The cost of living and inflation crisis is being driven by corporate profiteering and price gouring. A recent Australia Institute report found that corporations in Australia increased their prices by $160 billion above the cost of wages, taxes and other inputs. Without those excess profits, inflation would have actually been within or near the Reserve Bank targets. You can read more about that here.
The Government and RBA are punishing everyday people with harmful interest rate
increases, while refusing to make big corporations pay their fair share in tax to fund
the cost of living relief Australians need.
Instead, if we scrap the stage 3 tax cuts, which will see every politician get an extra $9000 a year off on their tax, & crack down on corporate profiteering using a super profits tax on big multinational corporations, we could raise more than $730 billion over the next ten years and use that to:
- Implement a national freeze on rent increases
- Use existing federal powers to stop the RBA further increasing interest rates
- Add dental and mental health to Medicare
- Cut energy bills back to March 2022 levels, saving you $567
- Forgive outstanding higher education debt, and make uni and TAFE free again
- Scrap state school fees and replace with government funding
- Raise the aged care pension and jobseeker to $1,232 a fortnight
Our Local response to the cost of living crisis
Last year my office kicked off a free food pantry, ran several free food stalls & began our free breakfast program in a local state high school. We’ve expanded that program into two other schools and, alongside Amy MacMahons office, have begun running a weekly free dinner in West End for rough sleepers.
We’ll be aiming to expand that program to 3 other schools by the end of my first term. As well as providing practical support, I’m hopeful we can demonstrate the case for the government to step in and permanently fund these types of programs. Until that happens we’ll continue to build community capacity, so no one in Griffith goes hungry.
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