Jim Turnour (Leichhardt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The management of the nation’s economy is defining the first term of the Rudd government, a government that is successfully steering the nation through the worst global recession since the Great Depression. There is no doubt that the early and decisive action of the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, supported by his economics team—the Treasurer, Wayne Swan, and the Minister for Finance and Deregulation, Lindsay Tanner—ensured that we have avoided a recession in this country. The bank guarantee and the economic stimulus plan were critical to ensuring the nation’s economy continued to grow, and we have seen that economic stimulus plan and the confidence engendered through the bank guarantee support hundreds of thousands of jobs across this country.

The Rudd government’s economic stimulus plan is making a real difference in communities like mine in Far North Queensland, including in my own electorate of Leichhardt. In Far North Queensland unemployment doubled and is still above 10 per cent. It would have been much worse if the government had not stepped in and taken action when the private sector was in retreat as a result of the global recession. We need to recognise that. The broader community recognises that. Even the most right-leaning newspaper in this country, the Australian, recognised that when they made the Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, their Australian of the Year in direct response to the actions he had taken to steer this country through the global recession.

Yet every step of the way we have been opposed by the Liberal and National parties in this parliament. If those opposite had been in government, we would have gone into recession and thousands more people would have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. I have visited schools and other building projects like roads across my electorate and met with builders, tradies and labourers who would not have had work if it had not been for the economic stimulus plan.

Small, medium and larger businesses have also benefited. The small business tax break has been particularly important in supporting businesses in my electorate. The Assistant Treasurer, Nick Sherry, was in my electorate last year and we met with Ray and Judy Lanarch from PTS traffic management, who have benefited directly from the small business tax break and have been able to expand their business. Derek Ross of Pressure Pumps North Queensland also had a story about a small business that has actually grown during these difficult economic times, and that is a direct result of the benefits that have flown from the small business tax break. So there is no doubt that thousands more businesses would have gone broke and thousands more people would have been unemployed if the government had not acted so early and decisively in response to this crisis. That stands in stark contrast to the continued opposition we have had to our actions throughout these difficult times.

But, as I have said, the government has also given specific attention to regions like the one that I represent in Far North Queensland. We have experienced some of the fastest increases in and highest rates of unemployment in the country. The Cairns region was identified as a priority employment area, and our local employment coordinator, Peter Doutre, is working hard in partnership with local business and community leaders to further develop a jobs plan for the region. The Minister for Employment Participation, Mark Arbib, and Parliamentary Secretary Jason Clare visited Cairns following this announcement to host a Keep Australia Working forum attended by almost 100 local businesses and community leaders.

Following on from that, we have had major projects forums. They were held last year in partnership with the Queensland government, who are also stepping in with a major infrastructure building program to support jobs. We wanted to make sure that local businesses could access those contracts and we had a major project forum to inform local businesses about the projects that are available and how they could tender and get involved in those projects. There have been a range of Jobs Fund projects announced following on from the recognition of Cairns as a priority employment area—projects that are funding a new community centre as well as walking and bike tracks—to further support employment in the region.

The Minister for Small Business, Independent Contractors and the Service Economy, Craig Emerson, visited Cairns to host a roundtable between the business and banking sectors to discuss the availability of finance in the region. We are in a situation in Cairns where the construction industry has been particularly hard hit because of the GFC, which went on and became the global recession. The banking industry has been in retreat as a result of that. Projects that previously would have got finance have had difficulty getting finance. What we have seen particularly in Far North Queensland is real concern about the banks re-evaluating risk in our region and not supporting the construction industry with projects that are still worth while and should be funded. The minister for small business came to Cairns and got the big banks there, including the Australian Bankers Association. He sat down with local business to work through this problem. I am still not necessarily happy with the way that the banks are responding to some projects in my area but I think it was important for us to sit down and have that frank conversation. We will continue to work through these issues as part of our response to the global economic downturn that we are particularly feeling in Cairns.

Prior to Christmas the Prime Minister visited Cairns to attend a jobs expo organised by Centrelink. More than 100 employers participated and 5½ thousand people attended the expo, and more than 300 people got a job as a direct result of that day. More than 300 individuals and families have had their lives changed by getting a job as a direct result of the government establishing the region as a priority employment area and supporting the jobs expo. The flow-on of more than 300 jobs out of just that day is the sort of thing that this government is doing, not only nationally but locally, making a real difference in local communities like the one that I represent.

As well as visiting the jobs expo, on that day the Prime Minister made a number of announcements to further support jobs in the region, including regulatory reforms to attract new aviation carriers to Cairns. For many years the local tourism industry has wanted to see aviation regulatory reforms that would encourage international carriers into Cairns and encourage them to triangulate through Cairns into some of the capital cities—Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. We have delivered that reform.

The Prime Minister announced almost $19.5 million in funding to establish the Cairns Institute at James Cook University. This builds on a commitment to and construction of a $50 million dental school, strengthening our local education sector. The Prime Minister announced the bringing forward of $60 million in housing economic stimulus projects. They were in the National Economic Stimulus Plan, but there is a real recognition in Cairns that the construction industry is struggling and that the private sector is in retreat. I worked cooperatively with Minister Arbib, the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Government Service Delivery, and the state government to ensure that that could happen.

We announced a task force to work with business on cash flow problems they may be facing as a result of the global recession. There are many businesses in Cairns that have been going through some difficult times in an economy dependent on tourism and construction, both hard hit by the global recession. It has seen businesses struggling at times with cash flow. The business community spoke to me and Minister Arbib. We worked with them and Assistant Treasurer Nick Sherry to bring forward a task force that is now working with businesses in my electorate.

We announced further support to develop farm tourism, because the tourism industry has been doing it tough with the recession in Japan and we have seen flight cuts. We need to diversify and strengthen the tourism industry. We are doing a lot in that area, but there was a further announcement of half a million dollars to Advance Cairns to further work with the farm tourism sector. Through the Office of Northern Australia and Regional Development Australia, we have made a commitment and we are continuing to work with local business and community leaders to strengthen and diversify our local economy. So it is not only a plan for today; we are also planning for the medium and long term, working with Advance Cairns and Regional Development Australia and supporting that effort through the department of infrastructure and the Office of Northern Australia.

I would like to thank Advance Cairns, particularly their chairman, Russell Beer; their deputy chairman, Rose-Marie Dash; their CEO, Ross Contarino; board member and chair of the Cairns Chamber of Commerce Jeremy Blockey; Mayor Val Schier; and business consultant Tim Grau, who visited Canberra in the lead-up to the Prime Minister’s visit. Working in partnership with them and the government, we have been able to bring forward and successfully secure this very important package to support jobs in Cairns. I would like to particularly thank the Minister for Employment Participation, Mark Arbib, and the Parliamentary Secretary for Employment, Jason Clare, who visited Cairns on more than one occasion to work in partnership with me and the business leaders I have just thanked in developing this targeted response to the unemployment problem we face in Cairns and the broader region.

A lot was done last year, as I have already said, in terms of the Rudd government’s economic response to the financial crisis and support not only for the broader economy but particularly for regions like mine. We are not out of the woods yet, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. I am very optimistic about the future when we look at what is ahead. The Australian and Queensland governments continue to support the construction industry through nation-building infrastructure projects. The Rudd government alone is funding 2,100 projects representing $460 million in economic stimulus investment in North Queensland. On top of these economic stimulus projects are projects being delivered as a result of election commitments and the orderly business of government, including a dental school at James Cook University; a GP superclinic in Edmonton, which I recently announced; trade training centres, including a marine skills training centre being built in Cairns and trade training centres in the Torres Strait; and the recently announced upgrade of the Horn Island airstrip in partnership with the Queensland government. This is very important infrastructure in my electorate of Leichhardt. There have been social housing projects and upgrades to local roads, including the Bruce Highway and the Peninsula Development Road. Many of these projects are now under construction or will be built this year.

The Rudd government continues to support the tourism industry, announcing this year another $1 million in marketing funding for tropical North Queensland to attract visitors from New Zealand, China and Japan. This builds on a $4 million package announced when Qantas cut flights to Japan and the recently announced regulatory reforms were introduced to attract new airlines to Cairns, as I described earlier. The partnership between Cairns Airport and Jetstar will see 300,000 domestic and international seats return to Cairns over the next 2½ years. This agreement has been supported with marketing funds from the Australian and Queensland governments. This is 100,000 more seats than the number of seats cut when Qantas cut flights to Japan in July 2007. Continental and Pacific Blue have also recently announced new services to Cairns, and we are going to see thousands of Chinese tourists visiting Cairns this weekend for Chinese New Year, supported through marketing funding from the Australian government working in partnership with Tourism Tropical North Queensland. ‘Kung hei fat choi’ to any of those Cantonese Chinese listeners out there. I am looking forward to attending the Chinese New Year celebrations in my electorate this weekend. We have many Chinese tourists already in Cairns—I saw them when I was home last weekend—and I encourage anybody who sees Chinese people around Australia this coming weekend to wish them a happy new year. Chinese New Year is very important to them in the same way that Christmas is very important in this country. I encourage people to make them feel very welcome in what we know is the world’s most hospitable country, Australia, and the country’s most hospitable place, Cairns.

Following the PM’s allowance last year, the Taxation Office is now working with businesses to ensure that those who may be having problems meeting their payments are given every chance to get through these difficult economic times. Last year, working with the businesses in our community, we announced a tax task force. That task force started work in January, and it rang 1,100 small businesses in my electorate in the lead-up to their visit to Cairns during the first week of February to offer support to local businesses. As I said, some businesses have been struggling with cash flow problems as a result of the global recession. A total of 106 businesses expressed interest and 60 have now taken advantage of this service to work with the tax office on financial plans so that they are given every opportunity to trade through these difficult economic times. I would like to thank Minister Sherry for the work he has done in partnership with me and the local business community on this.

So a lot is being done by the Rudd government to support traditional industries like tourism and construction in Far North Queensland, including in my electorate of Leichhardt. We need, though, to continue to diversify and strengthen our local economy. This must be a major focus of the government in partnership with business and community leaders as we move forward. The work of Regional Development Australia will be important in this effort and I look forward to working with Andrew Griffiths, the new chair of this committee, as they develop a roadmap for the region over the coming year. I look forward to continuing to partner with Advance Cairns and its member organisations, including Tourism Tropical North Queensland, the Cairns Chamber of Commerce and the local Cairns Port Authority. There are real opportunities to strengthen the tourism industry, diversifying it into new markets around events tourism, health tourism, adventure tourism and Indigenous tourism to attract new people and new tourism opportunities to our local region.

The region also needs to tap into the resources sector to diversify the local economy. New and existing mines are likely to face labour and skill shortages in the near future, and there are opportunities for Cairns and the region to become a mining services centre for Australia and Papua New Guinea.

The region is also well positioned to become an education hub for Australia and the Asia-Pacific region and needs to seize this opportunity. The Rudd government is investing in a new dental school at Cairns Institute at JCU, a new marine skills training centre, a new school and TAFE facilities. Combined with a well-established aviation skills centre and English language schools, the region can meet most educational needs. These facilities, combined with the region’s friendly people and natural appeal as a tourism destination, make it a very attractive place to get an education.

These are just two opportunities to diversify the economy and we need to continue to work on others such as expanding the aviation and marine services sectors and opportunities for arts and culture, including Indigenous arts and culture. Working together, we can build a better future for our region. That is what I am committed to do, working with the local business and community leaders, working with the executive of our government, to make a real difference in our local communities.

As I said at the start of this speech, the Rudd government has steered and is steering this country through some of the most difficult economic times the world has experienced. It stands in stark contrast to our opponents, who have opposed our action every step of the way. This year is a very important year. We need to continue to roll out our economic stimulus plan, we need to continue to support the tourism industry in my electorate and we need to continue to work on that longer term plan. But there is a real risk this year with an election coming up that those plans will be put in jeopardy because of the opposition. We have already seen Senator Macdonald this week in Senate estimates talking about further delays to the much-needed upgrade to the Bruce Highway in my electorate—a $150 million election commitment. Planning has been done and we have got three options on the table. We are reducing them down to one in the first half of this year and I want to see construction start later this year. It is a $150 million upgrade of the Bruce Highway south of Cairns, much needed to fix traffic congestion problems. The former member delivered no significant funding to upgrade the Bruce Highway south of Cairns, and what we have got now is Senator Ian Macdonald in Senate estimates talking about alternative routes that were ruled out 10 years ago under a planning study done by the state when the Howard government was in power, because they do not have the funding for this election commitment, they do not have the funding to upgrade the Bruce Highway, and they are now looking to delay. Residents of the southern suburbs of Cairns want this highway fixed and they need it fixed, and that is what I am committed to doing. I would appreciate some clarification from the LNP in Queensland as to whether they are going to support this election commitment and this plan to upgrade the Bruce Highway.

Their position stands in stark contrast to our position. We are supporting the economy. We are supporting the country through these difficult economic times. The opposition has opposed those measures and, as we have seen now, the current Leader of the Opposition has said very clearly that he was not that focused on or interested in economics in the past, and now he is the Leader of the Opposition he has got the shadow Treasurer, Joe Hockey, who in the last week has been out parading in a tutu, and we have got the finance spokesman in Senator Joyce, who has made some pretty unbelievable statements in recent times, including that Australia may have difficulty paying back its debt, when we are envied across the world for the way we have responded to the global recession, steered this country through this economic crisis. We have got one of the lowest debt levels in the OECD. It is scaremongering of the worst type for base political gain. You have got to stack their economic team up against ours. The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, the Treasurer, Wayne Swan, and the finance minister, Lindsay Tanner, are up against Mr Abbott, Mr Hockey and Senator Joyce. These are the teams that people will have to choose between at the end of the year: a Prime Minister recognised by a right-wing journal in this country effectively, the Australian, as Australian of the Year, as compared to a budgie-smuggler wearing Leader of the Opposition, a tutu wearing shadow Treasurer and a finance spokesperson who is so in pursuit of the one-liner that he will say just about anything to get himself in the media. That is the real choice. Does this country risk having that opposition manage this country through what continue to be globally difficult economic times?

I am optimistic about the future. We have done a lot in Cairns and my region in the past year to support jobs. There is much more work to be done, including the development and implementation of a plan to diversify our local economy. That is what I am about. I will continue to deliver locally our economic stimulus plan and I will continue to deliver our election commitments. We will continue to work with local business and community leaders to ensure that we can support jobs going forward. We do not want to risk this by electing a Liberal-National Party government at the end of this year.

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