Ken O'Dowd (Flynn, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to start off on a different note to that where the member for Canberra left off. I am excited about this budget. I would like to start by thanking the Treasurer for delivering a budget that does not benefit certain sections of the community, but benefits all Australians. If we have a strong small business sector, we have a strong economy and then all Australians benefit. Keep in mind that small business employs the bulk of our workforce and, without them profiting, we will go nowhere. That has been the case for the last few years. We lacked confidence in the business sector and in employing more Australians; we lacked confidence in the overall theme of getting up and having a go. I feel that this budget will turn that around immensely. I congratulate the Treasurer for putting in place the mechanism so that business will have a go to get the country going once again.

There are many initiatives in this budget that directly affect my electorate. Flynn has a large population of small business owners. We have fly-in workers and we have farmers. I would specifically like to congratulate the Treasurer on his attitude towards these groups and for allocating a large portion of the budget to improving infrastructure in regional areas. This current government will attend to roads and rail. In my electorate alone, there is about 400 kilometres of the Bruce Highway. This week more passing lanes and the elimination of more black spots were announced. The general surface of the road is also to improve. We now have the ability to put a white strip a metre wide down the middle of our highway to keep the cars separated. That is in place of a white strip that was four inches wide that allowed 20-tonne or 60-tonne trucks to come within two feet of a small car. This is how we are improving our highways. Having a dividing line up the middle of the Bruce Highway is a step in the right direction. When trucks are coming at each other and all they need is a bump in the road to throw the truck or the trailer across the path of the other vehicle and this is where accidents happen. The road toll is already coming down because of improved roads.

Any business with a turnover of $2 million will have the ability to write off their purchases of less than $20,000. This is a great thing for business. It reminds me of the time back in the 1980s, when I was in business, and under the Fraser and Hawke governments there was an investment allowance, which allowed a 40 per cent write-off on any particular business item you had to purchase. This was very good for the economy back in the 80s, but unfortunately it was whittled down to nothing. I say this is a similar project—it worked then, and there is no reason it should not work now. For businesses that are not incorporated, instead of 1.5 per cent decrease in tax, they will have five per cent that they can write off to reduce their tax. You can either have one and a half per cent less—back to 28.5 per cent tax—or write off the five per cent if you are unincorporated. This has got to be good for business. There is no doubt about that and, with the money saved there, they can invest in equipment and more staff. They can develop their business to a point where they make more money and, if they make more money, then the government makes more money. It is a very simple philosophy that the Treasurer has employed. He wants to see vibrant businesses so that we reduce Work for the Dole; we get people off the dole into the workforce and it comes together nicely.

There is, of course, $1.8 billion in savings over the next four years but this will go to deserving people, and there will be more money for people to join in with the workers. There is no substitute for working to do away with a lot of ills of today's society. The zone tax allowance, which was offered in the past to people who, say, lived in Brisbane but worked in Emerald in the coalfields, has been removed. That has to be good, too. I want to see people who work in Emerald live in Emerald, because that helps our hospital systems and our general community in places like Blackwater and Biloela. That is a move in the right direction. If you work in the coalfields or the gasfields or on properties in your own area, that is where you live and where you bring up your family. We want to encourage people to come back to live in the towns where they work. When there are doctors who reside in towns, that makes for a very strong health system. When you have to rely on locums in these small towns—fly in, fly out doctors who could come from anywhere in Australia or New Zealand—it does not add to the strength of the health committees who work diligently. All it does is set up two sorts of doctors. One is a local who struggles; he has a building; he has permanent staff. The other is a locum. He tends to fly in, get paid a set amount for a day's work—which is sometimes about $2,500—and then fly out with no care and no responsibility. It is then left up to the local doctors to fill the short gaps when he is not there. So having this zonal tax offset taken away is going to be good for regional towns in my electorate.

As we go on, the drought package that has been offered to farmers is very welcome. Whilst the drought does not have a stranglehold in my electorate, it does just to the west in places like Maranoa. There are about 24 shire areas in Queensland and four in New South Wales that are in dire straits; in some places, it has not rained for four years. These particular people are still in there, hanging on. They have sold a lot of their livestock off. Some are hanging on to a few breeders in order to get going again when the rains come, and they will come some day, but they need something to start from. The price of cattle, in the areas that have rain, has actually gone up, and that is probably because of our free trade agreements. The demand for our beef in Central Queensland is rising all the time. There are about 16 foreign countries looking to Australia to supply them with beef as they become more affluent in their own living standards. They are looking at places like Australia, and Central Queensland, to provide them with red meat.

As they have had such a tough time, a lot of these farmers and graziers have not had a turnover of $2 million, and they will benefit immensely from these new tax arrangements. I might add that the buying of assets under $20,000 comes under three financial years: the remainder of this year, then next year, and then the year ending 30 June 2017. So there are a two and a bit years to buy your goods and assets, and that starts as of budget night last week. The opportunity is there for small business to get out and take advantage of what the government has offered. I do hope that they are in a situation where they have a taxable income and can use these benefits over the next two years and two months.

The budget, overall, is very good. You will see the black spots on our major highways disappear. You will see the Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Program launched. For instance, the Emerald to Clermont road is going to have a $25 million upgrade. There will be work on the black spot at Benaraby, on the Bruce Highway just outside Gladstone. It is a good program. It is a problem area that I have nominated on the highway for a long time, and it is great to see that come off.

Last year, we delivered a tough but necessary budget for the times. No-one likes to have a budget deficit year after year after year. Our government was trying to rein it in.

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