This week Sharon Bird, Jim Chalmers and I held a roundtable in Wollongong with local community sector representatives.

Cost of living is growing across the Illawarra with increases to housing costs, electricity price rises and the Turnbull Governments cuts to family and household benefits.

While Government doesnt control the price of everything, it does have a direct influence over the price of Private Health Insurance, rate of Medicare rebate, higher education costs and consumer practices. In every instance, the Liberals have made decisions which have increased costs and made life harder for low-income and working families.

In other news

Labor has announced we will toughen anti-dumping protections to protect our steel industry, manufacturing jobs and agricultural jobs.

Labors announcement contains three key elements:

• Labor will triple penalties for circumventing trade remedies;
• Labor will better resource the Anti-Dumping Commission;
• Labor will create a one-stop shop under a tougher regime to safeguard our steel, manufacturing and agricultural jobs now and into the future.

While the Liberals have been asleep at the wheel, Labor have put forward a strong plan to help protect our local jobs in steel and manufacturing.

Future of Work Forum with Dr Jim Chalmers MP

Great to have Dr Jim Chalmers in the Southern Highlands to hold a community forum on the future of work.

Automation, robotics and AI are changing the way we work. Every job will change because of the impact of these three.

In fact, employment agency, SEEK, has warned that 50 per cent of existing jobs in the economy are already automatable.

As a party, Labor is working through these big challenges because we know jobs, cost of living and wages are the things that matter to people.

Community Heritage Grants

2018 Community Heritage Grants are now open.

Operating since 1994, the Community Heritage Grants offer grants of up to $15,000 to assist in preserving cultural heritage collections of national significance. Not-for-profit organisations, such as historical societies, regional museums, public libraries and Indigenous and migrant community groups throughout Australia, are encouraged to apply.

More information, including guidelines and application forms, can be found on the website here.

Wollongong Seniors Festival

Shout-out for Wollongong Seniors Festival held from 4 to 15 April 2018.

For more information, visit Wollongong City Council website at www.wollongong.nsw.gov.au/seniorfestival