CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS

Mr WALLACE (Fisher) (16:50): Over recent weeks, I've been listening to people across my electorate of Fisher through community forums, roundtable discussions and local conversations. Three engagements in particular have stood out: a budget forum with residents, a roundtable with financial planners and a small-business forum with local business owners. Despite their different backgrounds, constituents delivered remarkably similar messages.

They feel they are working harder, paying more and getting less under this Labor government. People in my electorate of Fisher feel the rules changed after they made decisions based on promises by governments over many years, and they are increasingly concerned about the direction of our country. In a recent survey I did, 70 per cent of respondents felt that this country was heading in the wrong direction.

At my Fisher budget forum, residents questioned whether government would still honour its side of the bargain if Australians do the right thing—save, invest, work hard and plan for the future. That concern was particularly strong among retirees. Many had spent decades making responsible financial decisions so they would not become dependent on the government.

Now they see private health insurance rebates being cut, new taxes on investments and retirement plans thrown into uncertainty. These are real people, and many have lost all trust in this government. More than 8½ thousand people have signed my petition about the government's private health insurance rebate cuts.

That's how angry they are about this. I then met with local financial planning professionals. Their assessment was sobering.

They described clients who believed that they'd done everything asked of them only to have the goalposts not just moved but put into another suburb. One adviser shared the remarks from one of his clients. The client said, 'I left communist China to get away from this.' This view speaks to how many Australians fear government is increasingly willing to tax aspiration, savings and success.

At the small-business forum I heard similar concerns. These hardworking mums and dads are not asking for special treatment; they're asking for breathing space, for government to get out of their way and let them do what they do best—and that's run their business with some degree of certainty. But, at the moment, this government is offering nothing but uncertainty.