CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS

Ms KARA COOK (Bonner) (09:39): Volunteers are the people who turn up, coach our kids, run our community groups, support people doing it tough and keep our local clubs going—and, in Bonner, we are backing them. I'm thrilled that 48 community organisations will share in $66,000 through the Albanese Labor government's volunteer grant program. That includes Sailability, Wynnum Manly Seagulls, Meadowlands Men's Shed, Lota P&C, Mount Gravatt Bowls Club, Beyond DV, Meals on Wheels Mount Gravatt, Girl Guides, Wynnum Wolves and the Bulimba Creek Catchment Coordinating Committee, just to name a few.

This funding helps with practical things like training, equipment and transport costs. The list is endless. Volunteers give their time to make Bonner better, and this Labor government is proud to back the people who back our local community.

I am a very proud member of the Australian Services Union and have been since my days as a community legal sector lawyer. I know the important work that disability and community workers do, and I also know that for too long their work has been undervalued and underpaid. That's why I was so pleased to meet with ASU members this week and hear firsthand about their experiences working in mental health, child protection and domestic and family violence sectors.

Sophie, Julie and Lisa told me that the work is getting harder, cases are more complex and responsibilities are increasing. Wages haven't kept pace. They are losing highly skilled and experienced workers to the private sector.

Labor understands that valuing essential work means also valuing the people who do it. That's why we've fought for better wages for low-paid workers, delivered historic pay rises in aged care and early childhood and made gender equality an objective of the Fair Work Act. Now the ASU is making its case for community and disability workers in the Fair Work Commission.

I welcome those workers having their voices heard. Passion drives this sector, but passion doesn't pay the bills. A government that believes in wage justice must keep backing the workers who care for our communities.

One million—that's how many Australian women have accessed cheaper medicines through Labor's women's health package. Those one million women have filled four million scripts and saved $150 million. One of those women is Lucy.

After years of knowing that something wasn't quite right, Lucy visited the endometriosis and pelvic pain clinic in Oxley that services my community of Bonner and is one of the 33 that we have opened nationally. She told me that it was incredibly validating to finally see an expert who listened and gave her answers. Her care was fully bulk-billed, and the medication she needs is now just $25, saving her hundreds of dollars each and every year.

Happy Women's Health Week!