Eric Hutchinson (Lyons, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise in grievance for the Australian people. They are living with an opposition that is in denial—an opposition that has no solutions and that offered in the budget reply speech absolutely nothing. The opposition is living in denial. After six years, Australians indeed had much to grieve about: six years of Labor; six years of waste; six years of reckless spending; $50 billion left in cash, after starting with a $20 billion surplus in 2007; spending at the fastest rate of any OECD country over the six years of the previous government; debt growing the third fastest of any of the IMF countries, to peak, as Treasury have announced, at $667 billion; deficits left over the forward estimates of $123 billion. It simply could not go on. We simply could not keep paying the mortgage on the nation's credit card with borrowed money.

So we are tackling the debt and deficit legacy that has been left by the previous government. These are difficult decisions, but we are up for it. These are difficult but necessary decisions that are going to be made, not in the political interests of the Liberal Party but in the best interests and the important interests of all Australians.

The budget last Tuesday was not an end in itself. It was a start in the process of putting in place the building blocks, in the form of infrastructure—the single biggest investment in infrastructure that this nation has seen: $50 billion, to be leveraged up to $125 billion with support from the states and the private sector.

In response to the member for Canberra, I point to the fundamental structural reforms in higher education. These reforms open up the Australian universities—absolutely necessary to enable them to compete with our neighbours in Asia, who are increasingly focused on education. What is wrong? A year ago the up-front cost of going to a higher education institution for any student in Australia was zero. Next year it will still be zero. We all know that those with a tertiary education will, over their lifetime, earn nearly a million dollars more. Members of the Labor Party confirmed this today. For a small contribution paid back after they hit that $50,000 point, they will earn 75 per cent more. Interest is calculated at the bank bill rate. If interest rates do change, they are capped for students at six per cent. What a great deal for students!

Not only that, 80,000 more students around Australia will have the opportunity to get a tertiary education. For my home state of Tasmania, this is very welcome. Those diploma courses, those sub-bachelor degrees—these are the things that many of the regional universities are offering. That may not be the case in Melbourne and Sydney, but in the regions that is so vital. Not only have we extended support to the non-degree courses, we have effectively extended it into the trades. For the first time those people who want to go forward and study a trade will be given the opportunity with a $20,000 loan—staggered and paid back only once they start earning at an appropriate level.

Another big reform is the deregulation of university fees. You will start to see universities specialising. Yes, there will be some fees that go up. There is no doubt about that. But there will also be other universities that are able to offer courses more cheaply. That in itself will give more students the opportunity to get into higher education, to better themselves and to earn more money over the course of their lives. It is also important to remember that $1 in every $5 of increased fees that any universities charge will be going into scholarships and bursaries for people from low-SES communities. That will be legislated. It is a welcome reform.

The opportunity for many more young people to have a higher education—be it in the trades, in sub-bachelor degrees or in bachelor degrees and beyond—is welcome in my state of Tasmania. It is a true reformist agenda. We are tackling a challenge here that previous governments have failed to deal with. I feel that this is something that this government will, in time, become very proud of.

I will touch very briefly on the $7 co-payment. The $7 co-payment applies only to those practices that bulk-bill. Goodness knows I would love to find a bulk-billing practice close to my own home. Those people that hold a concession card will pay a maximum of $70 per year. Of the $7, $5 will be going—in addition to the federal government's contribution—to the establishment of the world's biggest medical research endowment fund. This is an area where Australia has been successful in the past and it is an area where Australia can again be successful in the future. The $2 remains with the GP. If, in his judgement, there is a genuine case that Mrs Smith or Bill Jones is unable to find the $7 for the co-contribution, it can be waived. That is at the discretion of the GPs—who know their patients better than anybody.

In the time I have left I will touch briefly on a policy that is perhaps one of our more controversial but is a policy that I have been a supporter of for a very long time—the Paid Parental Leave scheme. The biggest winners will be small-business employers.

For the first time they will be able to compete for high-quality female labour with their counterparts in big business and the public service, which already offer such facilities. Small business employers will be the big winners.

It will be low- to middle-income mums who benefit. We all know the superannuation at retirement that females have is substantially lower than that of their male counterparts. This is one measure to give them every opportunity, if they so choose, to get back into the workforce. We know that in years to come the population will age. I would remind those opposite that this was never a welfare reform; this was a productivity initiative. It was a productivity initiative designed to give mothers the very best opportunity to get back into the workforce, because we are going to need them Those opposite can stick their heads in the sand, but we are going to need them in years to come to pay for people as our population ages.

As more people depend on the services the government provides, we are going to need people who can actually earn money and pay taxes because, the last time I looked, the government had no money. The government has only the money that has been earned by others in paying taxes, including businesses that pay taxes. These are genuinely important reforms that are based around delivering productivity and encouraging high-quality female labour by giving women the best opportunity of getting back into the workforce to pay taxes and support those services we depend on government to provide.

Finally, I joined the Liberal Party because I fundamentally believe in supporting the people in our community who are the most vulnerable. This is a budget that does exactly that. A safety net a exists within these reforms that are necessary. Are they hard and difficult? Yes, they are. They are not politically savvy but they are in the best interest of the people of Australia. I strongly applaud the Treasurer, the Minister for Finance and the Prime Minister for upholding the value that as Liberals we hold dear—and that is to support those people in our community who are least able to support themselves.

See this speech in context