Phillip Barresi (Deakin, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2006-2007 and its cognate bills. This is a budget that will benefit the people in my electorate of Deakin. It is a budget that has been welcomed and applauded by my constituents. This budget must be viewed as part of a well-developed, long-term strategy. It is a mistake to view this in isolation from other budgets. Opposition members tend to say, ‘This budget didn’t include this and didn’t include that,’ but they tend to ignore the previous 10 budgets which have helped to put us in the position that we are in today. This budget reflects a position of national economic stability and prosperity, brought about through the excellent stewardship of the Prime Minister and the Treasurer. This stability and prosperity were barely thought possible 10 years ago when the Howard government took office and inherited $96 billion of government debt.

Now we stand, 10 years on—11 budgets down the track—better able to weather corrections in regional and global financial markets, better able to offer prudent business and income tax reductions and better able to invest in the future of our children. For only the second time since 1901, since Federation, the government is able to say it is free of government foreign debt. No longer are we required to spend approximately $8 billion a year on interest payments—$8 billion that every member of parliament here would dearly love to be spent on various programs and projects in their electorate; money that was being sent overseas; money that was hard-earned by Australian workers. Instead we can now focus on building on the hard work done by all those Australians through the previous 10 budgets and see that $8 billion of savings being spent on programs at the domestic level.

This budget can be boiled down to making things simpler and fairer for all Australians. It will ease the pressure on middle-income Australian families, on those people entering or returning to the workforce and on retirees and superannuants. It will ease the burden on small business and the self-employed. It ensures that a fair day’s work is rewarded with a fair day’s pay. A number of the measures in this budget will make the lives of the people of Deakin easier and fairer—none more so than the proposed changes to the superannuation system.

We heard from the previous speaker, the member for Banks, about his opposition to the superannuation changes that were announced in this budget. That is the first time that I have heard the Australian Labor Party articulate a position on the superannuation changes, and it is one of opposition to them. No longer will the regulations change from year to year and, sometimes, day to day. Rather, this budget proposes a straightforward approach to dealing with people’s superannuation. It provides for tax-free superannuation benefits for people aged 60 and over where these benefits are paid from a taxed fund from 1 July 2007.

The proposal is that if superannuation contributions are taxed on the way in then they will not be taxed on the way out. The people of Deakin planning for retirement will now know exactly how much money they have in their superannuation fund and will be able to prepare accordingly. They will no longer need to pay for financial advice on how their superannuation benefits will be taxed, as they will now be tax exempt. This advice currently ranges in cost from $3,000 to $10,000—a cost that retirees will no longer have to bear. It is a further saving which can be directed towards their retirement income. They will no longer be forced to draw down on their superannuation benefits after the age of 65. Superannuation can be paid out whenever and however a person wishes. This will give retirees more flexibility in how they use their superannuation.

At the other end of the working life spectrum there is good news for those people wanting to train for and join the workforce. Contrary to what has been claimed in previous debates by those opposite, especially by the member for Jagajaga and the Leader of the Opposition, we are providing the resources and the funding to address the national skills shortages. An additional $106 million has been allocated over the next four years to enhance support services for apprentices and their employers through the new apprenticeships centres. The money that has been allocated to these endeavours is building on the money that has already been spent and allocated through previous budgets. It is a further strengthening of and support for vocational education and training in the Australian community.

In my electorate, organisations such as MEGT, based in Ringwood, and the VECCI New Apprenticeships Services, in Mitcham, welcome the increased allocation of resources. These organisations will share in the additional millions being allocated for new apprenticeships centres, taking the total funding allocation to $692 million over four years. If you listened to members on the opposite side of the chamber, you would think that we were spending barely any money at all in the area of apprenticeship training.

In addition to this funding, the budget provides an extra $6 million for the National Skills Shortages Strategy, an important strategy involving a partnership between the government and industry groups to identify current and future skills needs, especially in traditional trades, where we know the problem is acute. Projects that are set to benefit under this funding include streamlining the recognition of the skills of existing workers and attracting new entrants to particular industries and retaining them as part of that workforce. With that in mind, the budget also provides additional financial incentives for employers to undertake new apprenticeships with people enrolled in particular diploma and advanced diploma courses. They will focus on key growth areas, which will include those people wishing to enter the child-care and allied health industries—a welcome encouragement for potential child-care workers wanting to enter the workforce. This, in conjunction with the removal of the cap on federally funded out of school hours and long day care places, will see an increase in the services provided in this area.

The need to address skills shortages has come about because those opposite have discounted the importance of technical and vocational education for a very long time. Their stated purpose for 10 years has been to try to funnel everyone into a tertiary qualification program. The member for Jagajaga barely mentioned the words ‘vocational education’ throughout the entire term that the previous Minister for Education, Science and Training, Brendan Nelson, held the portfolio. She constantly wanted to talk about tertiary education, at the expense of those in technical and vocational education.

The Labor Party accuse the government of turning a blind eye to technical education in this country. In doing so they ignore the fact that spending on vocational and technical education is at record levels. Over the next four years the government will provide total funding of almost $11 billion, including $2½ billion in 2006-07 and $5 billion to support state and territory training systems for the years 2005-08. We now have state government after state government clamouring to get into the technical colleges model. First they opposed our efforts; now we have both the Victorian and the New South Wales state Labor governments wanting to introduce their own versions.

Unlike those opposite, the government have delivered on technical and vocational education. We have increased real funding for technical education by almost 90 per cent. Under Labor in the 1990s the number of places for technical education fell by 120,000, so how can members of the Labor Party stand up here say that we have not addressed the issue of vocational and technical further education? We inherited a shortfall of 120,000 from the Labor Party. Since 1996 the number has grown to a total of 1.7 million enrolments in subsidised vocational education.

I am proud to say that this government’s focus on technical education has resulted in a tangible benefit to the people of Deakin. In my electorate we have one of the Australian technical colleges based at the Ringwood Secondary College, one of the few ATCs that are actually based on the premises of a secondary school. The ATC at Ringwood, along with the automotive manufacturing and technology skills centre at Ringwood—an initiative of this government as well which was opposed by the Bracks government—provide students with trade training in automotive skills. In addition, the ATC provides trade training in commercial cookery and, with the continued funding of this government, it will expand into engineering and manufacturing programs in the near future. So you tell the people of Deakin that we are not spending money, that we are not putting resources out there, when in fact we are. As they drive down Bedford Road, through Ringwood, they can see the ATC at the Ringwood Secondary College. I certainly know that the people in the eastern suburbs are grateful for the federal government’s initiative in that particular area. It is evidence of the government’s commitment to a strategic and considered investment in the reskilling of the Australian workforce to meet the needs of tomorrow.

This is in stark contrast to the Australian Labor Party. The ALP’s policy lacks substance and demonstrates an entire ignorance of Australia’s training system. Just taking one item, Labor’s skills account is nothing more than a cost-shift from the states and the territories. While the Australian government does not own or run a single TAFE, Labor state governments continue to hike up TAFE fees around Australia. The fact is that the Leader of the Opposition fails to guarantee that the states will not continue to increase TAFE fees. So they may actually laud their policy of wanting to reduce TAFE fees, but all the Australian Labor Party are doing is saying that they will eliminate TAFE fees that are set by their counterparts in each of the states. Every state Labor premier has the ability right now to waive those fees if they want to, rather than waiting for the possible emergence of a federal Labor government.

Last year the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Employment and Workplace Relations, which I chaired, brought down a report on increasing workforce participation. I am pleased to see that the general thrust of the report—not the entire report—has been picked up by measures in this budget. For those looking to re-enter the workforce, the budget offers them a way to transition from welfare to work. Fifteen non-government organisations will provide job capacity assessments as part of the Welfare to Work reforms that start on 1 July this year. The Australian government has committed $320 million over three years to the program to assist more than one million Australians to connect to the right support services. In the next 12 months an estimated 370,000 people will receive an assessment, and they will range from job seekers claiming Centrelink payments who have been identified as having barriers to work to involuntary job seekers such as mature age people wanting to get a job.

The job capacity assessment identifies a person’s capacity to work and directly connects them to support or employment services that are appropriate to their needs. This is a further commitment by the government to driving down unemployment and increasing workforce participation. The new system will be an improvement on current arrangements because the assessment will be completed sooner, usually within 10 working days. One job capacity assessment centre will be based in Ringwood in my electorate. It will provide a valuable service to those members of our community who want to make the transition from long-term unemployment to some form of paid work. I am pleased to see that these endeavours are continuing in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. I note the figures that were released as recently as last week which showed that unemployment in Ringwood now stands at 3.4 per cent, in stark contrast to the highs under the previous Labor government.

We are also reminded of the importance for people of the transition from long-term unemployment to some form of paid work. As Prime Minister Tony Blair stated to the Trades Union Congress when he first got elected, the best start in life that one could give to an individual is a job—that is, for them to have a job, to get on that rung and to see that they too can have a future. The best way to have a future is to have paid employment rather than be handcuffed, as some members would prefer, to the welfare system.

Once people are in the workforce and earning a living, this budget continues to provide greater incentives to remain in paid work through further changes to the tax system and its interconnection with welfare support. In 2000, the new tax system represented a major restructuring of the Australian tax system, with the largest reductions in personal income tax cuts in Australia’s history—amounting to $12 billion per annum. One could have asked, ‘How can we possibly better the $12 billion in tax cuts that were introduced in 2000?’ Since then the government has continued its commitment to tax reform and has provided further reform of personal income tax. In the three financial years since 2001, there has been in excess of $40 billion worth of tax relief. The 2006-07 budget builds on this and provides the largest tax cuts since that new tax system was introduced. From 1 July this year we will be reducing personal income taxes by more than $36 billion over four years. This is giving people back their hard-earned money in personal income tax cuts, changes to the thresholds, the low-income tax offset, changes to the Medicare levy phase-in rates and, of course, the fringe benefits tax rate itself.

Tax brackets for those earning between $25,000 and $75,000 will be consolidated. Those workers will now pay a rate of 30 per cent across the board. Those earning between $75,000 and $150,000 will pay a reduced rate of 40 per cent. Those earning over $150,000 will pay a reduced top marginal rate of 45 per cent. These are incentives for people to get a job, to earn money and to increase their ability to earn more money—whether it be through overtime or other additional work. No longer will there be a disincentive to increasing your income because you fear being popped up into the next tax bracket. It will help to ease the financial pressure on Australian families. Furthermore, financial pressures on Australian families will be eased because there is just under $1 billion to increase the limit for eligibility for family tax benefit part A to $40,000 and allow even more families to receive the maximum rate.

Two weeks ago I had the privilege of hosting a visit to my electorate by the Minister for Defence, my good friend Dr Brendan Nelson. During the visit we dropped in at the barracks of the 4th Combat Engineer Regiment in Ringwood. I know that a lot of members here probably do not realise that I do have an Army regiment in my electorate of Deakin, in the suburbs of Melbourne. This is a unit made up of regular Army and reservist personnel. As the defence minister said during that visit, the recruitment and retention of people of the highest calibre to the Australian Defence Force is of great importance.

To that end, this budget provides $194 million over four years to strategically grow military workforce numbers. It provides for the next pay rise in the workplace remuneration agreement for military personnel. Having seen up close the work that our defence forces undertake, I am pleased to see that pay rates and scales are commensurate with the work being performed. Reserve units such as 4CER in East Ringwood will also benefit from the $180 million allocated to raise a high-readiness Reserve and to enhance the pay and conditions of Reserve personnel. These Reserve units from my electorate have served alongside their full-time counterparts in peace missions in East Timor and Bougainville as well as undertaking humanitarian relief efforts in Indonesia and Pakistan.

In the time that I have available I want to talk about the development of community infrastructure, which has also been included in this budget. Infrastructure is highly in demand in my electorate. As part of the Roads to Recovery program, the government has committed to providing an additional $307 million for local projects which are to be determined by the end of this financial year. It takes our Roads to Recovery funding to $1.78 billion for the financial years 2004-05 to 2008-09. In my electorate, the two municipalities will share in this dividend. The Whitehorse City Council will receive $373,276 under Roads to Recovery, and the Maroondah City Council, covering such areas as Ringwood and Croydon, will receive over $339,000. These funds will go a long way to addressing the congestion and the bottlenecks that are so apparent in city based electorates.

The total figure in this budget for Roads to Recovery in the electorate of Deakin will be in excess of $1.4 million. With the assistance of the federal government, local councils such as those of the cities of Maroondah and Whitehorse are now in a position to address some of the deficiencies in our local roads. It is just a pity that the commitment by this government to roads projects, particularly those that are going to go into the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, was not matched by the transport policy announced by Premier Bracks last week, when he totally ignored the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. He failed to commit money to the Springvale Road grade separation, which is the No. 1 intersection and level crossing in Melbourne. He failed to provide money for the third rail line going through my electorate.

This budget and the money from the federal government will help to ease the pressure of our road congestion in my part of the world. More importantly, the budget is a testament to the prudent economic management and strategic planning skills of the Howard government. It builds on the achievements of previous budgets. It is a budget that is worthy of support. I urge all of those on the other side to support this budget and, in particular, to support the changes to the superannuation system and the adjustments to the tax system outlined by the Treasurer.

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