Janelle Saffin (Page, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in favour of the Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2008-2009 and cognate bills. On almost every measure, the Rudd government’s first budget comes out trumps as a winner—a winner for working families, for families, for carers, for pensioners, for older Australians and for those who are doing it tough. We know there are some people who are doing it tough and I will turn to them later in my contribution. The budget is a winner for us here and now. It is a winner for our young children, for our adult children and also for the future. It is a winner for responsible economic management and for sensible spending and sage savings. A budget that only spends is not a budget; a budget has to contain sensible spending and sensible savings. As the Treasurer said, it is a Labor budget and a budget for all Australians. I agree.

This budget is sensible in its spending, which is targeted at those who most need it, but it is not a budget just of that. It is also a budget with savings; otherwise we could not have the funding for programs to deliver the services required by the people of Australia and, indeed, Page, the seat that I represent. Further, it is a budget big on responsible economic management—a $22 billion surplus, a surplus that the opposition would want to raid and spend. It contains key measures to fight inflation, because if we do not fight inflation we are in trouble. It is a budget that sets out the direction and place that Australians want to go and it is encapsulated in two words—fair go.

The passing of these bills into law allows the government to deliver its first budget, which includes the rollout of election commitments to the Australian people and to the people of Page, my constituency. It allows the government to implement a budget that is framed within the paradigm of responsible economic management. It is a budget that was built in a most challenging context—I think that we all recognise that these are challenging times. We are surrounded by economic uncertainty in the global economy because of subprime mortgages and things like that, and the domestic environment is also challenging. We inherited a challenging domestic economic environment that had a lot of weaknesses, some strengths and huge inflationary pressures. That was the product of the previous government ignoring the 20 inflation warnings that they got from the Reserve Bank. Also during the last few years of the previous government, there were 12 consecutive interest rate rises—rises that were a warning that there were problems, and yet they were seemingly ignored.

Still speaking to this challenging domestic environment, we also inherited an economy that was both strengthened and propped up by a resources boom—a resources boom that did not have a concomitant skills development program. The skills shortage as of November last year was running at around 240,000 and there were no discernible clear measures, programs or packages in place to address it. This budget contains measures whereby we can start to tackle that. There are other measures, but within the budget itself there is money for 630,000 training places. That will be delivered over the next few years and it will start to tackle some of the skills shortages. It is going to take some time for that to kick in and work, but the fact is we have started in the first six months and it is in the budget. In the period of the past government we were using, for the first time that I know of, 457 visas—and I was surprised to see this—for nurses and a whole range of professions that we normally did not have shortages in. It does not seem as though there was much done by the previous government to address that.

We—Labor and I, as a candidate—went to the people last year in the election, laying out a program for government; laying out a plan for a legislative agenda; laying out a policy plan for economic management, education, health services, infrastructure—which had been ignored—industrial relations and climate change; and, locally, laying out a plan of priorities for my electorate of Page. Those priorities have been long held, articulated and aspired to, but I have to say they were ignored by the previous incumbents, the National Party. The National Party had been the incumbents in my seat for nearly a century. There have been other incursions into it, but it has been something like a century.

I have to say that the seat I live in is still one of the poorest in Australia—between fourth and fifth poorest, by any measure. It was one of those seats that was taken for granted. So, yes, I laid out a package of priorities and, yes, I advocated that they be funded. They were things that had been ignored for a long time. They were things that people needed. They were not grand. They were based on health needs, education needs and roads. They were also based on the simple premise of getting rid of Work Choices. That was part of the legislative agenda.

I am pleased to report that the above plans and agenda—the challenges and priorities—are contained and reflected in this budget. This budget delivers on the immediate needs of working families, carers, pensioners, veterans and older Australians. There are 19,000 extra carer payments. There is fairer indexation of pensions. Carers will receive their $1,000 bonus. Those who receive the carers allowance will get the $600. The $500 bonus is there for age pensioners and veterans. The utilities allowance is up from $107.50 to $500 and will be paid quarterly.

I know that pensioners are saying that they would like some more and they would like a rise in the base level of their pension. Of course they would like a rise in the base level of their pension. My mother is an age pensioner; I would like to do that. That issue has not been addressed over the past 11 years. We have been in government six months and we are starting to address it. The Prime Minister announced in March that it would be reviewed in the budget. The taxation review was contained within the budget. The taxation review also contains the income support review, and that will cover not only pensioners but also independent retirees. It will cover everybody who receives income support of some kind, particularly pensioners, and the base level of pensions will be reviewed. The Senate report that was delivered on the cost of living for older Australians had a number of recommendations. Recommendations 1 and 2 in particular will be reflected in the review that is going on. There will be some report back early in the next year.

I am holding a series of income support reviews across my electorate of Page. I know that pensioners and those on income support are very pleased. I would like to read a message that came to me about the budget from some age pensioners in my area. They said:

We would like to congratulate all in the Labor Party who produced the first of many, I hope, excellent budgets. With the limitations imposed on monetary policy due to the fiscal ineptitude of Howard and co, you have crafted a well balanced and compassionate document. Very hard to pick holes in. And as for the petrol, do not back down. You will be bled dry. As for we aged pensioners, most of us are coping for now. Well done, we are proud of you!

I received quite a lot of messages in that vein about the budget.

The budget delivers a cogent and comprehensive package of reforms based on four key principles, and I will articulate what they are. It begins a new period of economic responsibility that the nation needs to sustain growth in these challenging times. It invests in the future. It delivers for working families and it honours our commitments. Let me turn to these four principles in some detail. As an active, engaged local member, I will turn to No. 4 first: honouring the commitments. I am pleased to report that they are delivered nationally and across electorates that had been neglected or, worse, taken for granted, including my seat. And one of those is the Grafton Base Hospital. It is one of those areas that desperately needs an upgrading of its operating theatres and its emergency department. Through the Health and Hospitals Fund that is contained in the budget, it will receive money to allow that work to begin. That is very pleasing to the Grafton community and the Clarence Valley community.

Lismore Base Hospital at the top end of the electorate, or the other end of the electorate, has long needed a radiotherapy unit contained within an integrated cancer care centre, which is being built. We need it sooner rather than later because people have to travel to Queensland to have the treatment that they need. That was one of the funding priorities we were able to bring forward. There was $8 million that had been allocated by the previous government. We honoured that and added an extra $7 million, and that allows that to come online well over a year earlier, at least, so that those families requiring treatment will be able to have it within the region.

There were roads that had been long neglected—in particular, key roads and bypasses—and I was able to get some commitments on those. I was also able to get some commitments on things like saleyards, which are very important in my electorate. The saleyards in Grafton are very busy and are very important to the local economy. The commitment there of a small amount, $125,000, makes a huge difference to what we can do in that particular area.

Another commitment was to do with a homeless shelter. The Lismore City Council and community had long wanted to deal with the problem of homelessness. We know that it is a national problem but it is also a very local problem in my electorate. Lismore City Council had wanted to build something so that they could respond to the needs of the homeless in the electorate, and I got a commitment which will not fund it all but will ensure that we start to build a shelter in the Lismore area. Indeed, homelessness is one of the problems that we are addressing as a government and addressing locally. It is a shame to all of us in public life that we have not done enough about that issue. It is an issue that the federal Labor Party and the Prime Minister are very committed to addressing.

I have a lot more issues to speak about but I have been given the wind-up. In speaking to this budget, I am very pleased to report that this is a budget that is delivering. It is a fair budget and it is an economically responsible budget. It is a budget that invests in the future, and it is a budget that I am proud to speak to.

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