Meryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the appropriation bills—Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2017-2018, Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2017-2018 and Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2017-2018—before the parliament. Labor has publicly committed to supporting the supply, so Labor will not oppose these appropriation bills. But that does not mean that we support the sentiments underlying these bills—sentiments that prioritise millionaires and multinationals over ordinary Australians and that seek to redefine fairness, turning it into a fairy tale. This budget is not fair, and all of Australia knows it. All of my electorate of Paterson knows it as well. In fact, everywhere I have been in the last two weeks people in my electorate have told me in no uncertain terms what they think of it—and 'fairness' is not the word that they have been using to describe it.

Last week I hosted 250 seniors in the Maitland Town Hall. They came along to express their concerns about the rising cost of living, the escalating barriers that the government is putting up, trying to make it so much harder for them, waiting an eternity on the phone to speak to someone or trying to access the internet with hopeless internet. At markets in Kurri Kurri and Raymond Terrace it was the same story. At Bayswater Power Station, AGL representatives talked about the lack of a coherent energy policy. It is now hampering planning for the future. This is a real crisis.

But hang on—the man from Snowy Hydro 2.0 is riding up to save the day! Except that the Prime Minister's $2 billion expansion of Snowy Hydro will likely require an extra $2 billion to be spent on upgrading poles and wires to deliver the energy to the national electricity market. It will take longer than expected. We heard this at the budget estimates hearing just yesterday. So that is unravelling as well. The Prime Minister's weekly thought bubbles do not constitute the energy policy that we so desperately need in this country.

The talk was also of the price of gas at Tomago Aluminium—a major manufacturer and employer in my electorate where I was pleased last week to host Labor's Mark Butler, the shadow minister for energy. The same manufacturers at a roundtable afterwards were talking about exorbitant gas prices. Those prices are being held over their heads like some sort of ransom. We are talking about real manufacturers who employ real Australians who just want to get on with the job of making and doing things.

At an Independent Education Union forum talk that I gave last week the talk was all about Gonski 2.0 and what a joke it is. 'When will the government get serious about education?' I was asked by the crowd, and I was asked, 'When are they going to talk to teachers and their representatives?'

At Williamtown during a long-awaited visit by the Minister for Defence, Marise Payne, and Senator James McGrath people living in fear and limbo because of PFAS contamination from the RAAF base were wondering, 'What is in the budget for us?' Yes, there was some money for some health studies, but where is the money that will give them the chance to have a real choice to move out of the contaminated red zone? Where is that money for those people? I do hope it is going to be found somewhere.

The budget did deliver one win for my electorate in the funding of Testers Hollow—a $15 million promise. But it was interesting that it was only made when the Liberals were shamed into matching a Labor election commitment. We had to hound them all the way, and then I had to badger to get that money and make sure we received it.

The Treasurer and the Prime Minister are going about spruiking that the budget they handed down was fair, but they really do not understand the meaning of the word. People in my electorate know the meaning of the word. They know that it equates to treating people equally, without favouritism or discrimination. Well, what I see in this budget is favouritism for the big end of town and discrimination against ordinary Australians. Ordinary people in my electorate of Paterson just want a job, an education, a home, and a fair go.

Australia-wide, as in Paterson, we now have record underemployment; fewer hours worked per Australian than ever before; higher rates of casualisation and insecure work; record low wages growth and—the cherry on the top—cuts to penalty rates. And, of course, all of this feeds into the difficulties our young people have gaining finance in an increasingly competitive housing market. This government with this budget is doing nothing serious to address any of the economic ills that are plaguing our nation. I believe that this government does not know how to address these economic ills. It has been a policy void for the last four years. I think they actually forget they are the government.

But Labor knows how to govern, and we have made some excellent decisions in the past. We understand economic growth that is inclusive and that is the only way forward—economic growth that rewards hard work, not penalises it by cutting penalty rates; economic growth that prioritises a decent social safety net so we protect and look after our most vulnerable and do not leave anyone behind; economic growth that favours all sectors of society, not just the big end of town—the millionaires and the multinationals; economic growth that is inclusive of everyone who works and strives to work, who owns their home or is at least trying to own a home; economic growth that recognises that good education and training is not a cost but a benefit, that infrastructure investment is not a cost but a benefit, that good healthcare is not a cost but a benefit, and that the NDIS is not a cost but a benefit.

In labelling some debt good and some debt bad this government has branded many throughout our nation as simply not worth its investment. Yet, it has the hide to call this budget fair. Labor understands fairness, and Labor will not leave anyone behind. Labor will not cut $22 billion from schools—$23 million in the Paterson electorate alone—and call it a gain. Labor will not give tax cuts to the top end of town, while raising taxes for battlers. Labor will not let property investors run roughshod over first-home buyers, forever keeping them out of the housing market or forcing them to dip into their superannuation.

It is no wonder this government is spinning the fairness fairy-tale, because its jobs and growth mantra has certainly had its day. For all the talk about jobs and growth, we are not hearing very much about that now. We have sort of flipped. The new glib slogan is 'fairness'. Key parameters in this budget have actually been downgraded. These are the facts: growth is down, wages growth is down, employment is down, the unemployment rate is up and there are 95,000 fewer jobs forecast in this budget than the one before. These are the stats. Where are the jobs for the young people of Paterson, where the rate of unemployment has been one of the highest in the country? Where are the jobs for mature workers, who are being made redundant left right and centre but being told they need to work to the age of 70?

Only Labor will address the issue of local skills shortages and training, reversing the massive cuts to TAFE and apprenticeships. The disembowelment we have seen of TAFE and apprenticeships has been truly disgusting. Only Labor understands the importance of training the next generation of tradesmen and women, especially in a region such as the Hunter Valley. We will ensure these opportunities are available to our young people and those who need to reskill, which is also vitally important. Labor will not put its faith in the big end of town to do the right thing, like the Prime Minister and his government are with his nonsensical and quite frankly outmoded version of trickle-down economics, via corporate tax cuts.

This government promised to fix the budget, but their own numbers show record net debt for the next three years; a deficit for the coming year that is 10 times bigger than was predicted in their first budget, in 2014; and gross debt expected to crash through the half-a-trillion dollar mark within weeks, for the first time in Australia's history. Where is the talk of debt and deficit disaster now? You guys have the debt and deficit disaster smack bang on your hands. It does not sound like a fairytale that is going to have a happy ending. Considering that you are such economic maestros, I think you are doing a pretty poor job of running this band.

The Treasurer talks about better days ahead, but consumer confidence is at its lowest in a year and a half, and those better days are not likely to be celebrated by many women, some of whom will be forced into the effective marginal tax rates of 100 per cent—yes, 100 per cent—according to the National Foundation for Australian Women. No wonder this government no longer produces a women's budget statement; they are too ashamed. When you take into account the increase in the Medicare levy, cuts to family tax benefit and making lower income earners pay back university debts, some women will be handing virtually everything back to the taxman. Far from boosting women's workforce participation, this budget hits women hard. For women, this budget is certainly not fair. Rather than being a fairytale, it is a horror story. Labor has been calling on the Liberals to bring back the women's budget statement, but they have refused. So, for four years, Labor has produced a women's budget statement from opposition, and of that we are very proud. In their 2017 budget the Liberals could find $65 billion to give big businesses a tax break, but they had little for the services that women rely on.

This government cannot be trusted to look after anyone in our community, least of all the most vulnerable. After decades of trying to destroy Medicare, the Liberals now say that they believe in it, but they will not end the Medicare freeze until 2020. After years of saying that money does not make a difference in our schools, they now support needs based funding, but they have given Gonski a bad name with their half-baked version that actually amounts to a cut. Do not believe all the words of rhetoric coming from the member for Parkes, saying, 'The money was never there and it was never going to happen.' We made a commitment, we looked at the school resourcing standard and we said, 'This is where these children need to go, this is how they need to be funded.' We had a plan. This government from day one has had no plans, and it has scrambled, and continues to scramble, along every major policy platform. They will not fund schools and universities properly, they will not address housing affordability properly and they want to cut penalty rates.

This government does not know the meaning of the word 'fair', especially when it comes to young people. Young people, women and people who rely on Medicare are all targets of this budget. No budget will ever be fair which, on 1 July, sees millionaires in this country pay less. It is like Saturday Night Fever at the millionaire's house on 1 July, but let me tell you it is 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' on 2 July when people go to work and see their penalty rates being cut. This week the health department released new quarterly data showing huge jumps in out-of-pocket expenses to go to GPs, specialists and allied health services. Australians are paying $7.70 more to see a GP since the Medicare freeze was announced by the Abbott government in 2014. This is proof that the freeze the government has implemented is a GP tax by stealth. They might have stopped trying to push it through the parliament, but they were still determined to make Australians pay more.

Nor is there is relief for age pensioners, who will be the next target of the Department of Human Services' robo-debt debacle—talk about the rogue algorithm strikes again. This deeply flawed system will try to claw back nearly $1 billion from the pockets of pensioners. That is not going to fly in my electorate, and I am going to be telling my pensioners, 'How can that be fair?' In the past week I have had many conversations about the budget with many people in my electorate, and, as I said earlier, 'fair' is not the word they are using to describe it. Labor will not stand in the way of these appropriation bills, but Labor will continue to fight for a better deal for ordinary Australians. It is what Labor have always done and what we will always do. The people in my electorate of Paterson have told me, 'Give 'em hell,' and that is what I and my colleagues on this side of the House will continue to do in the face of such blatant disregard for ordinary Australians. This government wears fairness like an ill-fitting suit, but Labor know fairness, because it is the very fabric of our cloth.

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