Wyatt Roy MP, Federal Member for Longman, said he expected next Tuesday’s Budget will produce an artificial surplus and will do nothing to help Longman families and businesses.

“This will be a ‘cook the books’ budget rather than a ‘kitchen table’ budget,” said Mr Roy.

“The Budget will be all about Julia Gillard and Wayne Swan’s future rather than the futures of local families and business who are about to be hit with the world’s biggest carbon tax”.

“The Government has been borrowing $100 million every day and we are now paying the price for Wayne Swan’s waste and mismanagement.

“I expect the Government will claim to deliver a nominal surplus, but this is only because the Government is shuffling billions off the balance sheet. The Government has even shuffled the multi-billion NBN off its balance sheet.”

“Labor has cooked the books and artificially boosted the budget position by $10 billion. The real starting point for next week’s budget is not a $1.5 billion surplus but an $8.5 billion deficit.”

“Families don’t pretend the credit card bill or the car lease is not in the family Budget, but somehow the Gillard government can pretend billions of dollars in wasteful spending is not occurring and not in the Budget.

“I am sure we will also see more broken promises. Julia Gillard promised “there will be no carbon tax under the government I lead” and she promised to protect the private health insurance rebate. She broke her word to the people of Longman just like she broke her word to Kevin Rudd.

Mr Roy said the Budget will be the first ‘carbon tax budget’ that will be delivered on the eve of major electricity and gas price increases and price increases to private health insurance due to changes to the private health insurance rebate.

“Double digit electricity prices will skyrocket from 1 July due to the world’s biggest carbon tax and this will flow on to price increases on all of the necessities of life.

“The price of food, transportation, clothing, eating out, dry cleaning, council rates and every item in household budgets will go up and up. The only items that will have no carbon tax will be imports as the carbon tax acts as a reverse tariff.

“The Government’s broken promise on the private health insurance rebate will also see the cost of private health insurance increase by up to $1,000 a year. It will also increase pressure on the cost of premiums and increase waiting lists at public hospitals as people quit or downgrade their private health insurance,” said Mr Roy.

Mr Roy said the real impact of this year’s budget on Longman households and business will be felt after 1 July when the world’s biggest carbon tax commences.

Mr Roy’s re-commitment comes after a Coalition announced that it would stand by its promise to provide fair indexation of DFRB and DFRDB payments.

“The Coalition has long supported the fair indexation of DFRDB and DRRB superannuation pensions and made a commitment during the last election to support changes to indexation,” said Mr Roy.

“I will continue to fight locally with our veteran community to see this long overdue change for our veterans.

“Under a Coalition government, DFRB and DFRDB military superannuants aged 55 and over will have their superannuation pensions indexed in the same manner as aged and service pensions,” said Mr Roy.

“Currently there are 57,000 military superannuants, and their families, struggling with unfair, unjust and inequitable indexation of their military superannuation pensions.

“We believe in the unique nature of military service, and we believe current indexation utilising the CPI alone does not adequately reflect changes in the cost of living.

“These ex-service men and women have given so much to our nation, and deserve fair treatment with fair indexation of the DFRDB and DFRB.

“The Coalition is the only party in the Australian Parliament committed to the fair indexation of DFRB and DFRDB military superannuation pensions.

“In Opposition, the Coalition introduced legislation into the Senate to address the current unfair indexation problem, but unfortunately the bill was defeated by Labor and the Greens with a single vote.

“It is evident that the only way to achieve fair indexation for our veterans is to change the government,” said Mr Roy.
Mr Roy encourages all veterans who are concerned about this issue to contact him directly, so that he can fight for a fairer result for veterans.

Live Below the Line is a campaign that aims to change the way Australians think about extreme poverty by challenging Australians to live on $2 a day.

Mr Roy said he is taking up the challenge to raise awareness about poverty, both in Australia and overseas.

The challenge means that Mr Roy will need to stick to a strict budget of $2 for the entire day’s worth of food.

“It will be a challenge to live below the line for a day, but it will provide important insight into what so many others, in Australia and around the world, are experiencing everyday,” said Mr Roy.

“In these difficult economic times, many people, including many people living locally, are doing it tough,” said Mr Roy, “this experience will hopefully make others stop and think about those doing it tough.”

“This is a global issue where the solution begins at a local level. We as individuals and communities need to understand that international poverty is a serious issue,” said Mr Roy.

Mr Roy will be raising money during his Live Below the Line experience, with all funds going to the Oaktree Foundation and will be used to fight poverty.

More information about the Live Below the Line campaign is available at www.livebelowtheline.com.au

As we commemorate Anzac Day, we remember with gratitude the service and sacrifice of those first Anzacs. We also remember the hundreds of thousands of Australian defence personnel who have served in wars and conflicts and as peace keepers since that time.

 As a strong, democratic nation, much is expected of Australia and its armed forces in trouble spots around the world – and in the spirit of Anzac our servicemen and women continue to make our country proud. We think especially on this day of those continuing to serve in Afghanistan, in constant danger of their lives.

 We owe an enormous debt of gratitude to these Australians and today, Anzac Day, is their special day and our opportunity to honour them and ensure that their service is never forgotten.

Lest We Forget

Mr Roy awarded 21 Longman Local Sporting Champions Grants to young people from across the region who had shown exceptional promise and dedication to their sport.

Each Longman Local Sporting Champion recipient received a $500 boost to help cover the costs of their competition endeavours.

Mr Roy has encouraged other young sports achievers, including local sports teams, to apply for funding under the next round of grants.

Information about the grants and application details are available via Mr Roy’s website.

The recipients of this round of Longman Local Sporting Champions Grants are:

If you are aged between 12 and 18 and are competing, officiating or coaching at a state, national or international sporting event, you may be eligible for a Longman Local Sporting Champion Grant.  $500 grants are available for individuals, and $3000 grants are available for teams.

This round of applications is open until the 30^th June.  You will be contacted shortly after to let you know if your application has been successful.

Apply for an individual Longman Local Sporting Champions Grant

Apply for a team Longman Local Sporting Champions Grant

Mr Roy said the meetings were part of the community and stakeholder consultation process for the Online Safety Working Group, and were an important process in understanding issues surrounding young people’s use of the internet.

Mr Roy hosted a roundtable with counsellors, school principals, school chaplains, psychologists and IT professionals, specifically looking at the extent of local cyber bullying issues, and discussing practical solutions for online safety.

“Cyber bullying has been an ongoing local concern and this roundtable brought together professionals who are working on-the-ground with young people,” said Mr Roy.

“These professionals were able to offer advice and insight, discussing possible practical solutions for cyber bullying and online safety,” said Mr Roy.

Mr Roy also hosted a student forum at St Columban’s College with grade 8 students from schools across the region to gauge their awareness and understanding of online safety.

“The Online Safety Working Group has met with students of all ages and of all backgrounds, in schools across the country.  Young people’s understanding of online issues differs from community to community.

“We want to know what local students are experiencing, and understand their level of knowledge about online safety,” said Mr Roy.

 “The discussions revealed students don’t have a good understanding of reputation management and the long-term consequences for online behaviour.  They are largely unaware that once information is published online, it cannot be permanently removed.”

“Students are also largely unaware of the possible legal consequences of their online actions, or the emotional impact that cyber bullying has on others,” said Mr Roy.

Mr Roy is taking community submissions about cyber bullying via his website and will continue to work toward practical policy solutions for online safety for young people.

Thirty young people from across the region became the first ‘LYLFers’ as they participated in a two day programme including exciting guest speakers and interesting community projects.

Mr Roy said the weekend had been both fun and inspiring and the LYLFers had taken away new skills and enhanced leadership capabilities.

“The Longman Youth Leadership Forum was about giving young people the resources they need to be leaders in their own lives and in their own community,” Mr Roy said.

“An important part of the weekend had been putting leadership into action, and the LYLFers learned the importance of giving back to the community by working on two community projects,” said Mr Roy.

“The Longman Youth leadership Forum revealed the LYLFers’ own leadership strengths, and demonstrated they can use these strengths to give back to our community,” said Mr Roy, “over the weekend the LYLFers planted nearly 100 trees onsite at CREEC and designed community engagement plans for Farm Fantastic.”

Guest speaker sessions from yLead Founder Bernie Kelly, as well as from Hello Sunday Morning’s Jamie Moore provided the LYLFers the chance to learn about what leadership is all about, and see how others are demonstrating leadership in their lives.

Mr Roy said the Longman Youth Leadership Forum wouldn’t have been possible without the generous donations and contributions of the community.

“The community was very supportive of the Longman Youth Leadership Forum, and I would like to thank all of our sponsors who generously donated to make the weekend possible,” said Mr Roy.

“I look forward to hosting the Longman Youth Leadership Forum again next year, and offering this opportunity for the young people of our region,” said Mr Roy.

Wednesday 4th April
8.00 – 8.45 Burpengary Corner Old Gympie Road and Pitt Road
9.00 – 9.45 Morayfield Corner of Oakey Flat Road and Nairn Road
10.00 – 10.45 Dakabin Pine Rivers Cricket Club, Marsden Road
11.00 – 11.45 Narangba Old Gympie Road (outside Matilda)
13.00 – 13.45 Beachmere Corner Moreton Terrace and First Avenue
14.00 – 14.45 Morayfield Corner of Caboolture River Road and Cresthaven Drive
15.00 – 15.45 Narangba Valley The Avenue Park, Harris Avenue
16.00 – 16.45 Morayfield Morayfield Road (opposite Harvey Norman)