Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The people of my electorate, much to their dismay, learnt long and hard about coalition neglect in the 11½ years the coalition were in government. Plenty of promises were made in the last few weeks of the federal election campaign by the incumbent Liberal member, but regrettably in 11½ long years residents saw almost no money going into the development of Ipswich and its surrounding rural areas. It is interesting to note that the biggest swings to the Labor Party in the federal electorate of Blair at the last election were in the rural areas—and the member for Parkes should consider that. It was the neglect of the coalition government, of which the National Party was a member, which saw rural areas swing so heavily to Labor. In some of the rural areas we got a primary swing of 20 per cent; in some of the areas it was 15 per cent. There are areas in the federal electorate of Blair that have not seen a National Party representative at any level for over 20 years. This is because people believed the Labor Party and the current Prime Minister and they disbelieved the promises which were coming fast and furious in the last few weeks of the campaign from the coalition when opinion polls were obviously not going well for them.

I rise to speak on the Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2008-2009 and its associated bills. I agree with the Treasurer, who announced in his budget speech that this is a budget that strengthens Australia’s economic foundations and delivers for working families under pressure. I am pleased to speak today on this bill because the budget handed down by the Treasurer is manifestly a responsible budget for our times and heralds a new era of responsible economic management. This budget marks the end of the reckless short-term spending initiatives driven by the electoral cycle that so characterised the previous coalition government. It marks the start of responsible economic management and investment to prepare our economy to meet our future economic challenges, placing downward pressure on inflation and beginning our long-overdue investment in our nation’s future.

I am sure in years to come that the various funds established under this budget—these future funds, which have been hailed—will be heralded as great nation-building initiatives. Contrary to the protestations we have heard from the other side, this budget demonstrates that the Labor Party is unquestionably the party of responsible economic management and that only the Rudd Labor government is serious about responsible fiscal management. It is clear that now the people of this country can trust only Labor to manage the national purse strings.

Look at the opposition’s proposals, which include raiding $22 billion from the surplus in some Latin American style profligacy of the 1960s and 1970s. Witness their irresponsibility in threatening to block important budget measures. This budget cuts out waste and pares back the excesses of the regional rorts of the previous coalition government—no more wastage on Work Choices and other coalition propaganda dressed up as government information, no more regional rorts without any regard to the infrastructure needs of our country. Every single dollar of new spending is offset by savings. We have delivered on our commitment to a budget surplus of at least 1.5 per cent of GDP; in fact, we have gone further, with a budget surplus of 1.8 per cent. That is higher by 0.6 per cent than the coalition government’s forecast for the surplus in 2008-09.

This budget clearly demonstrates that the Labor Party is the true party of economic management, the real party of economic reform and the only party unapologetically committed to nation building. It has framed this budget in difficult economic circumstances, against serious challenges, in tighter credit markets, with turbulent global economic problems and slowing world economic growth. Upon taking office, this government inherited the highest level of domestic inflation in 16 years.

During the campaign I ran mobile offices all over the electorate. I have continued to do that since the election. I visited the Riverlink Shopping Centre, the Brassall Shopping Centre and many other places. I have continued to attend the country shows, which were so enjoyable during the campaign. I took great delight in welcoming the German Consulate General to Marburg, a place just outside of Ipswich whose three representatives at the state, local and federal levels have German surnames. I visited the Ipswich Show for three days and the Boonah Show. I look forward to being at the Ipswich home show and the Rosewood, Kalbar, Gatton and Laidley shows.

Constituents told me during the campaign that inflation did not start on 25 November—it had been brewing for a long time. This budget honours our commitment to support working Australians and working families under financial pressure. They have not been forgotten with the $55 billion Working Families Support Package handed down in this budget. We have fulfilled our commitment to reduce personal income tax by $47 billion over four years. These taxes are geared to helping middle- and low-income families. The whole package is targeted towards tax, child care, education, housing and other needs in our community.

The Rudd Labor government understand that families are under financial strain. That is why we are tackling inflation in this budget. The Rudd Labor government has a plan to tackle inflation. It is not a fairytale, in our view. It is not something that happened on 25 November last year. We have delivered a responsible and disciplined budget, which builds on our five-point plan.

There are major investments in skills and education with trade-training centres in schools. I welcomed the initiative in my constituency at St Edmund’s Boys College, which along with the grammar schools has established the Ipswich trade training centre. I urge the other schools in my electorate to do so as well, combining the Lockyer Valley and the Boonah shire. Our commitment to 630,000 extra training places over five years will help tackle the skills crisis which has so added to inflationary pressures.

National leadership in the area of infrastructure will ease bottlenecks which have been pushing up the costs of doing business in this country. I on behalf of my electorate welcome Infrastructure Australia. I look forward to seeing the priorities handed down.

The first home saver account initiatives are welcomed by my constituents, who have told me that they think they are a great idea. We are in one of the fastest growing areas of south-east Queensland—Ipswich and the rural areas—and the cost of housing is increasing all the time.

I welcome also the measures designed specifically to boost workforce participation through the tax and childcare changes. In the medium term the budget will encourage increased workforce participation. This is indeed backed up by the Treasury modelling, which predicts that the tax cuts alone will encourage 65,000 people to re-enter the workforce. This additional supply of labour will be much welcomed. It will mean 2.5 million additional hours of work in the economy each week. This is great news in terms of the acute skills shortages and labour shortages that we have, particularly in the federal electorate of Blair.

The Rudd Labor government will help families ease the burden of childcare costs by increasing the childcare tax rebate from 30 to 50 per cent. It will establish 260 childcare centres in priority areas. This will alleviate the frustration that families have on numerous occasions told me that they experience with having multiple drop-offs and alleviate the additional costs and time when this happens. Co-location is a great thing for childcare facilities and schools. The changes will ensure that half of families’ out-of-pocket expenses for childcare costs will be met every year. Unlike the former coalition government, which delayed payment to families, the government will pay the 50 per cent childcare tax rebate quarterly to ensure support is available when needed.

For the benefit of the member for Parkes, who earlier mentioned the commitments to Ipswich that we have made in the budget, I will run through those so that both he and my constituents are aware of what we did in the budget. We did make a $10 million commitment to the revitalisation of the Ipswich CBD. The Ipswich CBD is not just one street; it is a whole lot of streets. Ipswich—and I see the member for Herbert is in the chamber—is a city the size of Townsville. It is a big, wonderful regional area. And Ipswich CBD needs revitalisation. The state government, Ipswich City Council and the new Rudd Labor government are working hard to do that. In 11½ years, the coalition put nothing into the Ipswich CBD, and the people of my constituency have mentioned that on numerous occasions.

Further, we have made some significant commitments to health in our area. We have made a commitment of $300,000 in recurrent funding over three years—$100,000 per year—for the after-hours clinic run by the Division of General Practice in Ipswich. I welcome this money. Children do not get sick only at 2 pm; they can also get sick at 10 pm. This funding will help enormously. We have also made a commitment of $1.5 million to Cabanda Aged Care in Rosewood. I am pleased that the Minister for Ageing came to Ipswich last week to make that funding announcement.

I was recently at the Cabanda aged-care facility at Rosewood and I would like to congratulate Annie Reilly, who turned 99. I was there for her birthday. Annie’s passions are basketball, tennis and Cabanda. I was pleased to inform those present that the Rudd Labor government has committed in excess of $1.1 million to Ipswich basketball for the refurbishment of their facilities and to Ipswich Tennis Centre for the creation of a wonderful facility which will see international matches played there. So Annie was a very happy woman on that day, but I had to tell her that she was sharing the joy with many others.

I think perhaps the greatest area of redress for the people of Blair has been the Labor government’s commitment to the upgrade of the Ipswich Motorway. We have allocated $5 million to planning and surveying costs, and in February next year we will see the start of construction on the Dinmore to Goodna section. This was the biggest local issue in my electorate in the last election campaign. We campaigned extensively on this for a long time. My predecessor opposed the upgrade of the Ipswich Motorway. I cannot understand why and I asked him that personally on numerous occasions.

Just before the election, the coalition came up with an idea that would cost two to three times the cost of the upgrade of the Ipswich Motorway from Dinmore to Goodna. Crossing the Brisbane River four times in creating bridges as big as the Victoria Bridge and the Captain Cook Bridge in the middle of Brisbane was a terrible waste of money. It did not achieve what it needed to. The Mayor of Ipswich, Paul Pisasale, said to me, ‘Shayne, I cannot understand why we are not upgrading the entrance to the city.’ I am pleased to say that there is a commitment by the government to do that. The Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government assures me that it will be done. It will be done on time and with funding from the Rudd Labor government. Work is already underway on the Wacol to Darra section. That will be done in three years. And I am pleased to say that the Goodna to Wacol section will be complete by February 2009.

This is an important issue. It is not just about economic development in my constituency; it is about the health and safety of people who travel a road that has between 80,000 and 100,000 vehicles per day on it. It is the main linkage for fruit growers and vegetable farmers in the rural areas of my constituency. It links Toowoomba and Ipswich to Brisbane. It is a big challenge. And it is the best evidence of the Howard government’s neglect of the people of Blair. I am pleased to say that the Rudd Labor government is committed to the project.

We have also seen an expansion of the RAAF base at Amberley. I am pleased to say that this expansion started under the Howard government. I acknowledge that the Howard government were committed to the expansion of the RAAF base at Amberley and I pay my respects and thank them for their commitment. We will continue that expansion. One hundred and thirty million dollars will be invested in the RAAF base, effectively creating a superbase. The Super Hornets will be located there—and I was pleased that the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence, Dr Kelly, made a speech in the parliament this morning confirming that that is where they will be located. Certainly it is an issue that has been raised with me in my constituency on numerous occasions.

I am pleased to see that the Amberley state primary school has been allocated $26.83 million for its relocation. I will work with the state members in the area and the state Labor government in Queensland to find a suitable site so that the parents and children in the Amberley community and on the south side of Ipswich can be assured that their children’s education is valued and that there is some certainty around this issue, which has been going on for a long time. I am pleased that we have delivered on the commitment which I made to the local action group in March 2007 specifically at the request of the then opposition leader, now the Prime Minister, after a visit to Ipswich. I am also pleased that we have allocated $1 million for the relocation of the Amberley creche and kindergarten, which will be co-located with the new school on a site on the south side of Ipswich.

See this speech in context