Bernie Ripoll (Oxley, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I am happy to talk about the carbon tax; I am happy to take the interjection. They giggle and laugh, but the reality is they have the same targets, the same policy. Everything is the same except, on the Labor side, the government side, we have a market based solution and we will be taxing 500 big companies, 500 big polluters. On the opposition side, same target, same policy, same outcomes, except they are going to tax ordinary people—households—directly. That is, in your hip pocket, in your home and at the kitchen table. That is who will have to pay under the opposition's policy. The Liberal-National Party have done this greatest turnaround in history. Once were maybe something; today are barely nothing. Because today they want to tax ordinary people and let the big polluters get away with it. You cannot even imagine it—this is the Liberal Party of Menzies over here, because they just want to tax ordinary people on absolutely everything.

Schoolkids bonus is for ordinary families. We put a tax incentive in place and not everyone accessed it, not everyone made use of it, so we have a better plan. And the better plan is to give it to them directly. They are responsible parents out there and, one way or another, they will spend that money on their kids. In whatever form it takes they will spend that money on their kids. It is good for them, it is good for their kids and it is good for the economy. For the life of me, I cannot understand how an opposition could credibly stand up and oppose such a positive change. They talk about the carbon tax. Let me tell you that, when they introduced the GST, there was no compensation. You just had to wear it. That was it; just wear it. The impact of that was 10 times what the impact of the carbon tax will be. But, at least, we have recognised that where we make people pay a little bit extra, indirectly, where there will be a cost, we will be keeping an eye on how those costs work and ensuring that people will be compensated for that. The list is long. We are protecting vulnerable children. There is more money and we are ensuring children get better access to education.

In this budget we have not forgotten disability and ageing. We have put a significant amount, billions of dollars, into the aged-care sector, ensuring that as people age they actually get some dignity, they can stay at home longer and they are not forced into a home and, very importantly, are not forced to sell their home to get into another one. That is something that only a Labor government would do. On this side we do not have discussions about kero baths; we actually have discussions about giving people proper care. That is what we do over on this side and we deliver it through this budget in the toughest of times. Again, I cannot believe that this mob over here would oppose a National Disability Insurance Scheme on the scale of Medicare. It will take some years to put into place, but you have to start somewhere. You have to recognise the need. We have been listening to people across the political spectrum talk about the need for this for 20 years. When is it going to happen? It will happen under a Labor government. We have already put it into place; that is what we are doing right now. There are many other programs: dental programs, making sure people in the workforce have skills, better safety on regional buses, Roads to Recovery—a great program, and we are continuing to fund it for the next five years.

I also want to make particular note today, in the small amount of time I have left, that it is World IBD Day. I mentioned earlier that the government is increasing funding for bowel cancer screening, and it gives me an opportunity to speak about inflammatory bowel disease. World IBD Day was Saturday, 19 May. It was the second World IBD Day. The conditions that make up IBD are Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Both are very debilitating diseases that mostly hit young people and are largely unsupported and unfunded in this country. It is a great tragedy to see what the hardworking young people that are affected by this disease have to do to survive and fund their own way. Even though we have great programs and a first-class Medicare system—the best Medicare and pharmaceutical system in the world—there is still a lot more that we can do.

I am making it a mission of mine to make people aware of this. I helped set up the Crohn's and Colitis Parliamentary Friendship Group with Andrew Laming. I have good support from both sides of this House on what is recognised across the spectrum as a really bad disease that needs more work. The causes of inflammation of the bowel are more prevalent in society than epilepsy, MS, rheumatoid arthritis, eczema or schizophrenia—it is just little understood and little known. It is a responsibility for all of us to make people aware of this, and I have certainly taken that on.

Over 61,000 Australians have IBD and a new study indicates that 18 people per 100,000 have Crohn's disease and 11 people per 100,000 have ulcerative colitis. The peak onset age is between 15 and 40, in a person's prime, and it affects not only the sufferer but also their friends, their families and their ability to work. Often you will find that they are self-employed people who, from an early age, understood that their disease meant they could not hold down a regular job and, therefore, had to create their own job and their own work. I know a number of people who have this very tragic disease and who work very hard not to be a burden on taxpayers or on others, including their family, but to fight this disease as best they can.

It is a chronic condition and sufferers require long periods of expensive medication and face multiple bouts of major surgery—some having surgery 20, 30 or 40 times. If you can imagine what that does to a person's body, you can understand just how chronic this disease is. Apart from the obvious personal cost, there is also a huge economic cost. A 2007 study by Access Economics found that the cost to the community is around $2.7 billion—a $500 million financial cost and a $2.2 billion cost in lost wellbeing and productivity through absenteeism, workplace separation, early retirement and premature death. Keep the 2007 figures in mind because I know today they are much higher.

Last year I started the parliamentary friendship group and I am very thankful for the members of that group. Tonight we have a major function on to mark World IBD Day. I challenge everyone here to pay more attention to this chronic disease and do whatever they can to find out about people in their own electorates who have it. (Time expired)

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