David Gillespie (Lyne, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

The bills before us encapsulate fair and reasonable measures to get a sound fiscal situation for our nation. I was going to talk about all the really great initiatives in the budget, but, before I proceed, I cannot let stand the fallacies I have heard from those opposite: that the deficit has doubled and that we have abandoned our stated aim to get our fiscal situation under control. With all due respect, people are ignoring MYEFO, which is independently produced by Treasury. It showed that the claim that the previous Treasurer had left a $17 billion deficit was utterly false—it was in the mid-40s. Our debt trajectory has been almost halved, from $667 billion, by some very hard decisions.

Anyone who thinks that the figures that came from the previous Treasurer are correct—the guru of magic pudding economics, or 'ouzo economics', as my colleague the member for Kooyong has so eloquently outlined—is deluding themselves. In his last budget, at the same time he said there was going to be a $17 deficit, the previous Treasurer said there was going to be surplus after surplus. Anyone who believes that is deluding themselves. MYEFO, not within a year or two of the coalition being given the responsibility of governing but within months, demonstrated that the deficit was actually closer to $45 billion; and we have reduced it considerably. And it would have been reduced even more if the Labor Party had not blocked $30 billion worth of projected savings, including $5 billion that they themselves had prosecuted when they were in government. It is absolute hypocrisy. I cannot believe that people would stand up and say this with a straight face.

This year's budget is fair and reasonable. It is the latest step in getting a stronger economy and getting our books under control. For the last week I have been visiting many small businesses and I have not had anyone criticise the incredible incentives that are there for genuine small businesses—a 1.5 per cent tax reduction for all ABNs and a five per cent tax reduction for unincorporated businesses with a ceiling of $1,000. Whether it is a trailer business, a benchtop business or a motorcycle business, they are all in unison. This is a great initiative. This will help us. There are a few businesses I visited who have a turnover of more than $2 million. They are not going to be the beneficiary of this directly, but they will benefit from it indirectly because most of their customers are the very businesses that this measure is targeted at. With small business doing well, large and medium sized businesses will do well as a consequence.

Most of the agricultural sector in my electorate of Lyne qualifies for these initiatives too. Most family farms have a turnover of under $2 million. Accelerated depreciation for fencing, for water infrastructure and for silos and sheds is greatly appreciated because it will help them cope with drought by giving them the ability to store water in times of plenty for when there is not plenty of food and fodder. These are really good and sensible initiatives. Any business that takes up these initiatives will be doing it not just because it is an opportunity that is good for them; it still has to add up for their business. People are not going to spend money unless it is good for their business and allows it to grow.

In this budget, funding continues for our newly announced Jobs Active program, including an expanded, reactivated and re-energised Work for the Dole program. This program will keep job seekers active and engaged in skill development and the workforce so that they do not transition to a life of long-term dependence on Newstart. All of the other initiatives in this space that have previously been announced will be funded going forward. These include the Restart program for middle aged people who have been unemployed and the relocation assistance grants. In the family space, the new childcare package will make most people who are earning between $60,000 and $120,000 roughly $30 better off every week of the year. That means child care, which will let them get into work or stay in work, will be better supported. We have changed from our previous proposal because what people wanted is childcare support. This budget is delivering a system that will deliver that.

In my electorate of Lyne we have over $1 billion worth of road-building activity happening now, and this budget funds the second tranche of funds delivering that. In other areas of the state, north of the Lyne electorate, a 100-kilometre stretch of road is being funded by this budget. This is wonderful infrastructure that will link the Mid North Coast with the markets of Brisbane with a two-lane highway.

I moved to the Lyne electorate over 23 years ago now. They were talking about the Pacific Highway being finished 23 years ago, and it is finally this Abbott coalition government that is actually delivering the goods on funding to the states on the 80/20 mix to make it happen rapidly. One only has to take a drive between Port Macquarie and Kempsey to see that it is virtually a continuous construction site for up to 30 kilometres. It is wonderful to see it: two bridges spanning the Hastings River, and then another bridge, a couple of bridges to span the Wilson River, and then up into Kempsey and the Macleay.

There is funding—the second tranche going forward—for the work on the Bucketts Way, which was one of my campaign commitments: $8 million each year for two years to Taree Council and Gloucester Council to deliver improvements to the surface of the Bucketts Way, a trade and tourism artery in that part of the Lyne electorate. Not only is that in this budget, but we have delivered $9.6 million for the Nabiac Sands aquifer project, which will deliver water security for the whole Great Lakes and Myall Lakes area as well as the Manning—that is $9.6 million of really important infrastructure spending that will secure residential growth and industry growth in all those areas. Forster, Tuncurry, down towards Nabiac and in the Manning Valley, Wingham, Taree and Gloucester are all going to be benefiting from it.

Pension indexation has reverted back to the best of MTAWE or CPI. So, not only will the pension go up twice a year but it will go up, as most pensioners in my electorate wanted, by the best index available. We are delivering the goods for most pensioners. Pensioners who were on a part pension may even get more support where it is needed most, at the lower end of the scale. They are fair and reasonable, and if we are going to get our budget under control we have to control our spending, and that is what the members on the other side do not seem to understand. The previous speaker finished his dissertation based on fallacies. The deficit when the coalition was entrusted with the Treasury and the government benches was not $17 billion; it was $43 billion or $44 billion. I would have to check the exact number of billions, but it was vastly greater than what the previous Treasurer alluded to. Earlier speakers are still living in this fantasy world thinking they left here with only a $17 billion deficit. It is absolutely ridiculous.

The medical research future fund is still a commitment from this coalition government. The money will not get there as quickly, but it will build to the $20 billion by 2023, out of savings through our general measures inside the Medicare Benefits Schedule review and other efficiencies. And, as the Prime Minister has said on many occasions, our greatest responsibility is to keep our nation secure, to keep citizens of Australia secure in their own home and in their own country. So we have allocated responsibly extra funds to the Australian Defence Force and the Australian Federal Police because of the scourge of radical Islamic terrorism and all sorts of terrorism. It is an ongoing feature of the world we live in now that there is this ugly, ugly phenomenon. An appropriate response is not to run the Australian Federal Police and the security forces down, like the previous government managed to do over the last few years of their tenure. We have actually increased it and got it back on a reasonable level so that they can deliver the security forces and capability that the nation requires.

So, all in all we have a families budget and we have a small business budget. It is encouraging businesses to have a go. I can only vouch for what I found in my own electorate in the last week. People really appreciate that they are out there putting their heart and soul into their small business. They have mortgaged their houses. They have worked like demons for 10, 15 or 20 years getting their family business up and they are seeing some tangible encouragement from their government, and they really appreciate it, because they are employing lots of people. When you are running a small business you get paid last, and your employees get paid first. That is an issue with small business, and to give them sensible, fiscally responsible help through accelerated depreciation and the tax benefits will increase their cash flow.

This is a very fair and reasonable budget. It has made the hard calls, and we are persisting with getting our budget under control so that the mortgage the nation has, which is our debt, gets back into the black. Our debt will take some time to pay off, and we can only do it if we get the deficit under control. The deficit is like the P&L: when there is a deficit we are in the red. The previous government had deficit after deficit after deficit, for as far as the eye could see, and we have had to make the difficult decisions and turn it around. These budget papers put those decisions into effect, and I thoroughly commend them to the House.

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