COMMENTS made by Federal Member for Wannon Dan Tehan about childcare subsidies indicate he is out of touch, according to Labor candidate Maurice Billi.
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"It's very obvious what he's saying and it's probably an example of how disconnected he and the government are in terms of polices that support middle to low income earners," Mr Billi said.
He said he had spoken to a large number of constituents who were concerned about the lack of funding the electorate received under Mr Tehan's tenure.
"People are concerned," he said. "They feel like they've been left behind in Wannon. No one is talking about Wannon.
"People in rural and regional Victoria, particularly in Wannon, don't feel like they're getting their fair share, they don't feel like they're getting the support they need."
Mr Billi said he was determined to ensure Wannon gets "back on the map".
"People are sick of being ignored and they want to be part of the conversation," he said. Mr Billi, who was in Warrnambool on Thursday, said the major issues being brought up by constituents were roads, a lack of affordable housing and poor internet access. "There are places across the region which have good internet and a lot of places which have unreliable, really slow internet speeds," he said. Mr Billi said the state of Australia's internet was unacceptable, particularly for people who work in the agriculture industry.
"We're currently ranked 69th in the world for internet speeds - it's ridiculous.
"We need to fix it - particularly for people who work in agriculture who rely more and more on the internet to do their day to day business.
"If they can't get fast, reliable internet it puts them behind the eight ball."
Mr Billi said he was also perplexed that Mr Tehan didn't want to have a frank conversation about education.
"We have an Education Minister in this area who refused to debate our Education Minister about education policy," he said.
Mr Billi said too much government money was being spent on private and independent schools.
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