Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise in support of Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2009-2010 and Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2009-2010, commonly known as the budget bills. This second Rudd government budget was framed within a global context, and I am a bit surprised that those in the Liberal Party seem to forget that there is a global recession going on. In fact, Australia, along with the rest of the world, is currently weathering the worst global recession in 75 years. Economies around the world are experiencing their deepest global recession since the Great Depression, and those opposite seem to continually ignore this.

The 2009-10 budget is a plan for the future. It has clearly been engineered to support jobs for today, and it is building the essential infrastructure that Australia needs for a stronger and more prosperous future. This budget is about nation building for recovery. In light of the continued deterioration of the global financial market, the Rudd government has made some tough decisions in this budget to ensure that Australia’s net debt remains the lowest of any major advanced economy in the world.

During a global economic downturn, like the one we are now experiencing, a responsible government needs to step in and actively stimulate the economy and support jobs and small businesses. To do nothing would leave Australian families and businesses to shoulder the burden of this global recession, and we could not do that. Governments around the world have learnt from the mistakes made during the Great Depression. We are all in this together, and we need to work together to ensure that we build our economic recovery.

In our second economic stimulus package, 70 per cent is for nation-building infrastructure. This includes the biggest school modernisation program in Australia’s history. We are investing in road, rail, port, broadband and major solar energy projects. We are investing in research, education and innovation. We are supporting small businesses. The Rudd government is investing in the implementation of the paid parental leave scheme—the first in Australia’s history. There is pension reform, the continuation of the very successful first home owners grant and the long-awaited assistance for carers. And we continue to build on our education revolution. Over the next four years, $22 billion will be invested in infrastructure across the nation—a budget measure that will support jobs and lay strong foundations for a prosperous future. The largest component of this investment is in transport.

Across my home state of Tasmania, $797 million will be invested over six years in road and rail projects. I will go through some of the substantial investments that have been allocated across southern Tasmania—bearing in mind that southern Tasmania was ignored by the Liberal Party when they were in government. In fact, 90 per cent of their AusLink funding went to northern Tasmania. So I am very pleased to say that, in conjunction with the state government, $15 million will be invested in the construction of the Kingston bypass in my electorate of Franklin. The good people of Franklin have waited a very long time for this; they waited 12 long years under the Liberal Party government. I am very pleased to report to the House that construction on the bypass will begin towards the end of this year. It will greatly improve safety and also reduce congestion in the town of Kingston as well as in the Blackmans Bay and channel areas.

To the north of my electorate, in southern Tasmania in the electorate of Lyons, $164 million will be invested, again in conjunction with the state government, in the Brighton bypass. This is the largest infrastructure project that has ever been undertaken in Tasmania, and it is being undertaken by a Labor government. Also, $14 million has been allocated to refurbish the Bridgewater Bridge and the lower highway junction; $6.2 million will be invested in planning for the replacement of the Bridgewater Bridge and for building the Bagdad bypass. These are future projects that we are planning for now. Also, $4.5 million will be invested in upgrading the Midland Highway-Constitution Hill project. All of these projects are about major road infrastructure that Tasmania has been waiting for many years to receive, and the Rudd government will be delivering them as part of its nation-building program.

As chair of the Tasmanian Black Spot Consultative Panel, I am particularly proud of the investment we have made in making Tasmania’s roads safer. I have spoken quite a few times in this place about the black spot funding in southern Tasmania. I am really pleased that both stimulus packages have included investment in roads. Unfortunately, there have been more deaths on Tasmania roads recently, and that is a tragedy. Overall, there is $5.6 million for Tasmania’s black spots. I think 37 or 47 projects will be delivered in Tasmania. The Rudd government is also funding other road safety initiatives in this budget, including boom gates and level crossings in Tasmania. Further, there is $800,000 to address the lack of safe modern roadside facilities for truck drivers in Tasmania.

This budget will also build on the work already achieved by the Rudd government to deliver the education revolution, with the $5.7 billion we are investing over four years to deliver reforms to the higher education and innovation sectors and the 9,540 public and private schools across Australia that will benefit from our school modernisation program as part of Building the Education Revolution. This investment is all due to the fact that the Rudd government believes that a critical component of moving this country forward is education. But we all know that, as well as investing in education, it is about investing now in local jobs in our local communities and businesses.

I was really pleased to be with the Deputy Prime Minister when she visited Tasmania recently to make the announcement about the Primary Schools for the 21st Century program. She joined me and the Premier of Tasmania at Blackmans Bay Primary School, where the funding of $2.4 million we are providing was very well received by the local school community. We also had the National School Pride program announcements, which were very well received in the local community. Rounds 1 and 2 will deliver $6.2 million to more than 40 primary and secondary schools in my electorate of Franklin. I did want to read into the Hansard today the whole list of schools in my electorate getting funding, but unfortunately there is not time for that.

One of the other big projects that Tasmania will benefit from that I really want to get on the record is broadband. I was really pleased, and Tasmanians in particular were very pleased, to have the Prime Minister and the minister for communications in Tasmania to announce that Tasmania will lead the nation in the rollout of the National Broadband Network. This project will change the way Tasmanians live and work. At present, Tasmanians have great difficulty accessing broadband, so this is a very welcome investment in Tasmania’s future communications infrastructure. In this time of global financial crisis, the National Broadband Network will also create jobs in Tasmania. So that was a very pleasing announcement indeed.

Another part of the budget is the clean energy and solar energy revolution, which is a $4.5 billion investment in clean energy initiatives to assist Australia’s transition to a low-pollution economy and to help Australia build green jobs for our future.

As part of many innovation and research announcements, the government has committed funding to southern Tasmania that I want to go through which will provide long-term investment in research and innovation. We have got $11.7 million to continue the operations of the Australia-Antarctic air link, which is very important for the local community in Tasmania but also very important for Australia in terms of our international research, including climate research, that is being done in the Antarctic. There is $25.2 million over two years to meet the increased cost of maintaining Australia’s presence in Antarctica. That is new funding, and I was pleased to be with the minister for the environment, Minister Garrett, in Tasmania recently to make that announcement and to look at what that money will be doing.

There is $44.7 million to build stage 2 of the Menzies Research Institute, an important medical research facility near our local hospital in Hobart which does lots of really important research and was in fact the facility that did the vital research into SIDS which discovered how babies should be laid down. So that is a very important investment for the local community. Finally, there is $45 million for the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies at the University of Tasmania, $52 million to extend the Integrated Marine Observing System network and $120 million to replace the Southern Surveyor, the research vessel which leaves from Tasmania and goes into the Great Southern Ocean to do research below the ocean.

I received a telephone call from the University of Tasmania’s thrilled vice-chancellor the day after the budget. He was extremely pleased with the research investment that has been made by this government. I really support his view that Tasmania will now be a leader, especially when it comes to things like marine research. We have been putting a lot of effort into that, so it was very pleasing to see the Rudd government acknowledge that work.

I also want to talk about paid parental leave. As a parent of three children and with many friends who are of child-bearing age, I think this is a very important thing for a government to do, and it is the Rudd Labor government that has done it. We will be investing $731 million over five years to implement a comprehensive paid parental leave scheme, and I am thrilled about that.

Sustainable pension reform, which I touched on earlier, has also been undertaken in this budget. This is pension reform of a type not seen in Australia’s history since the introduction of the pension and some changes that were made in the 1970s. I am really thrilled about the increase for single pensioners and the increase for couple pensioners. Across my electorate, there are more than 17,000 pensioners who will benefit from this reform, and I would like to put on the record that they are extremely pleased with the outcome of that pension reform.

A subject that I have previously put on the record before in this place as a member of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Family, Community, Housing and Youth is carers. I spoke on the carers report recently and also on a recent carers bill, but I do want to acknowledge that the government will, with this budget, provide more and ongoing assistance to carers into the future.

We are also doing a lot to support small business. I have conducted some small business consultations in my electorate with the minister for small business. The increase in the highly successful tax break for small business, from 30 per cent to 50 per cent, has gone down extremely well in my electorate. We are doing a number of other things to support small business, including reducing the pay-as-you-go tax instalments, which will provide cash flow relief. By delivering on our investment in education, we are obviously providing local jobs for people. The extension of the first home owners boost will also produce more jobs and support jobs in Tasmania. There is the installation of ceiling insulation and solar hot water systems for local homes, the social housing construction and the community infrastructure grants.

I also want to put on the record today the $4 million for the Twin Ovals project in Kingston, in southern Tasmania, one of which will be built to AFL standard, which has been very well received by my local community. In addition, there is $2 million for the Bellerive Oval lights. This was really important because Cricket Australia had said that, if Bellerive Oval did not get lights, we would be at risk of losing the hosting of international cricket matches, so I am really pleased that the Rudd government has funded half the lights and the state government the other half. That means Tasmania will continue to receive its fair share of the international cricket market. In fact, it was recently announced that early next year Australia will play a test match at Bellerive Oval in my electorate, which I am sure will please many locals. It is a great investment and it will also inject money into the local economy.

I think that is pretty much all I want to put on the record now about the budget and its impact in Franklin, and what the Rudd Labor government is doing. I encourage those opposite to support the Rudd government’s budget measures. I am sure that the people of Franklin will be pleased with this budget, and I commend the bill to the House.

Debate (on motion by Ms Grierson) adjourned.

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