Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Thursday and Friday, at Taigum in the northern suburbs of Brisbane, we had the 10th annual Ageing Expo at Taigum Square. This event is organised by the Banyo RSL sub-branch in Taigum Square. It is also supported by our local Deagon Ward councillor, Victoria Newton. I would like to thank Bruce Meiklejohn and John Sutton from the Banyo RSL; Kylie Keioskie from Taigum Square; and Pat Carbis from the Banyo District Community Group for their hard work in organising this event. I would also like to acknowledge that it would not take place without the work in the past of Ron Virgen; it simply would never have occurred without his dedicated work over many years at the Banyo RSL.

It is a completely free event at which community organisations and companies set up stalls and provide seniors with information about products and services directly tailored to their interests and needs. There were something like 50 exhibitors there last week and plenty of information sessions for people to take advantage of on a variety of topics, from home safety to navigating the web. It does give seniors a fantastic opportunity to get the information they need in their day-to-day lives. It also says something about the great sense of community on the north side of Brisbane.

There was one thing that united everybody I spoke to at the expo last week, and that was their disgust with the decision taken by the government to slash the age pension by up to $80 a week over the next decade. The previous, Labor government put in place a fairer indexation system for age pension, and now it is being ripped apart by the coalition government— (Time expired)

Ewen Jones (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is good to see a new face! I give the call to the member for Swan.