Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

We all keep talking about how times are tough, and they are. Over the last few weeks and in the coming weeks I am taking the opportunity to meet with a number of welfare agencies in my electorate. What the volunteers tell me at the food banks and at the pantries is that demand is great, and it is growing. We recently opened Bendigo Foodshare, who is responsible for supplying the goods for many of these outlets. These welfare organisations call themselves outlets because they're kind of an onseller in many ways. They hand out the food that these people need. It is helping people get from week to week.

The volunteers in these places also tell me that the cost-of-living relief delivered by this government is helping, particularly in the back-to-back increases to rent assistance—a 45 per cent increase in rent assistance since our government was elected—and in the 21 per cent increase to the JobSeeker rate since our government was elected. These two measures alone are helping people to not fall through the cracks. Increases to disability, age and carer payments and pensions are also helping. This is what responsible governments do; they help those most in need to make sure that they can get from week to week.

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