GRIEVANCE DEBATE

Ms WATSON-BROWN (Ryan) (12:32): Earlier this year Labor tried to slash veterans' services, rather than make big corporations pay their fair share of tax, which was a huge betrayal of those who have served our country. Labor introduced a $5,000 cap on allied health services for veterans, a policy that fundamentally ignored the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide—the same royal commission that uncovered the crisis of mental and physical health issues for veterans.

Allied health is an absolutely crucial part of veteran health and wellbeing. This cap would have introduced another layer of bureaucracy, delaying essential care and costing lives. I've heard from veterans directly that, for many, the cap would have meant choosing between psychological care and physiotherapy.

But Australians said: 'No. That is not on. We're not going to allow you to do that to our veterans, not while one in four massive corporations pay zero tax.' I was proud to present a petition to the House on this issue, with over 5,000 signatures, started by Rebecca, a local veteran.

Thank you, again, Rebecca. Thanks to the enormous efforts of the veteran community, backed by the Greens, we forced Labor to scrap the cap completely. Labor picked the wrong side on this fight, which is unsurprising really.

We've seen their track record, now, of backing their big corporate mates while leaving the rest of us to fend for ourselves while the cost of everything goes up and up. But there is hope. It just doesn't have to be this way.

This government backflip is a very strong reminder that, when we come together and we fight together for what's right, we can win better outcomes for each other. Earlier this month, we saw the launch of Thriving Kids, the government's new support program for children with autism. This program, instead of the NDIS, will serve children aged eight and under.

The Greens were very wary of this move, as we were concerned that the government was quietly trying to slash essential disability services. The initial lack of detail caused significant stress and anxiety to many families, including many in my electorate. However, now that these changes are going ahead, I'm even more concerned about the Queensland LNP government's reaction.

The federal Labor government shouldn't be gutting the NDIS in the first place, but the Queensland LNP is refusing to sign on to the Thriving Kids program intended to fill that really big gap. They're threatening to leave Queensland children in the lurch with absolutely no support at all, and what does that mean for Queensland children? The community is rightly alarmed.

Disability advocacy organisations have asked the Queensland government for clarity, but they're being left in the dark. Fortunately, no children with autism will be taken off the NDIS immediately, but, with changes starting in just over a year and Thriving Kids already being launched in every other state and territory, Queensland families need certainty. The Greens strongly opposed the federal government's NDIS cuts when they were first proposed.

We saw that the changes were not co-designed and did not protect the interests of people with disability. We warned that the changes could result in families being unable to access the care that they need and deserve. This was another example of the government cutting essential services for everyday Australians while letting big corporations avoid paying tax.

That tells you everything about Labor's priorities and whose interests they really are serving. But, instead of working with the Greens, Labor chose to do a dirty deal with the coalition backed in by One Nation. They chose to gut the NDIS and look after their corporate mates instead.

Meanwhile, the people who rely on these services are paying the price. I call on the Queensland government to end the uncertainty and commit to properly supporting children with autism, and shame on Labor for gutting the NDIS in the first place and putting everyday Australians through this whole ordeal. The Greens will continue to speak out for people with disabilities and their families.

Christmas is coming up, and it should be a time of joy and celebration with family and friends, a time for relaxation and a taste of living the good life in summer. We know that things are getting tougher. The cost of living is smashing everyone, and the RBA just announced another interest rate hike, the fourth in the last year.

Groceries, mortgages, the price of fuel—everything's getting more expensive, and real wages are just going backwards. People are copping it. They're copping it bad, and I know that for so many Christmas just doesn't feel as magical as it should.

So to try and bring back some of that magic, for the past few years, my team and I have been running a program called Elizabeth's Elves. It's a genuinely beautiful community initiative that helps neighbours to support neighbours in these tough times. This year, Elizabeth's Elves are supporting the fantastic work of Communify and Picabeen, two wonderful community service institutions on the west side of Brisbane.

In my electorate last year, with the help of the wonderful Ryan community, they were able to support over 200 households and 500 people. We're collecting toys, gifts, food, toiletries and other non-perishable items to donate to the Christmas market days. Labor might have forgotten how to support regular people doing it tough, but it's clear from the years of success in these Christmas markets and Elizabeth's Elves that our community hasn't forgotten how to look after each other.

In this current race to the bottom on immigration, Labor has chosen to either forget or ignore the human cost, the big toll, of their cruel new policies. People are hurting. They're feeling the economic pain of decades of poor decision making.

Regular Australians are struggling to pay the mortgage, afford groceries or pay the fuel bill. That pain is real, and it must be dealt with urgently. Demonising immigrants is not the answer.

The cause of the problem is much deeper. The political class on both sides have been captured by corporate interests. For decades, they've delivered policies that put too much power in the hands of major corporations and too little power in the hands of democratic institutions and everyday people.

Put simply, we have lost control of our economy to billionaires and big corporations. It's easy and lazy for the government to shift the blame, and migrants are an easy target. That's shameful.

I want to be clear about what these changes actually look like practically for real people. Here are just three examples of people who've reached out to my office for support in recent weeks: a mother, who's lived in Australia for 15 years, who has been booted out of the country, away from her only living family, to a place that is not home; a young father who may be forced to return to a country he hasn't lived in for 20 years, leaving his young children behind; and a young mum, unable to travel due to birth complications, who is unable to see her mum for the support she so desperately needs.

These people are not making our lives harder. I'll tell you who's actually making our lives harder. It's the big banks, greedy corporations, billionaires and major-party politicians who do their bidding.

Don't let them divide us against each other.