Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It was. I thank the member for Leichhardt for that interjection. It was a lie. We are guaranteeing Medicare. There is a Medicare guarantee fund that starts from 1 July this year, which those opposite did not support, where we get funding for Medicare, outside the NDIS funding, and say, 'Let's put that aside and let's guarantee Medicare.' The PBS is going through the roof. We have record numbers of drugs on the PBS. We are funding public hospitals, we are funding medical research and we are investing in mental heath. All of this benefits seniors in my electorate of Petrie, which is great news.

We are also making it easier for seniors who might want to downsize their home. If they are over 65 they might have a home that is worth $799,000. The kids have moved out of home and they want to go to something smaller, like a unit. They will be able to do that. They might have a super fund. Let us say they buy a unit for $400,000. From 1 July next year they will be able to get that $399,000. They sell their house for $799,000. I guess, after commission and all that they might end up with an additional $350,000 on top of the unit. They will be able to get that $350,000 and put it into their super fund as a non-concessional payment above what you can normally put into super, so that is a good thing.

We are also helping young people in relation to getting into their first home. Homes in my electorate are relatively cheap, I guess, compared to Sydney and Melbourne. A young person who wants to save $30,000 over two years for a contribution for a deposit on their home effectively would need to earn $45,000 gross at the moment. If you are getting taxed at 32 per cent and you earn $45,000 gross, after tax that will leave you $30,000. What the government is doing is saying, 'You only have to pay about 15 per cent,' because we are going to enable them to put it into their super fund for two years and then pull it out—once only—if they have not already bought their first home. This effectively means that they would only have to save about $35,000 gross and then they will be able to pull out around $29,700, or something, when they are ready to buy their home. That is a good step for young people, which, I think, is really good. We have not heard a lot about it so far. I think we are going to have to get cracking on promoting that to young people in my electorate a bit more.

We are also assisting veterans. We thank both veterans and current members of the Australian Defence Force, men—particularly my age and younger—and women, who do extremely well in relation to mental health and have a much lower suicide rate than the Australian population, but whose risk doubles when they come out of the ADF and go back into normal jobs in society. I want to thank the Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Dan Tehan, and the Treasurer. We are ensuring that veterans are looked after. We are improving access to mental health support, reducing claim and wait times and putting veterans first. I say—and I know that members opposite such as the member for Dobell would say the same thing—we appreciate the Australian Defence Force and our veterans for the work that they have done.

We are also are having a fair go for families. Preschool nationally will see a $3.2 billion boost, as I was saying before, with funding to the electorate's 40 primary and secondary schools up by $369 million, ensuring the next generation gets the best possible start. We are protecting Australia. The member for Leichhardt has a lot of the ADF current members up there. We are putting Australia and Australians first, guarding jobs and adopting a sensible approach to immigration consistent with the values that make Australia great. We are reforming citizenship to protect Australian values. Citizenship in Australia is not a right for everyone around the world; it is a great opportunity, and we want people to be able to come here but want them to be able to adopt the Australian values and the Australian way of life. I think extending the waiting period for permanent residents from 12 months to four years is quite okay, and we want them to be able to read some English and speak some English. We just want to ensure that they adopt Australian values really well.

We are also increasing funding to the AFP and our security agencies, which is really important, given the recent attack in Manchester. We do not live in fear in this country. We go about our lives and we continue to live in the best country in the world. I believe the Australian government has the core responsibility to ensure that we are safe at home and are protected. We are all over that. We are doing a great job, and I want to thank the Minister for Justice as well as the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection. We are driving jobs and growth. We know that government does not create jobs, so we are supporting those businesses that do, and that is important not because we want to give businesses a tax but because we know that they will reinvest it in jobs, and there will be more jobs and more security for local people in my electorate.

Debate adjourned.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 13 : 28

See this speech in context