If any of you want my vote, let's see some infrastructure happening down here. In other words, get off your collective butts and earn your money. Currently, at least up to the next election, we have two members of one party in the state government. On top of that we also have Paul Green, a member of the Christian Democratic Party sitting up in Macquarie street. Then, we have had Ann Sudmalis "representing" the area in federal parliament. The Shoalhaven’s streets should be running with gold so why aren't they?

In a 2017 speech, former Prime Minister Paul Keating stated that Australia has, since 1991, experienced “growth and prosperity without destroying the underlying values on which Australia has been built.” Such values presumably include a “fair go” and a work ethic rewarding effort. 

Notwithstanding this period of values-laden growth and prosperity, Labor, in bending to the will of the Socialist Left factional machine in its prosecution of class warfare under the dual mantras of “inequality” and “redistribution of wealth”, has launched an attack on self-funded retirees via the removal of refunds for excess franking credits on shares.

At the same time, the purported party of the worker has promised to attack working members of the Gilmore community, the majority of whom are on modest incomes, who have chosen to invest in property as part of their retirement nest egg by limiting the tax advantages of negative gearing. Noting the demographics of our electorate of Gilmore – from Kiama in the north to Tuross Head in the south – with both substantial retiree clusters and younger families, these tax changes and their second and third order effects spare nobody – professionals, tradies, small to medium business operators. 

Aspirational working families, having witnessed earlier generations investing in established property in order to generate wealth for retirement, will now be denied the same opportunities – opportunities which reward hard work and sacrifice and, incidentally, have helped grow the economy. This policy is hardly reflective of the “inclusive growth” referred to by Keating in his analysis. It is, however, the very definition of inequality referred to by the vocal Left. 

Under pressure, Labor’s Shadow Treasurer, Chris Bowen invited retirees to not vote for Labor if they are unhappy with Labor’s tax policies. I would invite Gilmore retirees and those preparing for and working towards retirement, as well as anybody who has structured their investment strategies with a view to self-sufficiency in retirement, to contemplate the impact Labor’s radical tax policies will have on them and their families into the future. Where the impact is adverse or lingering doubt remains, the sensible option is to accept the Shadow Treasurer’s sage advice and not vote for Labor’s Socialist Left candidate for Gilmore.

Last Thursday Scott Morrison, in supporting Greg Hunt, under challenge at the next election, said the community needs to back someone who has worked tirelessly for their community and lives in the area. By this standard the voters in the seat of Gilmore need to back Labor’s Fiona Phillips who has been working tirelessly for over four years in the area and is a fifth generation resident of the Shoalhaven.