The mood among Federal Labor MPs in Canberra last week was sombre.
Gellibrand MP Tim Watts, who has called a post-budget public meeting at Altona RSL Club on Wednesday night, said people in Melbourne’s west would be among the hardest hit.
Speaking in his Canberra office on Thursday, Mr Watts said he was “bitterly disappointed” there was nothing in the budget to help thwart the epidemic of family violence.
He had hoped that, as tragic as it was, the April 16 death of mother-of-four Fiona Warzywoda in Sunshine could spark change.
“At the time, I harboured some hope that the public nature of her death was unusual and it might act as a catalyst for government action,” he said.
“It could be a small silver lining to what had occurred and I think that hasn’t been borne out.
“There was a token effort in the Victorian budget and absolutely nothing in the federal budget, so it’s bitterly disappointing.”
Mr Watts said there was nothing in the federal budget for Altona’s 2500 Toyota workers, who this week vote on the redundancy packages they will receive when the manufacturing plant closes in 2017.
“They promised that there would be a specific policy statement responding to what happened at Toyota by the start of March; now we’re in to May and we’ve heard nothing,” he said. “There’s no tailored package helping 2500 workers in Melbourne’s west plan for their future.”
Mr Watts predicted a spike in homelessness and crime as a result of the government’s decision to withhold unemployment benefits for six months for people aged 25-30.
“From 25-30, if you don’t have a job you have to wait six months before you’re eligible for Newstart,” he said. “You get nothing.
“It is no exaggeration to say homelessness is going to spike, crime is going to spike.
“Jenny Macklin [Opposition spokeswoman for payments] asked about this in question time yesterday … asked how are these people supposed to survive, and the front bench laughed. I tweeted it from the chamber – I found it extraordinary.”
