Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We already know how unfair and out of touch this government is. We saw it in the budget; we saw it in the tax to go to the doctor or the cuts to the pension. I thought that was as bad as it could get. But now it gets even worse, because this government is now cutting emergency relief funding—that is, money for things like food vouchers or medicine vouchers; money for things like nappies or blankets—for people in desperate straits and people in crisis; people who cannot afford to feed and clothe their kids or keep a roof over their heads. When did this government do this? Christmas Eve. The day before Christmas, they rang community groups around the country and said, 'We are cutting off your emergency relief funding.'

One of those organisations is Holroyd Community Aid. They have been doing this at the edge of my electorate for 48 years. Forty-eight years of looking after people in crisis, helping 2,500 people a year—people like Mary. Mary is not her real name, but I met her the other day and this is her story. I am protecting her identity. She lost her job. Her husband walked out on her. She has four kids and she cannot afford to feed them or pay the rent. She went to Holroyd Community Aid and asked for assistance, and they helped her out to get her family back together. If you need any more evidence of how unfair this Prime Minister and this government— (Time expired)