Geoff Lyons (Bass, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

We will always manage the budget to support growth and jobs. We have a good record of managing the budget responsibly and in a balanced way, making savings while supporting growth and jobs. That makes our budget one of the strongest in the developed world and has allowed the Reserve Bank to repeatedly cut interest rates. We will continue to exercise spending restraint even though global factors, commodity prices and a high dollar have weighed more heavily on tax revenues than expected.

Australian families and pensioners are getting extra payments to help with their utility bills. Since July, we have given working families a tax cut so they get more money in their fortnightly pay cheques. Tripling the tax-free threshold has freed up to one million people from having to lodge a tax return. These people will not pay any tax out of their take-home pay.

The world is changing and Australia faces many challenges and big opportunities in the years ahead—an ageing population, increased global competition, environmental degradation, keeping the economy strong beyond the mining boom, the future of manufacturing, rapidly developing new technologies and the Asian century. To meet these challenges, Labor is pursuing the policies Australia needs for the future—putting a price on carbon, building the NBN, sharing the benefits of the mining boom, increasing retirement savings through superannuation reforms and making the aged-care system fairer and more sustainable.

We stand for jobs. We stand up for working families. We represent the people who have little or no voice. These are the values I hold as a member of the Australian Labor Party. That is how I go about making decisions. Improving living standards for this and future generations of Australians means making the right decisions now so Australia can continue to be a winner in this Asian century.

We, the Gillard Labor government, believe that the benefits and dignity of work should be extended to more Australians. Our economy needs more workers and many Australians need work. We have seen more than 800,000 jobs created since our election, but more than 200,000 Australians are not working when they could be. We believe that individuals need to take more responsibility for themselves and that those who can work should work. It is not fair to ask taxpayers to help pay the way of people who should be able to support themselves. To end the cycle of successive generations of families being left to languish on welfare, strong requirements will ensure that opportunities for training and work experience are taken. New incentives mean people can keep more as they earn. I look forward to the Gillard Labor government continuing its good work in this area. I am pleased that many residents in my electorate of Bass will be the recipients of this new payment.

I know we are making the right decisions. We know where we are heading as a government, and I implore the Australian public to hold those opposite to account and to find out exactly what their plans are.

See this speech in context