Patrick Secker (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I doubt very much that the minister would be interrupting me in the same manner. The debate on the Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2007-2008 and its associated bills is a free-ranging debate. We all have our opinions, and this debate is about how we, as a government, spend our money. The 2007-08 budget provides great support for Australia. I do not think there is any doubt about that. The fact is that people in Australia, by and large, have felt this is a very good budget. In fact, for the 10th time it is in surplus—10 years in a row! That is something that Labor could dream of but could never deliver.

We have grown since March 1996, when we were first elected, averaging 3.5 per cent each year. The unemployment rate has reached a 33-year low, inflation remains low and stable, we are debt free in net terms, and our net interest payments are, of course, zero. The government is saving taxpayers $8.5 billion a year, which works out at something like $23½ million every day—or, to put that into perspective, $1 million every hour. So since I arrived here at eight o’clock this morning—it is now just after eight o’clock at night—we have saved $12 million in interest rate payments that were previously paid by the Labor government. That is a pretty big saving. And the great thing about that saving is that it is for ever and ever, unless the Labor Party gets back into government and gets us back into debt by running deficit budgets.

It is very interesting to look at the history of Australia. For the first 90 years of our Federation, from 1901 to 1991, as a nation we accumulated some $16 billion of debt. We had to deal with a couple of world wars and a few other wars—such as in Korea and Vietnam—we had to build a new capital, which does not come cheap in anyone’s terms, and we went through a depression, yet, over those first 90 years of our Federation we accumulated $16 billion worth of debt. For the next five years, Labor took that debt which we had taken 90 years to accumulate and repeated it every year for the next five years. So we went from $16 billion to $96 billion net debt in five years. We have now got rid of that debt, and I think that was one of the greatest achievements of this government. Because we are no longer paying interest into banks—in many cases overseas banks—we can now afford to do the things that this country wants us to do.

Australians, including many in my electorate, are concerned with agriculture. I have a very large agriculture base in my seat. The seat of Barker has often been termed the most agricultural seat in Australia. We produce nearly half of Australia’s wine, and that is a great part of the electorate, but we also have heavy agricultural industry in the traditional areas of beef cattle, dairy cattle, sheep, horticulture and forestry, which also takes up a very large part of my electorate—it covers a very large growing area. We certainly are very much the food bowl of South Australia, if not Australia. So what we have achieved for agriculture in this budget is very important to the constituents in my seat of Barker. We have provided more than $2.4 billion in new funding for agriculture. To put that in another perspective, that is about 30 per cent of the total savings, which we could not have used under Labor’s $96 billion debt.

Of that $2.4 billion of new funding for agriculture, there is $205.4 million over the next four years to continue the government’s Agriculture Advancing Australia policy package, $75.7 million over four years to build on the successes of the National Food Industry Strategy, $112.1 million over three years for landcare activities and $50 million for the new Environmental Stewardship Program and $1.975 billion over five years for natural resource management—both jointly delivered with the Department of the Environment and Water Resources—and $10.3 million to eradicate the Red Imported Fire Ant, which is probably not front-page news but for many of our industries is very important. There is another $12.7 million to strengthen Australia’s quarantine risk assessment. An additional $205 million over four years will fund professional advice for farmers in severe difficulty and will subsidise management training and education to provide re-establishment grants to assist those who wish to exit the industry. That is important when you consider that 90 per cent of my electorate is declared EC drought for the first time ever. Very few in my electorate have ever had to rely on the full exceptional circumstance strategy, but 90 per cent of them are doing that now. I am pleased to report that we have had some very good rains starting on 26 April this year. Over the last 3½ weeks we have had an exceptionally promising start to the season, so there is a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel for the farmers in my electorate.

Funding will assist in improving the successful FarmBis program, which provides education and training to farmers. The Farm Help program will also receive additional assistance over the next four years with previous Farm Help recipients having a second chance to obtain professional advice and training to access a re-establishment grant. There will be $11 million over three years to improve services for Australians affected by drought. Funding will be provided for additional mobile Centrelink services, which will improve existing services by responding to the increased demand in drought affected areas. One of the great things we have brought in is the drought bus, which has been going around my electorate over the last couple of weeks, meeting with farmers and helping them to get through their problems. There will be $30 million spent to provide drought related counselling support to irrigators and farmers in the Murray-Darling Basin and $75.7 million over four years will be spent to make Australia’s food industry more globally competitive. The program contains four key elements: the Food Innovation Grants Program worth $54.2 million, the Technical Market Access Program worth $15 million, the International Food Standards Initiative worth $2½ million and the Australian Food and Grocery Council worth $4 million.

We also have a comprehensive water plan which will secure and manage one of Australia’s most precious resources. I spoke in the chamber a couple of hours ago about what we are doing in the Murray-Darling Basin. There will be $10 billion over 10 years provided for the National Plan for Water Security. The Murray-Darling Basin region will benefit from more integrated and efficient management functions, including nearly $6 billion to modernise both on-farm and off-farm irrigation infrastructure to increase the efficiency of water use. On present understandings, that will save us about 3,000 gigalitres of water. Interestingly enough, that is about four times what industry, irrigators and households in all the cities supplied from the Murray-Darling Basin in South Australia use. It is four years worth of savings. Half of that will go back to the farmers on the basis that we are spending another $3 million to compensate them for buying back overallocated water resources, especially in the eastern states. Again, we are delivering 3,000 gigalitres—that is, 3,000 billion litres—back to the Murray-Darling over 10 years. It is going to be a big call, it is going to be a big program and it is going to take a while—but we have the plan. What is great about it is that it is not hurting our wealth-producing farmers but will return that water to the Murray-Darling system. $417 million will be spent to improve the quality of forecasting and obtaining water data to better inform future decisions regarding land and water use. The allocation of $585 million to reform the government’s arrangements for the Murray-Darling Basin Commission will ensure the responsible management of water into the future. There has never been a program like this in Australia’s history. There will also be funding of $201 million over six years to support the installation of water tanks and other water-saving devices by schools and community organisations. A further $200.7 million will extend the Community Water Grants program until 2012-13.

Since 1996, the government has invested $2 billion to develop practical responses to counter and reduce climate change. If you were to believe the Labor opposition, we have not done anything. The facts are in the budgets. Over the past few years we have invested $2 billion. For example, the government’s $500 million Low Emissions Technology Demonstration Fund is already driving the development of vital solar and clean coal technologies. $150 million will be provided to encourage homeowners to install solar panels across Australia. The current rebates will be doubled so that households will receive up to $8,000 for installing an average system which costs around $14,000—a rebate of over 50 per cent. Grants of up to $12,000 will be available for solar panels in schools and community buildings.

Forests play a key role in reducing greenhouse gases. I know that because the forest industry in my electorate alone provides almost $2 billion worth of income and wealth production. Of course, that is also spread across many other electorates around Australia. The costs of establishing qualifying carbon sink forests will be tax deductable, with immediate deductability for five years, commencing 1 July 2007, and with concessional depreciation arrangements after that. The budget also provides $197 million over five years for the Global Initiative on Forests and Climate.

Land transport and infrastructure will be made stronger and better by the government boosting its investment in road and rail infrastructure, with the second AusLink plan and total funding of $22.3 billion over five years from 2009-10. AusLink 2 will help reduce accidents on Australian roads. The black spot program will increase to $60 million per annum over five years from 2009-10. This is a program that Labor got rid of when they were in government. The Roads to Recovery program constructs and maintains local roads and will be funded with $1.8 billion. I know all the councils in my electorate are very happy about this. AusLink’s Strategic Regional Program supports the growth of regional industry and will be allocated $300 million. In order to bring forward construction of some of these strategic regional roads, the government will give an additional $250 million of supplementary funding to local councils, to be paid before 30 June. By way of example, we have been allocated $3.1 million for the Millicent heavy transport bypass. The people of Millicent are extraordinarily happy about getting that money.

Tax cuts will offer Australians some relief, with the low-income tax offset rising from $600 to $750. It will then begin to phase out from $30,000. This means that low-income earners who are eligible for the offset will not pay tax until their annual income exceeds $11,000. These income tax changes will ensure that more than 80 per cent of taxpayers face a top marginal tax rate of 30 per cent or less across the forward estimates period. There is also comfort for senior Australians who are eligible for the senior tax offset. They will now pay no tax on their annual income, up to $25,867 for single persons and up to $43,360 for couples.

Realising Our Potential is an investment in the future of universities, in vocational education and training and in the school sector. It delivers an unprecedented investment in the university sector, with a $5 billion Higher Education Endowment Fund, which is funded from the 2006-07 surplus. You cannot fund that from a deficit. This initial investment will earn income which can then be distributed on an annual basis to individual universities for capital works and research facilities. An amount of $222 million over four years will be provided for increased income support and for an extra 3,500 Commonwealth learning scholarships to assist students from low-income backgrounds and rural areas to attend universities.

Schools will also be ahead under the Realising Our Potential package, with $457.4 million being spent over four years to provide direct assistance to thousands of school students through national numeracy and literacy vouchers. This initiative will provide a $700 tutorial voucher per child to parents whose children do not achieve current numeracy and literacy benchmarks in years 3, 5 and 7. This will be extended to eligible year 9 students in 2009. In 2008 there will be a bonus of up to $50,000 available to schools which make significant improvements in their literacy and numeracy standards.

Importantly, Australia’s vocational education and training system will receive funding that builds on the $837 million investment in Skills for the Future. First- and second-year apprentices under age 30 will receive a tax-free $1,000 wage top-up. All apprentices will receive up to $500 each year, without any age restriction, towards TAFE and other training fees. This is about looking towards the future.

Part of helping families to balance work and parenthood is to assist with child care. Government assistance for child care in 2007-08 will be $3 billion, almost three times the level in 1996-97, when Labor were last in government. From 1 July 2007, the rates of childcare benefit will increase by 10 per cent, on top of indexation. This will increase the maximum rate of childcare benefit from $2.96 to $3.37 per hour. That means that a family on maximum rate assistance, with one child in long day care for 40 hours per week, will be eligible to receive $134.80 per week. This change will provide $728 million in extra assistance to more than 70,000 families Australia wide, including 5,000 families in the Barker electorate.

Families who incur out-of-pocket childcare costs in both 2005-06 and 2006-07 will receive two rebates in 2007-08, one through the tax system under existing arrangements and the other as a direct payment. The maximum payment will be $4,096 per child for 2005-06 and $4,211 per child for 2006-07.

The government are doing many things in this budget. We are boosting superannuation savings by paying a one-off additional co-contribution. We are also looking after older Australians, and we will spend  $51.8 billion on health and aged care. We are injecting $1.4 billion through the global integration program to assist Australian industry to build stronger links. This is a brilliant budget. (Time expired)

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