Margaret May (McPherson, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

There is no doubt that the Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2006-2007 and the associated bills presented to the parliament by the Treasurer recently clearly demonstrate the strong economic growth and unprecedented wealth this country has enjoyed over the past 10 years. Ten years of discipline, focus, vision and sound economic and fiscal management have seen this country and its people prosper—and they have prospered under a coalition government.

The Treasurer has delivered his 11th budget and his ninth surplus—a staggering achievement when you consider where this country was 10 years ago. The coalition came to government with a $96 million Labor government debt to pay off. That was the legacy left by the opposition—a debt we became responsible for. This debt was costing billions in annual interest payments and has now been paid off. This is an extraordinary achievement by this government and one that clearly demonstrates the competence and capability of this government: no government debt and a saving of $8 billion in interest payments. Australia has zero debt, is no longer making interest payments and has more funding for Aussie families and for Australia’s future.

By retiring that government debt, maintaining economic growth at an average of 3.5 per cent per annum, sustaining budget surpluses, keeping interest rates low, maintaining moderate inflation and keeping unemployment to 30-year lows, this country can expect strong economic growth well into the future that will see higher living standards for all and a $1 trillion economy in 2006-07, when Australia’s GDP is expected to reach that figure for the first time.

This budget spells out just how Australia and Australians can be optimistic about the future. The strong economic management of this government will deliver benefits for all Australians, and this budget introduces measures to ensure that future. There is a plan to simplify and streamline Australia’s superannuation system through personal tax relief worth $36.7 billion over the next four years, an extra $1.5 billion in extra assistance to families, enhancements to tax depreciation arrangements worth $3.7 billion to improve business efficiency and competitiveness, an additional $2.3 billion to accelerate major projects in road and rail infrastructure, a $1.9 billion investment over five years in mental health services, $241 million to train more doctors and nurses, and $905 million to boost health and medical research. This is a great budget for the future prosperity of this country.

I would like to take the opportunity today to outline in more detail some of the budget measures that will specifically assist the Gold Coast city and its residents. Over the past week I have received many calls and letters praising the coalition government on the measures in the budget, in particular from families, retirees and small business owners. All will benefit from the measures outlined by the Treasurer on budget night. How do these measures assist the Gold Coast and the people of McPherson? First, they assist through tax cuts delivered via a new comprehensive tax plan—a plan that is about continuing tax reform in this country and reducing the tax burden on all Australians while still funding services that Australians deserve and have come to expect from government, decent services that provide for all members of our communities.

Since 2000 this government has reduced the marginal tax rates at the lower end of the income scale. From 1 July 2006, the government will reduce the marginal tax rates at the upper end of the tax scale. Australia is a low tax country, despite what the opposition may say. We are the eighth lowest taxing of the developed countries. These changes will ensure our taxation system is more competitive and bring Australia’s upper income tax rates into line with OECD averages. This budget will reduce the 47c and 42c rates to 45c and 40c respectively and give Australia just four marginal tax rates, of 15c, 30c, 40c and 45c. Along with these tax cuts there will be an increase in the thresholds so that the 15c rate will apply for incomes up to $25,000, the 30c rate for incomes up to $75,000, the 40c rate for incomes up to $150,000 and the 45c rate for incomes above that. What this means is that 80 per cent of Australians will have a top marginal rate of only 30c and taxpayers will not reach the highest marginal rate until they earn more than three times average weekly earnings.

This measure has been very welcome in the electorate of McPherson. Tax reform was high on the wish list of Australian families in my electorate. The lower tax rates and the higher thresholds help the majority of my families. And the help for families does not stop with these measures. Helping families has been one of the highest priorities of this government over the last 10 years, and it will continue to be a priority. Since coming to office, we have doubled assistance to families through the family tax benefit system. The Treasurer announced in the budget package further enhancements to family tax benefit part A. Families will receive from 1 July 2006 the maximum amount if they earn less than $40,000—an increase from $33,361, which is the current level for eligibility. This is very generous. In fact, the measure will provide additional assistance to almost half a million Australian families at a cost of $993 million over four years.

The large family supplement will also increase to include those families with three children. That increase will also take effect from 1 July 2006. Child-care places will also increase. This government believes in choice with regard to child care. Options should be available for the care of children and, to that end, the limit on the number of subsidised outside school hours care and family day care places will be uncapped, which means eligible providers will be funded. This means more choices for more Aussie mums.

Tax reform did not just assist our families. The Treasurer announced measures to assist and support senior Australians, self-funded retirees and carers. Each one of these groups of people has also benefited from the comprehensive tax plan. Those senior Australians eligible for the senior Australians tax offset will pay no tax on an annual income up to $24,867 for singles and up to $41,360 for couples. The Gold Coast is home to many self-funded retirees, and the feedback on these increases is very welcome from those very special people who have worked hard and provided for their retirement. A senior’s concession allowance will be introduced for certain self-funded retirees who do not get pensioner concessions. And those eligible self-funded retirees will also receive a $102.80 one-off utilities payment.

Carers in our community make a special contribution to our society. I had the pleasure recently of officially opening a carers forum, which was convened on the Gold Coast by the Commonwealth Carer Respite Centre to enable carers to come together, to listen to speakers from government and service providers, to share the difficulties they face each day in the role they undertake—a role that often sees these people shut away from their communities with very little social interaction and very little time for themselves because of the very demanding 24-hour a day service they undertake in caring for a loved one at home. These people deserve special recognition. They need to be supported and assisted with services and respite to ensure they do not suffer themselves. So often, I hear of carers whose own health and wellbeing has deteriorated because of the constant, selfless tasks they undertake daily.

The Treasurer announced an additional $1,000 to be paid this financial year to eligible carers in recognition of the tireless work they undertake. More than 100,000 Australians will receive this payment. The $1,000 bonus will also be extended to the 25,000 people who receive either the wife pension or the veterans’ affairs partner service pension and are carers. That measure has been particularly welcomed in McPherson by the wives of veterans who are carers. And to those people in receipt of the carer allowance, there will be an additional payment of $600 this financial year. These payments, more importantly, are tax free. All these measures—measures to assist families and senior Australians—are very welcome. But of course they can be delivered and provided only because of the responsible economic management of the coalition government—that should not be forgotten. We are not running a budget deficit. We are in the black and introducing policies that will continue to build the economic strength of this country for all Australians.

There are a number of Gold Coast projects that were successful in securing funding through this budget, and I would like to briefly touch on some of those projects and what part they will play in building on the strengths of the Gold Coast city and its communities. Bond University has received a $4.5 million capital funding grant for the health sciences and medicine building that is training tomorrow’s medical practitioners. The undergraduate medical program is quickly gaining an outstanding reputation amongst the medical community, both nationally and internationally, and has attracted some very talented students who will become the medical leaders of the future. The medical program has been an exceptional success for Bond University. The federal government grant represents a landmark for Bond as it is the first time in the history of the university that government at any level has provided such significant funding.

I am proud to be a member of the Bond medical faculty advisory board and delighted that the federal government recognised the contribution Bond was making to education, particularly in the area of medicine. We all know this country needs doctors, particularly in Queensland, and Bond stepped up to the plate by investing in this very specialised area. It is to be congratulated on making the enormous commitment to training doctors and thus making an enduring contribution to the health and wellbeing of this country.

Of great assistance to Bond and other tertiary institutions around the country is the commitment by this government to increase the general FEE-HELP loan limit from $50,950 to $80,000 and increase the FEE-HELP loan limit for medicine, dentistry and veterinary science to $100,000, commencing on 1 January 2007. There is no doubt this government’s commitment to increasing the FEE-HELP loan scheme for domestic students will give Australian students far greater freedom when choosing their higher education provider. It will also improve the affordability of private education for Aussie students; it will make it more accessible. This initiative will certainly assist students choosing to study at Bond. The higher loan limit means the majority of students will now be able to fund their degree wholly through FEE-HELP rather than having to enter into expensive commercial loans.

Another project that received additional funding in the budget was the Kids Alive Do the Five program. This has been a highly successful program developed by Laurie Lawrence, a man who is committed to teaching youngsters how to swim. Even though Laurie is widely recognised and has some impressive achievements to his name, he has told me that nothing satisfies him more than saving toddlers’ lives. In 2004-05, toddler drownings in this country fell from 40 to 28, and there is no doubt Laurie’s program has played a big part in saving those young lives. The project has received an additional $330,000, which means the show will be on the road for another 12 months. The roadshow involves a crew of five travelling in two vehicles: a five-tonne truck that carries the stage equipment and a care van that carries the crew’s luggage. The show has been seen by over 45,000 kids in 109 towns around Australia, from the southern Gold Coast to Aurukun, Ayers Rock, Coober Pedy, Perth and right down to Hobart and Devonport. With this new allocation of funding, thousands more kids will learn how to ‘do the five’.

As I said earlier, this government is committed to families, and to enhance that commitment Centacare has received an allocation of $1.425 million to establish an early intervention service on the Gold Coast for families, couples and individuals to teach them the skills and the knowledge they need to help maintain a healthy family environment and assist with relationships. I have no doubt Centacare will do an excellent job in delivering these much needed services to the Gold Coast city.

The Gold Coast Drug Council received a $50,000 grant for drug and alcohol treatment services. These services are vital on the Gold Coast and the dedicated team led by Mary Alcorn at Mirakai that deliver these services are to be congratulated for their continued efforts in combating the drug and alcohol problems that affect young people on the Gold Coast.

Aged care facilities and services are vital for the Gold Coast community. To ensure the facilities are delivering and maintaining standards of care that we expect, the government has allocated funding for increased spot checks of residential aged care homes. Under this initiative each residential aged care home will have at least one unannounced site visit annually. This initiative will give peace of mind to families of loved ones who are living in an aged care home.

It is a fact that Australia does not have enough organ donors to meet the needs of Australians who require transplants. As a country we continue to lag behind other OECD countries in our rate of organ donation. The coalition government has allocated $28.4 million over four years to increase the rate of organ and tissue donation by raising awareness and streamlining the processes. This is a great step forward for an initiative that will be supported very much in my community.

The Gold Coast is the tourism capital of Australia. Some would disagree with me but I think we still maintain that crown. Tourism is a $75 billion industry that has created more than 13½ thousand jobs in this country over the last financial year. I know that many of those jobs are on the Gold Coast. It is an industry that earns Australia more than $18 billion in exports, and the funding in this budget is a further commitment by this government to the industry. Key areas of the government’s support for the industry include funding for Tourism Australia, $15.4 million to be invested under the Australian Tourism Development Program and the roll-out of the new international tourism campaign. The campaign is already having an impact. With the government’s support, this industry will continue to grow and provide many jobs in regional and rural Australia.

There are two further areas of government investment that I would like to comment on. They are two areas of investment which are often raised with me and which, in my view, we should continue to invest in wisely for the future growth and prosperity of our country. They are: economic infrastructure and physical health infrastructure. Improvements in the health of all Australians rests on quality research and funding for the National Health and Medical Research Council. That funding has been increased again in this budget, and it will take the base funding to over $700 million per annum by 2009-10. To value add to that funding the federal government has announced new funding of $235 million for the physical infrastructure—the laboratories and equipment—that our researchers need to do their work. Medical technology is helping people to live longer and to have better quality of life. Technology will continue to advance, but with that technological advance will come escalating costs.

Australians also have a part to play. Obesity is a huge problem in this country, particularly in the young. We have seen a huge increase in diabetes, a disease that can be prevented by individuals taking responsibility for the choices they make about their lifestyles. Advances in medical technology are wonderful, and certainly saves lives, but as a country we must start developing lifestyle related choices that will also enhance our quality of life and our longevity.

Finally, I want to turn to economic infrastructure, particularly roads. I know that the member for Blair, who is sitting in the chamber today, supports me in lobbying extremely hard for that funding for our road infrastructure in this country. I applaud the government for its commitment of an additional $2.3 billion for AusLink. This funding will assist with major road infrastructure through to 2009. There is of course the Roads to Recovery program, which is another important program that delivers much needed funding to local councils to fix local problems. This funding has been doubled. The Gold Coast City Council will receive double their previous funding, more than $7 million, which will certainly help to alleviate some of the bottlenecks we are experiencing in our city.

There is no doubt that this budget has delivered. There is so much more that one could comment on, such as funding for mental health, maintaining our commitment to defence, strengthening our national security and combating illegal fishing. I commend the bills to the House. (Time expired)

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