Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment) Share this | Hansard source

Last year I began with the iron law of economic history as laid down by Niall Ferguson, the great Harvard economics historian, and as relayed through the history of the Medicis, the Ottomans, through so many different empires—from the Spanish and others—and that was the simple point: those societies, those states, those nations that live beyond their economic means will ultimately suffer an enormous reckoning. To put it another way, to paraphrase Charles Dickens's Mr Micawber, if you spend more than you have, the answer is simple—unhappiness.

In the end, the idea that we can perpetually spend more than we have, more than we earn, leads to a fundamental problem: the generation that expends is engaged in intergenerational theft, and their children and their children's children will pick up the bill, and they will pick it up in the form of lower living standards, greater pressure and fewer funds to achieve the things that are important. In other words, as each family knows, as each business knows, if we do not budget prudently now, the reckoning that shall come in the future will not necessarily be borne by us but by those that come after us, and that I would think is a matter of deep regret for each member of this House.

Where there have had to have been difficult choices in recent budgets, that is because there were bad choices in previous budgets. It is a very important thing to understand. Having lived through the Home Insulation Program, foreseen, forewarned and sadly having to pick up the pieces, I can recognise that there are profound social consequences of bad policy. Right now, we are going through the process of compensating the businesses that suffered from the Home Insulation Program. I personally talked with, met with and finalised compensation for many of the families. Indeed, we dealt with all of the families of the four young men who were involved with the Home Insulation Program. The grand point here being: bad choices lead inevitably to hard choices, and that is the great historical situation in which we find ourselves.

Fortunately, we have made hard choices, and that means that we are able to better manage our circumstances. We can see the decline in the budget deficit from $36 billion to $26 billion to $14 billion to $7 billion over the out years, and then heading towards a long-term sustainable position. This comes against a budget which we inherited which, over its previous six years, had gone from a surplus of $20 billion to deficits of $27 billion, $54 billion, $47 billion, $43 billion, $18 billion and $48 billion, by my recollection. What does that mean? It means that we went from a position of profound national economic security to profound expenditure. Of course there were external events, but what was extraordinary was the degree of inbuilt ever-growing expenditure beyond the capacity of the budget to meet it, which had been left as a legacy when the Rudd and Gillard governments were voted out. That inbuilt expenditure was enormous.

So, to the extent that we are going through the process of bringing Australia back to a sustainable economic position, it is also important to understand that we have had $90 billion of write-downs over the four years of the current forward estimates in revenue. That means, had we not made the changes we did, not only would we have not been able to have made the reductions; we would have been an additional $90 billion worse off than the budget papers now indicate. So it is the comparison with the counterfactual, not just the absolute, which is critical here. We have closed that $90 billion and we are making real reductions in the annual deficit. That is an extremely important intergenerational legacy, a fundamental intergenerational legacy.

When you look around the world, whether it is Greece or Ireland or Iceland, whether it is Italy or Spain, whether it is the example from Asia or from Latin America, in the end time catches up with everybody who spends more than they have. In the case of families and businesses, it is earlier. In the case of nations and budgets, it is later. But the iron law of economic history, as outlined by Niall Ferguson and so many others, is inevitable. If you indulge beyond your means, no matter how worthy the seeming cause, in the end you will have disrupted that cause. You will have left a legacy which is unsustainable and unattainable in terms of allowing future generations to experience the same outcomes. Where there have had to have been hard decisions, I repeat, it is because previously there were bad decisions.

Having said that, I think we have achieved an extraordinary outcome in this budget. I want to address it briefly from the perspective of my own electorate of Flinders, with regards to the Roads to Recovery program, something that is of extreme importance in a semirural electorate. Across the councils that I represent we have seen a double payment—more than $8.1 million across the electorate: for Bass Coast Shire, $1.33 million; for Cardinia Shire, $2.34 million; for Casey city, $2.12 million; for Mornington Peninsula Shire, $2.29 million; and for French Island, which is unincorporated, $38,000, and that will assist, I hope, in grading and maintaining the central spine on that road.

Through the $1 billion National Stronger Regions Fund, which deals with national infrastructure projects in regional areas, I am absolutely delighted that the Casey Cultural Precinct, or Bunjil Place, just outside of my electorate admittedly, received $10 million in the budget. It is an area that effectively encompasses both the seats of Holt and La Trobe. It is a tremendous outcome for the City of Casey. The Commonwealth money should leverage state money. I call on the state to match or exceed the Commonwealth's funding, as well as to support the great work of the City of Casey. This cultural precinct, I hope—and it is something I will work towards—will be a brilliant architectural outcome and a magnificent community asset.

I would like to see, whether it is the National Gallery of Australia or the National Museum of Australia, whether it is the National Gallery of Victoria or the Museum Victoria, place some of their holdings in the Casey cultural centre as a Victorian regional precinct. Each of these institution holds far more in their stocks than they are able to display for the public. That additional holding should be available. I would like to work with each of those four institutions to find one that will establish a regional outpost, or regional centre, in this magnificent, new Bunjil Place. That, for Casey, one of the fastest-growing precincts in Australia, would be a wonderful vote of confidence and a real destination maker.

In addition, the Stronger Communities program, announced in the budget, will provide $150,000 a year over two years to fund small capital projects in local communities. I will be establishing a local community advisory panel, which will operate in exactly the same way as the panel for the Anzac Centenary grants, and they played a tremendous role in advising on critical projects. Soon enough we will be calling for panel members, and soon after that we will be calling for projects.

Against that background, at the end of the day, the heart and soul of this budget was about jobs both for families and created by small businesses. Elsewhere, the small business package has been covered. But for the thousands and thousands of small businesses in the electorate of Flinders, the instant asset write-off is something which they have talked to me about each and every day that I have been in the electorate since the budget.

The tax deductions for small businesses are of tremendous merit, as is the recognition of sole traders and unincorporated entities. These have received a great deal of positive approval. At the end of the day this budget is about giving people the chance to be their best selves by giving them the chance to employ, and by giving them the chance to be employed. For that, I commend the budget and I commend the general direction of giving the future generations the best chance to live the life of their choice.

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