Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am going to finish on one particular point which directly affects my electorate of McEwen possibly more so than any other electorate in Australia—the Prime Minister's fuel tax, this great big untruth that was put on the people of Australia. It is one of the cruellest blows yet. In fact it was so cruel that even the former Liberal member for McEwen came out and attacked the government for being untruthful.

Due to the particular makeup of the different regions in our electorate, families rely heavily on their vehicles to get from A to B. We in McEwen have one of the highest rates of cars per household across the nation. With a lack of other transport options, cars are often the only form of transport available. For example, take a mum in Romsey or Lancefield who has to drive her kids to and from school in a neighbouring town, then to their swimming lessons in yet another township. There is no alternative transport in that area. Why should she have to pay more just to give her kids the same opportunities as the kids who live in an inner city?

What about those residents in Mernda, Sunbury, Gisborne or Laurimar who have to drive to and from work in order to put food on the table for their families, or those of us living in towns like Whittlesea, Wallan and Kilmore where 70 per cent of people commute an hour each way to work? Again, there is no other option for transport in some of these areas so why should we be punished for providing for our families?

Any tax that affects one community far more than others is categorically unfair. In addition, any increases in the cost of fuel are going to adversely affect farmers in rural and regional Australia particularly across McEwen. The National Farmers Federation has stated on record that the price increases in the supply chain 'will be felt at the farm-gate'. So despite the rhetoric from those opposite, it is going to cost more—more every day for the food that you put on the table, more every day for the clothes on your back and more every day just to get to work or just to get to school. Communities right across our electorate have every right to be furious with the Liberal government's introduction of the fuel tax. This is a direct tax on our electorate.

I would just like to finish by stating how appalled I am, yet not surprised, by the Abbott government's budget. The Prime Minister Tony Abbott has cut health funding, pensions, family benefits and education as well as taxing people for things like going to the doctor, getting older or driving a car. People will not forget this budget and they will not forget the broken promises by the now Prime Minister, and I will be there every day with them fighting to make sure that they do not forget.

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