Jason Wood (La Trobe, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the appropriation bills. The government was voted in last year with a clear mandate. The people of Australia wanted change. Labor created an awful mess, and the people wanted it cleaned up. Remember the pink batts disaster—$4 billion wasted, 250 house fires and, most tragically, the death of four young Australians. We had the school hall rip-offs; cash for clunkers, Fuelwatch and GroceryWatch—I believe they were the favourites of the shadow Treasurer; and the set-top box farce. Then we had $900 cheques going out to deceased Australians and Australians living overseas, and that was done with the intention of somehow spurring on the economy. The list goes on and on—$100 million a day was being added to the national credit card to pay for all this mess; the Labor Gillard-Rudd mess.

The Abbott government was elected to stop the boats, repeal the carbon tax, build the infrastructure for the 21st century and get the budget back under control. We are getting on with what we were elected to do. The first duty of the government is not only to do what is easy; it is to do what is right and what is necessary for the country. Hard decisions on the economy are never easy. Governments, like families, need to live within their means. Decisions have to be made for the long-term welfare of our country, and the budget handed down by the Treasurer is the right budget for Australia at this time. From 2007 to 2013, government real spending outgrew growth in the economy by 13 per cent. We simply were living beyond our means. In those six years, household health costs increased 35 per cent, education costs increased 39 per cent, gas prices increased 71 per cent, water and sewerage prices increased 79 per cent and electricity prices increased 101 per cent. The government inherited a budget position which was unsustainable for the long term. Firm and decisive action is required to put the budget back on a secure and sustainable footing. To delay the action would only worsen the problem, imposing an even greater financial burden on future Australians. We could not go on running up massive debts for our children and our grandchildren to pay for.

After six years of Labor—who inherited a $20 billion surplus and left $123 billion worth of deficits, and turned nearly $50 billion in the bank into a projected net debt of well over $200 billion—we all face a record Labor debt and deficit situation. Each Australian's share of Australian government debt is currently $13,500. Unless we take action, this will have grown by $1,100 per year, reaching $24,000 in a decade. I must say, when the Labor Party sets out to destroy an economy, it really does a great job. We are paying $1 billion in interest a month on Labor's debt. Most people cannot comprehend paying $1 billion. It is one thousand million dollars—staggering. And this is just the interest. Can you imagine what we could do as a nation by just eliminating the interest payment? For instance, $12 billion, just one year's interest bill, could build us world-class teaching hospitals in every capital city in Australia. So what could we have done? Sat on our hands and left our children to pay off Labor's debt, or borrowed more money to pay off their interest bill? Not on the side of the House—we want Australia to remain the best country in the world. Without a healthy economy, this is simply not possible. We as a nation must live within our means. We believe in equality of opportunity, not equality of outcomes. We must give every Australian the opportunity to get on and make the best of their lives. Only through hard work can we get ahead—but, again, we need a healthy economy.

I congratulate Minister Pyne on the budget's higher education reforms. They are innovative and equitable. The reforms are designed to spread the opportunity of higher education to more students across more institutions in our society. The reforms will ensure that our higher education system is not left behind in an increasingly competitive international environment. Not all students leaving secondary school necessarily want to do a higher degree.

A budget initiative which I was very excited about is the $20,000 trade support loans. These loans are designed to help young people doing accredited apprenticeships by providing them with an allowance to support their incomes. The money can be used in any way the recipient chooses, such as to buy tools, to put towards their mortgage, to pay rent on their house, to help with a car loan or to pay for the phone. The allowance will be set up to provide $8,000 in the first year, $6,000 in the second year, $4,000 in the third year and $2,000 in the final year. The great news is that, when they complete their apprenticeship, they will receive a 20 per cent refund. That is the incentive to ensure they finish their apprenticeship.

The pathways initiative gives students choice about where they want to start their higher education journey. For the first time ever, the Australian government will provide support to all undergraduate students in all registered higher education institutions. We will provide Commonwealth supported places for higher education diplomas, advanced diplomas, associate degrees and bachelor degrees. About 80,000 students will benefit from this change by 2018. That is an additional 80,000 young Australians going to universities.

Universities will be empowered to set their own fees for their courses, which in turn will generate more competition for students between a greater number of providers. More competition between the higher education providers is good for students. They will have a greater choice when it comes to courses. Competition will drive quality and encourage providers to be more responsive to educational needs.

The deregulation of higher education fees will also fund a significant new Commonwealth scholarship equity initiative. Twenty per cent of any additional revenue of higher education providers from increased fees will be allocated to Commonwealth scholarships and bursaries for the disadvantaged. That is absolutely fantastic for the electorate of La Trobe—20 per cent of any revenue increase arising out of the charging of higher fees by education institutions must go into scholarships.

All students will still be protected by the HECS loan system, no matter which university college or course they choose. All students under this reform package will continue to access the HECS loan system, ensuring they will only begin repayment of the cost of their education once they are earning a decent income—the income level where it kicks in is $50,000.

The welfare reforms in this budget are necessary for the sustainable future of our country. They are aimed at increasing everyone's ability to contribute to the economy. The basic philosophy is that everyone who can contribute should contribute. The government will continue to provide assistance for families, seniors, people with a disability and their carers, and those most in need. The budget includes $146 billion of welfare spending, which is 35 per cent of the entire budget expenditure. This includes pensions, family payments, unemployment benefits and child support.

The facts are stark. If we do not act on the welfare cost blow-out, the system will slowly grind to a halt. For instance, the ratio of people of traditional working age to those over 65 will decline from 5 in 2010 to less than 3 in 2050. Between 2010 and 2050, the number of people aged 65 to 84 will more than double—and those aged 85 and over will more than quadruple. The coalition government is taking responsible steps to ensure a sustainable welfare system is maintained now and into the future.

A good example of this is the 'learn or earn' initiative. The government believes that assistance to the unemployed should help them move into employment rather than encourage them to remain on welfare. In order to reach their full potential, all young Australians who can work should be earning, learning or participating in work for the dole. From January 2015, new job seekers up to 30 years of age applying for Newstart or youth allowance will participate in job search and employment service activities, funded by the government, for six months before receiving the payment. Current recipients of Newstart up to 30 years of age will also be covered by these same requirements from 1 July 2015. Young people who do not have a full capacity to work—that is, their capacity is less than 30 hours—who are in education and training or who have a significant disability will be exempt from these requirements, as will those with parental responsibilities. This will help our young people into a more secure future, while taking the load off our already strained welfare costs.

In regard to building Australia's infrastructure, the budget is responding to the needs of the economy by building infrastructure that will drive economic growth, create jobs and improve productivity. In Victoria, the East West Link is vital to the Australian and Victorian economies, and will help address the major transport challenges currently facing Melbourne. The estimated $14 billion to $18 billion project will reduce travel times by up to 20 minutes for commuters travelling from areas such as Geelong and Ballarat to the city, but will also be of great benefit to those in La Trobe. The East West Link will improve accessibility to important economic and employment centres across the city and will provide an immediate boost to the economy by creating approximately 6,000 jobs during the peak construction periods of both sections.

On health, this budget has the Abbott coalition government creating the world's largest medical research endowment fund, the $20 billion Medical Research Future Fund. It will find the cures of the future and be funded by the health reforms. Contributions will come from a new patient contribution to health services and from other health savings from the budget. The endowment fund when mature will double current direct medical research funding with an extra $1 billion every year.

Locally, in La Trobe we received $500,000 to assist with the redevelopment of the clubrooms at Emerald's Chandler Reserve; $250,000 to assist the South Belgrave Football Club build a new pavilion—and this will be used by the entire South Belgrave community; $1.5 million to build a basketball centre at Emerald primary school—also to be used as a home base by the Emerald Lakers; $50,000 has already been delivered to the Olinda Reserve for their hilltop project; $380,000 to assist the Rythdale-Officer-Cardinia Netball Club develop a new netball pavilion; $500,000 to assist the development of the Upwey Tecoma community recreational sporting hub—and, again, there will be so many who will use this facility; $1 million to assist the construction of the Officer Toomah Centre to offer care and support for vulnerable families and individuals in La Trobe and other surrounding electorates; and $500,000 towards the Cockatoo Ash Wednesday memorial project.

I am very proud to say $1.5 million has already been committed to Insight Vision, the only primary school in Victoria for the blind and visually impaired. That announcement was made two days before the election. There was no media; it was just one of those great initiatives by the coalition which I am sure all members of the parliament would agree is a very worthy cause. I am also extremely pleased to see that the Dandenong Ranges have done exceptionally well. The major issues there are bushfires and weed reduction. There has been $450,000 provided for on-ground activities to be delivered by the Community Weeds Alliance. I look forward to seeing a biological control for wandering trad delivered by the CSIRO. There is $150,000 for the Bullen Bullen Bush Tucker and Medicine Tours, and I very much look forward to seeing Indigenous leader Murrundingi lead these tours. There is $2.4 million to a range of community groups for wildlife recovery, weed reduction and bushfire fuel reduction under the guidance of a project steering committee, including the Olinda and Gembrook Community Advisory Group.

Overall, I do agree that the budget made tough decisions but the constituents of La Trobe and all over the country must realise that the mess this country was put in was simply due to the overspending by the Rudd and Gillard Labor governments and their members who supported every single measure.

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