Peter Lindsay (Herbert, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, and perhaps I should now give you some advice which you will not like. On my website I have a survey running at the moment on this: do you think you are better off under the Wayne Swan budget? Some 56 per cent do not think they are better off, and I think that has been reflected pretty universally across the country. You have to think about why that would be the case. When the budget was brought down on budget night, the government side thought it was a pretty good budget but the people did not think it was a good budget. Sometimes life is not fair when you are trying to do good things for the country and the community does not accept that you are trying to do some good things.

Of course, people are waking up to the fact that there are some things in the budget that are not good. Even the Labor Party has woken up to that, and I am pleased to see there has been a reversal in relation to the Regional Partnerships program whereby the government will now fund a number of the projects that were just wiped in the budget. There has been some movement on the luxury car tax. I think Bruce Scott, the member for Maranoa, made a very good point that the four-wheel-drives in his towns are in fact considered to be not luxuries but tools of trade. Bruce is right when he makes that comment. We have very great concern over a budget that unashamedly says to all Australians, ‘We’re going to put 134,000 of you out of work.’ That is not a popular measure. It is interesting that a party that purports to represent the workers can say to working families, ‘Sorry, but as a matter of government policy we’re going to take your job away.’ That is pretty tough for everyday Australians. I think the electorate has come to realise that.

The Rudd Labor government’s first budget really has not lifted much of a finger to help ordinary Australians battling with the rising costs of living as to petrol, groceries, private health insurance and home loan interest rates. That is going to be felt right across Australia, including in my electorate of Herbert, which is centred on Australia’s largest tropical city, Townsville. Last year during the election, the Labor Party in North Queensland campaigned furiously and the electorate heard what they said. They said, ‘We promise to relieve the increasing costs of petrol and groceries.’ Well, this budget has broken that promise.

With regard to the latest attempt to have a national Fuelwatch scheme produce lower prices at the bowser, there was a survey today in the Herald Sun looking at the prices in Western Australia in the last three months. It showed prices for petrol in Western Australia are higher than in the eastern states, where there is no Fuelwatch scheme. It is a real danger for Australia to introduce a Fuelwatch scheme that is likely to increase petrol prices. I think that is not easing pressures on hard-working Australians.

The Labor government, which now accepts responsibility for the economy and inflation, will find that this budget has delivered policies that drive up inflation and unemployment. That is quite sad for Australia. In my electorate, which has the largest Army base in the country, Lavarack Barracks, and a fairly substantial contingent of RAAFies as well, this budget proved that the Labor party was prepared to do and say anything to win the election. As Peter Garrett in an unguarded moment let slip, the Rudd government’s devious plan all along was to change it all when they got in. Well, they did. I am going to tell you what they did to my electorate.

On 12 November last year the Prime Minister and the Minister for Defence stood at Lavarack Barracks, in my electorate, and promised 8,000 defence families in Townsville and Darwin that they would be the first to have a defence family healthcare clinic. They promised 12 of these around Australia. They promised $33 million for 12 family healthcare clinics at defence bases and they promised that Townsville and Darwin would get the first two. Did anyone read the budget? I did. Do you know what they did? They announced only five clinics, not 12. They announced only $12 million, not $33 million. Darwin and Townsville were left off the list.

The Prime Minister told the people of North Queensland and our defence people that they would get the first family healthcare clinic in the Defence Force. What did they get? Nothing. That is a broken promise, and I think it dishonours the defence families in Townsville. Clearly, Labor had no intention of delivering. When they did not win the seat of Herbert, they transferred the money to, would you believe, the seat of Gippsland—once again, a seat they want to win. Labor is not going to win Gippsland because, only six months into the term of the new government, Australians are now waking up to what the new government stands for.

Let me talk to you about the Medicare surcharge folly. I know my Labor colleagues will be very uncomfortable about this because they are waking up to the implications of what is being done. In an attempt to say to Australians, ‘Hey, we’re giving you money back,’ they are going to increase the surcharge threshold to $100,000. But do you know what that is going to do? All the fit and healthy people are going to drop out of private health insurance. You might say that that is okay because they do not need private health insurance. But do you know what that is going to do? It will increase premiums for all the people who do need private health insurance. Their premiums are going to go up because hundreds of thousands of people who do not have a big call on private insurance will drop out. The old and the sick, who do need the system, are going to find that their premiums go up.

How many members of parliament are constantly told by pensioners that they scrimp and save to pay their private health insurance? They do—and they are not going to be able to afford it anymore. Do you know what that does? It sends a whole new cohort of hundreds of thousands of people from the private system back into the public system. The public system now cannot cope. I invite Labor members to come and have a look at accident and emergency at the Townsville Hospital. Go into the corridors there and look at all the people on trolleys who cannot even get in the door to be seen in the first place. And you are going to put hundreds of thousands more people into the system!

In private health insurance, people of course pay a component of the health care. But now that component will not be paid. The public purse will have to pay the lot. It is a bad deal for everybody. I just cannot understand why the Rudd government would have adopted this budgetary position when the outcome for Australia is a negative outcome. It is a cruel blow, particularly for older Australians. I would have thought that Labor members would feel very uncomfortable about that. Normally, Labor members would be worried about the pensioners but this shows complete disregard for the pensioners of our country.

With respect to the alcopops tax in the budget, I would just like to read you a letter from the publican at the Sovereign Hotel in Townsville. He is a sensible fellow whose name is Steve Jebb. This is what he has to say:

Now we have had a couple of weeks since the price increase of R2Ds (alcopops), all I have to say is ‘thanks so much Mr Rudd’.

You should know what to you are doing for binge drinking. A nice big, fat tax grab for you and a real increase in overheads for us.

Most of our customers who drink R2TDs are now drinking manually mixed drinks which has forced us to hire extra staff to mix them, extra glassies to pick up the glasses and problems with patrons who can now down the drinks much faster, not to mention the drink spiking thing that is much easier to do with open glasses sitting on the bar.

Mr Rudd, in case you have forgotten, small business people these days are no different to the ordinary working punters, who I thought the Labor Party was created to stand up for.

Here is a hotelier who is saying to Mr Rudd, ‘Here is another unintended consequence of your grab for cash.’ We have seen so much extra evidence now indicating that upping the tax on alcopops has done nothing to reduce so-called binge drinking. This is another bad outcome from the budget. The statistics speak for themselves. It is a very unfortunate outcome.

The Australian technical college in Townsville is the best technical college in the country. There are 310 students at the college and it has been an outstanding success. It is industry driven and it is providing for the specific skills shortages in North Queensland. Do you know what the budget does? It completely defunds the college. As of next year there will be no money. We have heard the member for Blair and various other members talk about the need for skills training. What does the Labor Party do in this budget? It takes the money away. It is a terrible outcome. It is very sad for our community. It is very sad for the good people and industries who have shown the leadership to develop the best Australian technical college in the country. It is very sad for the current and future students who may not be able to use that facility. I appeal to the minister to rethink that decision. The ATC has to continue. I am hopeful that, as other decisions of the budget have been reversed, we will see this decision reversed as well. I believe my time has expired. I appreciate the attention of the chamber.

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