NSW VOTES 2023 Q&A: HOW WILL YOU EASE COST OF LIVING?

By Yvonne Gardiner

THE HIGH cost of living is for many Australians the single biggest worry in 2023.

Interest rate rises, steep price increases at the grocery store, utility costs and the crippling rent hikes contribute to hardship for struggling families. At the same time, there’s been little increases in wages and income.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reported early this month that living costs for “employee” households, that is households where the principal source of income is wages and salaries, rose 3.2 per cent in the December 2022 quarter. This was the largest quarterly increase in living costs of all household types.

Food prices rose between 9 and 10 per cent, driven by rises for meals out and takeaway foods, and fruit and vegetables.

The Weekly asked Tweed and Lismore candidates in the upcoming NSW election how they would ease cost-of-living pressures on households.

Tweed

Geoff Provest (Nationals)

Reducing cost-of-living pressures for Tweed residents is a top priority for me and the NSW Government.

We have introduced more than 70 savings initiatives which can be found on the Service NSW website.

There are savings for young parents, with our vouchers for children’s sport and music lessons. For the first time this year, a voucher for $150 per child for back-to-school expenses was available, along with the $500 Before and

After school care voucher.

We introduced the $250 fuel/taxi card for non-Sydney pensioners, which more than 15,000 Tweed residents take up each year.

And just a few days ago I brought a minister to Kingscliff TAFE to announce a similar $250-a-year fuel card for regional apprentices and university students, which will be available in the coming week.

We also have a wide range of initiatives to help people save on power bills while saving the planet, from energy-efficient lighting to better appliances and even free solar panels for eligible households.

Cost-of-living assistance is something we are already delivering. To find further savings, use the Savings Finder or the Service NSW website or visit Service NSW in Tweed Heads or Murwillumbah.

Craig Elliot (Labor)

Seniors, pensioners and families in Tweed deserve to live with dignity and respect, not burdened by record high cost of living and skyrocketing power bills.

Another four years with this tired Provest-Perrottet government is just not acceptable. It’s time for a change.

A Minns Labor Government will give Tweed the fresh start we need to ease these pressures and restore the dignity and respect our community deserves.

Skyrocketing power bills are a direct result of the privatisation madness undertaken by Geoff Provest and his boss Dom Perrottet over 12 long years.

Without doubt, Geoff Provest’s part in selling off the electricity network is driving the ballooning electricity prices impacting Tweed residents. When Tweed locals go to the polling booths on March 25, they need to take a look at their latest electricity bill to remind them why they need to throw Geoff Provest and his boss Dom Perrottet out of office.

Labor has fresh plans to address the cost of living. A Minns Labor Government will establish a $1 billion stateowned energy security company to deliver lower electricity prices. Labor will invest in renewable storage such as pumped hydro, community batteries and other commercially viable technologies to ensure grid stability.

An elected Minns Labor Government will create a new agency called Homes NSW that will drive the delivery of more housing options and manage social housing to tackle the state’s housing crisis. We will be ending the practice of rent bidding to curb the spiralling cost of tenancy.

Labor will abolish stamp duty outright for first home buyers buying a home worth up to $800,000, while offering a concessional rate to firsthome buyers purchasing a property up to $1,000,000.

This means an estimated 95 per cent of all first home buyers in New South Wales will pay no tax or a reduced rate under Labor’s plan when they buy their first home.

Ciara Denham (Greens)

Fundamental to addressing the costof-living crisis is providing housing. Everyone should have the right to a safe, secure and affordable home. Even before the floods, our region was experiencing a housing emergency. People are struggling with disaster-im- pacted homes, skyrocketing rents, unfair evictions, and a chronic lack of public, social, and affordable housing.

Years of the government’s unfair tax breaks to big developers and wealthy investors has created a housing system that puts profit before people’s right to a home.

The Greens have a plan to make housing affordable, safe and secure for everyone. We will cut rents, end unfair no-grounds evictions and build enough public and affordable housing so no one is homeless.

Despite more people renting than ever, renting has become more expensive, more stressful, and more insecure than ever before.

The Greens will fix the power imbalance that allows dodgy landlords to get away with a lack of maintenance, unchecked rent increases, and unfair evictions.

We’ll ensure renters have stronger rights and are protected — making renting a genuine, secure, and affordable option for lifelong renters who have been locked out of private home ownership.

And we will invest in massive development of new public, social and affordable homes so that the 100,000 people in NSW who are stuck on the public housing waiting list will have a home they can afford without having to wait 10 years for it.

The Greens believe that housing is a basic right. It’s time to make big changes so that everyone has a home that’s affordable and safe and secure.

Susie Hearder (Animal Justice Party)

Equality is one of the Animal Justice Party’s core values and we would implement a Jobs Guarantee and Universal Basic Income programs to create secure, ethical and meaningful employment and reduce poverty.

Rental reforms are needed to stop rents escalating out of control and to allow pets. There needs to be equality and caps on fuel prices. Instead of pulling up train tracks, there should be more investment in connecting rail public transport and into electric vehicles.

Living on solar power, I haven’t paid a power bill in 30 years and, in our sun-drenched country, solar power and solar hot water should be affordably accessible to everyone, with fair and realistic feed-in tariffs.

The Animal Justice Party will introduce Veticare (Medicare for animals) which will enable the vulnerable to access veterinary care and we will push for allowing pets on public transport.

We will also fund wildlife rescue organisations so volunteers don’t have to pay for fuel and supplies.

We must all reduce, reuse, recycle and grow food wherever we can. There should be more street food trees, community food gardens and food banks for those in need. We can reduce meat consumption which is costly and also harms animals and the environment.

Pensioners cannot be expected to live below the poverty line. Social security payments need to be raised. We need free education and educational supplies. Medication needs to be free for those who can’t afford it.

The last thing we need in the Tweed is a new greyhound racing facility which fuels gambling as well as injuries and deaths of gentle dogs.

NSW’S

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