Anne Aly addresses a Wanneroo Business Association breakfast.
Camera IconAnne Aly addresses a Wanneroo Business Association breakfast. Credit: Supplied/Will Russell.

Cowan MHR Anne Aly guest speaker at Wanneroo Business Association breakfast

Laura PondWanneroo Times

BUSINESSPEOPLE were encouraged to provide feedback on Federal issues affecting them at a Wanneroo breakfast this month.

Cowan MHR Anne Aly was guest speaker at the Wanneroo Business Association event, where she talked about key issues and took questions from attendees.

She described the last month in Parliament as “incredibly frustrating” because much of the debate had been around issues facing the eastern states.

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“It’s been very hard to get a word in about WA,” she said.

Dr Aly said she wanted to provide a voice for business owners in her electorate and connect Cowan with Canberra.

She was keen to hear feedback on tax cuts, how the government could support businesses and promote innovation, and referred to Opposition Leader Bill Shorten’s pledge to create an infrastructure fund to offset WA’s low GST share.

“I have always been dead against these things that don’t have a substantive change,” she said.

“We should be demanding a substantive change in formula to ensure it doesn’t happen in the future.”

But she believed it was “better than nothing and a good starting point” and would push for the northern suburbs to benefit from the fund.

Dr Aly told the audience she was also bothered by a lack of “courage and forward thinking” in the government to effect change.

“I’m proud of Australia and Cowan but it also makes me incredibly frustrated with all the barriers to reach our potential,” she said.

Issues raised by audience members included Australia Post’s delivery inefficiency, public transport, reducing bureaucracy and tax concessions.

She believed the Australian tax system had “a lot of holes”, highlighted by her personal experience.

“I pay less percentage of income and there are more tax breaks available to me now than when I was struggling to raise two boys on my own,” she said.

“I think too often we tinker around the edges than making substantive change.”

In response to a question regarding political factions and voting the way of the party, Dr Aly assured people it was not all bad and 90 per cent of their work was bipartisan.

“If you really want to make a change that’s where you start,” she said.

“The adversarial way of governing is what causes people to disengage.

“We can focus on the frustrations of politics or we can find ways around them…and I hope we can find ways around them.”