Cost of Living
Mr Rudd promised the world to get himself elected, and I was staggered when he remarked: “We have done as much as we physically can to provide additional help to the family budget.”
Gippsland can expect more of this inaction if we send a Labor candidate to Canberra, but The Nationals have practical solutions that should be implemented without delay. I believe we should immediately increase the age pension base rate; provide additional support for carers of people with a disability; and abandon Labor’s new range of taxes on alcohol, cars and transport that will flow on to increased grocery prices.
We have a $22 billion surplus and Gippslanders are hurting. To begin with, the Prime Minister should make a commitment to stop watching fuel prices go up, and actually implement a 5 cent per litre reduction in the fuel excise. It won’t solve all of our fuel price problems but it will provide some relief to Gippslanders who travel vast distances in private vehicles, without the option of public transport.
I am distributing more than 50,000 brochures across Gippsland (you can view a copy here) highlighting the increase in prices since the Rudd Government was elected in November 2007. |
