Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the appropriation bills before the House. Appropriation bills Nos 1 and 5 deal with the ordinary annual services of government while appropriation bills Nos 2 and 6 fund new activities. Appropriation Bill (No. 2) also seeks appropriation authority from the parliament for measures announced in the 2014-15 budget, and it is the measures announced in our budget which I focus on in my contribution today.

The budget reflects our determination to get the budget back on track, to get the nation's finances back on track. It reflects our determination to rein in Labor's mess—year after year of spiralling debt and deficit. It reflects our determination to deliver on what we committed to do so that we can restore the nation's finances and build a stronger and more prosperous economy. Why is this important? It is important because a stronger and more prosperous economy delivers jobs growth and certainty. It helps build confidence in new industries and a future for our children and grandchildren. Our budget calls on everyone to build and contribute. While we have had to make some difficult decisions, our budget also reflects our determination to invest in jobs and infrastructure.

I want to remind Australians about Labor's record—year after year of record deficits: $27 billion, $54 billion, $47 billion, $43 billion, $19 billion and, in this current year, $50 billion. Let us not forget that we are currently paying more than $1 billion a month in interest payments just on the borrowings. Without the hard decisions we are on track to deliver $123 billion in cumulative deficits and $667 billion in debt. Of the top 17 IMF countries surveyed, Labor left us with the fastest growth in spending of anyone in the world and they left us with the third highest growth in debt of anyone in the top 17. Let us not forget how we left the economy, how the Howard government left the economy back in 2007: no net debt, a $20 billion surplus and some $50 billion in the bank.

Our government is making the difficult but necessary decisions to get the budget back on track.

As the budget papers outline, the budget deficit will fall from its current $50 billion to $29.8 billion next year. And by 2017-18 it will be slashed to a manageable $2.8 billion. We are on track to deliver a surplus—the surplus Labor promised it would deliver some 500 times, but never did. As Margaret Thatcher once famously said, 'The trouble with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money.'

And that is what Labor did. It spent money—more than we earnt—year after year, with a reckless disregard for the bottom line and with a reckless disregard for our economy and for future generations. Our decisions in this budget have contributed a $36 billion improvement in the bottom line, and while there is still much work to be done over the next 10 years, we will reduce our debt by nearly $300 billion—from $667 billion to $389 billion.

We have heard from member after member opposite, but what is Labor's plan? What is Labor's plan to stop this reckless spending spree that we have seen over the last six years? Unfortunately, to date we have heard absolutely no plan. We have heard no plan from Labor. All we have heard are suggestions from members such as the Deputy Leader of the Opposition to add another $16 billion to foreign aid. But we have heard no plan whatsoever as to what Labor would do to rein in this reckless spending.

We have some very important features in our budget. Yes, we have had to take some unpopular measures. We have had to make some difficult decisions but, as the Prime Minister has said, this is a budget that reflects that this government has a head, a heart and a backbone. The infrastructure growth package that we have announced will take the government's transport investment to $50 billion by 2019-20. As a result, total infrastructure investment from the Commonwealth, state and local governments, as well as the private sector, will build to over $125 billion. This is so important for jobs and for our future.

We have also announced the full deregulation of the higher education sector, which will remove fee caps for universities and higher education providers and expand the demand-driven system to bachelor and sub-bachelor courses at all accredited higher education providers. This opens up enormous opportunities for providers in my electorate of Corangamite and also for Deakin University—a great university headquartered in the Geelong region. Some fees may go up; some fees may go down, but what we are seeing is greater competition and greater opportunity in the higher education sector.

We have proudly delivered a $20 billion medical research future fund. We have proudly announced a strong strategy such that young people will be required to earn, learn or participate in a work-for-the-dole program. This has been received incredibly well in the Geelong area, where this program will be rolled out as of 1 July, because over the past six years we have seen so many young people languishing on the dole. The previous government had a mickey mouse work-for-the dole program that has made no substantial difference. So we are now proudly saying, 'We care about your future. We want you to gain confidence. We want you to gain skills, and we have a way of doing it.'

The budget also reflects our strong commitment to older Australians. Businesses will receive up to $10,000 for employing workers older than 50 who have been on income support for more than six months. So we have a very strong agenda of driving jobs and driving incentives to employ young people and older people.

I want to put on the record some facts. There has been a lot of misleading statements in relation to a range of issues on this budget. I want to make it very clear that over the next four years Australian government funding to the states for public hospitals will increase by some 40 per cent. Total spending on health will increase by more than $10 billion a year over the next four years.

I turn now to the facts about schools. The government is investing $64.5 billion in schools over the next four years—over $1.2 billion more than Labor would have spent. When it comes to Medicare, 10 years ago we were spending $8 billion a year; today, we are spending $20 billion. We are asking everyone for a modest contribution to ensure that Medicare is sustainable, just as Labor did when it asked for a $6 co-payment for PBS medications. We have a very strong safety net. Australia's 8.6 million concession cardholders and children under 16 will only pay the contribution for the first 10 visits or 10 services each year.

In my electorate of Corangamite, we are making some incredibly important investments. We have announced some $321 million for local projects. These very important projects include the duplication of the Princess Highway and the upgrade of the Great Ocean Road. There are small projects in places like Rokewood, such as the upgrade of the Rokewood War Memorial. There is $200,000 for the Grovedale Sports Club; $3.5 million for Shell Road in Ocean Grove; and $2.5 million for the Colac Central Reserve to address issues of disadvantage as well as to invest in sporting infrastructure. There are a wide range of projects that we are proudly funding.

But the big focus for me is jobs. After being a member of the Victorian economic review panel, chaired by Minister Macfarlane, I am very proud of our $155 million Growth Fund, which is investing in the next generation of jobs—$60 million for next generation manufacturing and $30 million for regional infrastructure. It reflects a very strong focus on investing in long-term sustainable jobs. I refer to the contribution by the member for Corio a short time ago in this debate and the reference to Alcoa. The closure of Alcoa at Point Henry is a terrible blow to our community, but what we are focused on is investing in long-term jobs—not coming up with short-term fixes like Labor did, offering $40 million to Alcoa and promising a long-term future, only to see that collapse.

I want to put on the record that the Geelong Region Innovation and Investment Fund has increased by some $5 million to $29.5 million, thanks to a very important contribution from Alcoa—something that the member for Corio did not acknowledge. This is a very important contribution to the skills and the retraining of Alcoa workers. Through the GRIIF, companies like Carbon Revolution are benefiting. We have heard about Carbon Revolution and the many other companies in my region that are working in advanced manufacturing. Carbon Revolution received a $5 million grant under this scheme and it is delivering another 150 new jobs. So we have a very bright future in advanced manufacturing; but, importantly, we need to focus on delivering long-term sustainable jobs, not the short-term fixes that Labor delivered.

The member for Corio also mentioned Land 400, and I am pleased that he did because, despite his lecturing of our government, this is actually the first time that he has ever mentioned Land 400 in parliament. This is an incredibly important project. I have championed this project. The mayor of the City of Greater Geelong, Darryn Lyons, has also championed this project. It is a $10 billion project. We are fighting very, very hard to bring Land 400 to our region. It is not in the budget, because it has not been approved as yet. That will happen at some point this year, when it comes up for first pass approval. Perhaps Labor does need to get it facts right in relation to that particular project.

I also want to make the point that we have funded the NDIS. The Prime Minister proudly opened the NDIA headquarters in Geelong a number of weeks ago. Despite the scare campaign run by Labor, we have funded the NDIS within the agreed funding envelope with the states—a very proud delivery by our government as confirmed in our budget. Of course, there are some smaller projects, such as the Green Army. There are about four Green Army projects in my electorate. There is a wonderful Surf Coast Solar Town program of some $300,000.

Let us also look at some of these major infrastructure projects. One of the big commitments that the Prime Minister, our infrastructure Prime Minister, has made is to build the roads of the 21st century. I make particular reference to the $3 billion that our government is investing in the East West Link and, importantly for the people of Geelong, in the western section stage 2, which will cut travel time for Geelong commuters by some three hours a week. This is an incredibly important project for Western Melbourne and for Geelong. It will do so much for our productivity and for our local economy but—would you believe it?—Labor is opposing this project. It is one of the most important infrastructure projects for the Geelong region and Victoria that we have seen for some time. Then again, Labor also opposed the upgrade of the Great Ocean Road, such an important upgrade for jobs, tourism and our local economy. I am still mystified by the very deceptive campaign that Labor ran in relation to that critical project. I am very, very proud today as we see more news about the Great Ocean Road projects being rolled out.

Our government is proudly working hard to deliver the structural reform that our economy needs, to grow jobs and to deliver a stronger and more prosperous economy and a safer Australia. We are abolishing the carbon and mining taxes. Of course, Labor is standing in the way, which is an absolute disgrace after it committed in the previous government to terminating the carbon tax. We are cutting the company tax rate by 1.5 per cent. We are cutting red tape by some $1 billion a year. We are investing in the roads of the 21st century. And, most importantly, we are getting the budget back on track. This budget reflects our strong commitment to the Australian people. I commend these bills to the House.

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