Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Two weeks ago today more than 500 people in Bendigo rallied and marched through the streets, standing up in opposition to this toxic budget. Community groups, organisations, trade unions, men and women came together to march through the streets in Bendigo—a regional town—to say that they are opposed to this budget. We had Ann-Marie, the CEO of Amicus, standing up to say that this government's attacks on her clients, people with a disability, are outrageous. We had Luke, who is a Hazeldene's process worker—not earning $1 million, but working for a minimum wage—saying that the attacks on working people, on his family, are just outrageous. They made him angry. He expected his government to be there to support him and his fellow workers and not to attack them.

Brett, an ambo, spoke out about the concerns that the GP tax will have on Bendigo—more people calling an ambulance because they did not go through with preventative health care because it was now unaffordable. Jenny, someone with a disability, stood up to say that people with a disability now fear that they will be kicked off the disability support pension because of this cruel government. Five weeks of the same conversations, over and over again in regional Australia, with people angry about this budget— (Time expired)