Ms VAMVAKINOU (Calwell) (15:44): On a more serious note, I am very pleased to have been given the opportunity to speak on this MPI today because the last two federal budgets have been very difficult for the majority of the people living in my electorate. These budgets have been very harsh and very unfair, and the cuts that have been associated with them have affected a very large number of the people that live in Calwell. The news for them, unfortunately, has not been good news, and it continues to be very bad news.
The cuts to carers' payments and the loss of the schoolkids bonus—to mention just a couple—have taken their toll on already stretched and stressed household budgets. Now, of course, there is the additional prospect of further cuts to the family tax benefits. Cuts to services such as child care, health and welfare payments and benefits are tough enough, but when you add these to the huge problems of job losses, industry closures and underemployment that have disproportionately affected people in the north-west of Melbourne, the claim by this government that they want the burden of economic reform to be shared fairly becomes absurd and unbelievable.
Calwell has a large number of single parent families. It has a large number of pensioners and people dependent on welfare payments for their survival. We have a large number of families living on the lowest 20 per cent income bracket. And it is not just those dependant on Centrelink payments who are struggling, but also those who slip off the radar when we talk about the disadvantaged. For those who have jobs, there is still the struggle of low pay in an increasingly unregulated labour market, where the pressure is on to cut penalty rates and conditions and where job security is for many now a long-forgotten dream. Many of my constituents are dealing with chronic underemployment whilst still trying to cope with large mortgages and other household bills. There is the huge problem of job losses in my electorate, particularly with the decimation of the local car industry, the general lack of support for the manufacturing industry, and downsizing, downscaling and relocation, which leaves so much devastation for workers, their families and our community.
We all know that those in higher income brackets not only have a greater ability to bear increases in the cost of living than those on much lower incomes, but they also have so many more options to minimise their tax. The Leader of the Opposition has said:
Labor has demonstrated that we are not opposed to fair and reasonable changes to family payments—but it should not be at the expense of families who can least afford it.
The cuts to family tax benefits, first announced in this government's disastrous 2014 budget, might have been modified around the edges, but the fact remains that the burden on those least able to bear them remains heavier—a situation that is clearly unfair and unreasonable.
And to add to the stresses of trying to make ends meet, we now have the government trying to talk up and justify the need for a hike in the GST. This would place an unbearable burden on my constituents. It is no good talking about compensation, which will do nothing to assist the invisible poor—those I mentioned earlier, who may have jobs but not enough working hours, very low pay rates and limited job security. In these exciting, agile days of discussion and listening, we have heard proposals to even extend the GST to fresh food—another disaster which would unfairly and disproportionately affect low-income communities. For years, many valuable service and support organisations in my electorate have been striving to encourage people to eat well, to replace cheap and nourishment-poor fast foods with fresh and nutritious food to help improve health outcomes. I have often referred to the rising incidence of diabetes in my electorate amongst a number of other health problems that impact lower-socioeconomic communities throughout Australia. There is surely no need to again point out the link between a lack of financial resources, poor diet and poor health.
NATSEM modelling has shown that an increase in the rate of the GST to 15 per cent would mean that people in the lowest 20 percent of income brackets would have to pay seven per cent more. People in the highest 20 per cent income bracket would pay just three per cent more of their income. I want to remind the Prime Minister of his claim that 'fairness has got to be the key priority.' My electorate does not see the attack by this government on the household budgets of those on the lowest incomes as anywhere near fair. The Prime Minister has invited us to have a discussion about tax reform. People in my electorate are happy to contribute to this debate and to send the message loud and clear that they just cannot cop any more of the burden that is being imposed on them by this government and its disastrous budget proposals.
