DR ANNE WEBSTER MP

SHADOW MINISTER FOR REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT, LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND TERRITORIES
SHADOW MINISTER FOR REGIONAL COMMUNICATIONS

FEDERAL MEMBER FOR MALLEE

TOPICS: falling house prices, Labor home equity scheme, Labor’s lack of electoral mandate for tax changes, social media ban, honouring long-serving Sunraysia doctors, Australian Defence Force exercise Pitch Black

Burrows  

Joining me on the phone, and I missed out last fortnight because I was sick. Member for Mallee Anne Webster, how are you? Anne,

Webster  

I'm very good, thank you. In a cold wintery Canberra, but you know, last week of sitting for a few weeks, so happy about that. I can tell you,

Burrows  

yeah, no doubt at all about that. Now, look, I've been watching this a little bit, but auction rates are plummeting, and might have to do have something to do with a tax or two, right?

Webster  

Absolutely, so Labor are calling for change - well, they've got it. The housing minister got up in the House yesterday and was bragging, as she does, about, you know, the change that needed to happen. It sounds a bit like Keating's recession, except not in a good way. So, tax changes, capital gains tax changes, negative gearing, tax changes, just the increase of taxes for everybody except foreign investors. Let's not go there, and so consequently the housing market has plummeted, and the people, I mean, I feel sorry for every mortgage holder. Let me be clear about that, but I really feel sorry for those who had got into the 5 per cent deposit system that the Labor government put in place, because now they've got negative equity in their homes. I mean, can you imagine paying at a house price, pick a price, 500,000, 700,000 whatever. whatever they are now, and you can see $50,000 knocked off what you paid, and you're still paying the mortgage for the higher price. This is not a good situation. We're by no means at the end of it. So, we're watching this space very closely, and will continue to call out Labor's bad legislation - and legislation that they didn't take to the election, you know, it's a bit like the Voice, the Prime Minister suddenly getting up and saying he's going to have a Voice referendum. Well, he got a slap in the face for that, wanting to divide the nation by race because he didn't take it to an election, he didn't become Prime Minister on the basis of honest policy, and he's done the same thing with regard to tax, and it's increasing, like the mess that they've now made of discretionary trusts, look, honestly, yeah, it's going to take people a long time to get their heads around it. So, I have spoken about Wes Davidson, who's a big real estate agent in Horsham, yesterday in the House.

Burrows  

Yeah...

Webster  

I spoke about how he's never seen in 40 years of being a real estate agent, he has never seen it this bad...  

Burrows  

Really? Wow!

Webster  

.... So, you know, we're not talking about somebody who's just waltzed into the business. This is somebody who's been watching and working in this space for decades, and here we are.

Burrows  

Yeah, here we are. Hey, look, tell me about the increased penalties, the social media ban. What's the go with this? This, I'm not on top of.

Webster  

Well, Anika Wells has decided ... I mean, they keep bragging about how much the social media ban has, you know, protected our children. We should be protecting our children. Don't get me wrong, I've got no problem. Yes, I would love to see my grandchildren off their screens, because they're losing out on life right now, and it's very difficult for parents to manage that. This is, you know, it's a bit like gambling, you know, it's insidious once it's part of a child's life. Social media, it's very difficult getting them off and ask any parent who tries to, and so ... social media itself is particularly insidious. The Labor government took our social media plan and policy into parliament, it passed, they made their usual tweaks, now we're in a position where the international bodies, you know, the Meta, the Googles, all those who have gazillions of dollars, who are just not playing ball, and they're not making it safer for children, they're not keeping their end of the bargain. So, the Labor government has decided they'll whack the potential fines up to $99 million if they don't kick kids off social media as they must do, so I think you know algorithms play a big part in our lives. I'm sure somebody will write a book if they haven't already on algorithms and the infiltration into our lives, but you know, things have to change for our children, they're literally losing brain cells. I mean, for goodness' sake.

Burrows  

Yes, I understand. I understand exactly what you're talking about, having three nieces and not all the same age, but they're all teenagers, essentially. And look, I'm going to move on to this. So, you gave a shout out in the house to a couple of long-serving Sunraysia doctors recently?

Webster  

I did, I absolutely did, and I cried. I tried very hard not to, but Don Hartley, of course, has done a fantastic job, and he has worked in Sunraysia for 50 years, literally in Sunraysia, committed to our region. So, he has won a Victorian Rural Health Award and recognised for his 50 years of service. And my husband, Philip Webster, shout out, woo hoo! He has won the outstanding contribution for rural GPs and rural generalists across Victoria, and anyone who knows Philip, who's a patient of Philip's, would agree that he's incredibly committed. He works very long hours. He's one of the few now to work in aged care, which is very complex care, and has a whole bunch of compliance that makes it very undesirable for more GPs to engage in that space, but he is very committed and he always will be.

Burrows  

Yeah, yeah, that makes that makes perfect sense. Well, I, in fact, I think we can probably do a little bit of this. <plays applause sound effect> Give them a round of applause. Give them a round of applause. Hey, look, I've got to ask about this too before we let you go. You’re heading to the Northern Territory very soon? Is this with the ADF?

Webster  

Yes, it is. The Australian Defence Force, they offer parliamentarians each year an opportunity to engage in what are established events, which are with ... some of the events are with our allies, with the US, with other allies, and they're kind of like - I can describe it in my layman's terms as military games, you know, they're practising at war or intelligence, or whatever it might be. I tell you what, the ...

Burrows  

... People who are in the military, not necessarily higher up, but they refer to it as the same thing.

Webster  

... Yeah, so three of us women, actually, needless to say, I'm the eldest, are going up to the Northern Territory to participate for a week in a game called Pitch Black, and I believe there will be boot camp elements to that, so I'm not sure how I'm going to go, Dave, but I have wanted to do this -  for now over seven years that I've been in Parliament, and was actually booked in to do it just when Covid hit, so I am keen to do it.

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