Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise this morning to speak on Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2007-2008 and cognate bills. There certainly are a number of concerns arising from this year’s budget. First and foremost of those, I believe, is the fact that this budget really fails the future test. It fails to prepare Australia for the number of challenges we must face in the coming years—in particular, challenges such as the skills shortage, climate change and, very specifically for my electorate, the health needs of an ageing population. Critically, this budget fails to look beyond the next federal election. All in all, this year’s budget was a demonstration of a lacklustre and increasingly out-of-touch Howard government with very short-sighted vision—a government that is trying desperately to hold on to power at the cost of future generations of Australians. Indeed, it is in fact a government stuck in the past.

In contrast to this, the federal Labor Party offers the Australian people an optimistic and forward-thinking vision for our country. We offer practical nation-building initiatives and measures designed to see Australia prosper through the years ahead. In the future we have to put in place policies which will allow us to reach our full potential as a nation, and it is only through the election of a Rudd Labor government that our country will reach its full potential.

I want to touch on various aspects of this year’s appropriation bill. Firstly, it does contain the tax cuts which Labor will support, and we have stated that. It also contains a one-off payment of $500 for pensioners and a one-off payment for carers of $1,000 which Labor also supports. Of course, whilst welcoming these tax cuts, it is with the acknowledgement that this is indeed the highest taxing government in Australia’s history. In welcoming these one-off payments, it is, of course, taken with the reality that pensioners and carers have been continually forgotten by the Howard government—except, it seems, when it comes to election times. Conveniently, perhaps, they are then very slightly remembered.

It is these groups in particular that are struggling in my electorate of Richmond. Twenty per cent of the population is aged over 65 and that is one of the highest percentages throughout the country. As I have said many times before here, that is the estimation for the percentage of people aged over 65 in the year 2040. So we need to get it right on the ground in Richmond now if we are going to be catering for the future ageing of our population.

I hear daily of the struggles of local pensioners who are simply trying to survive day to day with increasing prices for petrol, rents, mortgages and, perhaps very significantly for them, health care. These people need help every day, not just when the Howard government is gearing up for an election and passing them a small amount of money. They need help continuously.

Put quite simply, carers are doing it very tough. They do it tough daily with difficulties that most of us could only ever imagine and they do it with so little government support. Often so many carers are dependent on volunteer community groups. Whilst these groups do an incredible job, they too are drastically underresourced. Unfortunately, carers in our community have been forgotten for years under the Howard government—again, until election time, as I said, when a small amount of money is passed to them. Let me emphasise that, whilst this $1,000 is welcome, it is nowhere near enough to address the daily battles that carers often have. Indeed, it is a very tough job that they do and they need help daily, weekly and fortnightly. They need help. These people make huge personal sacrifices and they deserve increased support from the government.

The issue of increased support for carers is particularly relevant, as negotiations for the fourth Commonwealth State/Territory Disability Agreement—CSTDA—are currently underway. Carers are very tired of the constant blame game which occurs at these negotiations as well as the blame game they witness when attempting to access government services. Quite frankly, this needs to end. The minister responsible has already stated there will be no growth funding to the CSTDA. This is indicative of, and consistent with, the government stance on this issue. Carers are simply not given the priority they deserve. The CSTDA negotiations give the government the opportunity to remedy this, yet I fear the needs of carers and disability service providers will once again fall on deaf ears.

It was disappointing to see in the budget that, whilst pensioners and carers did receive that one-off payment—inadequate as it may be—one group entirely forgotten are those dependent on the disability pension. This is a group that has suffered under increased strains, particularly with the health system, and those strains have occurred under the Howard government. It has failed to address those issues. This is also a group which has struggled with the increasing complexity in accessing government services. It is a group that has definitely suffered under the blame game that the Howard government always seems to involve itself in. The fact that they have been forgotten in this budget is further proof that the government is so out of touch with the needs and concerns of the most vulnerable people in our society.

My electorate of Richmond has one of the largest groups of veterans in Australia. Of course, their contribution to the local community is unparalleled. It has been a great honour for me to meet so many of those veterans and veterans’ groups over the past couple of years. It is certainly true that veterans often do it very tough. Many continue to suffer very serious and ongoing physical and mental health problems. They often encounter government services that are very difficult to access. Many are on pensions and are struggling week to week with the increase in the cost of living, particularly health care. The sacrifice of these individuals in serving their country should not be forgotten, and by not including anything in this budget for veterans and veterans’ services that is exactly what the Howard government is doing.

Alternatively, in the Labor Party we certainly acknowledge, understand and respect the sacrifice of these Australians and we are very committed to honouring that. As we have stated, a Rudd Labor government will restore the value of the special rate disability pension, TPI and TTI intermediate rate and extreme disablement adjustment pensions by indexing the whole of these pensions to movements in the male total average weekly earnings or the CPI, whichever is greater.

When the Howard government indexed a range of pensions in 1997 they totally forgot, and put aside, these three pensions for disabled war veterans. Under a Rudd Labor government, the value of these pensions, which are paid to our most severely disabled veterans, will not continue to erode as it certainly has been doing under the Howard government. I strongly believe that our veterans deserve a government which will fix this situation, and that is exactly what they will get with a Rudd Labor government. Federal Labor’s policy will affect 43,000 more veterans with disabilities right across the country and more than 600 in my electorate of Richmond. I am very proud to be a member of a party which prioritises the needs of veterans. I will certainly always continue to fight for the increased recognition of their service.

As I stated earlier, the standout feature of this budget is that it fails the future test. It is the budget of a tired, weary government locked in the past, trying to spend its way out of trouble. Certainly one of the major issues today is that Australia is suffering a skills crisis. It is a skills crisis that has occurred under a government that has neglected Australia’s future and has failed to invest in the things that make our country strong: our education, our infrastructure and our future generations.

This is of course affecting our productivity and it means that economic growth is not as strong as it could be. In the mid-nineties, productivity was at 3.2 per cent. Last month’s projections had it at 1.5 per cent. An independent analysis from the Parliamentary Library also contains a staggering admission that productivity is likely to be zero overall for 2006-07. That is zero for a country that is experiencing a mining boom and zero for a country with record surpluses to invest in education and skills training but with a government that has clearly failed to do so. Let us be very clear about the reality of this situation: this is negligence committed against future generations of Australians and it is the legacy that the Howard government will carry with it.

Federal Labor is determined to face this challenge head-on, because the more you put into education, skills and training, the more productive our nation will become. Facing the skills challenge will require this country, starting with the federal government, to prioritise the education and skilling of our population and to encourage Australian enterprise. Indeed, it will require nothing short of a real education revolution.

We in federal Labor have already announced the first six chapters of our education revolution, starting with a $450 million commitment to early childhood education. We will make sure that all four-year-olds get 15 hours a week of play based learning, which will give them the head start they need before starting school. We will also improve resources committed to numeracy and literacy programs, encourage students in maths and sciences, establish a national curriculum and foster the sharing of facilities between government and non-government schools.

In contrast, in this budget the Howard government has failed to properly invest in education funding. In this budget the Howard government announced the building of three new technical colleges. Indeed, what a debacle these technical colleges have been so far. We have seen funding stripped from our TAFEs across the country and put into these tech colleges, and what has been the result? We are seeing limited numbers being built and limited numbers of students so far. Then we see three more tech colleges in this budget. And where are those colleges going? They will be in Brisbane, Sydney and Perth, therefore ignoring the rest of the country and those of us in regional and rural Australia.

The Howard government’s neglect of education and training continues the high unemployment rates in regional, rural and coastal communities, which include my electorate of Richmond. In Richmond the youth unemployment rate is constantly over 30 per cent, and the reality for many young people in that area is that they just do not have the opportunities to get adequate training. It is for this reason that I am particularly heartened by the latest chapter in Labor’s education revolution. A $2.5 billion trades and school program will mean that new trades training centres will be established in every high school, public or private, with schools being eligible to apply for grants to help with equipment costs.

To complement this, Labor will provide an extra $84 million for on the job training for 20 weeks a year for students in years 9 to 12. This will make it easier for those students wanting to access trade training, whilst also encouraging them to stay at school. Access Economics has forecast that, if year 12 retention rates were lifted from their current rate of 75 per cent to 90 per cent, Australia would add $9 billion to our economy by 2040. So encouraging kids to stay at school while ensuring access to trades training is good for students, good for families and good for the country. It is a positive step in addressing Australia’s skills shortage and an overdue investment in our nation.

Richmond is an electorate with a large number of small businesses concentrated primarily in the tourism and retail industries. They have the very arduous task of dealing with government red tape, most of which has been created and increased under this government. Never before have small businesses had to fill in so much paperwork. It is costly and, in being so time consuming, it does take that important time out of making their businesses as successful as they could be. Small businesses long ago gave up hope that the Howard government would deliver on its 1996 promise to cut business regulation by 50 per cent.

But Labor has been listening to small business. In April Labor’s BAS Easy plan was announced—a proposal for a simplified BAS reporting system designed specifically for small family-run businesses and independent contractors. Small businesses operate in a tough competitive environment, and government should always be aiming to help small business be as productive as possible. This will be helped by the two Labor initiatives announced during the opposition leader’s address in reply.

The first of these is that business will have the power to charge interest on government accounts not finalised after 30 days. This is crucial for business, particularly small business, which is so dependent on cash flow. Federal Labor will also establish a superannuation clearing house, where employers will be able to meet their superannuation obligations by paying into the one clearing house. From there, the payments will be disbursed to the relevant funds. This means less paperwork for business and makes it easier for employees to track their payment. It simply makes more sense.

The Labor Party have a very long and proud tradition of being nation builders. If we look at matters such as the Snowy Hydro scheme, the Harbour Bridge and superannuation, we see that all were Labor initiatives which have made this country prosper, have made this country strong and indeed have defined us as a nation on the world stage. So the time has now come for a new investment, one designed for the 21st century and the unique challenges that we face. Labor’s national broadband initiative does just that.

At the moment, as we all know, broadband in Australia is slow, unreliable and expensive. Yet broadband is essential for education purposes, for businesses, for families and also for accessing many medical services, particularly in very remote areas of the country. Labor has faced this challenge with a willingness to invest up to $4.7 billion, in conjunction with private enterprise, into a broadband network that will ensure broadband speeds 40 times faster than at present. Australia’s broadband is currently one of the slowest in the Western world, and the effects are being felt right across the country. Business is relying on this form of nation building, and Labor is listening and responding.

One of the many reasons that Australians know that this budget fails the future test is the fact that it did not address climate change. Without addressing climate change, we cannot adequately address Australia’s future. It was very disappointing to see, through this budget, the government confirm that they are indeed climate change sceptics. In contrast, the Labor Party have announced a raft of measures designed to deal with the realities of climate change, including the establishment of a $500 million clean coal fund and helping Australians install energy-saving devices such as solar hot-water systems and water tanks by providing low-interest loans. These measures, in addition to ratifying the Kyoto protocol, are important because they will help Australia to achieve Labor’s target of a 60 per cent drop in carbon emissions by 2050. And it was wonderful to see federal Labor’s announcement today of the five tests for an effective emissions trading scheme.

Not only does this budget fail the future test; it fails to address urgent needs that exist in the community right now, needs that must be addressed. One of the major issues is dental care. This is an issue I hear about daily in my electorate. People are suffering because they cannot afford to get dental care. This government has failed to properly acknowledge or fix the problem. The waiting list for dental services in Richmond can sometimes be years and years. We all know that bad dental problems can lead to other health problems. It really is shameful that nationwide there are 650,000 people waiting for dental care. Over 4,000 have previously signed my petition calling on the government to reinstate the Commonwealth Dental Scheme, which it abolished in 1996. People who are reliant on public dental services are sick of the blame game which the federal government has subjected the community to by denying its responsibility for providing dental services. My frustration at this is exacerbated by the fact that proper investment in dental care is good economic management, because every year thousands of patients, including increasingly alarming numbers of children, are admitted to hospital wards because they were not able to access proper and affordable dental services. So an added burden is being placed on the health service, which could be alleviated by reinstating the Commonwealth Dental Scheme. That is precisely what a Rudd Labor government will do. We have been listening to the concerns of the community on this major issue and we know how wide-reaching the concerns are.

In my concluding remarks I want to emphasise again that this budget is about the Howard government failing the future test. It has done nothing to prepare Australia for the unique challenges that we face in the next century. It has done nothing to deal with the skills crisis, which truly is astonishing, considering that productivity growth is now almost at zero. It does nothing to prepare Australia for life after the mining boom. And, critically, it does nothing to address the very, very important issue of climate change, a matter that must be addressed not just locally and nationally but internationally. We need to see major action in relation to climate change.

It is very disappointing to see that, as well as neglecting the future, this budget in fact does nothing for the real and immediate challenges that Australia is facing at the moment, particularly with dental care and the need for increased services for veterans and disability services. These are all urgent priorities for the nation and ones that have been forgotten by the government. Quite clearly the focus for the government is only on winning the next election; that is what it is about. Using as much spin and taxpayers’ money as they possibly can—that is what they are focused on. An outrageous amount of taxpayers’ funds are being spent at the moment, and it is causing a lot of angst in the community. People are getting pretty sick of the spin and sick of the fact that that is what the Howard government are focused on. They are just focused on their own agenda, on the next election. They are not really interested at all in the individuals and families out there—all those people struggling week to week due to the rising costs of living. Those costs are right across the board, whether it is petrol, mortgage or healthcare costs. People are struggling each week. All those families are already under so much pressure, particularly at the moment because of the Howard government’s extreme and unfair industrial relations laws. In my electorate of Richmond, people often approach me telling me about how their work conditions and their overtime penalty rates have been cut due to this government’s extreme industrial relations laws and about the very devastating impact that is having upon their families.

This is a budget with many gaps, and this is a tired old government with many gaping holes in a whole range of its policy issues, whether they concern health care, dental care, veterans, disability services or aged care. For a large number of elderly people in my electorate there certainly needs to be much more commitment to home care so that they can stay in their homes for longer. In contrast to the Howard government’s lack of funding in the budget, federal Labor is committed to the future of our nation and to providing a future for all those who have been abandoned by the Howard government. We need to make sure that people right throughout our community have a decent future, including our young people and, in particular, all those young people in regional and rural Australia who have been forgotten by the Howard government. (Time expired)

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