Deborah O'Neill (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am delighted to be able to rise today in this House to speak to Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2010-2011 and Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2010-2011, the combined funding for which comes to almost $2.4 billion. Both appropriations contain a wide range of important projects, which I will touch on in general terms. One of the first line items to catch my eye in these bills was the $120.7 million in funding for the Attorney General’s Department for flood relief. When we reflect on the events of this summer and the hardship that disasters have wrought across the country and on the other side of the Tasman, the cut and thrust that goes on here in our little bubble in Canberra pales into insignificance. While words fail in times like these, our actions as a government have been far from insignificant. The support we have marshalled has given sustained support to many in need.

When I checked the figures last week, we had paid out more than $442 million for 376,000 Australian government disaster recovery payments for those who had been affected by the Queensland floods and Cyclone Yasi. More than 50,000 claims were granted to the value of $22.5 million for the disaster income recovery subsidy. There is also a wide range of assistance available under the natural disaster relief and recovery arrangements, which are in place in 62 local government areas. These arrangements offer a wide range of grants as well as facilities such as concessional interest rate loans to those trying to get back on their feet. Australians expect us to do this kind of work in government to support our fellow Australians in need.

Over the weekend, the government’s response continued with the Treasurer and the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry announcing a $315 million Queensland local council package to be jointly funded by the Commonwealth and Queensland governments. The aim of this package is to ensure that disaster affected communities have the basics—water and sewage facilities, transport infrastructure and employment support—because people need to get back on their feet as quickly as possible and people need to be able to get back into work.

I am enormously proud to belong to a government and a party that is rising to the challenge of the natural disasters over the past two months. I am especially proud to represent a region—the Central Coast of New South Wales and particularly the seat of Robertson—that continues to dig deep to help our fellow Australians in need. I have already expressed my deep disappointment in the House, and I am afraid to say that I believe it is a moral failure, for the Leader of the Opposition not to accord bipartisan support for the Tax Laws Amendment (Temporary Flood Reconstruction Levy) Bill 2011. That bill is before the House, and I understand the Senate wants to take a closer look, as is its prerogative.

I think the government’s package is very well balanced, and I understand that in Queensland it has been particularly well received. We have made cuts to the budget where we could, but the levy is needed to rebuild flood affected regions. We believe this package is the right package. Sixty per cent of taxpayers will pay less than $1 per week. We are asking someone on $80,000 to sacrifice $2.88 per week, less than the cost of a cup of coffee and 10 times less than the tax cuts they have received over the last three years.

I think the opposition’s failure to support the levy rankles with me even more because the people from the Central Coast have themselves put in such a great effort to help with the flood recovery. My office has been in touch again today with the Central Coast Caravan of Angels, whose team of about 30 volunteers is on its way back from its second trip to Ipswich, where it has spent the last three days carrying out repairs on 20 houses. They are a great bunch of people, and they express the spirit of Australians. What they have given in cash and kind generously and without request as Australians is a phenomenal indicator of the support of Australians for one another.

Australians have given $200 million in donations. What a great accomplishment. But the work that lies ahead in recovering our infrastructure so that people can get on with their small businesses and get to their jobs and we can move those great resources that we have around our country requires 60 times the amount that has already been voluntarily committed by Australians out of their pockets and out of their businesses. We cannot go back to Australians 60 times and ask them for that amount, but we can responsibly levy those who are most capable of paying, and that is what these two appropriation bills will enable. These fundamental Labor values set us apart from the individualists and the opportunists in the Australian political sphere on show here in this parliament.

As I join the dots between the line items in these appropriation bills, I see Labor values implicit in them. For me, that is the golden thread that runs through these bills. A fundamental Labor value is opportunity for all. How will these appropriation bills allow that fundamental Labor value of opportunity for all to be played out? It comes out in programs such as the RLCIP, the Regional and Local Community Infrastructure Program. Under the RLCIP, more than $1 billion has been distributed to 565 local governments across Australia. This is in stark contrast to the pork-barrelling that went under the former Howard government in the guise of regional development. In those days, residents in Labor held seats could expect no quarter from a Liberal government in Canberra. But we in the Labor Party have broad shoulders and, thankfully, a broader mindset that encompasses all Australians right across the country. The RLCIP is a bona fide funding program for important local community projects. You do not have to be a Latin scholar to know that bona fide means ‘in good faith’. The RLCIP is about investing now in our local communities to provide jobs, infrastructure and elements that will enhance the opportunities of those communities in a wide range of ways.

The RLCIP projects that are funded are chosen by the councils themselves. The funds are used to build and modernise community facilities such as town halls, libraries, community centres, sports grounds and environmental infrastructure. The purpose of the RLCIP funding was to strengthen vulnerable communities and protect them from the global financial crisis through providing economic recovery and supporting local jobs. On top of the stimulus aspect, the RLCIP projects have added bonuses to communities so that they can enjoy the benefits of renewed local infrastructure for the long term—and, from personal experience, ‘enjoy’ is the operative word.

On 11 December last year I joined several hundred people at the gala opening of the Peninsula Recreation Precinct at Umina. I find it hard to imagine a happier civic occasion. When you see young families playing happily on community infrastructure that your government has funded, I do not think a job can get much better than that. That happiness is even greater when you consider that 220 construction jobs and 10 ongoing jobs were created through the project. Umina is not exactly a privileged area of the Central Coast. It is an area that has in the past had its fair share of law and order problems, but through the RLCIP, and more broadly through Labor’s commitment to regional Australia, we have given the people of Umina a recreation precinct that they can well be proud of.

I come back to the fundamental Labor values of fairness and equity. Just because you live on the Woy Woy Peninsula does not mean you should expect less than your counterparts who live in Sydney or Newcastle. Labor’s fundamental belief is that your postcode should not determine your destiny, and our commitment to regional Australia is real and abiding. Under the latest round of RLCIP, Gosford City Council has received $577,000 in funding. That is going to go to five local projects that will change and enhance the lives of Australians as well as supporting local businesses that have been engaged in the delivery of these projects.

At Frost Reserve I met the Kincumber Roos football club leaders. That is where the Kincumber football club do their training and sadly, with such a large commuter population, a lot of that training has to happen later in the evening. With incapacity to light parts of the field, lots of young people and older people who just want to stay fit were unable to train under lights. That situation will be rectified. It will be of massive benefit to the local health and wellbeing of our community. Woy Woy tennis courts are also going to get an upgrade, and the RLCIP will provide a new viewing platform at Rumbalara reserve. We live in such a uniquely beautiful part of the country, and a viewing platform will be a great enhancement not just for locals but also for the key tourism industry and people who come to experience our beautiful horizons across the sea. This is also the site of a fantastic walking track in East Gosford and gives people a tremendous view over the Brisbane Water.

Labor’s commitment to regional communities continues. As a matter of fact, these appropriations include $5.9 million for the Department of Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government to strengthen local engagement and improve whole-of-government coordination of policy.

I move to the project mentioned amongst these appropriations that has the potential to transform the lives of people in regional Australia for the better in a radical way. I am talking, of course, of the National Broadband Network. Part of the allocation in these bills is for funding to develop and implement arrangements for the establishment of a new agency to manage the universal service obligation. As a teacher for over three decades, I am thrilled at the educational prospects that the NBN will offer future generations. For regional areas it holds the potential to be a game-changing technology. Reliable superfast broadband has the potential to improve our lives on the Central Coast in so many ways by allowing our local businesspeople to compete on a global stage. Reducing the need for a commute from Sydney or to Newcastle for work, for education, or for health reasons, the NBN has the potential to open up a suite of previously unimagined e-health opportunities and solutions. I look forward to talking more about the crucial importance of the NBN to the Central Coast as key legislation is debated in the House over the coming days.

There is much else in these appropriation bills that speaks to Labor’s enduring values. There is $10.1 million for the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations to introduce the fair entitlements guarantee to protect employee entitlements when an employer enters liquidation—again, a reflection of the Labor value of looking after Australians who hit adversity. Twenty-one point six million dollars will go to the Australian Sports Commission. This is to continue the Active After-school Communities program until December 2011. I know that all the young people who participate in those Active After-school programs will be delighted that the things they currently enjoy will continue because of this commitment by Labor. There is $10.7 million for Centrelink to provide families with the additional option of receiving childcare rebate payments directly to their bank account on a fortnightly basis from 1 July. Anyone who is bringing up kids knows the pressures on a family budget. It will be fantastic to anticipate that every two weeks you will be able to access this benefit.

Labor’s commitment to being a good regional citizen is also apparent in these appropriation bills. The government proposes to provide AusAID with the following amounts: $202.6 million to maintain Australia’s share in the International Development Association, $10 million for the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program, $10 million for the Palestinian Reform and Development Plan Trust Fund and $12.2 million for the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines.

What I have spoken about today reflects the connection between our values and our work here in the parliament for Australians at home and in our role as international citizens attending to the reality that people out there in the world need our support in a range of financial and in-kind ways. I commend the bills to the House.

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