Peter Costello (Higgins, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Moncrieff for his question. The budget which the government announced last night will invest for Australia’s future. It will invest in higher education, with an innovative fund called the Higher Education Endowment Fund which will set up for a generation investment in higher education. It will give incentives for apprentices to take up first- and second-year apprenticeships in skills shortage areas. It will improve primary education. It will grow the capacity of the workforce. By improving child care, we will be able to give encouragement to those mothers who want to return to the workforce to do so.

Last night I announced income tax cuts for every Australian, which will increase the rewards a little for skill and effort. Our economy has come through a period of continuous economic growth, the like of which we have never had before in Australia. In order to keep Australia strong we now need to boost the capacity of the Australian economy. We will do that with an investment in skills, we will do that with an investment in education, we will do that with a better tax system, we will do that with investment in roads, we will do that with investment in rail, we will do that with our education endowment fund and we will do that with the Future Fund. This is a budget which locks in the benefits and the hard work of the past, and it invests for a future which our country deserves and wants to have.

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