Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, I join you in welcoming the young people from Benalla high school to the Federation Chamber this morning. Welcome; I hope you enjoy your time with us.

I rise today to address an issue that appeared in the Herald Sun during the week at home in our electorates last week. The Herald Sun featured an article with the headline 'Victoria's biggest welfare suburbs include Point Cook, Werribee'. I am here today to stand up for the community that I proudly represent. Lalor is the youngest electorate in the country. It does not take much to extrapolate the figures from the postcodes of 3029 and 3030 in a major growth corridor in the outer west of Melbourne with a population with an average income ranging from $52,000 to $70,000 per family, most of whom are PAYE wage earners who pay every cent of tax that they owe. With 230,000 people living across these suburbs, it is not surprising that in this community, where families are accessing youth allowance, child care subsidies and family tax benefits, we might rate in a table. But it is unfair to suggest that they are bludgers. It is unfair to suggest that they are causing a welfare burden, and on behalf of the people I represent I take umbrage that they are categorised as such. I note that Minister Porter was quoted in the article are saying:

There are obvious geographical concentrations of dependency but our approach is to tackle that by looking at the groups and problems that cause that geographical concentration, and tackle those problems wherever they are …

I proudly stand here to say I have some ideas that Minister Porter might want to take up. Minister Porter might want to ensure that in my electorate, the youngest electorate in the country, the electorate with the most young people attending schools, he might want to review the education policies of his government and ensure that, rather than cutting $21½ million from the state schools in my electorate across the next two years, he might want to review that and ensure that there is what my community is entitled to have spent on ensuring the education of our young people.

He might want to ensure that changes are made to ensure housing affordability in one of the most affordable areas in Melbourne. We might want to move this debate. Perhaps we could look at postcodes or areas where people are minimising their tax the most—areas like Park Orchards, Toorak, Vaucluse, Point Piper and South Yarra. Perhaps we need to flip this conversation and look at who is paying the tax in this country.