Michael Johnson (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a pleasure to speak in the Australian parliament once again and on this occasion to speak on the Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2006-2007 and cognate bills. I am delighted that my good friend and colleague the member for Moncrieff—another Queensland federal member—is in the chamber with me. Indeed, Madam Deputy Speaker Bishop, it is an honour to be speaking at the time that you are in the chair.

This is a great budget, delivered by a great Treasurer. Of course, when you have a $1 trillion economy you would not want anyone other someone who knows something about budgets. The Treasurer has delivered quite a few of them; he knows what he is talking about. He knows what it is like to manage the economy and those on this side of the House have every confidence in his stewardship of the federal budget. I am not sure that the shadow Treasurer is quite up to the mark or has the intellectual rigour of the Treasurer, but time will continue to tell.

In any event, when we are talking about the Australian budget and the Australian economy, we are not talking about the economies or the budgets of places like Mali, Rwanda, Bangladesh or Peru that the Labor Party would compare our nation to when talking about economic matters. This is a terrific budget for the people of Ryan, this is a terrific budget for the families of Ryan, this is a terrific budget for the businesses of Ryan and, indeed, throughout the whole community, this is a good budget for the electorate of Ryan. I am very proud to be associated with it. I commend it and I want to spend the time that I am provided with here in the parliament to address a couple of the matters, because they are of great relevance to the electorate of Ryan, which I have the great privilege of representing in this parliament in my fifth year here—and I thank the people of Ryan once again for their confidence in me.

This budget is not only a budget for today; it is also a budget for tomorrow. It is one that invests in people today and it is one that invests in the Australians of tomorrow as well. It addresses very diverse areas, from child care to medical research, as well as a particularly relevant and important aspect of national policy—superannuation.

Firstly, I want to talk about personal tax reform and income tax cuts, because these matters are of great interest and of great relevance to the electorate of Ryan. This budget will provide taxpayers with personal tax cuts worth in excess of $36.7 billion over four years from 1 July 2006. As the Treasurer has alluded to in the parliament, these tax cuts are enormous. They are, in fact, the largest in the country’s history. I think it is important for those of us in government to remind our electorates that this is only possible because of our tremendous management of the economy over the last decade.

I want to put this into some sort of context for the people of Ryan, because it is important that they understand how significant these tax cuts are. In the 10 years during which the Howard government has been in office, the Australian economy has grown by an average of 3.5 per cent. I want to compare this with some of the other economies in our region. By comparison, Japan has had four recessions, Singapore has had three recessions, Hong Kong has had three recessions, Taiwan has had two recessions, Korea has had a recession and our good friend the United States went into recession in 2001. I think it is important for us to put this to our electorates, because it really does highlight how important the management of the national economy has been to the Howard government since we came to office in 1996.

But this budget, with its income tax cuts, will make an enormous impact upon the household budgets of the Ryan electorate. The 30 per cent threshold will rise to $25,001, the 42 per cent marginal tax rate will be cut to 40 per cent and the threshold will rise to $75,001. The 47 per cent marginal tax rate will be cut to 45 per cent and the threshold will rise to $150,001. The low-income tax offset will increase to $600 per year and phase out from $25,000, up from $21,600 currently. As I said, this will have a huge impact upon the everyday lives of Australians in the wonderful suburbs of Ryan. This is the sort of policy initiative and action that directly impacts upon everyday Ryan residents. It impacts upon family budgets and the daily lives of all kinds of Australians, irrespective of whether they are looking after families or are in business or are retired and senior Australians.

Let us not forget that last year the federal Labor Party stood against tax cuts, yet they come into this place post budget this year and talk about how much these tax cuts are overdue. I want to remind my electorate again that, last year, when the budget announced tax cuts, the federal Labor Party stood in very strong opposition to those tax cuts being implemented. The fringe benefits tax rate will be cut to 46.5 per cent, and I should place on the record that I personally am in favour of the FBT being reduced even further because of the widespread positive ramifications that will have for the economy.

The changes that the Treasurer alluded to in the budget are supported by the recently completed review by Mr Dick Warburton and Mr Peter Hendy into Australia’s taxation system. These changes will go a very long way to ensure that Australia remains competitive with the other income tax rates of the world and that we are in line with the OECD averages. We do need to be competitive in the global world in which our economy is operated. We do not exist in isolation from the world economy. If any Australians or Australian businesses think that that they can conduct their business outside the global economy, I think they should reconsider that thought.

The superannuation aspects of the budget are very significant for the people of Ryan. The government’s plan to reform superannuation benefits paid to retirees aged 60 or above from a taxed fund will be exempt from tax. Up to 100,000 retirees a year will stand to benefit from this enormously important change. The preservation age will not change, and people will be able to take their benefits before age 60, although they would be taxed under new simplified rules. Tax-exempt benefits would mean that people pay less tax on their work income if they are also drawing on their superannuation. This goes a very long way to increase incentives to continue to work. We all know, of course, that we have an ageing population which will impact tremendously upon our workforce and our productivity if we do not address it. I am pleased that the government is focused very much on that aspect of national policy. Australians would no longer be forced to take their superannuation but would be able to take the benefits when they needed them. These changes will deliver a retirement income system which is easier for 10 million Australians to understand. It also rewards additional savings and, as I mentioned, creates a stronger incentive to continue in the workforce.

As all my colleagues in the government will know, 21 April 2006 goes down as debt-free day, a day that will go down in Australia history, I suspect, as one of the most significant. For young Australians in particular, what this day means—and it is a day worth celebrating—is that they have been set free from the Labor Party’s debt prison. When Labor was in office, the debt that they left the Howard government was effectively a life sentence to younger Australians in particular—nothing to look forward to as they entered into the workforce. But now, it is a great pleasure again in the parliament to remind the Ryan electorate that the $96 billion of net debt left by the Keating government in 1996 is no more. This equates to an annual saving of some $8 billion in interest payments. Just imagine how much money was wasted in interest payments when those $8 billion could have gone to so many more worthwhile causes in our country.

Just today I had the opportunity of ringing some of the principals of schools in my electorate to give them the good news about successful applications for the Investing in Our Schools projects, where they were recipients of much-needed funding. I had the pleasure of contacting the Indooroopilly State High School principal as well as talking to the acting principal of Indooroopilly State Primary School to advise them of the good news of their successful applications. These are the sorts of examples of where that $8 billion in interest payments is now able to go, whereas in the previous years, as we paid off Labor’s debt, we had to address that very important problem that was left to us. I also want to very quickly touch on the other schools that received funding from the government: the Chapel Hill State School, the Jindalee State School and the Kenmore State High School, as well as The Gap State High and The Gap State School. This is just a handful of schools in Ryan that have received funding for Investing in Our Schools projects.

But, in terms of the budget, the Treasurer has delivered his ninth budget surplus in 11 budgets. The budget forecast a cash surplus of some $10.8 billion and economic growth forecasts are some 3¼ per cent for 2006-07. As I think I touched on in the beginning of my presentation, I do want to say to the Australian people and to the electorate of Ryan that the Australian economy is about to hit the $1 trillion mark in terms of its GDP. It is vital that the economic management of this country remains in strong hands and with somebody who is up to the task of managing this economy because, quite frankly, we do not want go back to the days of the Keating government when they mortgaged this country’s future.

I want to touch on the budget’s investment in infrastructure. The AusLink program, which coordinates the construction of Australia’s all important rail and road network, has an allocation of $12.7 billion over the five-year period from 2004-05. The 2006-07 budget provides it with an injection of an additional $2.3 billion, representing an increase of almost 20 per cent. This funding will go towards projects such as accelerating works to improve the safety of the Bruce Highway between Townsville and Cairns and to the Tully flood work projects, which will support North Queensland’s recovery from Cyclone Larry.

While I am on Queensland funding matters, I call again on the Queensland Labor government to spend more of its GST revenue on the very important Moggill Road and Centenary Highway in the Ryan electorate. The Labor government in Queensland has been in office since 1989—bar two years of the Borbidge-Sheldon government—and it is high time that the Premier spent some of the $7.7 billion he receives in GST funding on important roads in the Ryan electorate. I call on the state Labor member for Indooroopilly, Mr Ronan Lee, to get off his backside and to lobby his Queensland Labor colleagues to invest some money in Moggill Road. This impacts very much on his constituents, who are also my constituents. Mr Lee, get off your backside and lobby your Premier while you are in your last few weeks as the state member for Indooroopilly. In a few weeks the very competent and very highly qualified Mr Peter Turner will become the new state Liberal member for Indooroopilly. I am sure that, with his background and qualifications in infrastructure, he will be doing far more than Mr Lee has done in the years that he has held that position.

On the budget, locally the government will double funding to the Roads to Recovery program, which provides funding to local councils to upgrade their roads. The program, which averages $4.3 billion over five years, will receive an additional $307.5 million before 30 June to double the level of construction. We all know how important the Murray-Darling Basin is to Australia. Some $500 million will be committed to that commission to undertake capital works and improvements to protect the water resources of the basin.

Health policy is vitally important to the Howard government. It is vitally important to me, as the federal member for Ryan. I have in my electorate one of the most impressive hospitals in Queensland, the Wesley Hospital. In fact, I visited Wesley Hospital only a couple of weeks ago to look at some of their facilities, and I am delighted to speak in the parliament about the Howard government’s emphasis on funding for health and medical research. The government intends to ensure that this is a very high priority. This year’s Australian of the Year, Professor Ian Frazer, lives in the Ryan electorate. He is a very distinguished medical researcher. We all know that he has been given high award and honour through being successfully nominated as Australian of the Year. He has a reputation at the University of Queensland for being one of that university’s brightest minds and has come up with a cure for cervical cancer, which is something that will affect many Australian women.

Funding for annual grants to the National Health and Medical Research Council will be increased to over $700 million per year by the 2009-10 year. This represents a fivefold increase of the 1995-96 funding levels. This increase in funding seeks to ensure we retain our best and brightest scientists and medical researchers here in Australia. To ensure that such Australians have the facilities necessary to do their groundbreaking research, funding of $235 million will be provided for the building of new facilities. I again want to remind the people of Ryan of how important this budget was. In excess of $700 million has been allocated to critical health and medical research, which potentially could be life saving for them and for their friends and families. It is important that members of parliament draw their constituents to this important budget measure.

Regrettably I only have a few minutes left of my time here, but in conclusion I want to refer to this budget again, as it is a very significant budget for Australians. It makes a substantial impact on everyday Ryan constituents, whether they are in business, they have families to look after or they are retirees looking to enjoy a slower lifestyle while remaining engaged, perhaps in the part-time workforce. This budget provides for Australians of today as well as Australians of the future, because it invests very significantly in our future. This budget does not throw away the silver—as the Labor Party would have done had it been in office at this time—when the economy is very strong. This budget is highly responsible. This budget accommodates many of the challenges of today but also invests in the future. We are not in the business of mortgaging the future of younger Australians. As I said, it is a very responsible budget, it is a budget that I am very proud to be associated with and I commend the budget to the House.

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