Andrew Robb (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2006-2007 and related budget bills. As Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, I would like to focus my comments on those areas that are a particular responsibility of mine, namely multicultural affairs, citizenship and the upgrade of the technology system within the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs. I would like to discuss some of these responsibilities relating to the broader budget.

In debating budget measures I think that it is important to reflect on the contribution of these measures to sustaining Australia’s economic prosperity and to consider the broad challenges that Australia faces and the role the budget plays in meeting those challenges. In a broader sense the 2006-07 budget includes a number of major initiatives which are critical to sustaining Australia’s economic prosperity. Firstly, the budget provides for an underlying cash surplus of $10.8 billion, the government’s ninth surplus since taking office and a very significant part of the underlying business and investment confidence and the general performance of the economy for so many years now. Ten years of sound economic management has seen the $96 billion of debt inherited by this government in 1996 eliminated, and in a very material way that is providing, year on year, in excess of $8 billion which is now available to fund community services and infrastructure and other important components of the budget.

The budget includes major tax reforms in superannuation, personal income tax and business tax, and is supported by measures to improve the integrity of the tax system. The budget also invests significantly in our roads and rail and water infrastructure. It invests significantly in skills training. It improves support for mental health services and it continues Australia’s leadership in medical research through very significant additional funding, close to $1 billion.

These 10 years of sound economic management mean that prospects for the Australian economy remain sound, with economic growth forecast to be 3¼ per cent in 2006-07, and already we are seeing the results of that with strong job market performance. Last week there was the announcement of a 4.9 per cent rate of unemployment, the lowest in over 30 years, and that is despite a corresponding increase in the participation rate during the period in which that unemployment figure was registered.

This is a remarkable achievement but one that needs to be built on. It shows what can be done. This budget needs to be measured in terms of its capacity to prolong for a long period of time the prosperity that we have enjoyed as a country. These budget measures and other changes embodied in legislation over the last 12 months—such as the Work Choices legislation—are critical to seeking to set Australia up for another 10 or 20 years of prosperity. This prosperity cannot be taken for granted, and it cannot be squandered and frittered away. We have to keep confronting the new challenges that come our way if we are to maintain the prosperity that we have now enjoyed as a country for some time.

Simply wanting to spend the proceeds of prosperity—as is being suggested on the other side of the House—and rolling back important initiatives without a view to the future shows our opponents are running true to form. We are starting to see it now at a state level, with many Labor governments that inherited strong positions and have had the benefit at a federal level of a very high level of economic performance for many years finding themselves in quite difficult circumstances, such as the New South Wales government and the ACT government. Labor are running true to form, and we are starting to see it in the policies that are being unfolded at a federal level, where they are taking this prosperity for granted. They are taking all the hard work for granted, they are taking the challenges of the future for granted, and they are not putting their efforts into policies that will deal with the problems and the challenges that Australia faces. Australia faces serious challenges, particularly the implications of an ageing population. It is expected that, in five years time, we will have 200,000 more jobs than people to fill them. That is with current, very high levels of immigration, a strong economic performance and significantly more money spent on skills training than ever in our history—200,000 more jobs than people to fill them.

In the OECD in the next 20 years, it is expected that nearly 70 million people will be in the retirement age cohort. In the same period of time, five million people across the whole OECD will enter the working age bracket. In Australia and across the developed world, we have a very significant and serious challenge that we must confront in terms of the ageing population and the implications that has for us in maintaining our quality of life, our productivity, our prosperity and our growth. This budget and many other policy initiatives are designed to confront these challenges and the challenges presented by an increasingly globalised world. The emergence of India and China as rapidly expanding nations in our region presents both threats and opportunities. To head off these threats and to take advantage of the opportunities requires continuing strong policy actions on many fronts.

The effective integration of the waves of immigration over the last 60 years have been a major contributor to the prosperity and the cultural richness of our great Australian family. We have moulded over many decades a dynamic and stable community from a very wide diversity of cultures with the benefit of a strong Australian democratic condition. There have been six million migrants since the fifties. We have also had many refugees, humanitarian entrants and many other migrants in those 55 years. While it has been our priority to maintain the strength of our economy, we also have a priority to maintain our ability to integrate people from so many different parts of the world. Today, 43 per cent of our population is made up of first or second generation Australians. Keeping our economy strong is critical to our proud record of taking in and integrating refugees and humanitarian entrants.

It is an expensive process. Australia is one of only three countries in the world that have consistently and without hesitation, year on year, taken in refugees from around the world. We have done this with a very strong program, but it is expensive. Some quarter of a billion dollars is spent on settlement programs each year in Australia. We have been very good at integrating people from the four corners of the world into our Australian family but, given the increasingly globalised nature of the world and the challenges of an ageing population, we need to become even better at integration.

It has not been their skills, perspectives and hard work alone that have contributed to the achievement that is modern Australia. We have received other great benefits from the many waves of migrants. As is being seen in Europe and other parts of the world, a longstanding, deliberate migration program, which we have in place in Australia and which has not been in existence in many other parts of the world, has been the secret of our success. Along with supporting integration and settlement programs, it has been fundamental to our success as a country. It is one of the many factors that underpin and support the prosperity that we have enjoyed over the last 10 to 15 years.

This budget seeks to build further on Australia’s very successful history. In the area of multicultural affairs, this budget seeks to further assist the effective integration of migrants from so many parts of the world. With an ageing population, and with the threats posed and opportunities presented by an increasingly globalised world, we have to focus strongly on our ability to integrate people from other cultures quickly and effectively. In this budget the government has allocated $32.8 million over the next four years to further enhance our cultural diversity programs, to assist with understanding, integration, English teaching and other factors in the programs. Of this funding, $20.5 million is allocated to the Living in Harmony initiative, $10.2 million to the implementation of cultural diversity policy and programs, $1.6 million to assist the Federation of Ethnic Communities Councils of Australia, and $0.5 million to the Surf Life Saving Australia/Sutherland partnership to help with problems with integration in some parts of Sydney.

As well, there will be an increase of $4 million over four years to promote Australian citizenship. In the area of information technology, we are spending close to half a billion dollars within the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs to assist the effective management of literally thousands of databases across the world and around Australia which are an essential part of a smooth and effective immigration program.

Funding for the Living in Harmony initiative has increased from $14 million over four years to $20.5 million over four years, which represents an increase of $6.5 million. We have had a very successful program, with nearly 5,000 different initiatives taking place during Harmony Day. Close to 3,000 of those were school initiatives. Young people across the primary and secondary school system have embarked on programs to gain an understanding of different cultures, to assist those who have joined our country in recent years or who are second generation migrants, who are going to play a very important part in the future prosperity of our country. They play a very important part in building the richness of our culture and in Australia being able to tap in to the new cultural perspectives that their parents have brought with them from the countries from which they have emigrated. The Living in Harmony initiative, and especially those components which relate to our school community, has been extremely effective in this regard.

There has been an increase from $4.4 million over four years to $10.2 million over four years for the implementation of cultural diversity policy and programs, including the important appointment of 10 full-time dedicated community liaison officers, in order to build our network across the country and to support community outreach programs, especially in regional areas. A lot of regional migration is now taking place. It is an important part of dealing with the ageing population and the skills shortage. We heard today during question time about the importance of overseas doctors, nurses and others coming into many parts of regional Australia, along with their families. The community liaison officers within my department have the capacity to greatly assist in the effective integration of these people into local communities and to monitor and respond quickly to problems. They will also create stronger links with new refugees, many of whom have been settled in areas where there are jobs—for example, on the harvest trail and in abattoirs. There are also other places where we can get these people quickly and effectively into jobs. We need people who are dedicated and who are on the ground so that they can ensure that problems are identified and dealt with quickly.

The ethnic diversity program and other initiatives are very important. We also have an important commitment to citizenship. Over the next four years we will spend some $8 million on promoting Australian citizenship, again to properly and effectively integrate people from so many parts of the world. We need to reinforce the privilege of citizenship to ensure that citizens and noncitizens alike value it. It is at the heart of our success as a diverse society. Australia’s ability to get people committed to a core set of values is the glue to our Australian family, while drawing on the rich diversity of people who come from many parts of the world.

Finally, an important initiative that has been funded and committed to in the budget is the Systems for People initiative—the improvement of the systems which fundamentally underpin the running of our technology within the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs. One of the problems in our area in the last two or three years has been the failure of many of our databases to communicate with one another. That has created a problem in the effective administration of many of our migration programs. We have embarked on a very sophisticated and significant program of reform in that area so that we can, in the years ahead, continue the proud reputation we have as a country with a very strong immigration program and as a country that has a network of bureaucrats and officials to run those programs and with the wherewithal to do the most effective job possible.

The strength of a culturally diverse community, united by an overriding and unifying commitment to Australia, is a proud achievement. It is one of the main things which has helped Australia to be in the strong position it is in today in having such a diverse, flexible, committed and effective workforce and community. The cohesion we have in our community and our commitment to Australia has been an important part of our success as a country. This budget in many ways seeks to build on that reputation and strength that we have as a country.

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