Bridget Archer (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I opened social media this morning and was shocked by a post from the Prime Minister that said:

No-one held back and no-one left behind. As Prime Minister, I've worked every day to make that a reality.

Excuse me? Prime Minister, in what universe do you consider you have achieved that reality? It is certainly not the case in my northern Tasmanian community. Your talking points are not reality; they are smoke and mirrors. The reality is that the cost of absolutely everything has increased to the point that nothing seems affordable, and access to services is harder.

There is no child care to access, no matter how cheap you claimed to have made it. Emergency food service providers are stretched beyond capacity, seeing working families having to choose between keeping their rooves over their heads or feeding their kids. There is a level of housing insecurity and homelessness that I have never seen in my lifetime in northern Tasmania, with my office trying to assist young children sleeping in tents and cars.

My office has seen Centrelink, NDIS, aged-care and visa issues increase in the past 12 months. The people that we are seeing are absolutely being held back and left behind in all of these areas. Tasmanians don't need your empty words telling them they should be grateful they have never had it so good and that they should just trust you. They cannot wait for your words to be a reality; they need real action now.