Constituency Statement - Stones Corner Post Office and NBN Scammers

By Terri Butler MP

16 September 2019

I'm afraid to say, Mr Deputy Speaker Zimmerman, that the Liberal Morrison government has abandoned the community of Stones Corner. Our local post office is closing and, instead of making sure that there is continuity of service for all of the people who have PO boxes at the post office and for all the people who use the post office at Stones Corner, all we're going to get is an agency. I think my community is rightly up in arms about the fact that we are losing this really important service from Stones Corner.

We had the local Liberal councillor and Senator Stoker in the area crying crocodile tears. Senator Stoker actually brought into the community a petition to the government to maintain a postal service in Stones Corner. Well, here's a tip: if you're a government backbench Senator, don't petition your own government. Just pick up the phone, call the minister and ask for this important service to be continued. It's crocodile tears, and people really see through it, because the fact is the communications minister has the power to make sure, right now, that we get to continue having a post office in Stones Corner. Instead, that doesn't seem to be happening at all. That's a real shame. There are hundreds of PO boxes at the Stones Corner post office. It just seems like the Liberals have never met a local service that they didn't want to cut.

The Liberals don't care about Brisbane's southside. They've shown it on traffic congestion, with time in the car skyrocketing for southside families. They've shown it with cuts to local schools and cuts to local health-service funding, and now, of course, the party that claims to be the party for small business is removing local services and reducing foot traffic to local small businesses. Stones Corner, it's not a secret, has been struggling for a long time. The loss of the post office will detrimentally affect the retailers and other small businesses who have their premises at Stones Corner. It will further weaken our local economy, which is already struggling under the weight of inaction by this Liberal Morrison government.

Deputy Speaker, as you know, wages are stagnant in Australia. Right now, Australia has the lowest rate of economic growth since the global financial crisis. Our small businesses are crying out for action to support the economy, but instead we see more cuts from the Morrison government. It turns out that under this government, if you have a go, you just get a no. You don't get a go at all. It's not, 'If you have a go, you get a go.' It's: 'If you have a go, you get a no' from this Morrison government. It's really disappointing for the small businesses and local residents who rely on this important service.

I also wanted to mention that NBN scams are rife on the southside at the moment. Is it any wonder the government has totally botched the rollout on one of Australia's most important nation-building projects, creating a climate of fear, confusion and uncertainty that is ripe for scammers? My office has recently received numerous complaints from residents calling about scammers, and my staff have received calls—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Mr Zimmerman ): Order! The honourable member's time has expired. I call the member for Petrie.