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

I rise to speak to Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2017-2018 and Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2017-2018, which the Labor Party has publicly committed to supporting, as convention would require. I speak here to support these bills because, let's face it, $1.5 billion in proposed appropriations that these two bills address is, for this Turnbull-Joyce government, the equivalent of some small change down the back of the lounge, a few bob in the central console of the car or maybe an extra coffee. But, where I come from, $1.5 billion—with a 'b'—is not small change. It's not funny money that can change hands with a mere formality such as this. It's a mind-boggling sum—more than a lotto win of your dreams. This kind of money can build region-shaping infrastructure, fund life-saving research and even get a contaminated community off their contaminated land—but I digress.

In the real world, which is where I reside with my constituents in the electorate of Paterson, you'll find many middle- and lower-income Australians, people in towns such as Kurri Kurri, Raymond Terrace, Maitland and Williamtown. There are hospitality workers, skilled tradespeople, entrepreneurs and innovators, Defence personnel, retail employees, nurses, teachers, farmers and police. There are elderly people and there are unemployed people, and there are jobseekers and there are those who have given up seeking. Yes, I'm talking about middle Australia—real Australia, if you like—as opposed to unreal Australia where the wages and the privilege are beyond the reach of most. Perhaps you've heard of us, real Australia.

I have no doubt that the hardworking people whom I represent will struggle to accept the fact that this parliament is approving revenue for this government to put into play a number of its economic and fiscal outlook measures—measures such as a $65 billion tax cut for multinational companies and banks and measures such as deliberately misleading the Australian people about the impacts of abolishing negative gearing. In essence, we stand here in this parliament today, rubber stamping the Turnbull government's priorities—conservative policies from a conservative government whose only priority is to look after the top end of town, while people in electorates such as mine foot the bill.

Middle Australia, real Australia—you've heard of us, no doubt, Mr Deputy Speaker Irons—is the place where some workers are up to $70 a week worse off because their penalty rates have been cut. It's a place where the casualisation of the workforce is rife. It's the place where taxes on workers are rising. It's the place where unfair dismissal laws in many workplaces are non-existent or unworkable. It's the place where there's high unemployment and chronic underemployment. It's the place where wages have grown just two per cent in the past year, while energy prices have skyrocketed by 22 per cent. It's the place where universities and their students have lost funding and, for many, a tertiary education is becoming a financial impossibility. My colleagues and I have risen to speak about these matters on numerous occasions. We railed against this Prime Minister's decision to slice the pay packets of some of our most low-paid and vulnerable workers by abolishing penalty rates. We've decried the Turnbull government's lack of a national energy policy and the effect this has had on the hip pockets of our constituents.

I want to digress for just a moment and retell a story. Over the break I had to go and have a blood test and the pathology nurse, as she took my blood, said 'Gee, it's going to be a hot one tomorrow, Meryl. They're saying it could get to 47.' She said, 'The problem is I'm on my own and I honestly don't know if I can afford to put on the air-conditioner.' This is not someone who's wasted money or is at the lower end of the income scale; this is someone who has a good job and is hardworking, on her feet for all those hours a day extracting blood from those of us who need to have a blood test, and she says: 'I just don't know if I can afford to put the air-conditioner on'—on a day when it's going to be 47 degrees! Where are we? We are in Australia in 2018, and I truly cannot fathom that a hardworking person has to even have that thought process.

In this very room, I've also shared the heartbreaking accounts of elderly people going to bed with the sun in winter to avoid turning on the heat, and putting themselves at risk of deadly heat stroke, again to avoid turning on the air-conditioner. I ask you, Mr Deputy Speaker: why does this Prime Minister doggedly pursue the abolition of the energy supplement which put up to $366 a year back into pensioners' pockets? Extreme cold and heat kill. In the year 2018, exposure is entirely avoidable—and this policy is cruel to the point of neglect. How many families could enjoy air-conditioning without the stress of bill shock for $1.5 billion?

How many young and predominantly female hospitality and retail workers could receive penalty rates for $1.5 billion? How much support could be provided for tertiary students? I am aware that part of this appropriation bill is destined for the Department of Education and Training—and that is fantastic—but how much of it will actually reach the educators and the students? They're the people who really need this sort of money. It will be very little, I think. While $69 million will go to the Australian National University for a super computer, where's the justice? Where's the parity? Why must money be ripped from the pockets and pay packets of the hardworking people of the regions to fund big business tax cuts and elite wage earners? Those who are least able to afford it are being whacked with the burden of this Turnbull government's budget failures. It's the hallmark of Liberal national governments and it's one of the great many reasons I'm proud to stand on this side of the House to represent the workers of this nation and, most of all, to represent the people of Paterson.

While convention dictates that we must support the $1.5 billion appropriation from the Consolidated Revenue Fund, I must again underline that the worthy people in my community could make great use of those kinds of funds. The lower Hunter has a deep and indelible tie to agriculture. In fact, this Friday night, the Hunter River Agricultural & Horticultural Society will open its 156th show. While we celebrate this bond with the land, we are this year in mourning as well. Much of my electorate of Paterson and indeed the Hunter Valley is in the grip of a diabolical yet hyperlocalised drought. Over the Christmas season we had day after day of 40-degree-plus temperatures. In fact, a number of days were over 45! It is just indescribable how hot that is. You don't even want to go outside because it feels as though every breath you take in is just a blast of hot air. It's almost like a hair dryer.

On the land, many dams are dry. The mighty Hunter, Paterson and Williams rivers are dwindling and full of salt. The earth itself is powder. Any moisture has long been stripped away by the baking heat and arid conditions. According to the Bureau of Meteorology, Maitland has recorded its driest January since 1932. I was born in the electorate, and it's as dry as I've ever seen it. This doesn't just impact the horticultural offerings at the Maitland show and people's front lawns; this is about people's livelihoods. It's the difference between keeping valuable breeding stock or flogging it at market rather than forking out tens of thousands of dollars for feed. It's the difference between a profitable harvest and watching the topsoil blow away. I'd like you to consider how much difference $1.5 billion could make to the farming families who are now at the mercy of these unprecedented weather patterns and global warming. Generations of history are at stake. Mental health is also a concern.

The Maitland Mercuryis a fantastic local publication that serves my community. It's banded together with its sister Fairfax publications, the Newcastle Herald, The Singleton Argus and the Hunter Valley News, to reveal the terrible hardships being experienced by drought affected farmers in our area. I commend the Newcastle and Hunter Fairfax group for this series and, in particular, the journalist Belinda-Jane Davis—good on you, Belinda! She's been a staunch advocate for our community and for those who live on the land. Not surprisingly, Fairfax reveals that farmers are saying the Turnbull government's version of 'help' in these dire circumstances is falling short of the mark. These people don't want financial advice or debt restructuring services. If they wanted a low-interest loan like that being offered, they would think about going to a bank. But the last thing many of them want is to go into debt to stay afloat, and a household allowance feels too much like a handout for many of these proud people who are already reeling psychologically.

The pressures in my farming community are so great that Hunter New England Health experts are expressing deep concern for landholders. As Rural Adversity Mental Health Program coordinator Sarah Green told Fairfax media:

If you’ve got a shop in town you can escape it for a period of time. For farmers, they can't. They're sitting there looking at brown dirt day in and day out praying for rain. So many farmers I speak to have a big debrief about what's going on but then they say "but mate, I'll be right when it rains". I have to sit there and say: "It’s about being alright when it's not raining".

I tell you, Mr Deputy Speaker, it's not raining. The paddocks aren't just dry—they're scorched. They literally crunch under your feet. There is no subsoil moisture at all. The timing of this diabolical dry is even more devastating for the community of Maitland, where there has been a movement, spear-headed by our city's 2018 Citizen of the Year Amorelle Dempster, to reconnect the city to its agricultural roots. In 2016, Amorelle and the slow food movement volunteers of the Hunter Valley came to the rescue of farmers whose acres of pumpkins were destined to be ploughed into the ground. They took those pumpkins to a pop-up stall in Maitland's main street, High Street. Council supported the initiative, the media took up the campaign, and the community came and bought hundreds of tonnes of pumpkins, which I was happy to stand beside Amorelle and sell. Farmers put money in their pockets instead of ploughing pumpkins, and essentially dollars, back into the earth.

This rescue mission was the genesis of the Hunter's own produce markets. Today, there are regular markets in Maitland's CBD, in the levee, which provide farmers with a food hub that does not rely on the traditional distribution network. Food miles have been stripped back to a bare minimum and primary producers have diversified their crops to allow them to sell directly to consumers at a fair price. The movement has even seen new farmers join the ranks and younger members of the farming families make a choice to return to the land. Our diabolical dry now puts this world-leading venture at risk. Not only are the markets facing the very real risk of not having enough fresh produce to proceed; the farmers themselves are at risk of being chased off their land. I ask you, what could be done with $1.5 billion? How many farmers, families and communities could be supported through this terrible time?

But let's really lift the lid off this. Let's come back to the Turnbull government's tax handouts for the top end of town, which will put $65 billion into the coffers of multinational companies and banks. I ask you: was it in the interest of real Australians? Is it really tax breaks for the top end of town? Is it really fair to have tax breaks for the top end of town while our most vulnerable are forced to carry the can? Is it really fair to rip away funding and support from students and universities? Is it really right to axe penalty rates, ditch the pensioners' energy supplement and increase the pension age to 70? I think not.

The Turnbull government is manifestly out of touch with real Australia. Let me tell you: real Australia is hurting and they won't forgive this government. They will remember the hurt and that feeling when the electricity bill comes in, thinking, 'How am I going to pay it? How is this going to pass? How can I provide all the things I want to provide for my family?' And more to the point: What's wrong with me? Why haven't I been able to earn the big dollars like these people that are being handed tax breaks can? Where have I gone wrong in life? Why doesn't my government do more for me? Why does it have to be so hard to try and bring up a family?' These are the real questions. 'Why can't I afford to do the things that I want to do?' These are actually the real questions that people in real Australia are asking every day. They are the questions they so desperately want answered by the likes of us here in this place. The policies that they need crafted by the clever people who we do need to celebrate—where are these good policies? They're certainly not coming out of this government. I really do hope that this side of the House is given the opportunity to put in place some of the policies that we have that I think will answer the questions of real Australia.

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