Melissa McIntosh (Lindsay, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to raise the alarm, the alarm that is ringing loud and clear in Western Sydney. My community of Lindsay in Western Sydney is a microcosm of Australia because it has families, young people, retired people, small businesses and it has lots and lots of community spirit. It is for these reasons—and the aspiration that is driving people in my community—that we are at the epicentre of the cost-of-living crisis, driven largely by high energy prices. We should all be worried that if the 'Howard battler' of yesterday becomes the new 'Albanese abandoned' of tomorrow our whole country is in deep trouble.

The member for Macnamara talked about a long-term plan, but people in my community right across Western Sydney need a plan right now—not something that the government can cost in the future. Families are already under immense financial strain. The 2021 census revealed that mortgage stress was already impacting nearly 20 per cent of households in Lindsay. Many people were spending more than 30 per cent of their income on their mortgage repayments. With interest rates reaching the seventh rise and it continuing to go up more households are going to be under financial stress. It's from the cumulative impact of each and every cost-of-living pressure—including inflation, interest rates and energy prices—that the pain is felt in Western Sydney, and people can't take much more.

A local homeless and housing organisation I spoke to just last week told me that food insecurity is on the rise. The people who are coming to their doors to collect hampers of groceries aren't people that are sleeping rough. They are pensioners, they are retirees and they are families. The decision to pay the rent or the mortgage or use electricity against putting food on the table is very real.

Also standing on the edge of the cliff is small businesses. Manufacturers are facing energy price rises of 300 per cent. They told me that they may not last beyond Christmas. Where they used to pay $60,000 on their energy they're paying over $200,000 a month. These are small businesses, small manufacturers who are the backbone of our country, who those opposite are meant to be having a plan for and supporting. These outrageous costs are about to push them beyond the point of no return. They will be no more Australian manufacturing. There will be no more 'Aussie made' because they can't pay their energy bills. In an era when we're fighting for the resurgence of Australian manufacturing, businesses are not only at threat of closing but of going offshore and never coming back to our country, with thousands and thousands of jobs lost. Local cafe owners have been struggling to find new staff. They are now struggling to make ends meet. They tell me they can't absorb the increased costs of electricity on top of supply chain shortages and on top of workforce shortages. They're now left wondering how much people will pay for a coffee when their cafe needs to pass on those costs just to keep their doors open. The $275 cheaper electricity that Labor promised Australians during the election is now not only a broken promise to households and small business owners but just a drop in the ocean when electricity prices are looking at rising by over 50 per cent.

The underlying impact of all of these pressures, combined with the pandemic and floods, also means that we are facing a tsunami of mental health issues. As shadow assistant minister for mental health and suicide prevention, I know that mental health organisations are preparing for this. It is now understood that mental health impacts are not fully realised until two to three years after a significant event, and, at the time that Australians need support the most, the Albanese government isn't supporting Australians at all. Western Sydney has raised the alarm; I hardly feel that those opposite are listening at all.

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