John Murphy (Lowe, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

I just note on behalf of the opposition the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and shadow Treasurer questioning the government’s assumptions in relation to the future growth of the Australian economy. May I sincerely suggest that the members of the opposition tune in to Dr Ken Henry’s address today at the National Press Club for some of the answers that she seems to be seeking. Moreover, there will be an opportunity for the Leader of the Opposition and the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and shadow Treasurer to prosecute those issues which are concerning the opposition here in question time today. I think that the slight and the stain that has been directed at the Secretary of the Treasury and the Governor of the Reserve Bank in recent times by the opposition has been disgraceful. I do not think that there is any doubt, or there has ever been any question before in this place, about the integrity and the honesty of those two great Australian public servants.

I commend to the House the Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Economic Security Strategy) Bill 2008 and the Appropriation (Economic Security Strategy) Bill (No. 1) 2008-2009 and Appropriation (Economic Security Strategy) Bill (No. 2) 2008-2009. In the current global financial circumstances, the $10.4 billion stimulus package set forth by the Rudd government is a very important fiscal measure taken to maintain a strong and buoyant economy here in Australia. As other world markets and economies are undoubtedly experiencing turbulent and difficult financial times, the Australian government is taking necessary, decisive action to do everything in its power to protect Australian households from the effects of this crisis. As the Treasurer has stated, the Australian economy is not immune from the fallout from the global financial crisis, but our government is doing everything in its power to help Australians through this crisis.

The amendments in these Economic Security Strategy bills include both short- and long-term benefits for our economy and, indeed, our society. The announcement of the Economic Security Strategy made by the Treasurer on 14 October 2008 was welcomed by thousands of workers, families, pensioners and young citizens in my electorate of Lowe. The Treasurer announced that, as a key component of the Economic Security Strategy, the Rudd government would deliver payments to pensioners, seniors, people with disabilities, carers and veterans. The Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Economic Security Strategy) Bill 2008 will amend the national security law, the family assistance law, the Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986 and the tax law to provide for these payments.

The scope of these amendments is indicative of the broader benefits they provide. The legislation enables a lump sum payment of $1,400 for single pension recipients and a combined payment of $2,100 for couples in receipt of a pension. I am very pleased to note that under the bill a much broader group of pensioners are eligible for this payment. For many years I have received complaints, indeed pleadings, from disability support pensioners who have, for far too long, been neglected. So it is noteworthy that this is the first time a lump sum payment has been extended to those on a disability support pension. For those who have raised this inequity with me in the past, I too share your delight not only because of the payment but for the recognition you have now received. The government has answered your call.

Eligible recipients of payments contained in this bill include those in receipt of: age pension; disability support pension; wife pension; widow B pension; service pensions; income support supplement; carer payment; partner payment, widow allowance, bereavement allowance, parenting payment, if a person is of age pension age; special benefit, if a person is of age pension age; Austudy payment, if a person is of age pension age; Abstudy, if a person is of age pension age and receiving a living allowance; Commonwealth seniors health card, assisting many self-funded retirees; and Veterans’ Affairs gold card, if a person is also eligible for seniors concession allowance. I am very pleased to note that also contained in this bill is the provision of a payment for recipients of carer allowance who will receive $1,000 for each person in their care. Also included in the legislation is a provision of a payment to families with dependent children.

As everyone can see, the Rudd government recognises the financial pressures parents face when meeting the living costs of raising children. Whether it is groceries, clothing, educational resources or extracurricular activities, the costs mount up. To assist parents with these costs, under the Economic Security Strategy payments families will receive $1,000 for each child who attracts family tax benefit part A. Families with dependent children in receipt of youth allowance, Abstudy living allowance or an educational allowance under the Veterans’ Children Education Scheme or the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act Education and Training Scheme will also receive $1,000 for each eligible child. I also note that the legislation stipulates that if any of the previously mentioned payments for families is shared between two people the Economic Security Strategy payment would also be shared.

Just last week an extremely pleased constituent telephoned my office to clarify that under the bill he and his family will be eligible for $4,000 in payments. He wanted to calculate the sum based on the current provisions in order to consider the best use for the money. If this legislation proceeds through the parliament without amendment I am sure there will be thousands of other constituents in my electorate, and indeed around the country, who will be eagerly awaiting this much needed financial relief. In fact, statistics show that in my electorate of Lowe more than 11,000 age pensioners will benefit from this legislation and more than 7,000 families will benefit from the family tax benefit A payment. There will be more than 27,000 payments will be made to residents in my electorate with these Economic Security Strategy payments. Just think, Mr Deputy Speaker: 27,000 payments in one electorate. Think of the relief, comfort and security to thousands of people who will receive these funds shortly.

The payments under this legislation will be tax free, and no additional forms will need to be lodged to claim these payments. Those eligible for any of the mentioned payments will automatically receive the funds before Christmas. I take this opportunity to commend the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, the Hon. Jenny Macklin, for the clear and comprehensive bill put before this House. I trust that this will enable a smooth passage of legislation so that these payments may be made on time for five million-plus seniors, pensioners, carers and families. As the minister stated in the House yesterday, these payments are an immediate down payment on the Rudd government’s long-term pension reform.

Other long-term measures initiated by the Rudd government include those contained in the Appropriation (Economic Security Strategy) bills (No. 1) and (No. 2) which are before the House this morning. The bills seek authority for the funding of the initiatives for 56,000 additional productivity job seeker places, administrative costs in implementing one-off payments and notification of payments, as well as additional costs to be incurred with the increase of the first home owners grant. The Rudd government is committed to improving the skills and productivity of the Australian workforce. Under the Economic Security Strategy the government will invest an extra $187 million to create an additional 56,000 productivity job seeker places in 2008-09. The additional places will almost double the current 57,000 places, to 113,000. These new training places will provide industry with skilled labour and reduce the skills shortages currently experienced in areas such as trades.

The demand for training offered by the Productivity Places Program has been incredibly encouraging. Since the program began in April, more than 50,000 job seekers have enrolled. Ten thousand places will be allocated to provide specific retraining opportunities as well as places for displaced workers. These funds will target the areas where they are most needed. The outstanding response from training institutions and students did not go unnoticed in my electorate of Lowe. Indeed, there were several training institutions in my electorate disappointed that the places went as quickly as they did due to the interest they received from students and industry—they had further opportunity to use those places. I say to those students and institutions: here are another 56,000 possible training and employment opportunities, which the Rudd government recognises as a national priority, and I encourage you to apply. I think it is important to point out that these additional places are part of a long-term $2 billion commitment to the Productivity Places Program, which will provide more than 700,000 training places in the next five years.

In the Appropriation (Economic Security Strategy) Bill (No. 2), the Rudd government has addressed an issue that has long been of concern to constituents in my electorate of Lowe. The issue of housing affordability has been brought to my attention regularly by my constituents over many years through the surveys that I regularly distribute to my electorate, in letters and emails to me, at street meetings or in my mobile offices. That housing affordability is such an important issue for my constituents comes as no surprise—the facts are sobering. One in three households in the inner west has at least 30 per cent of their income swallowed up by a mortgage or by rent payments—that is a fact. Inner west families have larger average levels of debt than ever before and mortgage repayments are consuming more and more of their incomes. A decade ago, the average family home cost four times the annual wage. Today, an average family home costs seven years of average annual wages. With the inner west having one of the highest proportions of households suffering from mortgage and rental stress in Australia, it is no wonder that local first home buyers have struggled to save a deposit for their first home. Put simply, first home buyers cannot save enough money for a deposit while paying exorbitant rents and, often, parents are unable to help because of their own high mortgage repayments and cost-of-living pressures. These pressures are brought to light by a constituent’s response some time ago to an information pamphlet on housing stress:

I’m a single income tenant, my husband has a long term illness which has made him unable to work since the end of 2004. We rent a tiny one bedroom flat in the Inner West for convenience of public transport to enable me to get to work. This one bedroom flat costs me fifty percent of my weekly income.

Not surprisingly, this constituent was unable to purchase her first home. The anxiety of being unable to get out of the rental trap to purchase a home is not confined to first home buyers. Countless parents have told me they are concerned that their children will not be able to realise the dream of homeownership. In light of the current economic climate, many parents genuinely fear that their children will be locked out of the property market for some time.

I can recall the pious and sanctimonious contributions in this House by some members of the former Howard government, blaming all and sundry for the housing affordability problem but not accepting their fair share of the blame. While first home buyers in my electorate of Lowe struggled to raise the necessary deposit for a home, the Howard government sharpened its skills in projection. Rather than engage in cynical political opportunism, the Rudd government has taken swift action by implementing many initiatives—including the first home saver accounts, the Housing Affordability Fund, the National Rental Affordability Scheme and, now, the measures contained in the legislation before the House this morning. Rather than engage in the cynical blame game with state and territory governments, the Rudd government has set itself the task of dealing with the housing affordability issue in a cooperative and constructive manner. This is what every first home buyer, and parent, expects and deserves.

Nowhere is this desire to cooperate with the states more evident than in this bill, which seeks to appropriate around $1.2 billion—in a troubled economic climate—to Treasury, which will, in turn, pay it to the states and territories. Under the measures proposed in the bill, first home buyers who purchase established homes will have their grant doubled from $7,000 to $14,000. First home buyers who purchase a newly constructed home will receive an extra $14,000 to take their grant to $21,000. This is a very important initiative which will stimulate the property market and give first home buyers a real opportunity to enter the housing market.

For the many first home buyers who could not quite raise enough money for a deposit because of spiralling rents, the boost will help them get across the line. For those lending institutions that may waiver on funding first home buyers because of a lack of equity, or the perceived risk in funding some of these buyers, this boost will go a long way towards quelling their concerns. For the economy, which is suffering from the international financial crisis, and for which housing and construction plays such a vital role, this boost will provide a significant stimulatory shot in the arm.

It is refreshing for my constituents to see the Rudd government debating positive actions in this place, rather than it being used as a forum to gratuitously fling mud at state and territory governments. It is also reassuring that in a short period of time the Rudd government is addressing the very matters which the Reserve Bank warned, 10 years ago, would put upward pressure on interest rates. It takes strength and leadership to pursue and address the skills crisis—a crisis which has increased the cost of building a home and put upward pressure on interest rates. It also takes strength and leadership to genuinely commit to a nation-building fund which will address Australia’s chronic infrastructure crisis, which has been the bane of many businesses I have spoken to in my role as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Trade.

The Howard government made much of entering into free trade agreements. It made much of free global trade being a positive for Australian exporters and, through them, being a positive force for economic growth. What the former government would never talk about is the futility of thrusting many of our exporters on the world stage at a time when they did not have the capacity to exploit freer international trade. As any exporter will tell you, they have been forced to take on the world with one hand tied behind their backs, because the previous government failed, for 11½ years, to stick to its end of the bargain because of its underinvestment in skills, infrastructure and other drivers of productivity in Australia.

While the former government dithered on such issues, this government has shown the strength and leadership required to steer Australia through these tough economic times by supporting, amongst others, our pensioners, first home buyers and exporters. The bills before the House today are the formal provisions to deliver the Economic Security Strategy, announced by the Prime Minister on 14 October 2008. The strategy was announced due to the uncertain economic climate to ensure decisive action. The measures will provide relief to families, pensioners, carers and veterans. The measures in the bills are targeted to give financial support to those in most need and simultaneously stimulate the economy for the sake of our country’s national interest. I trust that the bills will be passed without delay so that they may be implemented as they were intended and the recipients will receive their payments after 8 December.

I conclude where I started, for the benefit of my colleague and friend the shadow minister, who will follow me in this debate, by saying that the former speaker, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and shadow Treasurer, questioned the government’s assumptions in relation to the future growth of the Australian economy. I suggest, in view of the fact that there has been much media in relation to this issue over recent times, that the opposition carefully listen to what Dr Ken Henry says today at the National Press Club.

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