Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is always good to follow the member for Cowan. I, too, remember those children being forced to hold up the untruthful carbon tax signs. I want to rise tonight to record my disgust at the distrust that the Abbott government has delivered with this budget. Let us start first with the health sector. The introduction of the GP tax is a cruel and broken promise that will hurt the most vulnerable in McEwen. Mr Abbott told the people of Australia, time and time again, that there would be no new taxes but here he is imposing a painful tax on the sick, the elderly and the vulnerable—those who can least afford it. The GP tax means that people in the electorate of McEwen will be taxed almost $8 million a year just for being sick or injured. This comes on top of the $270 million cut from the current provisions of Medicare offers and the increased cost of medicine. What are the sick and the elderly to do? They certainly cannot visit their local public hospitals, since Tony Abbott has cut $200 million from the public hospitals, as well. His budget is forcing the sick and the vulnerable out of the health system, unfairly.

On the night before the election, Tony Abbott promised there would be no changes to pensions, but this budget confirms that that is a broken promise. These vicious cuts will have severe effects on the lives of 24,600 pensioners who live in McEwen. Right across the electorate, pensioners have been coming up to me to express their concerns about the cuts to pensions. I am extremely sad to say that their worst fears have been confirmed. Tony Abbott is slashing the current system that makes sure pensions keep pace with the cost of living; he is instead going to index the pensions by CPI. That highlights just how out of touch the Prime Minister is, since he is oblivious to the fact that CPI increases do not come close to reflecting the real cost of living—especially with all the new taxes he is introducing. These savage cuts are ensuring our pensioners will not be able to make ends meet, especially now, when they are only living off $20,000 a year—or, to put it in terms that the government likes, the equivalent of two-fifths of the paid parental leave scheme. The government wants to pay wealthy women $1,923 per week for having a baby but our pensioners are expected to live off $384.

What about the other callous cuts to important concessions and assistance packages pensioners rely on to keep their heads above water? These programs are designed to help the disadvantaged—and it is just a slap in the face to our seniors and pensioners who have worked all their lives only to be thrown on the scrap heap by this government.

McEwen is going to be hit especially hard by the privatisation of Defence housing. We have 300 families in the Whittlesea area and 308 families in Puckapunyal and the Mitchell Shire living in Defence housing. What are these families going to do when the government privatises the DHA? These families have been left in limbo because their futures in our community are in doubt.

The budget is slashing millions of dollars from local councils, which hits regional areas of Victoria particularly hard. In McEwen, the Macedon Ranges Shire and the Mitchell Shire, which make up the bulk of my electorate, stand to lose $1.1 million each—up to 14 per cent of their revenue. This is going to wreak havoc in the flow-on effects to our communities since these councils will have to increase their rates or cut services to keep pace with rising costs of maintenance and services that they provide to our community.

I have already received dozens of emails and phone calls from constituents concerned about the consistent increases in council rates, but now because of this cruel Abbott government they will face further strain on their family budget. Fewer families in McEwen will be able to make ends meet with the Abbott government's lowering of the threshold for both family tax benefit parts A and B. We have 16,139 families receiving family tax benefit part A and we have 13,856 families receiving the important assistance of family tax benefit part B. So there are 29,995 families in my electorate that are going to be worse off because of the short-sightedness and the heartless money-grubbing tactics of Tony Abbott.

McEwen is one of the biggest users of child care in the country. Our demographics show that. We have the largest population of children aged nought to five in the country. That is how we rely on childcare services right across electorate. The Abbott government has cut millions of dollars in preschool funding, childcare services and accessibility programs outside school hours along with freezing the childcare rebates. Even Mr Abbott's fellow Liberal Party member, and Premier of Victoria, Dr Denis Napthine stated:

The more we look into this federal budget, the more we're seeing impacts ... that are detrimental to our state and our families.

I would not normally agree with Denis Napthine, but on this occasion I think he is dead right. He knows that this federal government is punishing Victorians just because of an ideological position of the Prime Minister.

I would also like to discuss how cruel this budget is in ruining the future of young people in McEwen. The Prime Minister has cut $1 billion of support the apprentices and trade training centres. Labor's program of trade training centres has been integral to building the skills and expertise of young people. Before the election the Prime Minister promised Australia's 400,000 apprentices more financial assistance to help them learn their trade and find a good job—another broken promise. He has cut assistance through the tools of trade program. There are now hundreds of apprentices who are going to be out of pocket, since these cuts come into effect on 1 July.

I would like to highlight the significance of the heartless cuts to youth programs. In McEwen we have several community organisations that work hard to ensure that our youth either remain in school to complete year 12 or at least engage in some sort of training, such as trade training, which I mentioned earlier. The government has stripped away funding for these essential programs, where only $130 million was needed to keep them going until 2015. Ben Falcone-Mayo is a very bright young youth worker from Craigieburn. He is furious about the cuts to youth programs and support made by this government. Regarding the funding cuts, Ben states:

We're looking at a hard future. If you go around stripping programs supporting youth, you're in a lot of trouble. I am a big advocate for counselling for young people when they need it, but for many young people this will be more confusing. We [Australians] are letting young people down. We're all a bit frightened and we have the right to be. There's just so much going on; we've really dropped the ball here.

Cobaw Community Health Service and Kildonan UnitingCare are two organisations also involved in delivering the Youth Connections program in McEwen that will have to close their doors. Young adults are now destined for a lifetime of unemployment and reliance on the welfare system, which has also been cut. In some parts of McEwen, we have a 17.5 per cent youth unemployment rate, which is the fifth-highest in this nation. These young adults will be completely at a loose end with Newstart payments not kicking in for six months. So now they will have no job and no money and, to add insult to injury, the government wants them to completely upend and move away from their families and support networks to find work.

What if they want to study to follow their dreams and make a better life for themselves? With the Abbott deregulation of university fees this is also off the cards. Tony Abbott has deregulated the system so universities can name their price. Experts all agree that if universities get the chance to increase fees, they will. Swinburne University vice-chancellor has stated:

… deregulation will inevitably lead to much higher fees for our students … Over time, full fee deregulation will lead to a higher education system characterised by the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’.

Stuart Edwards from Riddells Creek in my electorate is a single dad with four kids, who works as an alcohol and drug counsellor whilst studying psychology part time. Stuart said:

I don't want to live in a nation where uni places are given to the rich. I don't know how I could afford to send my four kids to uni if these changes happen. Certainly nobody is offering my kids a free education Mr Abbott!

It is an important point, because those opposite in the government, that are making these decisions all benefited from free education. Across McEwen 36.5 per cent of students who completed year 12 last year went to university. All these students will be hit hard by the government's changes to the HECS-HELP debt repayment, changes that will come into effect in 2016. They will be crippled with debt for the bulk of their lives just for striving for a better life and opportunity. Education is just another promise broken by the Abbott government, a government by a party which, as Tony Abbott promised the Australian people before the election, would be 'the party of political honesty'. All this government has shown us is a steady stream of broken promises and no compassion.

But really, we should not be surprised. After all, Tony Abbott said:

We will be a consultative, collegial government. No surprises. No excuses.

See this speech in context