Delivering for curtin
As your Curtin Independent MP, I’m proud to have helped deliver these outcomes:
MORE OPEN AND HONEST GOVERNMENT
I am committed to restoring our community’s public confidence and trust in Government.
• Fair and Transparent Elections Bill – I introduced this Bill to improve the transparency, reduce the financial influence and level the playing field in election campaigns.
• Greater accountability – I am advocating for significant lobbying reforms and an end to politicised appointments to powerful government positions.
• I successfully campaigned for the National Anti Corruption Commission.
DECARBONISING OUR ECONOMY
• I am committed to work towards a clear decarbonisation plan, so Australia can make the most of its advantages and build a prosperous and stable future in a zero-carbon economy. The scale, breadth and complexity of the transition requires government and business to work together. I speak regularly with business and corporate leaders, particularly those operating in the energy focused economy of Western Australia and they have embraced the transition pathway.
• With 50 expert volunteers, we produced Curtin’s Pathway to Net Zero which shows the changes we need from governments and individuals to make our community healthier and more liveable as we address climate change and specifically target the source of greenhouse gas emissions in five key aspects of our lives.
• The Crossbench made multiple improvements to climate legislation in Parliament which resulted in a more effective Climate Change Bill, Safeguard Mechanism and New Vehicle Emissions Standards.
• I am advocating consistently for major reform to our environmental laws. I have made multiple submissions to the Minister and sought assurances from her in relation to the substantive Stage 3 Nature Positive reforms expected later this year.
HOUSING AND COST OF LIVING
Housing policy by both the major parties for more than 20 years has led to the current housing affordability crisis. I regularly hear from young constituents with good jobs who struggle to see how they can ever get into the housing market and people of all ages despairing as to how they can afford payments on their modest rental. As a start, we need to treat housing as a home and not an investment product.
Increasing housing supply is essential and more needs to be done to achieve it. In response to the scale of this crisis and the number of people affected, we held two Community Housing Forums, attended by 180 Curtin constituents. The first Housing Forum brought together a mix of renters, homeowners and mortgage holders from across the Curtin community. Together we identified the top three issues and top three goals for housing in Curtin. Our second Curtin Housing Forum involved a panel of experts evaluating these community policy ideas and other policy suggestions as well.
Our Forums showed support for a broad range of solutions that the Federal Government could implement, including building more social housing, incentivising build to rent, taxing vacant dwellings, reviewing tax incentives for property investors, prioritising key trades in immigration to help build houses faster and encouraging down-sizing.
At a State level, our forums suggested the WA Government should work with the Federal Government to unlock funding for social and affordable housing, replace stamp duty with land tax, streamline approval processes and strengthen renters’ rights.
I have discussed the solutions proposed with the new Federal Minister for Housing and shared our summary report with her.
TAX REFORM AND PRODUCTIVITY
• I continue to advocate for long-term reform to the tax system – with an ageing population, we rely too heavily on income tax to pay for the things we need.
A CONNECTED AND COMPASSIONATE COMMUNITY
• I have been leading the crossbench to proactively create and maintain pressure on the government to ban online gambling ads.
• I am currently working with advocates and peak bodies at a State and Federal level to bring about a significant improvement to police responses and services in family and domestic violence situations.
• I am engaging with knowledge experts, the Curtin community and government to discuss how we can better tackle online safety issues for young people in Australia.
• I am advocating for better access to mental health support services.
• I support well-paid secure jobs in aged care and childcare to ensure better quality care. You can read our Curtin Aged Care submission here.
• I support better outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and advocate for the protection of vulnerable people in our community.