CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS
Ms PENFOLD (Lyne) (16:41): On Saturday, I had the pleasure of joining members of the Forster Arts and Craft Centre at a morning tea to celebrate its 60th anniversary. What began in 1966 with just 11 members has grown into a wonderful local institution of hundreds of members. The journey has taken hard work beyond the craft table, with an enormous fundraising effort in the 1980s to move from the old casino building near the bullring to the centre's current home on Breese Parade.
It was particularly special to see Noni Pratt given the honour of cutting the anniversary cake, and I acknowledge current president, Linda Sawyer, for her leadership in keeping the centre thriving. From pottery, jewellery, textiles, art and so much more, it's a place that warms your creative heart and you never, ever leave empty handed. Congratulations to every member and volunteer past and present who has contributed to the creative spirit of the centre.
Happy 60th anniversary, and here's to the next 60. Walk down any CBD in my electorate, and you'll see the mounting empty shops, the small businesses closing up and putting off staff, the lines for local soup kitchens, the struggle to find somewhere to live and the homelessness. These are the markers of an Australia that is going backwards, of a nation in decline—a decline that has been brought to you by the Albanese Labor government.
They can try to spin the truth all they want; the latest ABS figures don't lie. Inflation is still running at 3.8 per cent. Housing costs are up 6.8 per cent in a year.
Rents are up. The living costs faced by age pensioners have risen 4.7 per cent in just 12 months, and don't let me get started on energy costs. These aren't numbers on a spreadsheet; these are real people deciding what they have to go without.
Yet the Albanese government's answer is more spending and more taxes. Their solution is to tax Australians trying to build a better future for themselves, their kids and their grandkids. This is not an economic plan; this is an attack on aspiration.
Australians are sick of being told everything is fine when their own bank accounts tell them otherwise. Unlike Labor, the Nationals have a plan—a plan guided by our vision for Australia, a plan for cheaper power, lower taxes and less migration. We'll reverse Labor's new taxes and index income tax brackets to inflation.
We'll scrap net zero and use all of our energy resources to drive down power prices. We'll bring migration back to sustainable levels, back Australian manufacturing and build the productive infrastructure regional Australia needs. We want an Australia that Australians can see themselves in.
Labor is swiftly stealing that Australia away. With my colleagues, I'm fighting to get it back.