Budget hits our region hard
- jimchalmers
- May 23, 2014
- 1 min read
First published in the Logan Reporter on 23 May 2014
MANY of you will have heard by now about the cruel cuts introduced in Mr
Abbott’s Budget last Tuesday.
What some of you may not have heard yet is that our community is hit harder
by the Budget than any other in Queensland, according to some new figures revealed last week.
The cruel and unnecessary cuts to schools and hospitals, pensions and payments, and tax hikes on petrol will stretch many household budgets in our area to breaking point.
One of the households hit hardest belongs to Marsden local, Kerri Morris, who
invited me and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten for morning tea on Tuesday.
Kerri is a single mum with three kids – one still in primary school, another
doing a hospitality traineeship and another grown up and moved out.
Having just been through chemotherapy and surgery to fight breast cancer, Kerri
shared with us concerns about the increase in the price of medicines and
hospital visits.
Between health cost increases, fuel hikes and changes to family benefits, it
is estimated that Kerri will be more than $3800 a year worse off by this budget –
that’s more than $75 per week out of pocket.
Like so many others in our area, Kerri has already been fighting to make ends
meet and this budget will make it that much harder.
This Budget will make our community and our country poorer, sicker and less fair.
My Labor colleagues and I will stand up for local people.
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