They are very disturbing headlines for the people of Gilmore.

The Prime Minister promised to govern for all Australians but predictions of job losses and higher unemployment is not governing for the people of Gilmore.

Labor had no plan to address the unemployment situation in Gilmore when it was in opposition and it made no commitments during the election campaign.

It is obvious Labor has no plan to address the unemployment problem in Gilmore now it is in government. Rudd Labor has actually predicted unemployment will grow on its watch and the Reserve Bank agrees.

Gilmore has a very large aged population and that population is growing. The need for the Rudd Labor Government to act on the level of the aged pension, particularly for the single aged pension, is real and now.

Kevin Rudd went into last year’s election telling people he would make a difference to the cost of living. He told pensioners he would assist them. A Senate Inquiry into the cost of living pressures on older Australians reported in February and now the Rudd Labor Government has issued a discussion paper.

In reality, there will be no move on pensions before the 2010 Budget.

Finally, stagnation appears to have hit Australia’s tourism industry.

Australia’s Tourism Forecasting Committee (TFC) has predicted there will be zero growth in the number of international visitors to Australia in 2008.

This hurts Australia’s tourism industry and it hurts Gilmore.

We are one of the country’s largest tourism regions and predictions of zero growth will do nothing to turn around the current record lows in business confidence.

This all just adds weight to the need to improve public transport services on the NSW South Coast.

Better public transport will improve capacity to bring people to the region, bolster our business and tourism sectors and help address unemployment. Better public transport will also cut costs for pensioners and the wider community and it will encourage greater social inclusion.

J. Gash,

Member for Gilmore.