Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I first welcome the comments by the previous speaker, the member for Maranoa, insofar as he was saying that skills are important. Skills are important for the life chances of Australians right around the country, so I hope that the member will recognise the huge investment that this government has made in this budget in skills, in particular by allowing anyone in this country who wants to obtain a certificate III to have a government subsidised place. That is of critical importance because we know that people who have a certificate III can ensure that they have a better earning capacity. So I think the turbocharged investment in skills, which will be industry led, which has industry involvement, which will open up training opportunities right around this country, should be supported by the member opposite. We are turbocharging when it comes to skills and postsecondary education. It is a pity that he did not acknowledge that huge investment that we have made in the budget, but I have to agree with him on that one point, that skills are important in this country, and I am so pleased that this budget is delivering it. It is a pity that he could not acknowledge that.

Anyway, I rise today to support the 2012-13 budget. This is an incredibly responsible budget and it is also a Labor budget, a budget that builds on our strong economic management. The Labor government have shown that, at the time when it is needed, during a GFC, we will act to support jobs and that when conditions get better and growth returns to trend we will return the budget to surplus to ensure the future prosperity of our nation. Not only are we returning the budget to surplus on time, as promised, but we are also acting to spread the benefits of our strong economy more fairly by delivering relief to families and businesses who are feeling the pinch.

Probably the members on the other side are a little bit embarrassed. Especially, I think, the members would be a little bit embarrassed that, despite the Leader of the Opposition talking a lot about the difficulties people are facing, when it comes down to it, when he has the opportunity to look at fairness and look at helping families, he squibs it. It took this Labor government to set in this budget the long-term foundations with which we can really make the most of the opportunity that will be presented by the Asian century and ensure our lasting prosperity.

The other part, as I said, is that this is also about delivering a fair and balanced budget that looks at those who are doing it tough. This is in direct contrast to the Leader of the Opposition's budget reply speech. Once again there was a lot of fanfare and a lot of theatrics; no detail. It added quite a lot to the bulging $70 billion black hole but, most importantly, was a real kick in the guts to Australian families who are struggling to make ends meet, by saying no to education payments for parents who are putting their children through school. Obviously it is very disappointing that the opposition oppose that, but we are not going to let the opposition stand in our way of delivering for Australian families.

This budget puts us on track for a $1.5 billion surplus in 2012-13. We are returning the budget to surplus, as I said, on time and as promised, despite global uncertainty ripping an estimated $150 billion from government revenue. We are doing it ahead of every single advanced major economy. I think this is very, very important, because we hear a lot from the opposition but they fail to recognise, when they compare us to the rest of the advanced economies in the world, that we are doing extremely well. This has not been by luck. This has been through having a government that is actually willing to act and willing to deliver. I am very, very pleased that we have been working very hard to return the budget to surplus. Returning the budget to surplus does a number of things. It gives us a buffer in times of continuing global uncertainty but it also provides maximum flexibility for the Reserve Bank to cut interest rates further if they deem it necessary. So I think that, while most of the rest of the world is still grappling with the fallout from the global financial crisis, we are seeing our economy continue to grow. Indeed, our economy is seven per cent larger than before the global financial crisis. Once again, we often see a lot of negativity from those opposite, which I think is a little bit of envy, because, at a time when countries around the world are struggling with huge unemployment and are facing recession, we on this side of the House, in government, are creating jobs. More importantly, the envy from the other side comes from the fact that, while they were in office, they could not get a AAA credit rating from all three major global rating agencies. They could not manage that. Even their great hero Peter Costello could not manage that.

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