Luke Hartsuyker (Cowper, National Party, Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate on the appropriation bills, because this is a budget that provides fairness, security and opportunity. It is a budget that means a great deal to many people in my electorate. It is a budget that is going to build on the strong economic management this government is delivering. This budget tackles the big issues, the problems and challenges that many of my constituents face. So many of those problems and challenges are met in this budget. We are guaranteeing Medicare. We are providing funding for the NDIS to make it sustainable rather than a scheme that has a $55 billion black hole, as was the case under the Labor proposal. We have measures in this budget through a modest increase in the Medicare levy to make the NDIS sustainable. No-one will argue with that, except, perhaps, the Leader of the Opposition. I know that good members on the other side of the chamber believed that the 0.5 per cent increase in the Medicare levy is an appropriate move to ensure that those who depend on the services of the NDIS can sleep peacefully, knowing that the scheme is funded and that they will have access to the services that they rightly deserve and that they need so much.

We are investing $1 billion more to add new medicines to the PBS. We are delivering an additional $18.6 billion for schools over the next 10 years. This is in stark contrast to Labor, who had nothing but an education policy morass, an unfunded thought bubble that was never ever going to be provided. In fact, Labor had not provided the money; it was never in any budget. There was no funding for their alleged education policy in the budget. This budget provides $18.6 billion to ensure that our schools are properly funded going forward over the next 10 years.

We are keeping the instant asset write-off, which is so popular with businesses, to allow small businesses to prosper and grow and to allow them write off 100 per cent of the cost of assets up to $20,000. It is a great measure, which was warmly received by the business community when it was first announced, and I know that small businesses in Port Macquarie, Coffs Harbour, Kempsey, Macksville and South West Rocks appreciate the fact that the instant asset write-off will continue for a further 12 months.

This budget guarantees 15 hours a week of preschool. We are expanding the ParentsNext program. It is a great program which is encouraging young people with small children to participate in the workforce. It is helping to remove the barriers that are preventing many young people with caring responsibilities for children from getting back into the workforce. It can be difficult enough to find a job, but if you are facing the additional challenge of caring for very young children at a time when you do not have a great deal of work experience, you may not have many employment opportunities. ParentsNext is a great program. I know that helping people into work is a great passion for you, Madam Deputy Speaker Bird, and I think that you would certainly applaud the expansion of ParentsNext and the work that it does of giving young people a chance to work towards the goal of having young children see their parents going to work and see all of the benefits that come with work.

There are some 12,000 businesses in my electorate. Unlike those in large capital cities, we in regional Australia are absolutely dependent on small business as the major driver of employment growth and employment opportunity. To a great extent, we do not have the large corporates in regional Australia. Therefore, so much of the heavy lifting is done by small business. This budget supports small business through the extension of the instant asset write-off and through the reduction of the tax rate to 27½ per cent for companies with a turnover of up to $10 million. That is a very welcome measure providing for better taxation treatment for small business, allowing them to grow and allowing them to employee more Australians. It is a very important measure indeed.

This budget also provides funding to ensure that the election commitments that I made in the run-up to the last election can be completed. These include the ongoing work on the Pacific Highway, the upgrade of Port Macquarie Airport, the upgrade of the amenities block at Oxley Oval in Port Macquarie, the allied health facility at Southern Cross University in Coffs Harbour and the upgrade of the jetty foreshores in Coffs Harbour. The $2 million for Kempsey Cinema was provided some time back. This budget will provide that those funds will be available when construction is ready to start. There is funding for the promised CCTV for Kempsey, South West Rocks and Crescent Head and for the closed-circuit TV and security upgrades for the jetty area around Coffs Harbour. These are important measures that were previously announced, but the money is provided under this budget.

In the electorate of Cowper, some 55 per cent of locals are over the age of 55. This budget has a number of measures that I believe will be very important for those older Australians. There is the one-off energy assistance payment. Also, some 93,000 pensioners will have their concession card restored. These are very important measures which will be welcomed by the people that I represent.

With regard to the NDIS, in the electorate of Cowper there are some 5,000 people who live with a significant disability and depend on the NDIS. Under this budget, under this government, the services that they require will be fully funded. That will, I think, add a great deal of security for those Australians. As usual, we are fixing up Labor's mess. Labor promised an NDIS, but they did not fund it. It is great to hear the reports that the majority of the shadow cabinet in the ALP supported the proposed increase in the Medicare levy. We welcome that support. I know many members opposite agree with the fact that a half per cent levy is an appropriate contribution. If you are on a low income, you make a very modest contribution; if you are on a high income, you make a much higher contribution. That is fair and reasonable. But I think that, as a matter of principle, all Australians should make some contribution to assist those who are living with a disability. I think it is part of being Australian to help someone who needs a bit of a hand, and this increase in the Medicare levy will do that.

With regard to child care: every child in Cowper will be guaranteed 15 hours of preschool each week in the year before they start school, to help the children and their families be better prepared for when they start formal schooling—a very important measure. There are some 8,000 families in Cowper who are using government-supported childcare places—an important measure.

Turning to school funding, I think the $18.6 billion investment over 10 years and the proposals that have been put forward by the Minister for Education and Training, Senator Birmingham, are a very complete package. There is transparent funding. The formula takes into account those schools with a low socio-economic status and those schools that may have children with a disability or particular challenges. It is a comprehensive formula that aims to ensure that our schools have the resources that they need to provide high-quality education over the next 10 years. That is in stark contrast to Labor, who had an education package that, again, was unfunded.

If I look at some of the schools around my area, there is an increase of $12 million for Port Macquarie High School; an increase of $9 million for 'Jetty High', in Coffs Harbour; an increase of $19 million for Macleay Vocational College, a great local school that does a great job in providing kids who have significant challenges in the school system with a great education and gives them hope and a future; $6 million for Macksville High School; and around $6 million for Bellingen High School. It is a great increase in education funding.

On the subject of jobs, this government is absolutely focused on ensuring that it creates as many opportunities as it can. That is why it is continuing the $5.6 billion commitment to the highway. I know that people in my home town of Coffs Harbour, in the electorate of Cowper, are very interested in the progress on the Coffs Harbour bypass. Work is progressing. I can say that there have been significant property acquisitions on the proposed route. We have a designated route. Work is progressing apace to formalise the final design so that we can make some significant decisions with regard to the design of that project—whether the hills around Coffs Harbour are traversed by a cut or they are traversed by tunnelling or a combination of both.

There is a lot of detailed work being done with regard to the geotechnical work. A lot of resources are being expended and a lot of traffic planning is occurring. The New South Wales government is developing its business case, and, at a federal level, we are waiting to receive that business case from the New South Wales government. We certainly welcome the work that has occurred to date. A lot of interesting information has come out of the traffic studies that have occurred with regard to the likely impact of the bypass on the traffic flows around Coffs Harbour itself. A lot of interesting work has come out of the test drilling with regard to the implications for the final design and the decision as to whether it is a cut or a tunnel to get around Coffs Harbour.

I also welcome the fact that this is a responsible budget that is returning our finances to surplus. We will have the budget back in the black by 2021, a surplus of some $7.4 billion. This is in stark contrast to the good old member for Lilley—who could forget the member for Lilley!

I was sitting in the chamber when he announced those four surpluses: 'The four surpluses I announce tonight.' As with their funding for their education reforms and as with their funding for the NDIS, the surpluses were only a mirage—nothing but a mirage.

This government is about putting in place responsible economic measures that will ensure that we get the budget back into surplus. We will be making multinationals pay their fair share of tax. We will be introducing a levy on the big banks so that they make a contribution to the task of budget repair. The major banks receive very significant support from the government through the guarantees that the government provided. I think it is only appropriate that the banks do their fair share of the heavy lifting with regard to the budget repair process.

I would love to speak for a moment on Landcare. There was $1.1. billion announced in this budget to continue the great work that is being done by Landcare. There are some 5,400 groups around the country and some 100,000 volunteers doing a great job in improving their local environment locally, but collectively all of those groups are creating real environmental differences at a national level. It is a really great program. There is lots of good work happening with local community groups on the ground and lots of work happening on farms. People are not widely aware of the fact that there is very significant work being done with regard to Landcare on farms—a partnership between farmers and the government in improving the quality of farmland and, in some cases, restoring degraded land. It is producing great outcomes. It is increasing our productivity, which is increasing our national wealth, and, at the same time, improving our environment. Landcare is a great program. I am delighted to see that additional funding in the budget is being realised. It is very important work that is being done.

We believe that we should support those in need. I spoke on the NDIS and with regard to those who receive unemployment benefits, for example. This budget makes provision for some significant additional obligations with regard to those receiving benefits, and, I think, that is only fair.

This is a budget that sets us up for the future. It is a very responsible budget. It is a budget that will create jobs and opportunities in regional Australia. It is a budget that is right for the time. Very importantly, it is a budget that will return us to surplus. It is a budget in which the measures are funded. This is in stark contrast to so many of the policies by the members opposite, which are spectacular in their lack of funding. I certainly commend these budget bills to the House.

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