Candidates vying for election for the federal seat of Wannon outline their thoughts on the cost of living crisis.
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00:00When it comes to cost of living pressures you've really got to get to the core of what's happening
00:12and in consultation with lots of farmers and families we know it's not on the farm end with
00:16the prices that they're getting for their goods we certainly know it's not on the the consumer end
00:19who roll into the grocery store and see the prices there we do see in the middle though of the major
00:24supermarkets getting billions in profits and there's a place there to make sure that the price
00:28gouging and the tactics used there are no longer going in the wrong direction and they adhere to a
00:34code of conduct to make sure that australian families or farmers are not getting ripped off
00:39but that's also comes down to energy prices as well which is really struggling for people so
00:43improving the the cost of energy for people going with cheaper options and employing subsidies and
00:50zero interest loans for farmers to get energy independence because we know that's one of
00:54the big bills when it comes to farmers so making sure farmers are taken care of because we know
00:57when farmers are doing well communities around them are doing well as well well we'd look at the
01:01energy prices first and i'm looking at the things we've already got so we felt would be great to
01:06get gas going more than um and trying to get pursue nuclear energy is one of the things we're looking
01:12at um for family first is really pursuing that nuclear energy side um definitely definitely looking
01:18at gas we're taking our gas places out of our houses and um we need to really yeah use what we've got
01:24already regard with regards to the cost of living crisis uh i think regional communities have been
01:31severely affected um you know families are struggling farmers are struggling um we need to
01:36reduce power bills by investing in solar and batteries and providing subsidies for families um regionally
01:44we need to um make food more affordable encourage local businesses local food growing um and ensure our food
01:52security and we need to um stop the supermarkets from price gouging and making huge profits when
01:57people are struggling to put food on the table um also access to health care is critical you know you
02:04don't have wealth if you don't have your health so i think preventative health care is way more cost
02:10effective than um you know trying to find a cure for things so good dental care um we need dental to be
02:18covered by medicare people can't afford to go to the dentist at the moment we need good access to
02:22mental health care when people are struggling and we need access to gps and the regional the regions are
02:29really um have limited access to you know seeing gps seeing specialists people don't have the time and
02:36money and energy to drive to melbourne all the time so we need more investment um in health care in our
02:41cost of living is driven by a number of things the um first one that is the top of the my list is the
02:54profit that the two major multinational stores are actually they're maintaining if not bettering their
03:05profit at the expense of the people in the electorate the the food that we buy the farmers are not getting
03:17a good deal and i'm hearing that all the way from cape york to tasmania uh well we have to do two things
03:29first of all we've got to make sure that we get inflation under control and that's through good
03:34economic management and a coalition government always manages the economy well and that is going
03:42to be an absolute key to dealing with cost of living we have to get rid of government waste we have to
03:47make sure we prioritize spending into the right areas the second thing we have to do is provide
03:53immediate cost of living relief and our 25 cents a litre cut to the fuel tax will do that that will
04:04save families in wanan up to 1500 two thousand dollars a year so every time you fill up either your petrol
04:15or your diesel will be 25 cents a litre cheaper and that is immediate so families will get immediate cost
04:24of living relief under a coalition government if we're elected well i'm really really pleased to be
04:29seeing that labor that's the focus for this turning point election that um and i must say as a pensioner
04:37i'm also interested in making sure the cost of living is viable and very very pleased to be seeing that
04:43they have the watchdog in the supermarket they're helping with energy bills like directly um so that is is
04:51helping us as well so going into every house they've got um tax reductions for for people so every taxpayer
05:00now is paying less so there's that that in the short term and the long term we have great investment
05:07in education and as a as a retired teacher i'm still however involved in education and making sure
05:15that it is the best for future generations and thrilled to be seeing that there's now free tafe
05:22courses and that people who go on to tertiary studies now have a 20 drop in their hex fees as well so
05:30there's there's great investment in that and also of course in child care offering that the three days
05:39free child care two people kindergarten the kindergarten um and seeing also in warnable
05:45the fact that two new government child care centers are going up which is really answering that need
05:52that call for more child care and they're doing it and i've i've been to them and it's so exciting
05:58because it's um you know looking at like 270 places immediately in in a very short term in office
06:04i don't think we can necessarily reduce cost of living expenses i think we can make them plateau
06:11and stay stable i think the way we resurrect the economy is to reintroduce full employment and we can
06:19do that with the introduction of national service there's many uh jobs that could supplement pensions
06:26with part-time work in national service there's also full-time opportunities for works that
06:31really are um directed towards ecological sustainability but they're not funded now
06:38and that's things like control burning weed weed eradication feral pest feral pest control
06:46there's enormous opportunities there there's also enormous opportunities to bring um decentralization
06:54into fruition bringing people from the cities into barracks like um condominium accommodation
07:01and if that were provided by local government the amount of money paid in rents could actually
07:09be a significant proportion of it given back to the participants in national service as a deposit to
07:16enter the private market now we've helped national service men and women in the past in australia
07:22we've given them land grants we've given them low interest loans we've given them wonderful health care
07:26why not re resurrect national service to help look after a new generation of australians those who are
07:33really disadvantaged by um this this like a snake eating its tail diminishing economy and um the
07:42impossible expectations of of going into superly well-paid jobs um superly well-paid jobs
07:49well you know what i mean um that they're not really realistic there's work in the bush needs doing
07:56and it's unpleasant work it's planting trees in the rain for the best time um chances of success
08:04it's uh working in wool sheds you get your hands dirty but it's clean money dirty work but clean money
08:11it's not it's not encouraging drug trafficking it's holistic living and we can do that much better
08:27so
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