Inflation and cost of living pressures are hitting both families and businesses. I have been advocating for measures to relieve the pressure on family budgets that do not fuel inflation further and are practical and within the Government’s means.

In 2025 I will be seeking your views on solutions from the Mackellar community on measures to increase housing affordability especially for young people and key workers.

My key priorities are:

• Reducing the cost of living for families through tax reform and addressing housing affordability
• Solutions to ensure key workers like teachers, nurses and police can afford to live and work in Mackellar
• Helping parents get back into the workforce with universal and affordable childcare
• Eliminating the gender pay gap including necessary legal reform
• Making GP services more affordable through increasing the Medicare rebate, extending the bulk billing incentive and supporting GP practices to be viable
• Making the transition to renewables more affordable for families and low income households

My actions on Cost of Living

• Proposing a residential household battery policy that would see households eligible for a Commonwealth subsidy for up to a third of the cost of a household battery, capped at $5,000, to reduce energy costs
• Supported changes to the Stage 3 tax cuts to ensure more Australians benefitted from them.
• Urged the government to increase the funding for public schools in NSW by increasing the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) - the Commonwealth agreed to provide an additional 5 per cent of the SRS to New South Wales in March.
• Advocated for an increase in the Medicare rebate to increase the number of GPs bulk billing patients - $8.5 billion committed by Labor and the Coalition in February for this.
• Supported cheaper childcare for families and extension of paid parental leave.
• Voted in favour of fee-free TAFE places, supporting Australians pursuing that career path, as well as supporting future building of housing and infrastructure.
• Supported tax reform, to create a fairer more balanced system.
• Supported the Government’s $10bn Future Housing Fund to build more social and affordable housing
• Pushed to make HECS fairer for young people
• Voted to cap coal and gas prices to tackle rising electricity costs
• Voted in favour of 60-day medicine dispensing to help reduce the cost of medicines and make it easier for people to see their GP
• Advocating for policies that will push down the cost of transition to renewable power and EV vehicles
• Supporting independent colleagues who are advocating for more competition for Coles and Woolworths and scrutiny of supermarket prices
• Worked to secure a community battery in Warriewood to help reduce energy bills and emissions for the community
• Supported legislation to remove the fringe benefits tax for new electric cars purchased by employers for use by employees, to help increase the number of affordable electric vehicles in the Australian market.
• Hosted the Mackellar People’s Jury on Housing to tackle the housing affordability crisis.
• Supported government programs to improve access to and the affordability of housing for Australians, including the Help to Buy Bill 2023, the Social Housing Accelerator, the National Housing Infrastructure Facility, the National Housing Accord, the Capital Works (Build to Rent Misuse Tax Bill) 2024 and the increases to the rate of Commonwealth Rent Assistance
• Supported the Paid Parental Leave Amendment (More Support for Working Families) Bill 2023 which seeks to increase paid parental leave from 20 to 26 weeks, and the Paid Parental Leave Amendment (Adding Superannuation for a More Secure Retirement) Bill 2024 to ensure superannuation is paid on Commonwealth parental leave payments.

Australia’s taxation system needs serious reform. The 2023 Intergenerational Report outlines the urgent need for reform with future generations facing the task of paying down nearly $1 trillion in national debt, while also funding the important social services our society will rely on as our population ages.