Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment) Share this | Hansard source

The iron law of economic history is, whether it is a family, a small business or a nation, no entity can continue to live beyond its means for an extended period and prosper. From the Medicis to the Spanish Empire, the Ottomans, the Asian financial crisis and the issues we have seen in contemporary Southern Europe, the evidence is absolutely clear: nations or empires that live beyond their means on any extended basis are condemning their next generation and those that come after to repay the debt. It is the equivalent of parents leaving the bill for the kids. It is cruel, it is irresponsible, it is utterly against the flow of history and it is an abrogation of responsibility for each and every government that engages in an act of intergenerational theft.

Lest this just be thought to be words, let us deal with the facts and the reality of the last six years. Over the last six years the then Australian government spent $240 billion more than it received in income. The Labor government ran annual deficits over its six budgets during its period of government of $27 billion, $54 billion, $47 billion, $43 billion, $18 billion and $49 billion. It is an extraordinary period of fiscal profligacy unmatched in Australian history.

What does that actually tells us? It tells us that they started with net government expenditure of approximately $270 billion from the 2007-08 budget and net government revenue of $290 billion—a surplus of $20 billion. Over the next six years that was then increased with additional revenue because we had been told that we had a revenue crisis and it was all about a collapse in revenue. We had additional revenue of $70 billion to take the total revenue for the Commonwealth of Australia, the government of Australia, to about $360 billion. In other words, over that six-year period there was a $70 billion increase, so almost $12 billion a year average increase over the period of the Labor government. At the same time their annual expenditure went from $270 billion up to $410 billion. In other words, the revenue increased by $70 billion and their expenditure increased by $140 billion. It was an extraordinary period of fiscal profligacy, which always means the next generation has to pay the bill. And what is that bill? That bill is an annual interest payment of about $12 billion, $1 billion a month. Because we are running in deficit, each of those monthly billion-dollar payments has to be borrowed and added to the deficit. It is putting money on the credit card to pay just the interest on the mortgage. No family and no business can sustain itself under those conditions and nor can any other country. There is an inevitable, fundamental day of reckoning.

Against that background we have made significant changes to redress the fiscal deficit. We have made significant changes which will save approximately $300 billion of national debt which would otherwise have been accrued in the period out to 2023; a consequence of that is the difference between almost $3 billion of interest a month, which would have been accrued, and a little over a billion. It is a massive difference in the situation facing Australia compared with what it otherwise would have been. If you talk about intergenerational responsibility, nothing could be clearer or more fundamental. If you talk about intergenerational irresponsibility, theft or cruel action, nothing could be clearer. Leaving the bill for the next generation is the sign of a diminished generation, not a great generation. A great generation is one which makes sacrifices now for those who are to come in the future.

Against that background we are still running a Commonwealth budget of approximately $412 billion this coming financial year. Part of that is the environment portfolio. Our portfolio resources are about $2.4 billion. Our national environment plan comprises four pillars: clean air, clean land, clean water and heritage. In terms of clean air there are two fundamentals here. The first is to address climate change by directly reducing our emissions rather than to imagine that a higher electricity tax will achieve the job when, as we know, in the first year of the carbon tax, after a $7.6 billion payment, Australia's emissions dropped 0.1 per cent. It is the definition of pain without gain. In this budget we will be abolishing the carbon tax, and we intend to do that by introducing the legislation in the last week of June and then having that debated in the Senate in the first two weeks of sitting. We hope to have it passed during that fortnight, the new Senate willing, but we come with a mandate from the Australian people and an express, clear, absolute commitment not to stop until that is done. It will take effect as of 1 July. In other words, there will be no remittances due to the Commonwealth for any period after 1 July 2014. I make this as a direct statement which can then be used by the Australian Taxation Office.

Beyond that, we have now allocated an additional $1 billion in this budget to take to a total of $2.55 billion the emissions reduction fund. The breakthrough in this budget is twofold: there is the additional billion dollars and the full amount of the $2.55, which can be used from day 1 by the Clean Energy Regulator for the writing of contracts to reduce our emissions on a lowest-cost basis. We will achieve our targets. We will do it clearly, we will do it easily and we will do it without a carbon tax.

The second of the clean air pillars is to work towards a national clean air agreement by mid-2016. Particulate pollution is a killer, and we need to address this issue. I know that the member for Corangamite has raised this issue with me directly as well as in public and there are those with deep concerns in areas such as Anglesey. Particulate pollution is a deep personal project for me, and to have secured the agreement of all the states and territories to work towards a national clean air agreement by 2016 was a singular breakthrough on behalf of the government.

The second of the environmental pillars is clean land. This budget delivers $2 billion in the natural resource management stakes. That has been misrepresented by some in the opposition and so let me be absolutely clear: under the new National Landcare program there is over $1 billion available through the NRM program for NRM and Landcare projects, but then there is another $525 million in Landcare extension, an additional $200 million in the Working for Country program and an additional $200 million through the Land Sector package, as well as $40 million for the Reef Trust. The Green Army is coming. It will provide jobs, opportunity and genuine environmental outcomes for young Australians and for the community. The Landcare package is significant. All up, the Natural Resources Management program, as set out in the portfolio budget statement at page 27, shows over $2 billion, compared with $1.7 billion which was set out for natural resource management at midyear economic forecast period.

Then we turn to the one-stop shop, which is a fundamental part of what we are proposing. We have already cleared $500 billion of delayed project approvals which were left in limbo by the previous government and we have put in place memoranda of understanding with every state and territory for a one-stop-shop approach, which was announced and trumpeted by the former Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, which was embraced and endorsed by the Labor Party at the time and which was defined as absolutely essential. Unfortunately, nothing happened. We have delivered the MOUs; we have already delivered agreements with New South Wales and Queensland; we have published agreements with the ACT, the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia; and I am very hopeful that Tasmania and Victoria will come soon; and we will have operating agreements, in my judgement, with all those states and territories in the relatively near future. That is a huge step forward in maintaining standards but reducing green tape and, in many cases, we are lifting the relevant standards.

This then brings me to the issue of clean water. I am thrilled that we have completed the work which has now spanned three governments and began under John Howard for a Murray-Darling Basin Agreement. It is an early-signature achievement of the current government, and I acknowledge the work of previous governments in this space. An amount of more that $2.3 billion is allocated to water infrastructure—the grand task of replumbing rural Australia to create productivity and water efficiency and to allow more water to be used by both our farmers and our rivers without detracting from the overall balance. It is a fundamentally important approach. Similarly, we are not afraid of new dams in Northern Australia, where appropriate, and there is the grand, long-term Reef 2050 Plan, which is underpinned by the Reef Trust with $40 million initial Commonwealth seeding, potentially up to $89 million of private sector offset funds and more to come as different projects are considered over the coming years.

Against that background there is also the Heritage Strategy, and I am absolutely thrilled and delighted that we have been able to support a national Community Heritage and Icons program. I have garnered support through the decision of the Cabinet to approve a new national icebreaker, which is absolutely fundamental to protecting and preserving our Antarctic heritage. It is a great project; it was critical national infrastructure left unfunded by the previous government. When you put the icebreaker and the Bureau of Meteorology super computer—another piece of critical national infrastructure left unfunded by the previous government—together, that is half a billion dollars of scientific hard infrastructure which is being invested in by the new government. It is the largest ever investment in the future of Antarctica in Australia's history. I think that is a profoundly positive outcome. Against that background, I am delighted that we have played our part in the budget. The environment department and the environment portfolio have contributed significantly, but these are outstanding outcomes: the billion dollars for the Emissions Reduction Fund, the half a billion dollars and more for the Green Army, the Reef 2050 Plan and the Reef Trust and, beyond that, the extraordinary outcome for the Bureau of Meteorology super computer and the icebreaker. These are investments that will last decades, in the case of the icebreaker, and have a profound impact on farm and national productivity in the case of the Bureau of Meteorology.

But at the end of the day our grand historic task is to ensure that we do not fall into the trap of other empires, states and nations who, faced with a period of prosperity, spent more than they had in their treasury. They ran into complacency and left the bill for the next generation. We have a solid foundation but we were on a terrible trajectory. That is what the emergency was: our direction was unsustainable. We are determined to put this country back on a sustainable footing because anything less would be to rob our children and we will not do that. I commend the bill.

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