Sally Sitou (Reid, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

We all know that the rising cost of food, petrol, energy and rent is having a real impact on so many across our community. With this knowledge, we need to recognise that we as a government, as a parliament, need to step up and support people where we can, so I'm proud to be part of an Albanese Labor government that is providing targeted cost-of-living relief where we can through things like an increase in JobSeeker, rental assistance, cheaper medicine and making child care more affordable—a measure that will help with our productivity growth. These are all very important steps that are going to help the community.

I also think it's important for me, as a local member of parliament, to be supporting my community in a really practical way that supports what the Albanese Labor government is doing. That is why I have organised for two cost-of-living relief help hubs in my local electorate, one on 28 August in Burwood at Saint Paul's Anglican Church and one on 18 September in Lidcombe at Lidcombe Public School. The idea behind the cost-of-living help hub is to bring different agencies together at the federal, state and council levels so that we can provide direct assistance to members in the community who are really struggling so that they know there are rebates, financial relief and vouchers that they can access to help them during this period where things are getting more expensive. I'm really grateful to the organisations who have already agreed to be part of these costs-of-living help hubs: Services Australia, so that people can speak to people from Centrelink and Medicare to get direct practical assistance; Service NSW, so people can find out about the rebates that are open to different households and families; and also the National Debt Helpline. They're going to be able to provide important information about how you manage your debt and the services that are available through financial counselling that people can access. Sydney Water will also be coming, and we're encouraging everyone to bring their energy and water bills so that they can get the assistance they need in order to help pay those bills, because we know that those bills are currently going up. We also have Marrickville Legal Centre and Western Sydney Community Legal Centre to provide legal advice to those who might not be able to afford it.

I'm really grateful to a whole range of NGOs in my lecture who are providing real direct assistance through vouchers, financial relief or food hampers. Thank you very much to CASS, Metro Assist, the Smith Family and the Salvation Army for agreeing to come along to the cost-of-living relief help hubs.

To complement the work that we are doing by bringing these agencies together at these two events, we've also developed a cost-of-living relief kit. That's a booklet that has all the information about rebates, financial assistance and vouchers that members of the community can access. We want to make sure that, during this period where people are struggling, they know where to go for help. There are some fantastic organisations available, There is some great government assistance that people can access. We want to make sure that people are armed with that information as well as a list of financial counsellors in the local community, because we want to make sure that you don't get yourself in trouble by adding to the debt that you might already be in. Get the financial advice early because that's the best way of ensuring that you're able to manage your finances.

I think this is going to be a real complement to what the Albanese Labor government is doing with the targeted cost-of-living measures that we announced in the budget. I think that my role as a local member of parliament is to make sure that my local community has a better understanding of the support that is available to them.

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