Lalor MP Joanne Ryan may still be trying to find her way around the halls of Federal Parliament, but that hasn’t stopped her from standing up for the needs of her community.
Ms Ryan used her maiden speech to remind the federal government that her electorate needed improved infrastructure and access to health care, and to vow to fight for better education for students across the country.
She also raised concerns about the government’s decision to repeal funding for the Diversity and Social Cohesion Program, from which Werribee Football Club was to benefit, and for the Regional Development Australia Fund.
Speaking to the Weekly after her first two weeks in Parliament, Ms Ryan said she was also worried about the government’s plans to scrap the “schoolkids bonus”.
The government has introduced legislation to stop the payment. If it is passed by the end of the year, the next payment, due in January, will not be made.
The six-monthly bonus provides parents on Centrelink benefits of $205 per primary school child or $355 per secondary school child. Ms Ryan, a former principal, said scrapping the bonus would hit parents and schools hard.
“[My office] has already received calls from worried parents,” she said.
“In Victoria [schools will receive] a double hit because the state government reduced the Education Maintenance Allowance.”
The federal government has said it could not afford to fund the “schoolkids bonus” because it was being paid for by the mining tax.
But Ms Ryan said she could not understand how the two were linked.
“How can you make taking money away from families a part of a national conversation about supporting big business?” she said.
