Peter Garrett (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Heritage) Share this | Hansard source

I also note that the action came after a long period of decline in the film industry—I refer to the comments that are being made across the dispatch box—a decline which actually had been a feature of the Howard government’s past 10 years in office where we saw a fall in the total value of production activity by some one-third and a fall in expenditure on foreign films shot in Australia to the lowest level in AFC recorded history. Additionally, private investment contributed only seven per cent to the Australian coproduction slate, again below the five-year average. Regrettably, despite additional funding for the major performing arts companies and the small- to medium-size sectors, which we welcome, this was very much a case, as it was in the last budget, of the government playing catch-up. We still do not have a sustainable funding model for the arts and that is a matter that the current minister ought to address as a matter of urgency. We were disappointed as well that there was nothing for creative industries policy; a digital content industry action agenda has not been acted on; and the absence of any significant reform of tax and welfare systems for artists still needs to be addressed.

Labor have outlined the principles we believe are significant and important to have in place to demonstrate fiscal responsibility. We recognise the need to maintain a budget surplus on average over the economic cycle; we do not intend to spend more than we earn. And Labor, as a principle, will not increase taxation as a proportion of GDP. In building long-term prosperity, the greatest challenge that this country faces is coming to terms with the risks and taking advantage of the opportunities of dangerous climate change. Yes, there are a range of other risks and issues for this country to consider, and they are many and long. But all of them are dwarfed by the momentousness of what we are now doing to the world’s climate system. And so long as the Howard government refuses to take the necessary action that Australia needs to ensure that it can respond to the challenge of climate change, then the budgets that are brought down in this House, the speeches that are made at this dispatch box and the policies that are put up at this election will count for nought. This is the single most important moral, political, economic and environmental issue that we face. It deserved the necessary attention both in detailed policy and in funding from this 2007 budget—and it did not get it. That is the Treasurer’s great failure, that he saw the budget as a political document but did not see it as a future inheritance document. And unless we start having budgets in this House which address issues like climate change— (Time expired)

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