For people in Indi, we have a much higher proportion of older people compared to the national average, and many people move to our beautiful towns to retire.

Students studying allied health courses like physiotherapy, speech pathology and occupational therapy also undertake long unpaid placements, and they deserve these payments too.

Energy bills are one of the biggest costs in a household budget and we need to support people to reduce their energy costs. 

Fixing our roads, building critical infrastructure to support more new homes and providing childcare, aged care, disability and local health services are all so important to people in Indi – that’s why this committee’s work is important.

People are likely to be shaking their heads into their supermarket trollies at this news, but at the same time are probably not really surprised.

I warmly congratulate Tony Mahar in his new role as the new Australian Energy Infrastructure Commissioner.

This is a problem of the government’s making and something they need to step in and fix it.

I want to see more transparency around this process.

It is clear that governments need to do more to make the health and wellbeing of our defence personnel an active and long-term priority, not just during their service, but also when they transition to civilian life and beyond.

The public deserves assurance that billions of dollars of their money is being spent responsibly and with integrity, to prevent any pork barrelling occurring under this government, or indeed future governments.