Paul Neville (Hinkler, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2010-11. Once again we are seeing a typical old-fashioned Labor budget. It is big on taxes and big on spending, but fails to help households battling higher costs of living. That is before we even get to a carbon tax. This government has abandoned its citizens, who are struggling to make ends meet because of spiralling prices for petrol, electricity and gas, groceries, health costs and home repayments. Beyond that, this dull and unimaginative document will only be remembered for its hit on middle Australia.

In this budget this government could only scrape together $2.7 billion in savings over five years while the total spending will amount $1.9 trillion. That is the equivalent of 14c in every $100. The majority of those savings will not even come until 2014-15. Bear in mind that around one-third of Labor's so-called savings are really taxes—some savings! Under this government this year's budget deficit will rise to $49.4 billion and the forecast deficit for 2011-12 has blown out by $10.3 billion to $22.6 billion. Net government debt has climbed to $107 billion in 2011-12 and is forecast to remain over $100 billion right through the forward estimates. The previous speaker said that it is marvellous that we will have the budget in the black. Having the budget in the black is just part of the equation; the other part is getting rid of the debt of $100 billion.

This year's budget confirms how out of touch Labor is with Australian families because it has done nothing to help them cope with increasing costs of living. Let us be clear here: out-of-control costs force families to try to cope with half-baked Labor policies such as the home insulation scheme, cost blow-outs with school halls, $1.7 billion in failed border protection policies and so on. A Galaxy poll conducted by the Courier Mailas recently as 30 May shows a whopping 70 per cent of Queenslanders have completely lost faith in the ability of the state and federal Labor governments to spend their money prudently. Some of the failed schemes include $20 million for Fuelwatch, dumped; $13 million for GroceryWatch, dumped; and the scandalous $2.5 billion blow-out in the insulation scheme, now dumped. I had a lady on the phone this afternoon from Howard who is still waiting to get her roof fixed because the insulation was not put in properly 12 months ago. Add to that the Queensland government's inability to get health and payroll systems right and its bloody-minded resolve to sell off public assets and it is little wonder that Queenslanders have had a complete gut-full of the Labor Party. At the local level last week, 25 May, the Bundaberg NewsMail carried a report of locals going without food, not using their stoves and favouring blankets over heaters to combat skyrocketing power prices, especially during the winter months. It is frightening that that could go on in Australia.

Can anyone from the government explain to Kim Ross, a disability pensioner in my electorate, why she should have to sell many of her prized possessions to try to make ends meet? Can anyone from the government suggest to me how the Salvation Army's Tom Quinn Community Centre, which does remarkable work, can continue to hand out welfare to locals when they have already handed out $90,000 in assistance this year compared with $44,000 for the same period last year? These are the sorts of scenarios that are playing out in regional Australia and this government is doing nothing to help. By way of an aside, how could anyone contemplate a carbon tax against a background of community suffering like this. It just defies rational explanation.

I want to touch on a few important local projects that the coalition backed at the last election and that Labor has ignored. This year's budget overlooked every single one of these projects. At the last election I could not get my opponent to even match me on obvious things that are required in Bundaberg and Hervey Bay. The first is the Fraser Coast’s much admired youth mentoring program, the Triple S program, which requires around $600,000 over three years. The volunteers working on the Triple S program keep disconnected local youth connected with education and keep them in the loop so that they are not removed from school and other disciplinary regimes, but are treated in a much more innovative way. The program had to cease because of a lack of funding from the Commonwealth, and it is yet to be reinstated. I have spoken to the Attorney-General and he has been very sympathetic, but action is needed urgently. I note by way of passing that in the electorate of New England—and I applaud this—a similar scheme was recently granted $1.5 million.

Secondly, fixing the mouth of the Elliott River, which is just south of Bundaberg, is one project that appeals to me. It has been silting up for some time. For me it is one of the biggest environmental challenges facing the Bundaberg region and it is also a public safety issue as navigating the entrance to the river is becoming dangerous. Clearing the mouth of the river will be a big task, and it is one that the coalition was ready to get stuck into with a $2 million commitment to get the job done. Yet, it has been put on the backburner by the current government.

The coalition was also prepared to spend $100,000 to investigate a new bridge on the Burrum River, which would create a more direct link between the coastal communities in Hinkler as well as a new and direct tourist route. At a time when business is so low, tourism really needs assistance.

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