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

In opening my contributory remarks on the Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2009-2010 and cognate bills I had planned to start off with a particular introduction, but I feel I have to respond to some of the comments made by the honourable member for Mackellar in her contribution. When we took over government, we inherited a lot of things. We inherited a structural deficit in the budget and that was there in 2007 and previously. We also inherited a lot of programs that had been unfunded by what is factually known as a spending spree that was not put into the forward estimates. We also inherited about 12 interest rate rises; Work Choices; a disinvestment in public housing; a disinvestment in education; and a disinvestment in health, ripping the guts out of the Australian Health Care Agreement. If we look at the ledger and talk about what we inherited, there are many things that we inherited that put us in a very difficult position.

I know that members opposite are climate change deniers, but it appears they are also global recession deniers. The words do not come off their lips at all in speaking about the situation that we are in. The Australian people know that the global recession had its origins offshore, not in Australia. They know that. They are sensible. They get it. The opposition do not seem to get it and they spend their time talking the economy down; whereas we spend our time talking the economy up and building it up so that it is built up for the future.

This budget is premised on nation building and jobs, on laying the foundation for our future and for recovery, and on the approach to debt and deficit that is covered in the path being charted—as outlined by the Treasurer in his budget speech, in the budget papers and from Treasury—to return the budget to surplus. The Business Council of Australia, in their budget submission Budgeting for revival, which I read very carefully, talk about placing the federal budget ‘into deficit in a way that maximises Australia’s future productive capacity.’ That is exactly what has happened. There are no secrets in the budget. This one has more information than any before it since Federation. It is a good indicator of open government.

When I hear the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Wentworth, and the opposition gaggle talking about the budget and the economy—and only to talk the economy down, I might add—it is obvious that they just do not get it that the world is gripped by the worst global recession in 75 years and a revenue downturn of some $201 billion, with the combined effect of the end of the mining boom and the global recession. This has not passed the people of Page by. The people in my electorate of Page know that we are in the worst global recession in over 75 years and they know the roots of that. They also know that the government acted decisively in our national interest to protect jobs and to protect our economy by adopting an economic stimulus recovery plan that has as its core 70 per cent infrastructure, with over 35,000 projects nationwide.

In my electorate of Page I have 97 schools, with 84 of them being primary, special or K to 12, which are all eligible for new infrastructure—a new hall or library or other infrastructure that is a pressing priority in a particular school—under the Building the Education Revolution or under the National School Pride Program funding. And the high schools are eligible, on a competitive basis, for a new science lab or language lab. I know that all schools love it and the locals love it. It is about nation building at its best and it is about local jobs. It is the largest school modernisation building program the nation has seen, and it complements the education revolution. But it is not just about schools; it is also about universities and TAFEs. I have the Southern Cross University in my local area, which covers the whole North Coast. It has benefited through this budget. The North Coast TAFE is in my area. I hope the North Coast TAFE is successful in its bid for some project funding under the capital component in the budget.

This takes me to last week’s decision by the Prime Minister to support my local area getting recognised as a priority area for the Jobs and Training Compact and securing our local employment coordinator, Christine Williams. Christine has had a lot of experience in this area and will work really well in this position. I have had some preliminary discussions with her on some of the ways forward. I want to say thank you to my parliamentary colleagues the member for Richmond, who is the Minister for Ageing, and the member for Lyne for working cooperatively together to ensure that we secured this outcome for the Richmond-Tweed-Clarence Valley area and the mid-North Coast.

Across Page, the government’s nation building for recovery plan has some 157 projects underway, with an investment of $43.8 million—121 school projects to date; 16 black spots and boom gates already funded under the program; and $10.9 million for five local councils under the Community Infrastructure Program. This program will see the federal government working directly with local government through the local members, thus ensuring that local priorities are responded to. I work closely with my five local governments and especially with the mayors.

I would like to speak a little more about Page. I love representing the people of Page. It is beautiful country—rural, coastal, mountainous, forested and urban. I love Lismore, where I live, but I could live anywhere in Page and be happy. There are so many beautiful, welcoming places. We are a friendly bunch of people and very kind to each other. The reaction to the floods that we recently experienced showed this, as does the way we have welcomed into our midst refugees from war-torn places in Africa and the way we help our own—our children in need, our homeless, our forgotten, our veterans and more.

Turning to the national and local retail figures, we all would have seen yesterday that the Australian Retailers Association released its fact sheet which showed that in April there was a 0.3 per cent growth in retail turnover that heralded an 8.4 per cent increase in retail trade company profits over the March quarter. Locally, I have had discussions with local shopping centre managers who confirmed to me that their figures are up by a similar margin and even more. The same can be said of shop owners and businesses, especially food outlets. Real estate is also tracking along nicely. The first home owners grants are working. Yesterday the Housing Industry Association said that figures were up and that that is a good sign for recovery—though I am not at the point of wanting to gloat about anything; I am just outlining what other people are saying and the figures that they are revealing. We do know that the combination of the increase in retail spending and the increase in building approvals and developments is showing good signals. Along with this, the government’s insulation project, a major component of the recovery and infrastructure spending, is one of the biggest environmental and jobs projects the nation has seen. My area has had a huge take-up and I am pleased to report that our local TAFE, the North Coast TAFE—and this will probably also occur at Wollongbar—has organised training courses for locals to be trained in insulation installation. That was something my team and I advocated for.

I want to make several comments about the opposition. On the one hand you have the opposition talking the economy down. When they are pressed to suggest what an appropriate level of debt might be, you get all sorts of figures from different members of the opposition—there is no unity—or you get a blank look and no reply. One member might say that under the coalition it would be $21 billion less than the projected deficit; another might say it would be $125 billion less. You have the Leader of the Opposition saying maybe $177 billion, but there is no clarity at all. The member for Cowper, which is the electorate beside mine, is a member of the National Party. In the November 2008 edition of the Clarence River Lifestyle he said a number of interesting things about the Rudd government’s economic stimulus package. His comments were the opposite of what some members of the opposition have been saying—it seems they do and say anything. He said:

The global financial crisis is not just about financial institutions. As its longer term effects become clear, it will affect each and every one of us, particularly if the Australian economy slows further as a result.

The package will help stimulate the economy …

I have heard other members of the House denying that. Here it is in print. The article finished:

“The local economy will benefit from these increases in the first time buyers’ grant. The more homes that are built, the more people are employed. The more homes that are bought, the more money is spent on fitting them out and on renovations, all of which helps local businesses,” said Mr Hartsuyker.

That is what I have been saying about the economic stimulus package recovery plan: it is about jobs, it is about small business, it is about recovery and it is about helping local economies—all very interesting.

Turning to local issues, the issues I have covered have been my election commitments—the Ballina bypass, the Alstonville bypass. On ABC radio this morning, I heard the Nationals News South Wales leader, Andrew Stoner, talking about how the Alstonville bypass had been dropped from the state budget priorities. I got on radio to correct that. It really proves that they will do and say anything to put fear into the hearts of people. It is a federally funded program of $90 million. It was an election commitment. The money is there and the project has started. Along with the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, I turned the first sod, in company with the chair of the Alstonville Bypass Committee, Bob Wilson, and other members. The project is underway. This just proves that they will do and say anything and do not care if they mislead or strike fear into the hearts of people, particularly the people who advocated for decades to get the Alstonville bypass up and running.

I would like to say a couple of things about the floods. You would know that the floods swept through my seat of Page recently and also across the North Coast of New South Wales and South-East Queensland. The recovery effort, which is underway, is wonderful. I want to thank some people who did not get a guernsey when I was speaking about it recently as my time expired. I want to thank our local commercial radio stations, which played a major role in keeping our communities up to date with flood and emergency service issues and warnings. The local Lismore based 2LM and the local Grafton based 2GF are both well-listened-to and well-regarded local commercial radio stations which play a part in the lives of our respective communities. There are also two local community radio stations. I am sure there are more, but the ones I heard were Bora Ridge based 88.9FM and Ballina based Paradise FM—to them I say well done.

I also want to spare a thought for some of our locals in the Lismore caravan park who lost their homes, their vans. I have spoken to some residents and, like the rest of the community, I am trying to help. The Northern Star newspaper is also running a community campaign to get them assistance. I have written to the Prime Minister, the Premier, the federal housing minister and the state housing minister asking them whether they could work through this with me and the local government to find a solution to their predicament.

I have also had some success with the local chapter of the Australian Macadamia Society. The CEO came to my office saying that they were excluded from the up to $15,000 cash grants available under flood recovery because they have lost a lot of their crop through wind which came as a result of the flood. I was able to successfully advocate to the state minister in this case, Ian Macdonald, and the guidelines were broadened to include our horticultural industry under this package. This is good because macadamia farmers have had three seasons where some of them did not have a sustainable income due to a range of extreme weather events from frosts to hailstorms, to floods and then wind damage from the flood.

I want to say ‘Well done’ to the chair of Casino Beef Week, Stuart George, to the committee and to everyone else. Casino Beef Week went ahead as planned, not even one week after the flood. It was hugely successful. It has been running for 27 years. I also say ‘Well done’ to Northern Co-operative Meat Company, one of our biggest employers in Casino, for donating breakfast for over 4,000 people.

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