Mary Aldred
Monash · Liberal Party · Australia
“It's a privilege to rise for my 100th contribution to this place. In doing so, I want to address a barbeque-stopper of a conversation topic in my electorate of Monash, and that is homeownership. I'm deeply concerned. Building approvals dropped in May for the third consecutive month. This is an impact of the budget's housing tax changes.”
“You can measure the budget deficit of this government in numbers, but nothing compares to the deficit of trust it has created in Australia. We need to unlock supply and enable local infrastructure like Weebar Road in Drouin, in my electorate of Monash, which I've been fighting very hard for.”
“This Friday is 3 July, and it is the 12-month anniversary of the swearing-in of the class of 2025. It is a momentous occasion for that class among us.”
“I've got a constituent right now who's living with her abuser in fear because leaving means she will be separated from her special needs son and pets, and she cannot afford to move out. There are a couple living in a tent in a stranger's driveway in my electorate, and they cannot afford anywhere to rent on their $450-per-week budget.”
“Our wonderful CFA volunteers in Victoria answer the call in the middle of the night and step away from their work in the middle of the day to protect our community year round. As the daughter of someone who was a CFA volunteer, I know this very well.”
“For all the smirking and the back-patting and the preening that this prime minister carries on with, Australians right now deserve so much better from their government. Look at health.”
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“You can measure the budget deficit of this government in numbers, but nothing compares to the deficit of trust it has created in Australia. We need to unlock supply and enable local infrastructure like Weebar Road in Drouin, in my electorate of Monash, which I've been fighting very hard for. It's 60 years since Robert Menzies left office. A proud achievement of his was to create the first standalone housing portfolio. He lifted taxes and he boosted supply. That's why the Liberal Party will always be trusted to deliver housing ownership and affordability for more Australians.”
“It's a privilege to rise for my 100th contribution to this place. In doing so, I want to address a barbeque-stopper of a conversation topic in my electorate of Monash, and that is homeownership. I'm deeply concerned. Building approvals dropped in May for the third consecutive month. This is an impact of the budget's housing tax changes. Clearance rates have tumbled, and Australians are paying nearly $30,000 on their mortgage. Household savings are 6.2 per cent of income; people are dipping into their savings just to survive. The Victorian government provides a great example of how to lower the housing market by taxing and regulating everything. The Prime Minister couldn't rule out—in fact, he was asked twice—that prices would not tank further.”
“Leigh Foster was recognised for his work on safety and a decade of dedicated service to the brigade and the community, while the Jack Rayson Encouragement Award was given to Brendan Hawkins, recognising his enthusiasm, commitment and promising future within the brigade. Thanks to all these wonderful volunteers and the broader Leongatha community.”
“I also want to recognise neighbouring brigades like Berrys Creek, Ruby and many others who turned out in support of their fellow volunteers when they received these awards. I also want to acknowledge those who have contributed so much but are no longer with us. Leo Bentvelzen was posthumously awarded a life membership and a National Medal. National Medals were presented to Scott Cameron and Scott Hillis, and a third clasp was presented to Ed Browning. I want to particularly recognise Scott Hillis. Scott is someone who puts a great deal of time, thought and effort year round into educational videos about fire risks, mitigations and how to stay safe at home and elsewhere. I really want to commend the time and thought that he puts into those.”
“It's not just one incident or accident that they head out to. Year round, they answer the call to car accidents, accidents on farms, gas leaks and a whole variety of things that they step up to assist with. It was really wonderful on the evening to be able to recognise some of the long-term volunteers: Murray Leitch and Scott Wilkinson, who were presented with life memberships along with national medals. I want to recognise the brigade because for 119 years they have been serving the Leongatha community. It was wonderful to recognise not just the volunteers but also family members, like Janet, who provide great support to these volunteers at home and allow them to do what they do so well.”
“Our wonderful CFA volunteers in Victoria answer the call in the middle of the night and step away from their work in the middle of the day to protect our community year round. As the daughter of someone who was a CFA volunteer, I know this very well. In a nation of volunteers, there's nothing that epitomises that spirit better than CFA volunteers, and I am so proud to represent many of them in my electorate of Monash. On Saturday I was privileged to join my state colleague the member for Gippsland South, Leader of the Nationals and shadow state emergency services minister Danny O'Brien at the Leongatha Fire Brigade Awards. It was a great evening and a really good opportunity to recognise the incredible dedication, commitment and professionalism of the brigade's volunteers and all they have achieved year round.”
“At what point, after a few years of sitting well outside this recommended ban, are we going to have a serious national conversation about inflation and the impact that it's having on the cost of living? At what point do we just roll on for another couple of years under this government, with inflation bubbling along above that band? Debt is about to pass $1 trillion. Look at the debt of Victoria, where I'm from—and I'm a proud, passionate Victorian; I love my state. Right now, Victoria's got a combined debt of more than— (Time expired)”
“I have families in my electorate who are staring at an energy bill stuck to their fridge, looking at the groceries they have to buy that week and making a decision on which one they're going to be able to pay, because they can't afford to pay for both. These people deserve a serious Prime Minister. They deserve a serious government. They deserve better than jokes and snide remarks. On inflation, we're sitting at four per cent. It's well outside the RBA's recommended band of two to three per cent. The previous governor, Philip Lowe, and many other people have said that this is a home-grown problem. In other words, spending by government is driving much of this.”
“These people deserve better, and the cut to the health insurance rebate will hurt these people. It will burden our public hospitals. I go to the CFMEU. The corruption in Victoria has cost taxpayers at least $15 billion. Sarah Ferguson on the ABC asked the Prime Minister a pretty straightforward question. She asked him whether he had requested of the Premier of Victoria any assurances that Commonwealth funding on infrastructure projects wasn't going to organised crime. I asked the Prime Minister in question time, and he was evasive again—more smirking, more, back-patting and more preening. On energy, between 2023 and June 2025, power costs surged 27 per cent above the consumer price index.”
“For all the smirking and the back-patting and the preening that this prime minister carries on with, Australians right now deserve so much better from their government. Look at health. After two decades of progressing private health insurance as a more affordable way for older Australians, the cut to the private health rebate has hurt these people deeply. More than three million Australians over the age of 65 have health insurance. More than 900,000 of these Australians live on less than $55,000. They are not wealthy. They have worked hard. They have saved hard. They have done the right thing. They have tried to take some burden off the system, and goodness knows that right now our hospitals are bursting at the seams thanks to state and federal Labor government mismanagement.”
“I've got a constituent right now who's living with her abuser in fear because leaving means she will be separated from her special needs son and pets, and she cannot afford to move out. There are a couple living in a tent in a stranger's driveway in my electorate, and they cannot afford anywhere to rent on their $450-per-week budget. There's an elderly couple in South Gippsland who can't afford to turn on their heating. When support workers visit, they're offered a blanket and the couple apologise for how cold it is in their house. There's a woman in my electorate who's separated from her partner and needs to live in the same house while she waits for Centrelink and child support to process her payments. This is not good enough. She's relying on food bank payments to get by at the moment because she can't afford to eat.”
“This Friday is 3 July, and it is the 12-month anniversary of the swearing-in of the class of 2025. It is a momentous occasion for that class among us. One of the things I've enjoyed most over the last 12 months is going around to schools and talking to them about our system of government, about democracy and about why we have the best system anywhere in the world. One of those features is the accountability and transparency of functions like question time where you can make the Prime Minister of the day accountable on a range of things. I have to say, the preening, the back-patting and the smirking that's been on display from this Prime Minister every single day this week and every other week while Australians in my electorate suffer causes me to say that people deserve so much better. I'll give you a couple of examples.”
“When are we going to have an honest national conversation about inflation and the fact that it's remained well outside the RBA's band for quite some time now? The government is patting itself on the back today about wage increases. What about real wage decline and people not being able to afford their electricity, staring at an energy bill stuck to their fridge, wondering how they're going to pay that—making a decision between that and their grocery bills. Veterans and people who rely on allied health services—people in this country are really struggling, and they need a coalition government.”
“I always say that food banks are the canary in the coalmine, as far as how the rest of the economy is travelling, and right now, in my electorate of Monash, food banks are having to step up and assist people more and more. They do a great job. They're a dedicated group of volunteers, whether it's at Neerim South, at Baw Baw Food Relief, at Corinella food pantry or at Owl pantry in Wonthaggi. But these food banks reflect the broader challenge of people struggling to keep up with the cost of living under this government. As Australia heads towards passing $1 trillion in debt, inflation is still at four per cent. While the government loves to pat itself on the back about inflation, the fact remains that it is outside the RBA's recommended band of two to three per cent.”
“My question is to the Prime Minister. Last night, Sarah Ferguson asked him whether he had sought assurances from the Victorian Premier that no Commonwealth funding would end up in the hands of organised crime. The Prime Minister responded 'of course'. When did the Prime Minister seek these assurances, and what form did they take?”
“My question is to the Minister for Housing. Reports say the government is backing down on another toxic tax hidden in Labor's budget of broken promises. Can the minister confirm thousands of Australian women, including widows, divorcees and victims of domestic violence, will be disproportionately impacted by Labor's rushed changes to property taxes due to pass the parliament today? Why won't this government delay this vote to fix this shambles of a budget?”
“I have deep concerns when looking at this bill—and the way that it constructs amendments around negotiations for enterprise agreements and procurement—that the CFMEU can get its hands all over this as well. I think taxpayers deserve better. I think our community deserves far better. That is why I stand in this place very strongly against what this bill seeks to do in relation to that. I will conclude my remarks early, and I thank the House.”
“It is costing every taxpayer right across Victoria their ability to access the frontline services and amenities that they should, quite rightly, expect. I've paid a lot of attention to the illegal tobacco market in recent times. You don't need to scroll very far down in the report by Geoffrey Watson to read the dot point on the link between the CFMEU and the illegal tobacco trade in Australia. That is deeply alarming. The proceeds of this are going to organised crime and bikie gangs, as in the case of the firebombing of the Melbourne synagogue linked to Kazem Hamad. These are very bad, dangerous activities. The fear is that that is now spreading out into the illegal alcohol industry as well. Anecdotally, there is some CFMEU linked influence over that as well.”
“I know Geoffrey Watson's report to the Queensland government Rotting from the top has been referenced a number of times in this debate, and I think it is worth mentioning for a couple of reasons. The corruption induced by the CFMEU in Victoria has cost the taxpayer $15 billion, and that's a conservative estimation. I represent a regional area; I represent a rural community. That $15 billion could go a long way to fixing roads, schools and hospitals in my electorate. I think, most particularly, of the West Gippsland Hospital, which the state government has promised to deliver for time after time. The money hasn't yet hit the ground in our community. Those are the services and infrastructure that that $15 billion of CFMEU linked corruption is costing Victorian taxpayers. It is costing Victorian communities.”
“That second part is where I want to address some of my concerns. The reforms, generally, are fair enough, but I do not support the enterprise bargaining procurement changes. As a number of my colleagues and the crossbench on this side of the chamber have raised, there are serious concerns around the CFMEU and its ability to infiltrate, orchestrate and manipulate enterprise bargaining arrangements and negotiations, and the way that businesses are able to fairly go about these issues. I want to refresh people's knowledge about some of these key concerns raised about the CFMEU, some of which go back a couple of years and some a couple of days. Recently, I was most alarmed to read: Criminologists have told a Queensland inquiry the CFMEU likely used organised crime style methods to control the construction industry.”
“It has to be said, I think, with 50,000 unfair and general protection claims anticipated for this year, the issue of AI and a very low fee should be taken into account when dealing with looking at the impact administratively and certainly in the pursuit of natural justice at the commission. The Fair Work Commission has made some public commentary on that workload crisis. As I've said, AI assisted tools are a big part of that. The Fair Work Commission president, Justice Adam Hatcher, released a statement at the end of 2025 saying that the workload has become unsustainable and that modest levels of legislative change were needed to help. And that is a fair point. What does this bill do? The bill has two main thematic parts to it: changes to the Fair Work Commission and changes relating to enterprise agreements in Commonwealth procurement.”
“There are many instances, if you look through news reports, of backlogs as a result of the proliferation of generative AI tools. There is a record-high number of cases, 44,000, in recent reporting at the commission. Some of those cases are meritorious. Some of them are not. Unfortunately, a growing number are as a result of AI technology and they are flawed or faulty applications. Deputy President Colman recently dismissed a claim. It was the fifth claim in two years by this applicant. The deputy president found that it was faulty and it was flawed and made some remarks about the impact of AI in building some of these applications. There's been some commentary around the fact that there's an $89.70 fee to lodge a complaint. In 40 per cent of cases, the Fair Work Commission waives it or reduces it.”
“In my remarks—and I don't intend to take my full allocated time—I want to concentrate on a couple of key areas, particularly as a Victorian who's very concerned about the rife CFMEU corruption in my state and the impact that that is having not just on our level of debt but on our level of government integrity and on small and family operated businesses not just in Melbourne but across regional Victoria as well. The Workplace Relations Legislation Amendment (Building Cooperative Workplaces No. 1) Bill 2026 seeks to address some necessary change, it seeks to address some unnecessary change and it seeks to implement, I think, some bad change as well. I will run through those concerns. First up, this bill is the government's response to recent backlogs and a surge in cases at the Fair Work Commission, and that is fair enough.”
“Rochelle isn't a fly-in fly-out politician. She's a genuine local who's built and run a family small business in the Bass community. She cares passionately about the local area and has dedicated countless hours to it as mayor and as a local sporting community champion. I know she'll stand up for the Bass Coast community, and, as a state and federal Liberal team, we will fight to get things done for Bass Coast. Rochelle's doing a great job on the ground, and I look forward to working with her to get the investment our region needs.”
“What makes this even more frustrating is that Victorians are carrying record levels of state debt which is now being visited upon volunteer and community organisations. The Allan Labor government's debt clock is ticking so fast that, while families spend an afternoon watching a couple of games of football, Victoria's debt increases by enough money to build the very clubrooms, change rooms and community facilities that local organisations are crying out for. The money is being borrowed. The debt is being accumulated. Yet regional communities are still waiting for the infrastructure that they desperately need. That's why I want to acknowledge the state Liberal candidate for Bass, Rochelle Halstead, who I've been working very closely with right across the Bass Coast community and particularly last week in Phillip Island.”
“It's a project that would support local sporting clubs, including the Phillip Island Football Netball Club, and help deliver facilities a growing community like Bass Coast desperately needs. Anyone who has visited the club knows it is bursting at the seams. Participation continues to grow, volunteers continue to step up, and the demand on facilities continues to increase. Yet, when the opportunity came to back this project, Labor refused to match the commitment and refused to properly acknowledge the needs of local clubs and the communities in which they serve. Regional communities should not have to beg for the infrastructure that metropolitan areas and capital cities take for granted.”
“Regional Victorians are sick of being treated as an afterthought. That is the clear, strong message that I've received across the Monash electorate, especially last week at my mobile office in San Remo, which I jointly hosted with the Liberal candidate for Bass, Rochelle Halstead. Across our community, local clubs, volunteers and families are doing the heavy lifting while state and federal Labor governments continue to leave regions in Victoria behind. A perfect example is the Phillip Island sports hub—something I'm particularly passionate about. Before the election, I secured a $10 million commitment by the coalition to support the Phillip Island sports hub.”
“Until this federal government gets serious about having a multipronged approach to address illicit tobacco, we're going to continue seeing alarming statistics like what the Australian bureau of stats released last week. It provided clear evidence that 80 per cent of the tobacco market in Australia is now illicit. Smoking rates in Western Australia are going up. Proceeds are going to organised crime linked to the CFMEU, terrorist groups and bikie gangs. Australia is not safe as we continue with this illicit tobacco crisis.”
“Just after midnight this morning, 80 metres from my office in my home town of Warragul, a suspected illegal tobacco outlet was firebombed. A week ago it was ramraided, and, like clockwork, there was an arson attack this morning. My thoughts are with the five businesses in that immediate vicinity who have had to close their doors and cancel appointments with clients. They're not going to be open for the next couple of days, maybe even a week. They're now looking at increased insurance premiums and structural damage. This is not an isolated story. This is Victoria under Jacinta Allan as premier. We've got her failed illegal tobacco taskforce; that is clearly not working. We've got incredible local police that are doing their best with limited resources and their hands tied behind their back.”
“Under normal circumstances, she would inherit directly from her parents, but, because she needs support managing her affairs, her inheritance must be held in a testamentary trust. Labor now wants to tax that arrangement. This is unfair and unjust, and there are many other cases of families in my electorate of Monash who deserve so much better from this federal Labor government.”
“No number of carve-outs can fix a bad tax. The only solution is to scrap it, and that's never been clearer than it is today with Labor's toxic taxes. I've heard from a 73-year-old widow on Phillip Island, in my electorate, who has worked hard all her life. She's paid her taxes, invested for retirement and simply wants to leave something behind for her family. Instead, she's worried this federal government's tax changes will punish the very people she has spent decades trying to provide for. I've also heard from grandparents in my electorate who are concerned about what these changes mean for some of the most vulnerable members of their family. Think about that for a moment. It is families who will suffer the most. Indeed, one family contacted me about their daughter who lives with a intellectual disability.”
“As part of its December 2024 report into financial abuse, an insidious form of domestic violence, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services recommended that superannuation laws be amended to provide a mechanism so that a beneficiary who has perpetrated domestic or family abuse, including financial abuse and domestic violence, against someone who has died as a result of domestic violence related suicide—suicide of the superannuation account holder—be declared an invalid beneficiary. I've read real-life examples of this. They are tragic. It's time big super was held to account, and it's well past time this government was compelled to act.”
“Last year, ASIC also announced legal action against AustralianSuper, who has kept 7,000 of its customers waiting years to access their own money. The ASIC claims-handling review has released a landmark report revealing that 78 per cent of reviewed death benefit claim files were delayed by processing issues within the trustee's control. That's important because, while we all understand some cases have complexities that need to be worked through, this shows that nearly 80 per cent of delayed cases are in fact straightforward. The second point I wish to raise is this. It has also been revealed that a fund may be required to pay death benefits to a person who used domestic violence against the deceased. This is desperately unfair. It is cruel. It is wrong.”
“Eighteen months of 'soon' is too long for many Australians who are still waiting. These are not isolated cases. There are thousands of Australians who have been waiting years to access their own money, because big super has made an art form out of frustrating every effort at every turn—transferring calls, not answering emails and challenging every document. In many cases, we are talking about older women who, while navigating the grief of losing their spouse, have to jump through every obstacle imaginable just to access their own money. There was a light-handed industry led code of conduct implemented a couple of years ago, around the time when complaints to the ombudsman tripled. Clearly, it's not working.”
“Irene recently told Lucas Baird from the Australian Financial Review about her wait to access her own money and said: What would have happened if I were destitute? There are over 4,000 Australians waiting up to four years to access their own money. One of the first things I did when assisting these constituents on the issue was to check what the mandated minimum payout timeframe was with the regulator, ASIC. Surely, there must be a timeframe in which people can access their own money. It turns out that, according to ASIC, there is not. ASIC just says it should be 'as soon as practicable'. In other words, there is no mandated timeframe. Well, there should be. In January 2025, the federal government announced plans to introduce mandatory service standards for superannuation funds, especially over their poor handling of death benefits.”
“He wanted to say to his children, while he was still alive, 'Kids, I know this is not going to make everything better, but it is something.' AustralianSuper messed this man around in his dying weeks, not replying to his emails, transferring him from call centre operator to call centre operator and hanging up on him, depriving this father and his family of that final conversation. To make matters worse, his widow was then stonewalled for eight months to access her own money. The amount of money we're talking about is such that, if she'd stuck that in the bank over that period of time, it would have yielded about $8½ thousand. Irene Thomas is another constituent of mine. Her battle was with Cbus. After I intervened on Irene's behalf, the money was paid to her, but that was over a year later.”
“This motion seeks to right a grave injustice to thousands of Australians. Superannuation is money that belongs to Australians for their retirement. The same goes for death benefits which are held by super funds and distributed to a person's nominee or dependants on their passing, Where the person has a terminal illness, they can be eligible for the early release of those funds as well. I've assisted constituents who have waited over a year to access their own money. In one case, a constituent approached me after her late husband passed from a terminal illness. He had wanted to access the early payout of his super, which he was entitled to do.”
“I move: That this House notes that: (1) superannuation belongs to Australians for their retirement, and as such death benefit and other payouts should be processed without delay by superannuation companies; (2) in March last year, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) announced it was taking legal action against one of Australia's largest industry funds over delayed processing of nearly 7,000 death benefit claims, according to proceedings filed in the Federal Court; (3) ASIC's media release said the superannuation giant was taking between 'four months and four years' to payout death benefits; (4) back in 2023, complaints to the ombudsman about delays in releasing super to a surviving spouse or other beneficiaries more than tripled; and (5) in January 2025, the Government announced plans to introduce mandatory service standards for superannuation funds, in response to a growing public backlash against the industry, particularly over its poor handling of death benefits, yet more than a year later, there has been no further progress.”
“You take a timber worker out of that town along with their partner, who happens to be a nurse at a hospital or a teacher at a school, and suddenly that school has lost a teacher, that hospital has lost a nurse, that town has lost another family that contributes economically but also socially to the vibrancy and sustainability of that town. I have real worries about timber towns and, more broadly, regional towns across Australia that have been treated very badly. So, yes, I commend the intention of this motion, but the application of it and the lived experience of people in my electorate in regional communities don't always live up to the high hopes of this motion.”
“I think that is a key goal. And it is not just how ambitious or wide-ranging they appear to be on paper, because a well-functioning employment system requires a balance between meaningful support for job seekers but also clear expectations that people actively seek and want to accept suitable work which is available to them in their local communities. The state government in Victoria does not have a good record on this issue, and I raise the example of timber towns and timber communities in my region and regions across Australia, where, because of terrible decisions taken by the Victorian state government—I single out the minister Lily D'Ambrosio for her treatment of timber communities.”
“We still have around 670,000 Australians unemployed, and underemployment remains close to six per cent. That is a big issue for regions like mine, where there are pockets of disadvantage and pockets of lower socioeconomic families who are really struggling right now. Underemployment is a key issue for them when you've got an economy where families really need to have two incomes. That is something that many families are most challenged by, and the consequences for that are intergenerational. It has an impact on children going to school and being able to enjoy and participate fully in sporting and other activities that their parents, at the moment, are really struggling to be able to afford. The coalition's position is that reforms should be judged not just on whether they're delivering more people into sustained work.”
“They are most concerned, at the moment, with their sense of employment security, particularly under this government, particularly as real wages fall and particularly in regional areas like mine, where we have industries transitioning, and also for that quantum of not just large businesses in those regions but the ecosystem of small and family enterprises which sit beneath, among and alongside those large employers, who provide the lunches, do the dry cleaning and deliver the newspapers to those large companies. This is an issue that is most important to regions like mine. While we are experiencing a flux in the economy right now and a change in employment demographics, now is not the time to be making major shifts in the way employment services are delivered in this country.”
“The coalition agrees that the dignity of work is fundamental and that work provides Australians with independence, financial security and a sense of purpose. In the last couple of weeks, in a number of mobile offices across my electorate of Monash, that's something I've reflected on in the conversations that I've had with families and with working people.”
“It's a pleasure to rise to speak on the motion put forward by my good colleague the member for Calwell. I have reflected on a number of the contributions made about this issue on both sides of this chamber. I take the contribution to this discussion by the member for Mayo around a number of pieces of work that have gone before this parliament in progressing what should be a goal of everyone in this House: to encourage employment and to encourage the dignity of work in this nation. I want to commend the former member for Monash, my predecessor, who I know had a genuine and abiding interest in this area. I know that in his last couple of years in this place he dedicated himself to the committee work that the member for Mayo referenced.”
“We're going to see tragic cases like that of the woman in Melbourne who was killed as a result of mistaken identity in a house fire and that of a young woman going to work at a convenience store who was held up for a pack of 20s. They're the sorts of stories I'm hearing every day. It's not good enough. The federal government need to change their approach and get real on illicit tobacco.”
“The thing I would say about the Victorian Labor government is that they're always slow to react and they're always wrong on these issues. States like Queensland and Tasmania have done a great job of bringing in tough new laws to shut down illegal tobacco shops and change their leasing arrangements, but we cannot have one focus on one solution to this problem. We need a Swiss Army knife approach to combating illegal tobacco. Law enforcement alone won't work. We need to look at excise tax reductions, beefed-up law enforcement and an education campaign, because, at the moment, we are going to see a continuation of the illicit market.”
“We've seen organised crime and over 300 firebombings, and Nick McKenzie's investigation into the CFMEU showed clear links to the illegal tobacco trade. We're losing billions of dollars in lost excise revenue. In fact, just $4.1 billion will be brought in, in downgraded Treasury forecasts. For my region, that represents about five new West Gippsland hospitals. The forecast to 2029 has been downgraded by nearly $15 billion. That's money that's not being spent on roads, schools and hospitals. The federal government has completely outsourced this issue to organised crime and the illicit market, and that is having a terrible consequence. The Victorian government have just made an announcement on tougher penalties.”
“Australia is in the grips of an illegal tobacco crisis, and the report released yesterday on household tobacco consumption and illegal nicotine by the Australian Bureau of Statistics confirms our very worst fears. We are now looking at an illegal tobacco market in Australia that grips 80 per cent of the whole market. That means just 20 per cent of the nicotine and tobacco market in Australia operates through legal avenues. What's worse is that we're now looking at a 40 per cent increase in nicotine consumption over eight years. There should be three imperatives when looking at this issue. First, the most important job of any government is to keep Australians safe. On that metric, this federal Labor government is failing terribly.”
“I want to say to family businesses and farmers in my electorate: I back you, the coalition backs you and we will be supporting you.”
“We believe farmers should have confidence to invest, expand and pass their enterprises to the next generation. Most importantly, we believe governments should keep their promises, because trust matters, confidence matters and certainty matters. When governments lose sight of those principles, it is hardworking Australians who pay the price. The farmers, small-business owners and regional communities I represent deserve better. They deserve policies that strengthen local economies. They deserve policies that encourage investment. They deserve policies that support family businesses and farming enterprises not make their future more uncertain. For those reasons, I stand with the farmers, small businesses and families in my electorate of Monash. I oppose these measures.”