Matt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

For too long now the people in the seat of Burt have had to put up with being talked down to, criticised and abused. The areas of Armadale and Gosnells in particular have had to put up with a negative outward perception of our suburbs and community. Growing up in Armadale, I know how my area is looked at by those who think they come from somewhere better or that somehow they are better people. I know firsthand the negative effect on self-esteem and aspiration of everyone around you talking you down because of the area you are from.

I do not say this with rose-coloured glasses. We have real issues: high unemployment, high crime rates, intergenerational and complex social issues, bushfires and underinvestment in essential infrastructure for our growing suburbs by successive Liberal governments. These are the issues that got me into politics to give a real voice to these issues and to bring real change. We need to be talking about the great parts of our community, the great community spirit, the fierceness in adversity, the natural beauty—the things that bring us together and make us better. We need to create hope. We need to change the story about Armadale and Gosnells.

Last month I had the pleasure of launching the Youth Partnership Project's Armadale Youth Intervention Partnership report, Change the story. The report speaks of this proof-of-concept project demonstrating how a targeted, intensive, collaborative and place-based approach with a purposefully resourced backbone leadership organisation can better support the outcomes for young people with complex needs, diverting them away from crime and imprisonment into study, employment and becoming productive members of our community. I am now proud to say that this project has even received additional funding from the new WA state Labor government.

What a contrast to the approach of this Turnbull Liberal government! The last thing we need is this elitist, snobbish, Turnbull Liberal federal government trying to run us down—not just the residents of my electorate of Burt but cities and towns around the country where people that are not as well off as the member for Wentworth, the Point Piper Prime Minister. The Minister for Human Services, responsible for Centrelink, selectively leaked a list of 30 suburbs of Centrelink noncompliance hotspots. Some in the media, no doubt at the behest of the minister or his office, have even had the gall to refer to these suburbs as 'bludger hotspots'. This is a disgraceful new approach to dealing with welfare compliance from the Turnbull government, choosing to name and shame entire suburbs of hardworking Australians.

Armadale ranked only 22nd nationally, with 188 cases, and Gosnells has even less, with 172 cases, representing less than one per cent of their labour force and only a tiny fraction of their total populations. What sort of hotspot is that? Minister Tudge should be ashamed of his actions in talking down all of the people in Armadale and Gosnells. The hardworking people there deserve a better reputation than they have, and the federal government doing things like this only makes it worse. Worst of all is the cutting of jobs at Centrelink so that the phone lists have exploded and people cannot even call to comply with the requirements they have. (Time expired)

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