Chris Hayes (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

On this side of the House we know that for too long buck-passing and the blame game have undermined Australia’s ability to build a modern economy capable of meeting the challenges of the future. Mr Deputy Speaker, I have not been in this House all that long; as you appreciate, I came here in 2005. However, during that period, up until the last election—like everybody else who sat on the opposition side of the House at that stage—I heard the then Prime Minister and the member for Higgins take responsibility for anything that went right in the Australian economy, but anything that was not right, anything that was seen to be challenging, was blamed on the states. We have seen an industry made of blaming others and not taking responsibility. That is why I stand proudly to support the Federal Financial Relations Bill 2009 and the Federal Financial Relations (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2009 insofar as they are about—despite what the member for Pearce says in terms of cooperative federalism—building a nation on a cooperative basis with all our jurisdictions, not only those which come under the Federation but our states together with the emerging partnerships that are now being formed at the level of local government. I have to say that they have all been well received. They have certainly been well received in the electorates I get to visit. I am not putting people on the spot here, but no doubt people on the other side of the House would also say that they have benefited very well from this new-found partnership with local governments within their electorates.

After more than a decade of the Howard government squandering opportunities, this government finds itself repeatedly repairing and healing the damage that has been done in the past. There is a lot of work to be done to heal our nation and to restore some balance to our society and, for that reason, I support these bills today to end the blame game with our states through measures that will implement new federal financial arrangements as agreed to by COAG in November 2008 in the Intergovernmental Agreement on Federal Financial Relations.

It should be noted that the new federal financial framework commenced on 1 January 2009 with transitional arrangements in place for the period to 30 June this year. However, this legislation will, for the first time, enshrine in law the new architecture for the Com-monwealth-state financial relations. The Fed-eral Financial Relations Bill 2009 will pro-vide for three categories of payments for financial assistance to the states and territories—firstly, through general revenue assistance, comprising revenue from the GST and other revenue assistance with the provisions being equivalent to the current GST payment provisions in the A New Tax System (Commonwealth State Financial Relations) Act 1999.

Additionally, the bill will provide for the repeal of parts of the A New Tax System (Commonwealth-State Financial Arrangements) Act 1999, with the effect that, from 1 July this year, the act will be renamed A New Tax System (Managing the GST Rate and Base) Act. Essentially, that will better reflect the abbreviated content of that legislation. Through the national specific purpose payments, there will be payments provided to the states to deliver services in key areas of health care, schools, skills and workforce development, disability services and affordable housing. These are specific payments which will be provided to states. The bill will not be prescribing how they are to be paid. It will embody flexibility in state arrangements. It will certainly be inviting states to look at best practice and, let us face it, competitive advantage in the way they apply these payments.

Priorities in those sectors will be determined by state and territory elected parliaments. That is, I think, a very positive way to allocate these payments. Payments are made in respect of each of those sectors, and it ensures that there is flexibility built into the system to allow the states to determine their funding priorities as they go about meeting needs in health care, education, workplace and skills development, disability services and affordable housing. Again, I think that is a positive thing to come out of COAG last November. Finally, national partnership payments will go towards supporting specified outputs or projects to facilitate reforms and reward those jurisdictions that deliver on nationally significant reforms. This is entering into genuine partnerships with state and territory jurisdictions to deliver—to help build things that communities need and to give priorities to those areas.

I am proud to be part of a government that is prepared to tackle the challenges of the future and is willing to take the necessary steps to make sure that future generations are better equipped to deal with challenges as they arise. Only yesterday, I had the good fortune to make a contribution in the debate on the appropriation bills. We were talking at that stage about the government’s Nation Building and Jobs Plan—a historic long-term package which is targeting nation building and jobs. It is a further decisive step by the federal government in response to the severe global recession, which has been the worst economic crisis since the Second World War.

This response is being done in a way that embodies the involvement of state and territory governments. It is not taking over their jurisdictions and saying, ‘This is what is going to be done’; it is working with those areas, particularly in relation to education and other areas of significant infrastructure spend-ing which are emerging as a consequence of the second economic stimulus pack-age. This is a historic package. It is designed to: support jobs and small business in the short term; build quality schools through the largest education modernisation program in Australia’s history; stimulate the building and construction industry—with the constru-c-tion of another 20,000 new homes, supporting thousands of tradespeople throughout that sector; help tackle climate change; help families to save on their energy costs; and upgrade the roads and local infrastructure for the long term.

Treasury estimates that this plan will help support up to 90,000 jobs in 2008-09 and 2009-10. It is a crucial initiative for nation building and attacking the issue of recessional forces as they apply to jobs. It is designed to boost jobs and boost the economy. It should net economic growth of around half a percent of GDP in 2008-09, with around three-quarters of a per cent to one per cent during 2009-10. By investing in jobs and long-term economic growth, the plan strikes the right balance between the immediate support of jobs now and delivering on the long-term infrastructure needed to strengthen our future economic growth.

This government is taking action, which I have to say is in stark contrast to the opposition, which seems to be quite content to sit down with no alternatives and, unfortunately, fall into the classic case of being in opposition—being opposed to everything for the sake of being opposed. As I indicated at the start, this plan builds relations with the states. Let us face it: we did wish to engage with the opposition on all these matters. We are certainly talking to the Liberal leader of the government in Western Australia as part of the COAG arrangements. This is not a matter where people should be comfortable be-ing in opposition for the sake of being in opposition. They should be in here engaging in ideas about how to combat the challenges that we are currently being forced to meet—working towards getting the best possible results.

Regardless of that, we are not here to give the opposition a lecture on their party room politics; we are here to get on with the business of running the country. That is one of the current dichotomies of those on this side of the House and those on the other side of the House. In 2005, when I came here, you did not just accept that you were in opposition for the sake of it—you did not just oppose ideas just for the sake of it. We had to run the gauntlet of putting up alternate policies and alternate responses. What have we seen so far from those in opposition in response to our economic stimulus package—in response to the economic crisis? No respon-se. So far, we have had no response from those opposite to the economic packages that have been put forward in terms of this economic crisis. The area has been abrogated to the Greens and the Independents in the Senate. That is not doing what members opposite were elected by their constituents to do: that is, to contribute their ideas in terms of going forward. We actually want to engage with people with positive ideas about taking this country forward. But, clearly, at this stage it is a one-sided thing, because the opposition has completely disengaged from the debate so far.

The housing affordability crisis affects everyone—including people in my electorate of Werriwa and all those other electorates represented by those on the other side of the House. This is something that has beset this country as a whole. You will recall that last year we doubled the first home owners grant. That is having a significant impact on the sale of houses for the first time in a long while right across this country. I apologise for being a bit parochial, but I do tend to look at what occurs in the south-west of Syd-ney, in my electorate of Werriwa. What we are seeing there is a mini property boom, which is being driven not by property investors—not by people trying to negative gear and buy a property for rental—but by first home buyers having sufficient confidence to get engaged in the housing market. This is sig-nificant not only for all those young families who are seeking to raise their families out there but also for tradespeople. I have three kids, two of whom are tradespeople. One is a sparkie and the other is a carpenter-builder. So I know what it means for them to have contracts to wire up or build houses. I know the pressures that the building industry has been under. The building industry has been very much in doldrums for a substantial period of time. We are now also seeing apprenticeships being offered again. We are seeing people come into these industries, and hopefully that means that we will have the tradespeople and the skills we need for the future.

As I indicated yesterday, in south-west Sydney over half the houses that have been sold in the last three months in areas such as Liverpool and Campbelltown have been sold to first home buyers. I am reliably told by the real estate industry that something like 8,500 contracts have been exchanged in the last three months alone. Property sales across Liverpool and Campbelltown—where the market has been very depressed over the last four or so years—have increased by 12 per cent. So we are now seeing a rise in sale figures. This is a real example of people taking advantage of the first home owners grant to move from rental accommodation into their first home. Less than a year ago my region was in the grip of a housing affordability crisis—and I have to say that I think that was pretty common across the board here. Young families now have sufficient confidence to get in and have a go, aided by the doubling of the first home owners grant, and we are now seeing that 50 per cent of all home purchasers are first home buyers.

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