Joanna Gash (Gilmore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Electricity prices are skyrocketing out of control. Gilmore constituents are telling me that they simply cannot pay their electricity bills. I have had so many families, pensioners and older citizens come to me saying, ‘How can we pay this bill?’

Sid Sidebottom (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Sidebottom interjecting

Joanna Gash (Gilmore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You have to agree. But what can I do? So, in my own electorate, I am encouraging residents who are feeling the pressure to get a copy of their own electricity bill, put on a sticker available from my office and send it straight to the Prime Minister. The message on the sticker reads:

Dear Ms Gillard,

I can’t afford a bigger power bill.

Don’t make me pay more with a carbon tax.

…Please

So far I have had a very positive response to my campaign, with pensioners, families and older citizens alike sharing with me power bills in excess of $1,000.

Sid Sidebottom (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Sidebottom interjecting

Joanna Gash (Gilmore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Have some courtesy and be quiet! I do not know how a family can afford power bills of this size, let alone pensioners. The government should be ashamed of this. They are totally neglecting and failing to understand the reality of everyday families and older citizens. We must do something about this electricity situation now. It is time the government helped to address the situation. That is not by introducing a carbon tax.