Mike Symon (Deakin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The budget puts a long-term vision back into federal government, restores fairness and puts us back on the road of nation building. It recognises that nation building includes what we do in areas like education, health, broadband, innovation and technology as much as what we do in infrastructure such as roads, rail and our nation’s ports. The government will invest current and future budget surpluses in three nation-building funds. The Building Australia Fund will fund shortfalls in national transport and broadband infrastructure. The Education Investment Fund will fund capital expenditure in Australia’s higher education facilities. The Health and Hospitals Fund will finance the renewal and refurbishment of the nation’s hospitals and health facilities and fund major medical research projects. I am confident that the people of Deakin will share in this government’s massive nation-building efforts well into the future.

This budget also has a plan to lock in the future of our water supplies, protect the environment and tackle dangerous climate change, which many opposite to this very day still deny exists. It tilts the odds back in favour of those who are not at the top of the income scale and tackles the real pressures of living that they are feeling more than ever because the previous government fell asleep at the wheel.

This budget meets the Rudd government’s commitment to a $5.9 billion education revolution which will maximise, cultivate and preserve our next generation of thinkers and doers who will drive our economy well into this century. It also begins the Rudd government’s plans to restore cooperative federalism in this country, and end the blame game, to fix our hospitals so that we can invest in a health system for the future. It delivers a strong surplus of $27.1 billion, or 1.8 per cent of GDP, in 2008-09 while finding more than a dollar in savings for every dollar it spends, making it one of the most economically responsible budgets ever landed. In fact, the government has identified savings of $33 billion over four years, including $7 billion in 2008-09. While this budget has exercised a level of discipline rarely seen in this country, more vitally still it manages to put the heart and compassion back into the federal government. These are the key things a Rudd Labor government was elected to do, and this budget puts us on the right track to do those very things.

There is much in this budget for the people of Deakin. As the Labor candidate at the 2007 federal election and a lifelong resident of the area, I know full well how the issues that shape us as a country shape and affect my electorate. The people of Deakin are concerned about securing the future for their families, their children, and also for the environment. But they worry about the household budget, the mortgage and the bills and making sure their kids get the best start in life and they also want to make sure they bequeath to them a healthy environment. These are the things Deakin people are concerned about. As we saw at the last election, they worry when their government loses sight of its long-term vision and runs out of ideas to fix the big problems. As we also saw at the last election, they really worry when their government wastes its energy and spends its time putting in place workplace laws that are unfair and extreme—unfair workplace laws which the constituents of Deakin never voted for or, for that matter, even asked for. Cost-of-living pressures, interest rate rises, concerns about the previous government’s Work Choices laws, addressing climate change, support for pensioners and carers and ensuring their children have the best start in life—these are heart-and-soul matters for the people of Deakin.

I feel it is extremely important to report the ways in which the people of Deakin will benefit from this budget. In this budget the Rudd Labor government has delivered for Deakin families through its $55 billion Working Families Support Package. People work hard to build a future for their families but are now finding it harder and harder to balance the family budget. In this budget, the Rudd government delivers for them by providing $46.7 billion worth of tax relief over the next four years and by introducing a 50 per cent education tax refund to help Deakin mums and dads meet the cost of educating their children, at a cost of around $4.4 billion. Parents who are entitled to family tax benefit part A or whose children receive youth allowance or a similar payment will also be able to claim educational payments up to $750 for each child at primary school and up to $1,500 for each child at secondary school. The budget also increases the childcare tax rebate from 30 per cent to 50 per cent and pays it quarterly to give parents assistance closer to when they incur out-of-pocket expenses, at a total cost of $1.6 billion. What that means for the average Deakin working family—a mum and a dad with a combined income of $87,000 and two kids aged four and six—is that they will receive a tax cut of $1,050 a year along with education and childcare rebates totalling $1,630. That Deakin family will be $2,680 a year better off under this budget. That is money that can be spent elsewhere by that family or saved.

The government has also acted on the housing affordability crisis with a $2.2 billion package covering first home saver accounts, the National Rental Affordability Scheme and the new Housing Affordability Fund. Melbourne’s outer east is a mortgage belt, and decreasing housing affordability has taken its toll on young local families trying to crack into the market out there. I know they welcome the Rudd government’s efforts to give them a helping hand.

Another helping hand is the provision of the Teen Dental Plan to help Deakin mums and dads with up to $150 for the cost of a trip to the dentist for their teenage children, at a total cost of $491 million. Then there is the A Fairer Medicare levy surcharge threshold for individuals and families, and we are implementing the first ever national Fuelwatch scheme, which is derided by those opposite but happily supported by their state counterparts in New South Wales and Western Australia. I note the opposition’s enthusiasm to shoot down an idea that might help Deakin motorists have a better chance to shop around for the cheapest petrol, but they never came up with an alternative plan in nearly 12 years in federal government.

This budget also provides much assistance to seniors, pensioners and carers. My electorate of Deakin has a high percentage of residents over the age of 65, and this budget helps seniors with their cost-of-living expenses by increasing the utilities allowance and seniors concession allowance to $500 per year, delivering the $500 senior bonus and increasing the telephone allowance for those with an internet connection. This budget also provides the $500 utilities allowance to those receiving a disability support pension.

This budget will also provide better access to more affordable health care. There is $3.2 billion for health and hospital reform, including $600 million to slash elective surgery waiting lists in public hospitals, $275 million to establish GP superclinics in local communities and an immediate $1 billion injection to relieve the pressure on our public hospitals. This budget also provides more help for carers, expanding eligibility for the carer payment child and for the utilities allowance and providing lump sum bonuses of $1,000 to the recipients of the carer payment and, to recipients of the carer allowance, payments of $600 for each eligible person in their care.

Another critical element of this budget has been the Rudd government’s recognition that Australians are working harder than ever. They are squeezing more into their day, working longer hours and juggling home and work responsibilities. Australians now work the longest full-time hours in the OECD. Twenty-five per cent of parents in full-time employment with children under 15 are working an average of 50 hours or more per week. In conjunction with household work and childcare duties, that is an enormous load. So too has the number of working mums increased dramatically, with more parents combining child care and other duties with employment. The proportion of single parents who are employed has also risen.

Family budgets and family time are under siege, and housing costs are a large part of most families’ weekly expenses. Working families buying a first home are facing the highest mortgage repayments on record as a share of income, placing a real strain on family budgets. Rents are also increasing rapidly, up by seven per cent over the past 12 months and 12 per cent over the past two years.

So, through the measures in this budget, the government is determined to ensure that families are not paying more than necessary and it is taking action to fight inflation whilst providing more help to working families, pensioners and those many people who are not at the top of the income scale. Underpinning all of those measures is a tight fiscal discipline, a real sense of compassion and a plan for nation building that positions us well to meet the big challenges of today and the future. I commend the bills to the House.

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