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

There appears to be a theme arising out of the 90-second statements being made by government backbenchers. Lots of people from marginal seats are standing up and talking about fly-in fly-out visits by ministers—all talking about small business. I have to ask why no-one turned up in Bendigo? There were no ministers turning up in Bendigo. Perhaps Bendigo has been knocked off the Liberal Party list. Perhaps they no longer care about Bendigo.

If they had bothered to be in Bendigo last week, they would have confronted one of the many protests going on in the Bendigo electorate—people speaking out about job losses as a result of this government's cuts to the public service and about changes to Australia Post. You know it is a shocking government when there are not one but two protests happening in Bendigo on the same day. The first was by CPSU Centrelink staff. They stopped work in protest at the fact that this government is reducing their pay. Not only have they offered really low wage increases of zero to one per cent, they are also trying to cut family leave. Centrelink staff stopped work to say, 'Restore the casual hours, bring back job security and put a decent deal on the table.'

The second protest was about Australia Post—the changes going on in Australia Post and the fear that those changes will result in post offices closing and job losses. We have already seen jobs lost in Bendigo as a result of this government's policies—and they have to stop.