Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Wright. I also thank the shadow minister at the table for his previous questions which I will get to in this answer. The government has made clear that in order to rebuild Australia and to build a strong and resilient economy everybody has to do, as the member for Wright indicated, their share of heavy lifting. The last budget was brought down on 13 May by the Treasurer and the member for North Sydney quite clearly indicated that it was a 'contribute and build budget' and that everybody has to share the burden of the savings which need to be done in order to get our country back on track.

As announced in the 2014-15 budget, there will be a one-year's pay freeze on members of parliament and senior public servants. The Life Gold Pass Scheme is now closed to new senators and members entering parliament and former members who did not previously qualify for a Life Gold Pass who re-entered parliament on or after 6 March 2012. The government announced as part of the budget that for those who have qualified, the gold pass travel entitlements will be wound back for former and current members of parliament. As part of these reforms, spouses will no longer be eligible for travel and limits will be placed on eligibility and the class and number of trips per annum.

These changes are expected to deliver savings of $5 million over five years. It might not seem much in the context of $667 billion, but if left unchecked and let go and if we just do what Labor did for six years and bring in populist budgets, the costs will add up. But every cent counts and every dollar saved counts towards paying back some of the chaotic debt and deficit that we have inherited. It is a modest but important contribution to the repair task of the budget.

We are also removing the entitled members and senators use of private employment print agencies when recruiting personal and electorate staff. Under the Members of Parliament (Staff) Act 1984 parliamentarians can choose to access their printing and communications entitlement to advertise for staff through print media should they wish to do that. These changes build on the changes stated in the government's announcement on 9 November 2013 on a range of reforms to strengthen the rules governing parliamentarians' business expenses and to improve the integrity of the parliamentary entitlements framework. It is all about accountability. It is also worth noting that the base salary for senators and members as at 1 July 2013 is $195,130 per annum, so parliamentarians will also pay the debt levy that is currently in front of the Senate.

The shadow minister asked me a series of questions earlier. I can tell him that Appropriation Bill (No. 6) provides for a total of just over $972 million in funding in 2013-14 and of this nearly $319 million relates to payments to states, territories and local government. The amendments will enable these payments. Quite correctly, he pointed out that there was an amendment to Appropriation Bill (No. 6) 2013-14, circulated earlier today. A schedule was inadvertently omitted from the bill and the government will be moving an amendment at the appropriate point in proceedings to ensure that the schedule appears in the bill as intended. It is expected that that will go before the House this Thursday. The text of the amendment has been circulated and it will be formally moved at the appropriate point in proceedings.

These things happen. Certainly the previous government inadvertently forgot to mention a whole lot of things, like the fact that they would be imposing a carbon tax, which means a $550 slug to every family. Certainly every business is paying for the carbon tax which the Prime Minister at the time, Julia Gillard, said she would never, ever impose. These things happen. They should not happen but they do.

He talked about the Albury-Wodonga Corporation. That came in when Gough Whitlam was the Prime Minister and there was great whoopla and fanfare that it was going to end state and federal anomalies, and certainly border anomalies that exist between New South Wales and Victoria. At the time it was a great thing. It certainly boosted regional Australia. The amount the shadow minister asked about has not been quantified.

But we are not just about building up Albury-Wodonga. We are about building up regional cities, towns and villages right throughout Australia. That is why the member for Mayo in conjunction with the Deputy Prime Minister are getting out there with an infrastructure fund looking at roads, primarily, but also inland rail and a whole host of other measures which are going to make regional Australia strong again. Regional Australia was ignored under six years of Labor, but we are getting on with the job of doing the sorts of things that are going to boost productivity in those areas which grow the food and the fibre for Australians.

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