government must accept its obligation in return, must explain why veterans are being pushed through repeated reassessments, must explain why veterans are paying out-of-pocket costs for 400 days while waiting for approval and must explain why doctors are being driven away from DVA work.”
“This has to change. I don't want to continue with political point scoring. I want this to flip. If the members across here today and the members watching in their offices right now can take this back to their party room: we want to stop. Let's make this right.”
“A veteran should not be forced through repeated assessments just to keep receiving care. A veteran should not be paying out of pocket while waiting for a government approval.”
“We've announced it and passed it in a budget, and now we're doing the consultation. How backwards is that? We're raising revenue and giving billions of dollars to hydrogen and billions of dollars to billionaires. We're giving $15 billion to the NRF.”
“Luckily, he had a home which he could borrow against, but for those 17 months he had to borrow against his home and he was under constant psychiatric treatment, with no promise that it would ever be reimbursed. This isn't how a grateful country should treat a veteran.”
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“What worries me even more is that we hear they won't develop it for 18 months. On the other side of the election, who will be in those portfolios? Can we guarantee we'll have the same NDIS ministers? Will we have the same people in the health portfolios? What worries me about this is: Are we kicking the can down the road for political convenience? Did we announce these reforms mere weeks before a budget to lower the budget estimates? Who will be implementing these reforms? And why do we have to wait for the answers to these questions On the unscheduled plan reassessments, this bill will restrict a person's ability to ask for unscheduled reassessments of their plans. The Albanese government has said around 12,000 unscheduled plan reassessments are taking place each month, most resulting in additional funding variations of 20 per cent.”
“Instead, I'm getting this, and this is one of many emails; I thank Lachlan's family for allowing me to use their case and their names. There were a number of other emails we received, similar in tone but where the families did not want to have their names or their personal circumstances put on the record. Those people, similarly, deserve to be heard. They deserve a chance. Eligibility has primarily until now been based on a person's diagnosis. The bill will change that to be based on a person's reduced functional capacity as a result of the diagnosis. There are a lot of people just like Lachlan who are exceptionally worried about themselves, their child or their family members, so we need to get these answers clear, and what we hear is that the Albanese government hasn't developed it yet.”
“Why are we taking 18 months to actually start implementing reforms that get the budget back into shape? There are a lot of questions. It's families like Lachlan's who have questions, with profound disabilities, who this scheme was intended for. It's people who are seeing two guys wandering around with an iPhone, meeting providers, seemingly uncovering fraud after fraud after fraud, rightly asking: what have the thousands of bureaucrats administering this scheme been doing? You almost don't need the bureaucrats. You could be armed with an AI program and get some AI agents to go through and look at these unusual expenses. The cleaners who are going there and pretending to clean, booking for hours and staying 30 minutes—the fraud seems so endemic it must stop.”
“We need to be telling Australians they can do more, taking crutches away from people who don't need them and directing this scheme to people it was intended for. The other thing that gives me pause is the implementation time. I congratulated the government when they announced the intent to reform the scheme the day after Minister Butler gave his speech at the Press Club. But I was disappointed to learn in the days after that that the implementation dates were set for 18 months. Well, 18 months happens to be just after a likely federal election. I also saw the timing of the announcement—a mere weeks away from the federal budget. In that budget, suddenly, in the forward estimates, the spending is revised down, and that has led people in my electorate to ask me questions: Was this done just to improve the budget papers?”
“Australians with profoundly disabled family members, families who are working, families who are doing exactly what this scheme is intended for, deserve the answers to these questions. This scheme was not intended to be rorted. It was not intended for one in five or one in six five- and six-year-old boys to be on this scheme. That's not what this scheme was intended for. They were put onto it with no sunset date. We should be looking at sunsetting kids. I was talking to a plumber on the weekend who was proudly talking about his ADHD. He reckons it makes him one of the best businessmen in the Sutherland Shire. Imagine if he, at six years old, was put on a scheme and told: 'You'll be on this for life. You won't amount to anything.' He's one of the most successful guys I have met running one of those businesses. It's fantastic.”
“But then we have someone who has the mental capacity of a four-year-old. He can't work. His family are working and are now panicked with anxiety that it's going to be taken away. The government needs to be looking in the right areas. The government must stop the fraud and provider exploitation without making families like the Rowneys fight harder for basic supports. Yes, there's bipartisan support for these NDIS reforms. We strongly support those bipartisan reforms. But let's focus where the rorting is. It's amazing to me that two guys knocking on doors in Western Sydney, armed with nothing more than an iPhone camera, can expose more rorts than I have seen in four years of this government. Australians rightly ask what is going on.”
“Do not call inclusion a saving. Do not call isolation a reform. Do not pretend that removing flexibility from the most profoundly disabled Australians is the same as stopping the rorts or attacking people the scheme was never meant for. The NDIS has grown into one of the largest areas of Commonwealth spending, growing eight to 12 per cent a year. The government has now booked major savings from this reform, but Australians are entitled to ask where those savings will come from: stopping fraud and provider exploitation or targeting participants who the scheme was never meant for. We hear statistics of one in five or one in six five- and six-year-old boys being on the scheme. Is this who this was targeted for? For learning disabilities? There's no sunset period for some of these children to be on it.”
“But Lachlan is the original intent. People with profound disability are the original intent. Families who cannot replace paid support because they're already working, caring, carrying the weight every day, are the original intent of this scheme. So if this government is serious about reform, and we will support them in serious reform, let's start where the problem actually is. Let's go after the rorters. Let's go after providers billing for services they never deliver. Let's go after the criminals exploiting vulnerable participants or sometimes even phantom participants. Let's strengthen the enforcement, improve detection, register providers properly and make sure public money goes where it's meant to go. But let's not take away the support that keeps Lachlan and Australians like Lachlan healthy, safe and connected.”
“The answer to fraud can't be to strip flexibility from families doing everything right and suffering from the largest, biggest disabilities. The answer to waste cannot be to isolate people like Lachlan from their community. This community access is not a luxury. For Lachlan, swimming is not just swimming; it's health, it's routine, it's confidence, it's joy. It keeps his physical weight up. It's part of maintaining his physical wellbeing. One-on-one support isn't an optional extra; it allows him to do basic things safely that most Australians take for granted. Without that support, Lachlan's world becomes smaller. His parents know that. They see it every day. They live it, and they're asking parliament to understand it. The government says it wants to return the NDIS to its original intent, and we couldn't do more but agree.”
“It was created so that people with disabilities could live with dignity, safety and inclusion, and this is why the government must get this right. Yes, the NDIS must be sustainable. Yes, the rorting must stop. Yes, bad providers, inflated invoices, fake services and criminal exploitation must be driven out of the scheme. It's taken YouTube influencers—two guys with an iPhone—to expose this, when we have tens of thousands of bureaucrats working in and around the scheme who are not doing their jobs properly. Every dollar lost to fraud is a dollar not going to someone like Lachlan and his parents. Every dodgy provider who drains this system makes it harder for genuine participants and honest families. But the answer to provider rorting cannot be to make life harder for profoundly disabled people.”
“This is a 24-year-old man with a profound disability—one that the scheme was designed for—severe anxiety, epilepsy and the mental ability of a four-year-old. This family is doing everything they can to give their son dignity, structure, health, connection and joy. How can this government look at Lachlan and his family and tell them community access is a luxury? How can the government look at Andrea and Jason, who already carry the physical, emotional and financial burden of care, and tell them that the answer is less flexibility and a smaller life for their son. The NDIS was created for Australians like Lachlan and their Australian families. It was created for people with permanent and significant disabilities. It was created so that families would not be left alone.”
“The look on our sons face when he goes swimming is priceless, due to the strength of a lot of the medication that he must take, it impacts his weight, by attending the gym and swimming it is helping him maintain a relatively healthy weight I ask you to advocate strongly against any cuts or restrictions to community access funding and to support policies that protect the rights, inclusion, and wellbeing of people with disabilities. My son deserves the chance to live a full and connected life, not one limited by isolation. Andrea and Jason That is the human impact of this debate. It's not a line item in a budget paper. It's not a bureaucratic category. This is not some abstract discussion about scheme design. This is Lachlan's life. It is his parents life.”
“Removing this support sends the message that their participation and inclusion are not important. Families already carry enormous emotional, physical, and financial responsibilities, and cuts to these services place even more pressure on carers and loved ones. Community access is not a luxury—it is an essential part of his wellbeing, independence, mental health, and quality of life. Taking this support away isolates vulnerable people from society and removes opportunities that many of us take for granted every day.”
“Due to Lachlan's severe disability he is unable to dress himself, toilet himself, catch public transport, cook meals or access community programs on his own so needs the 1:1 support to do these activities, us as normal people take for granted. The freedom to choose his weekly schedule is under threat. His family work 5-6 days a week and cannot replace paid support. Through community access, our son is able to participate in everyday life, build confidence, reduce stress, maintain social connections, and engage in activities that support his emotional and physical wellbeing. Without it, his world becomes smaller, more isolated, and far less meaningful. People with disabilities deserve the same opportunities as everyone else to be included in their communities.”
“Under the proposed changes, our son who is a participant for 'whom the Scheme was originally intended' (profound disability) will lose the current flexibility of his NDIS Plan. Due to fatigue heat and anxiety triggering his seizures, he attends group day programs 3 times a week. He stays in the centre if there is an excursion because group outings cause major distressed which can lead to meltdowns (where he can lash out or throw himself on the ground) and seizures (which require immediate medical attention from ambulance/hospital). Lachlan accesses the community 2 days a week doing things he likes for example the gym or swimming using 1:1 support for programs designed by therapists to maintain his health.”
“On the NDIS, I will talk about the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026, but what I think is very important about the bill and the amendment is the human stories behind them. I recently received a letter from parents in my electorate which I would like to share with the chamber and put onto Hansard . Here are the words of Andrea and Jason, and their son Lachlan: We are writing to express our deep concern about the removal/reduction of community access supports for our disabled son. Our son Lachlan Rowney, is a 24 year old young man with a severe intellectual disability (mental capacity of a 4 year old in a 24 year olds body) along with ASD level 3, severe anxiety (medicated) and Epilepsy—grand mal (medicated).”
“In this budget, if you earn an income, they tax you more; if you invest, they tax you more; if you build a business, they tax you more; and, if you're a young person, they'll tax you more. Under this budget, young people are far worse off.”
“This is the highest taxing budget in Australia's history. And why? Because government spending is at a 40-year high outside of the pandemic. Look, they're not spending it well enough for us to want to give them more. We see NDIS rorting, criminals stealing from the NDIS, and, instead of the government exposing it, it has to be two blokes on social media doorknocking in Western Sydney. We're spending $20 million on advertising on how people can pump up their tyres so they use less fuel. These are the types of programs that are being funded out of higher taxes on wage earners through bracket creep, small businesses through CGT and property owners through negative gearing. The PM has never seen an aspiration that he didn't want to crush. Under this budget, you take the risk, and the Prime Minister takes the reward.”
“These stories show the best of our community—people stepping forward with compassion, expertise and practical help when they're facing some of life's hardest moments. Congratulations to you all.”
“The walk also raised funds for the Stroke Foundation, which helps support its work in education, prevention, research and assistance for survivors and families. I congratulate Ryan, Paragon Fit and everyone involved in organising and participating in the walk. What Ryan has done is a wonderful example of a local community turning personal adversity into action and using that experience to help others. His courage, determination and generosity are an inspiration. I wish him and all the stroke survivors continued strength in their recovery. I also give a quick shout-out to Brooke Bagnall, who is also doing amazing recovering from a stroke and has acted as my own personal trainer.”
“It's preventative health in action and helps women stay active, connected and supported before small changes become bigger ones. I thank Hannah for her leadership, for her advocacy and for her commitment to supporting mums and families right across our community. I recognise Ryan Webber from Paragon Fit and the Cronulla community for coming together for the walk for stroke survivors. This walk marked the three-year anniversary of Ryan's own stroke. It was a moment that not only changed his life but also became the beginning of a powerful story of resilience, recovery and service to others. Congratulations, Ryan. You're a legend. Stroke can affect anyone at any age, and recovery is physical, emotional and deeply personal.”
“Hannah helps mothers exercise safely during pregnancy, after birth and through the many stages of motherhood. That support matters because mums are often so focused on caring for everyone else, and their own health and their own recovery can be pushed to the side. Through Mighty Mums, Hannah is giving local women practical guidance, community and encouragement. I've been down there to experience firsthand the classes and see it change lives. Her sessions help mothers rebuild strength, move safely, improve confidence, support their physical and mental wellbeing and create social cohesion, and the babies get there and join in too. At South Cronulla Beach each week the work is happening at a local, grassroots level.”
“It can be one of the most joyful times in life, but it can also be one of the most testing times. Elly has identified something incredibly important: we prepare people for birth, but too often we don't prepare them for the transition into parenthood as a couple and as a family. Becoming Us helps mums and dads understand this transition, communicate better, manage stress and work together as a team. These programs, including those available through the St George and Sutherland hospitals, are making a real difference to families not only across the electorate but also across Sydney. Elly's message is simple but powerful: you don't have to figure it out all alone, and these classes are out there for you to get support. I also acknowledge Hannah Dence, who is a trainer based in Cronulla and Founder of Mighty Mums.”
“By making this care available locally, the foundation is ensuring people in the shire are not having to face the physical challenges of cancer treatment alone. I also recognise Cronulla's Elly Taylor, Founder of Becoming Us, for her work supporting new parents and families. So much preparation goes into the birth of a baby: parents go to classes, read books, attend appointments and learn what to expect. During the birth itself, there's a whole team around them, but then when the baby comes suddenly everything changes at home. There are new stresses and sleepless nights, there is confusion and pressure, and there's often tension between partners, who are both trying to do their best but are feeling overwhelmed. My wife and I have unfortunately experienced that firsthand.”
“Today I want to recognise four examples of care, courage and service in the seat of Cook. The Cancer Care Rehabilitation Foundation in Miranda helps local cancer patients access specialised care and exercise rehabilitation and removes the financial barrier to care. Cancer treatment can be physically and emotionally exhausting. Patients can face fatigue, weakness, pain, loss of confidence and the feeling that their own body is changing beneath them. Recovery is not just about surviving treatment; it's about rebuilding strength, restoring independence and helping people return to the life they want to live. I particularly want to acknowledge Sharyn Wappett, a specialist oncology physiotherapist, and Megan McMinn, an oncology exercise physiologist, for their dedicated work supporting patients through treatment and recovery.”
“Small businesses are the backbone of our local economy and when they struggle, communities feel it. Do you know what else affects these small businesses? It is this budget, because, now, when they want to sell their small business, they will be taxed almost double what they were. The 50 per cent CGT discount is gone. If they've been distributing money through a trust, that's now gone too. These small businesses suffering will now have a much higher tax burden and will suffer so much more as a result of this budget.”
“The owner, Mr Vasili, has spent two decades in hospitality, and he told us plainly that he has never seen it this tough. Costs are rising across the board. Electricity, ingredients, wages—everything is going up and going up more frequently. Small businesses are being forced to track every dollar just to stay afloat. At the same time, he notes customer behaviours changing. People are coming in but spending less. Once it was a meal and coffee; now it's just coffee. Some businesses are operating on tight margins, where costs rise and revenues fall and the pressure becomes unsustainable, but we're now seeing business owners question whether it's worth continuing at all. The worst thing is that this isn't isolated. It's happening all across hospitality, retail and local services.”
“And, unfortunately, I worry they are going to be measured in deaths. Today I am asking that this government does better. We need to ensure that people like Martin in my electorate access the support they need when they need it and when we promised it. We need to reduce delays; we need to make the system navigable; we need to restore what matters most—choice, control and dignity. Martin has given 90 years to his community and to his family. For many of those years he was paying taxes. Surely, we can give him some dignity, like we promised, for the last few years of his life. I'd also like to make some comments about the cost-of-living problems we're facing in my electorate. Recently I visited a local cafe in Woolooware, the Playground cafe.”
“He wants the chance to live out his remaining years in a place he knows well, in his home, and he just wants what was promised to him under the My Aged Care system. He wants what we promised to deliver to him; he doesn't want the delays. The backlog doesn't care. It's beyond time we fixed it. Now this isn't an unreasonable request. It's what our aged-care system is meant to do. We talk a lot about reform in parliament, about funding, about programs and about people like Martin. It's about whether the system works for the people it was designed to support. When it doesn't, and it's not right now, the consequences are real. They're measured in hospital admissions, they're measured in stress on families, they're measured in older Australians denied the ability to live the final chapter at home and on their terms.”
“In the meantime, Martin has been allowed to fall through the cracks. His family has had to step in. His granddaughter Chantel is the one who is advocating for him. Social workers have tried to help navigate My Aged Care, but they struggle to get traction. This cycle continue when Martin returns home without the support he needs, deteriorates and then ends up back in hospital. Martin's worse off, our hospital system is worse off, it's costing us more money and, sadly, I worry that it's costing us lives again and again. This is not just hard on Martin; it's hard on his family as well. But there's something deeper. Martin wants dignity, to live in his own home with dignity. He doesn't want to be a burden on his granddaughter and on his family.”
“I'd like to cover an email one of my constituents sent to me about our healthcare system and about aged care. Martin is 90 years old. Martin is not a statistic. He's not a case number. He's a member of my community, someone who has lived a full life, contributed and now, in his later years, is asking for something very simple—to remain in his own home. But over the past two years, Martin has presented to hospital at least 20 times—not because he wants to be there, but because the system is not built around him and it's not working the way it should be. Like many older Australians, Martin has been waiting—waiting for the support he needs to live safely at home; waiting for a home-care package; waiting for a system that is backed up, delayed and struggling to transition into the new Support at Home program.”
“We receive requests for food assistance, one lady pleading she had nothing for school lunches, We have also been asked to supply beds so no more sleeping on the floor with only a blanket, we have supplied washing machines, refrigerators, we have also been asked by a very distressed lady for financial help as she could not afford to bury her father …”
“Six decades of service to one club is not just dedication; it's a lifetime commitment to a community, to sport and to the next generation. Frank's contribution has not gone unnoticed. In 2018 he was the recipient of a Cook community award, a fitting recognition of the impact he has had on Cook for many years. Recently I received an email from Carol, a St Vincent de Paul volunteer for Caringbah. She wrote: In these ever increasing cost of living times it has become extremely obvious the number of people in your electorate around Caringbah who are in need of help has increased dramatically, and if this increase is not enough we have noticed a lot of people are much younger.”
“I would like to congratulate the Wanda Surf Life Saving Club on an extraordinary achievement, securing their first state age championship title in decades. Wanda's young lifesavers have delivered a result the club hasn't celebrated since the early 1990s. There were some standout individual efforts, including in the under 11s. Max Pyper rose to the occasion with dual victories in the ironman and the swim. In the under 9s, Mia Apps produced a remarkable medal haul—three gold and a bronze—marking her as one of the most exciting young competitors in all of New South Wales. I'd like to recognise a truly remarkable member of our community, Frank Bova. For more than 60 years, Frank has been part of the fabric of Lilli Pilli Football Club, first as a player, then as a coach, then as a mentor and now as a leader.”
“I would like to recognise and congratulate an outstanding local Kirrawee High School student Nate Kell on his selection to the Australian under 16s water polo team. To represent your country at any age is an extraordinary achievement, but to do so while still in high school is truly incredible. It's a proud moment for the Cronulla water polo club, as well as our entire community of the Sutherland shire. I also want to recognise the Cronulla women's water polo team. They won the 2026 Australian women's water polo championship after a 15-12 victory against Sydney University. Dani Jackovich received the MVP of the finals series, along with MVP of the entire competition. The Cronulla women's water polo team is now the best team in the entire country. Congratulations girls!”
“My question is to the Prime Minister. To get ahead, the Prime Minister bought a property in his 20s. He claimed the CGT discount. He negatively geared his way to a $4.3 million property in Copacabana. Now, today the Australian reports 20 out of 23 of the Labor cabinet own more than two properties they can continue to negatively gear. Why are younger Australians being denied the very same opportunities the Prime Minister and his cabinet colleagues continue to benefit from?”
“They have ripped the ladders of opportunity away from young people and entrenched it in the older generation, and they have had the temerity to gaslight younger people and say, 'This is going to solve intergenerational inequity.' If this is such a good idea, Australians should ask themselves this question: Why, just 12 months ago, did the Labor government need to lie about it? Why did they stand up in front of an election, look the Australian people in the eye and lie about changing capital or negative gearing? It will rip hope and opportunity away from young people and entrench it in older generations. We are for providing those ladders of opportunity to young people, the same ladders their parents had.”
“This budget declares the intergenerational war over. It was a massacre, and the boomers won. This is the highest-taxing budget in Australia's history. The next generation will be the poorest ever in Australian history. Why? Because of the bracket creep tax. Young people now pay a higher share of income than I did. Because of Labor, young people pay a higher capital tax than I ever did. And, because of Labor, young people will be subsidising me negatively gearing my properties. That is what this Labor government has done.”
“My question is to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister has confirmed he has used negative gearing and the CGT discount, and the Prime Minister, I note, has bought a $4.8 million property in Copacabana. Why is the Prime Minister stopping the next generation of Australians from using the very opportunities he has personally benefited from?”
“When parents should be getting ready to take a break, unwind and spend time with family and extended family, instead they're going to be thinking about how they'll afford the extra $27,000 in mortgage interest alone, or the extra $1,400 in energy bills, or the extra $1,400 in fuel, or wondering about the fuel rationing the Prime Minister might announce tonight. Well, this reduced standard of living hasn't just come out of thin air. This government has been failing, year after year, to have the foresight to prevent crises. Energy is the economy. What we've done on electricity and gas was wholly foreseeable. This government is always flat-footed, behind and slow to react. I sometimes wonder: who would do a better job—the Easter bunny, or the Prime Minister in charge of this country?”
“What will the Easter bunny be bringing this year? A couple of chocolates? A bunny? A lolly or two? How about an eye-watering power bill? How about a mortgage repayment that makes your eyes water as well? How about grocery prices that make you think twice about inviting family or friends over for that Easter lunch? For some families this year, the Easter bunny won't be making an appearance. They won't even be able to afford the fuel to go away with friends for the long weekend or to see extended family.”
“The issue Australia has had with this is prior to the Iran shock. Prior to any of this becoming an issue, Australia had the highest inflation of any advanced economy in the world. Australia was worse than the US, worse than anywhere in Europe and worse than in Asia. What is the responsibility of a federal government at a time like this? It's to shelter the businesses. It's to shelter the citizens. But, instead, Jim Chalmers and his reckless spending had Australia with the highest inflation—”
“These transport operators may now be able to service their customers and get goods moving. We were facing, potentially, shortages at customer shelves in supermarkets and hardware stores. How did this come about? Well, it was because of coalition leadership. It was over a week ago that we first called for a cut to fuel excise and road user charging. And, yes, it was pleasing to see the Albanese government listen to the coalition and listen to Australians to support them through the difficulties they were having. This government is just waking up to the fact that energy is the economy. We've seen it with electricity markets and how it's been hurting manufacturing, we've seen it in gas markets and how it's been hurting industry, and now we're seeing it in oil and fuel markets and how it's grinding Australia to a halt.”
“These are real stories not in impoverished parts of Australia but in the Sutherland shire of Sydney, a well-to-do, reasonably affluent area. Yes, there are people doing it extremely tough there, and if they're doing it tough there I can only begin to imagine how tough they are doing it in the rest of Australia. We support this because it will deliver relief for households. It's coming at a critical time ahead of Easter, where families looking to go away for road trips and school holidays are wondering how they're going to pay for those school holiday and Easter activities. Budgets are stretched for small businesses and tradies. Transport operators who I have spoken to as recently as last week were parking their trucks because they couldn't afford to make a loss or their businesses would go under.”
“The coalition supports this bill, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Fuel Excise Relief) Bill, because Australians need immediate relief and they need it now. Families and small businesses right across Australia and in the electorate of Cook are under real pressure. My office is getting emails about people struggling with the cost of living, struggling with fuel bills and being unable to make ends meet and get by. Just this week I heard from the St Vincent de Paul Society telling stories about people in my electorate—mums forgoing lunches for their children, having to ask the St Vincent de Paul Society for help to provide their kids with lunch, asking them for help to put beds in people's houses because they're sleeping with blankets on the floor, asking them to help with the weekly groceries and asking them to help with fuel vouchers.”
“Rising costs are forcing people to delay their retirement or return to work simply to maintain financial stability. After a lifetime of contribution, Australians should be able to retire and live with dignity. I met a pensioner the other day at a listening post and I had to introduce them to Wesley Mission to pay their electricity bill. This pensioner was unable to run their fridge or their air conditioning, or turn the lights on, because the pension was not enough. This was a lovely immigrant man who had worked for his entire life. What is missing is a clear path to bring these pressures under control. Australians want to see inflation reduced in a sustainable way, with disciplined fiscal settings. This is what we ask for from the Treasurer: not excuses but real action to lower the cost of living.”
“Had we been in the US, in Asia, in the UK or anywhere in Europe, we would have been much more sheltered from this oil shock, with lower inflation. But instead Australian households are getting smashed. They're looking to pick up the pieces. They're struggling to put together lunches. You heard it here: in Cook, people are struggling to provide their kids with lunch. This government's responsibility was to shelter Australians when we had an international shock. Instead, they've been left flailing in the wind, exposed to these international shocks by an irresponsible Treasurer. More than 760,000 Australians aged 65 and over are now in the workforce—the highest number on record. Many of these people are working because they have no alternative.”
“Well, since the Albanese government took office, we've had 14 interest rate rises. Yes, rates were at an all-time low coming out of COVID, but what we have seen from this government is increased government spending—the highest it's been in 40 years. It's actually at a record for 40 years. What we see with increased government spending is that there's too much demand in the economy, which is made up of government spending and private spending. When that government spending is too high, the Reserve Bank tries to drive down spending by increasing interest rates. That's led Australia to have the highest inflation of any advanced economy in the world. It's at this time, when we are suffering from the highest inflation in the world, that we've had an oil shock globally.”
“I can only see the desperate calls for help increasing, especially with the cost of fuel.' This is the lived reality, and we're not talking about an area that's below the poverty line or impoverished; we're talking about my local electorate of Cook, which does better than most of the electorates around the country. So, if this is how people in the heart of metropolitan Sydney, with high house prices and good employment prospects, are living, I shudder to think of the number of families across this nation doing it tough. That's mums and dads having tough conversations about whether they can pay grocery or energy bills. It's about packing school lunches, paying for fuel, the pressure that puts on relationships and the conflict that creates in families. That is the lived reality. What has the government's role been in this?”
“We've supplied washing machines, refrigerators, and we've been asked by a very distressed lady for financial help as she could not afford to bury her father. Financial assistance with utility bills is for another. The increased number of calls is placing all volunteers from Caringbah under pressure to fit these visits in their daily lives. Many of these people appear to be living under the poverty line. It was brought to my attention that, during COVID, there was an increase in income support payments, and I think something like that is needed. These people we assist cannot live without dignity, without a hand from Vinnies or the charities. The government has a responsibility to adequately support those who are unable to support themselves.”