My Coast with Emma McBride
Have Your Say: www.facebook.com/CoastBA/
Our community needs overlooked EMMA MCBRIDE HAT is alarming about the 2020 Budget is that, despite the size of the deficit and the resulting debt so many needs important in our local community have been overlooked. Many people on the Coast are fearful of what the future will bring as support through Jobseeker and JobKeeper is wound back and there is little of substance to take its place. There is no proper jobs plan. While JobMaker will provide some support for businesses taking on younger staff, everyone over 35 will be excluded. In a competitive job market on the Coast with an older population and 20 job seekers for every vacancy (as of August 2020) too many people will be left behind. Labor has been pushing for investment in manufacturing for years and our plan was outlined by Anthony Albanese in the Budget reply. The Government has promised investment in food manufacturing-an important industry on the Coast and I will be pushing to make sure the Coast gets its fair share. There have been no major infrastructure projects for the Coast funded in the Budget which is extremely disappointing as we have again been overlooked by this Government. Some additional funding for local roads has been announced and again I will be pushing to make sure the northern suburbs of the Coast get their fair share of this funding. There are clear winners and losers in this Budget, and I was disappointed not to see: • Greater investment in repairing existing social housing and building new social housing, to provide
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There have been no major infrastructure projects for the Coast funded in the Budget which is extremely disappointing as we have again been overlooked by this Government.” – Emma McBride. “Tradies could be ordering from suppliers today,
jobs for local builders, plumbers, electricians and other trades and improve the quality of life of our neighbours. Tradies could be ordering from suppliers today, and on-site tomorrow. • A plan to make early childhood education affordable for all families. A barrier to Working for many people, particularly women is the cost of childcare. Right now, instead of childcare supporting families where both parents want to work, the costs and tax system, actively discourage it.
• Increased funding for home care packages for older Australians-23,000 new packages over four years, while welcome will not substantially reduce the current waiting list of over 100,000 or be of much comfort to the 1226 older people waiting on the Coast. This is a missed opportunity to create good local jobs and look after our seniors • More support for carers. Carers have faced greater responsibilities and costs during the pandemic. Formal support has fallen away,
but carers have received little by way of additional support. The additional $500 over six months announced-less than $20 a week-is not enough to meet the extra costs they have faced. As Anthony Albanese said in the Budget reply: “If we’re going to come out of this recession stronger and fairer, then our country needs a plan to ensure no-one is left behind, and no-one is held back. Our plan to take Australia from recession to recovery is this: “Rehire our workers, rewire our economy, recharge workforce participation of women and rebuild our nation.” Emma McBride is Federal Member for Dobell.
CENTRAL COAST BUSINESS ACCESS OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2020
