Anne Stanley, the federal member for Werriwa, says that when constituents seek her help they’re usually going through a tough patch.
“People that come to us do so on the worst day of their lives,’’ she tells the South West Voice during an interview at Casula Mall earlier this week to discuss her re-election campaign.
“They share with us things that are personal and confronting, whether it’s the NDIS or Centrelink.
“There were so many people in the early part of the pandemic who lost their jobs and have never needed to be on any sort of support before.
“We had one man crying because they couldn’t feed their family,’’ says Ms Stanley, who is seeking a third term in Werriwa.
“Being able to provide that support to get them through a daunting part of their life is what gets me up – that’s the best thing about the job.
“I can go home knowing this person will be OK because of what we have done for them,’’ she says.
Werriwa, a seat that was created at the very start of federation, has been held by some of Labor’s biggest legends, from Gough Whitlam to John Kerin and Mark Latham.
More recently Labor true believers such as Chris Hayes, Laurie Ferguson and now Anne Stanley have been going to Canberra to represent the people of the electorate.
Werriwa covers western parts of Liverpool and a small northern part of Campbelltown. Key suburbs include Casula, Glenfield, Macquarie Fields, Hoxton Park, Prestons, Rossmore, Austral, Green Valley, Cecil Hills, Miller, Ashcroft and Badgerys Creek.
While there’s pockets of rising wealth, Werriwa is classic South Western Sydney battler territory.
It’s mostly aspirational, but many residents are at a disadvantage because of the lack of local jobs.
It’s these kind of challenges people bring up when they talk to Ms Stanley when she’s out and about on the hustings.
“Health, Medicare, are they able to get health care where and when they need it, the cost of living, aged care, climate change and having a proper policy going forward, the cost of energy,’’ that’s the sort of things they are concerned about says Ms Stanley.
“Around here it’s always about family, community, the basics.’’
The pandemic and its handling by the government is something that also comes up a lot.
“People around here are disturbed about how they were treated during the pandemic and that the government didn’t really support people who needed support,’’ Ms Stanley said.
“It was the charities, the churches, the public schools who organised hampers for those doing it tough, people who lost their jobs first.
“They are really disappointed with the way they were treated.’’
So then, why would a Labor Government be better for the people of Werriwa?
“We would actually stop the cuts to Medicare; in Werriwa out of pocket costs have grown by 56 percent,’’ she says.
“Labor will also bring manufacturing back, things like trains and ferries, start making them here.
“Australian workers care about the product they put out.
“Labor also wants to support small business – make them first choice in government tender processes.
“Small business will get the opportunities to tender for products, and this helps create jobs.
“We also want to cut red tape, things like government paying their bills to small business in 30 days instead of 90 days.
“In education, we would have more TAFE courses free – we know we have a tradie shortage- and that we need more electricians, carpenters, hairdressers,’’ Ms Stanley said.
