MEMBER for Bendigo Lisa Chesters believes a petition with a thousand signatures opposing the Federal Budget can help to influence crossbench senators.
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Ms Chesters will raise the petition with 700 hard copy and 300 online signatures in Parliament next week and visit new senators to show the level of opposition to the Budget from within the Bendigo community.
She said a thousand responses is the largest number she had ever received for a mailed petition.
"These are a thousand people in the Bendigo community saying they are opposed to the measures outlined in the Federal Budget," Ms Chesters said.
"The Senate now has the opportunity to block the Budget.
"I will be visiting senators and making sure the views of those within the Bendigo community are heard."
The petitions were mailed out to 20,000 residents across various Bendigo suburbs.
Ms Chesters said the response represented a significant portion of the community.
"When we talk about opinion polls, they usually talk about a survey of a thousand people," she said.
"The fact that so many took the time to return these surveys shows the level of opposition to the Budget in Bendigo."
Each copy of the petition included comments sent to Ms Chesters' office after the Budget and called on the federal government to reject policies that "attack the most vulnerable in our community".
Senator for Victoria Michael Ronaldson said the Budget represented the Coalition's plan to "get the Budget back under control".
"If the Labor Member for Bendigo was truly concerned about helping her constituents she would vote to repeal Labor's carbon tax which would ease household costs on average by $550 a year and remove this $9 billion a year hit on our economy," he said.
"The key goal of the Budget is to strengthen the economy - because when you strengthen the economy, small businesses succeed, families have less pressure on them and jobs are created."