Angie opened her discourse with the story of a young woman, living in her electorate: The massive cost of living increase causes her constituent acute stress. And the forecast is that over the next months inflation will get even worse. Families struggle, not only due to inflation, but also due to rise of interest rates. The Reserve Bank tries to get inflation back to a target band of 2 – 3%. “The average family, due to inflation, is $25,000 worse off” Angie said. There is nothing in the recent budget to help people who suffer from mortgage stress, nothing for retirees, nothing for local communities, nothing for small business. Angie also referred to bracket creep in taxation.On job seeking, the opposition’s policy is to allow people who are on welfare to work more hours before their benefits get affected. She is the product of 3 generations of factory workers in South Australia. “The harder you work the luckier you get” is her motto. She also elaborated on the Superannuation changes and Early Learning. In relation to the latter, the major issue is not just money, it is getting access to it: in many regions, there isn’t sufficient staff.
In her capacity as the newly appointed Shadow Minister for Youth, Angie formed a ‘Youth Cabinet’ across the Gold Coast. She then organised and chaired a summit, the ‘Gold Coast Impact Youth Summit’ with the aim of giving young people opportunities, “the same opportunities I had as a young person”. Some 200 young people from public and private schools, and community groups attended.
Angie told us about a young, somewhat dejected man who came to her office seeking help. At the recent Youth Summit he was included in a break-out group where he could meet with people who went to university (or planned to go); let’s call them people he would consider privileged and opposite to his situation. Of course, the frank exchange of views proved beneficial for both sides.
Angie concluded by relating some information on workng with her colleagues and her leader, Peter Dutton. “Peter Dutton has the hardest job in Australia, but he has a great sense of humour” she said. [Yes, quite different to what the press, particularly our national broadcaster and the left-leaning press, loves to depict him… But Rotary’s creed is to be above politics, so allow me to desist from further elaborating… Ed.]