Susan Lamb (Longman, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I was just about to note that the Prime Minister and the previous member for Longman both promised that every home in Longman would be connected by 2016. It is 2017. I will just put on the record that it is a little bit late. It really is impossible for small businesses in Longman to compete when they are forced to rely upon things like smoke signals and telegrams because we have no NBN and no mobile phone coverage that is reliable.

Where I will agree is that it would be great if Australians shopped local. I absolutely agree with that. It would be great if, in the words of Ms Flint, Australians 'think local first with every dollar they spend'. Actually, let me rephrase that. It would be great if Australians could think local first with every dollar they spend. Instead, hardworking Australians are thinking, 'Can I afford to feed my family this week? Can I afford the bus or the train ticket? Can I afford to pay my bills?' Erin is a local worker who is getting by financially, just. She is helping to raise her two sisters while she works and studies full time. She is concerned that she will not be able to cope for very long, because she works in retail and is about to get a penalty rate cut. It is a bit sad. I do not know why you are smiling, because she works in retail and is about to get a penalty rate cut. When you are barely scraping by and you are about to lose $70 from your take-home pay each week, it is the local businesses that will miss out—cafes, restaurants, newsagents and tradies. Who is going to ask for a new kitchen or a garden shed from their tradie if their penalty rates have just been cut? The member for Boothby moved this motion today, but I believe the most effective way to support small businesses is to make sure they get the quality infrastructure they need and to protect their penalty rates.

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