Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am so pleased to follow the member for Bruce, because he is the only member on that side of the House to talk about the fact that this side of the House is the only side that has a plan for Australia's future. Unfortunately, the member for Bruce does not seem to know the plans that Labor has—because Labor has no plans.

The people of Australia voted for our plans. The people of the Central Coast voted for our plan, a sensible plan to take Australia forward, a sensible plan to fix Labor's debt and deficit, a sensible plan to stop the boats, and a sensible plan to deliver hope and more opportunities for people not only on the Central Coast but also right around Australia. They voted for that plan. The interesting thing is that we do not just have a plan—we have been in government for just nearly two years and we are already delivering on that plan.

We are not only delivering on the plan to make sure that we do have jobs for the future and more opportunities for Australians but also we are getting on with the job of fixing the debt, the deficit and the legacy left to us by members opposite. We have been reminded of their legacy—and the mess that we inherited from them—many times in this House. I want to talk about my electorate, because the Central Coast is probably the best region of the best country in the world and I would love to spend some time talking about our plan for the Central Coast. But before I do that, I want to put on record the coalition government's plan.

In just two years we have created a quarter of a million new jobs. Jobs are now growing at three times the pace than under Labor and now we have, as part of this year's budget, another plan to help small businesses get ahead and have a go. This $5.5 billion growing jobs and small-business package is part of making sure that we have a strong plan for Australia's future, benefiting more than 95 per cent of Australian businesses, bringing a small-business company tax cut to the lowest it has been in almost 50 years and, for two years, giving all small businesses an immediate tax reduction on any asset they buy costing up to $20,000.

I was so pleased to hear the Minister for Small Business in the House yesterday talking up the benefits this will have for small businesses in my community of the Central Coast, and he raised examples in the House of how our small-business package will benefit those people. This is a small-business minister who really has his finger on the pulse. Why are we so is focused on small business? Why are we so focused on supporting business? It is because it is not government that creates jobs, it is business that creates jobs. We want to make sure that small businesses can grow to become much larger businesses. If they grow, they thrive, they prosper and they succeed—and they provide even more jobs and opportunities for people, in my electorate, on the Central Coast.

Jobs is one of the biggest issues that we have on the Central Coast. In my electorate nearly one in three people—30,000 people—on the Central Coast leave early in the morning and return home late at night to their families. I talk about this all the time in this chamber, because it is so important and the people of my electorate talk to me about it every day. We went to the election with a growth plan not only for Australia but also for the Central Coast.

I am pleased to say that so many of the commitments we outlined in our growth plan have been confirmed in this year's budget. This includes the 600 new jobs for Gosford with the relocation of the ATO to a purpose-built building—on time and on budget. There is $7 million to help revitalise Gosford and to stimulate the local economy through investing in a building called Kibbleplex to help bring more people and more opportunity into the heart of Gosford. And, of course, committing to NorthConnex. For 50 years this was talked about; only our government is delivering it, and this is going to be done by the end of 2019, creating 8,700 jobs and cutting off half an hour each day in round-trip commute for people on the Central Coast going down the freeway to Sydney every day.

But something we have not talked about so much in this House just yet but I intend to talk a lot about is the impact of our $10 million commitment to the Somersby Industrial Park. When we see the upgrade of that very important industrial park, we will actually see the creation of around 3,000 jobs, according to economic modelling. Those are 3,000 new jobs created as a result of a very important investment in the Central Coast because this is a government that believes that we not only have a plan for Australia's future but are delivering for the Central Coast.

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