Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Hansard source

Just as individuals and families make decisions based on their values, morals and ethics in terms of how they spend their money, governments do the same in terms of their priorities in their budget, so I'm pleased to speak on Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2017-2018 and Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2017-2018. This is a government which is engaged in what Stephen Koukoulas, a respected economist, calls 'economic and budgetary vandalism'. This is a government which, in opposition, ran a debt and deficit campaign which they ran up hill and down dale with trucks everywhere. But under their watch we've seen $252 billion added to government debt since they came to power in September 2013. What they're effectively trying to do is deliver $65 billion of handouts to multinationals and banks at the same time as they're increasing the tax burden on middle- and low-income earners. This is a government which has its priorities all out of whack.

Interestingly enough, today we've seen some research that the Australia Institute has released in relation to this particular issue. They are not only out of touch with the Australian public—because the polling done by the Australia Institute showed that 65 per cent of Australians believe that funding health, education and other public services is best when it comes to promoting jobs and growth, and only 15 per cent think cutting company tax is the way to go—but also out of touch with their own base, because, according to the research, only 28 per cent of Liberal and National party voters thought that cutting company tax was the way to go. Indeed, a whole 52 per cent of them thought that funding health, education and other public services was the way to promote jobs and growth. If anyone thinks that they're going to get this through the crossbench, the polling done in relation to Greens, One Nation voters and other crossbencher voters shows that they also support the same position that Labor's come to—that you should invest in education, health, public service and infrastructure, because that's the way to promote jobs and growth.

The government has forgone—and I noticed it even in these appropriation bills—any form of income they could have received in terms of revenue from negative gearing, capital gains tax reform or reforms to trusts. They've forgone all of that sort of revenue. At the same time, they're giving a $65 billion handout to multinationals and banks. I commend the work done by Ben Oquist, the executive director of the Australia Institute, in relation to this matter. The benefits they're seeking to persuade the crossbench and the public on are based on farcical assumptions. They're basing it on the idea that multinational corporations are suddenly going to ignore dividends to shareholders and stop avoiding tax. It's an absolutely stupid idea. All of a sudden they're going to be very benign, invite union representatives into the offices of the directors, sit around the boardroom table and say, 'Listen, fellows and women, let's actually give you big wage increases.' As if they're going to do that! I wonder what the shareholders will say at the annual general meeting. That's not the way the economy runs.

It's quite clear, according to The Australia Institute, that only 15 companies will share a third of the benefits of the company tax cut. As the Australia Institute says, companies make decisions on how they invest in the country based on a whole range of issues. And I'm indebted to the ABC in relation to this because I think Emma Alberici has done some great work in this area in releasing the analysis today on the corporate tax cut, where one in five of Australia's top companies aren't paying tax. It's quite extraordinary, when you consider that, as she says:

It's also disingenuous to talk about a 30 per cent rate when so few companies pay anything like that—

It's quite amazing when you consider that some companies such as Qantas is about to clock up its 10th year of being tax-free.

As economist Saul Eslake has said about an analysis that's been undertaken with Canada and Australia:

… it's worth noting that business investment as a share of GDP was 2.4 per cent higher in Australia in 2016 than in 2000, as against only 1.5 per cent higher in Canada, despite Canada's massive cut in company tax.

What is also interesting to note is that none of these companies or the government, in the arguments that they make, take into consideration dividend imputation. Experts, including Saul Eslake, estimate Australia's 30 per cent corporate rate with a dividend imputation raises about as much tax for the government as a 20 per cent rate without dividend imputation, and as the US Congressional Budget Office noted:

Australia's effective tax rate, at 10.4 per cent, is amongst the lowest in the world.

The average rate paid by American companies in Australia is just 17 per cent.

I could go on and on because what the economists and respected writers actually say about this government is that they've got their priorities wrong. They shouldn't be undertaking massive cuts to big corporate Australia, they should be investing in infrastructure and they should be investing in health and education—that's the way to do it. A race to the bottom is not going to achieve economic growth and greater productivity.

The budget is also interesting in terms of my shadow portfolio of immigration, because as part of the 2017 budget handed down in May last year, some nine months ago, the Turnbull government announced their Community Support Program and the temporary sponsored parent visa. Despite being announced in that budget, neither program is underway or functioning. The immigration-turned-home-affairs minister seems intent on gaining a new title but not doing the work involved in his portfolio which is necessary to get these two programs and visas underway.

I have met with people and multicultural groups across the country, and they have expressed their frustration and utter disappointment in the Turnbull government's delays and failure to deliver these programs. At the last federal election, the Liberals followed Labor's lead and promised to introduce a new temporary sponsored parent visa. Given the fact that 49 per cent of all Australians are either born overseas or have at least one or both parents born overseas, large numbers of Australians wish to be temporarily reunited with their parents, especially for the benefit of the grandchildren. It's clear that grandparents and grandchildren are important in the bonding process. Kids need to know and be loved by people who are important to their care, welfare and development, and having these grandparents there is very, very important. But, as is the case with the Turnbull government, they said one thing before the election and they have done another thing afterwards. They announced that children would have to pay, not a bond as they announced before the election, but a fee. The bond became a fee. And in the budget, they announced visas would cost up to $20,000 if families want to avail themselves of the full 10-year—five years by two—option.

They also went ahead and announced that the number of visas would be capped at 15,000 per year, despite the fact that before the election they mentioned nothing about a cap. That came on top of what really is the cherry on the top of the cake: the new temporary sponsored parent visa is limited to one set of parents per household. What a very uncomfortable conversation that will be between a husband and a wife: 'your parents or mine should be reunited with us and our children.' What an awkward and confronting conversation that will be when this visa is established.

As for the Community Support Program, the government has been dragging its heels on its own proposal. Despite being announced in the budget last year, and 'introduced' on 1 July 2017, the government still hasn't announced approved proposing organisations. These APOs are needed to propose humanitarian applicants to resettle in Australia. The government department's own website previously claimed they would be announced late last year, and now the new home affairs website reads, 'The APO selection process has not yet been finalised. This page will be updated as soon as the APOs are announced.' That's another broken promise. 'Individual visa applications cannot be lodged until APOs have been appointed.'

By the government's own admission, community organisations and businesses, churches and not-for-profit organisations, who are ready, willing and able to support refugees to resettle in Australia, have had their hands tied because the government can't get their act together and appoint these organisations. Labor believes any community sponsored program should result in a net increase in Australia's current intake of refugees. By comparison, the Turnbull government will allocate up to 1,000 places from the humanitarian program to their new Community Support Program. If the Turnbull government were serious, if they were serious about humanitarian resettlement, they would match Labor's commitment, which we took to the last election, to increase the annual humanitarian intake to 27,000 by 2025.

It's clear the Turnbull government has failed Australia's migrant communities on these two programs. If this out-of-touch government can't manage to keep their promises in the last nine months, why should we believe anything they say in the next three months? Before you know it, the 2018 budget will be handed down. I doubt that the tick-and-flick Minister for Immigration and Border Protection will get these programs up and ready before the next budget.

In my time remaining I want to talk about one particular road infrastructure project in my electorate, which I'm calling on the government to undertake. We had to shame the government into changing their decades-long opposition to upgrading the Ipswich Motorway. Labor in government upgraded it from Dinmore to Darra, and I thank the members for Grayndler and Lilley for their great support in this project. It was designed, built and completed under a Labor government. We had shamed them into doing the extra $200 million for the Darra to Rocklea section in stage 1. We got ahead of them and they followed us on this. We thank them and the Queensland government. But they had to insist on the Queensland government putting in 50-50, in terms of the money, instead of 100 per cent like we did in the Dinmore to Darra section. So it's under construction. There are 470 jobs being created.

But there's another bottleneck. The government—and I commend them for it—has agreed to a bipartisan approach on the upgrade of the RAAF base at Amberley. There is a billion dollars being spent, 5½ thousand people working at the base and a growing aerospace industry. But, if you want a big aerospace industry, juxtapose the base—as we've seen spokespersons for the government come to my electorate of Blair and talk about—and then you have to upgrade the road; that is, the Cunningham Highway, between Yamanto and Ebenezer Creek at Willowbank. That's a $345 million project that's in the priority list for Infrastructure Australia.

If you want an aerospace industry to bloom, if you want thousands of jobs and if you want to spend $1 billion on the RAAF base at Amberley, which we warmly welcome and give our bipartisan support to, you have to get the road right that leads there. Every time I go to the base and speak to people on the base—commanding officers and senior personnel—or when I speak to military personnel down here, I will mention this, or they will mention it to me. The government has to fix it. It's a real bottleneck. Go there at 7 am to about 9 am, or from about 4.30 in the afternoon to 7 pm. It goes into one lane each way. It's a bane for the people who live in Willowbank and for all Ipswich. There are 200,000 people living in Ipswich, and it also helps those country areas outside, in the Scenic Rim, the Lockyer Valley and the Somerset region. It's really important to get this done. I call on the government to give bipartisan support across this space. We need an 80-20 split. That's the way it's been talked about in the past. I need the Palaszczuk Labor government to come up with its $69 million. This is crucial.

This will be the Ipswich Motorway project on the west side, but it's crucial for the military in the area. It's crucial in terms of the safety. We're talking about 2½ thousand heavy vehicles a day and 17,000 vehicles a day experiencing this heavy congestion. It will be the start of a proper western bypass, bypassing the RAAF base at Amberley and eventually connecting the Cunningham Highway to the Warrego Highway—crucial for South-East Queensland. This is the biggest RAAF base in the country, and it's about to become the biggest military base in the country. I call on the coalition government to end this roadblock and give commitment to the project. I know I have the support of the local state members—Jim Madden, the member for Ipswich West, and Jen Howard, the member for Ipswich—and I know that I've got the support of the Ipswich City Council in this project. This is particularly important for our region. If you want to show your commitment to the military, which you boast about all the time, how about you show it by backing up and supporting the men and women in the military on the RAAF base at Amberley and the Army units and aerospace precinct there? Get behind this project. Support it and fund it in the budget that's coming up.

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