Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Labor won't block supply. The member for Fairfax may be aware that we made that commitment. Speaking on the appropriation bill gives us an opportunity to highlight why it is the terrible budget that it is being described as. I first joined this parliament in 2013, so the first budget speech I heard delivered by a Liberal government was in 2014. It is fair to say that, like most of the people in my community, I am cynical now about budgets delivered by this government—and with cause. In 2014, all we heard about was the terrible, terrible state that the economy was in. We heard about debt. The opposite side suggested how poor Labor was in government, leaving with such debt. And now we're here, at the 2018 budget, and net debt has doubled. The deficit has spiralled out of control. We're in a situation where we have record-breaking company profits juxtaposed against flatlining wages growth. That's the context in which this budget has been delivered.

I was listening on 8 May, and I was angry. I was angry that I was listening to a Treasurer outlining a budget that, again, unfairly disadvantaged members of my community so that big business and the banks can be looked after. I speak for the people of the community that I represent, and I know that they share my anger that this government continues to put the interests of the top end of town ahead of everyday Australians.

There are a few points that I want to make very quickly and very early. This government didn't mention climate change. This government, in fact, didn't mention clean energy, unless, of course, you go to the point where the Clean Energy Supplement is being cut for pensioners, which will be a $14 a week cut for pensioners in my community and also a cut for other welfare recipients. Budgets are about priorities. They are a reflection of what we value as a society. For my colleagues and I on this side of the chamber, it is quite clear what we value. We value a society that is fair for all people, a society that invests in schools, hospitals and infrastructure and that gives a fair go for everyone, not just the Prime Minister's mates at the top end of town—big business, multinational organisations and the banks.

The electorate of Lalor is a diverse and growing community. We have 88 babies born every week to low- and middle-income earners. Projections estimate that our population, which is currently at over 250,000 residents, making it larger than greater Geelong, will increase to over 435,000 by 2036. So, budgets matter to our community. Our community is diverse, and this budget affects all 250,000 people living within it. Young people, families, migrants and elderly people will all be disadvantaged. To its core, this is a Liberal budget that looks after big business and the banks by giving them an $80 billion tax cut while penalising people with cuts to health care, schools and investment in jobs.

To bring further disappointment, the Prime Minister seems to think he is looking after working people with a $10-a-week tax cut sweetener. With wages flatlining and essential services being cut, this $10 a week is an insult. It is an insult if the Prime Minister thinks that for a mere $10 a week residents in my community won't mind that they can't get a decent internet connection, that penalty rates are being cut and that waiting times for elective surgery are extending in our hospitals. These are very real consequences that residents in my community are facing because of this government's failure of a budget.

Labor is offering an alternative that is fair when it comes to taxation. Under Labor, taxes will be lower for 10 million working Australians. Under Labor, people earning up to $125,000 a year will pay less tax and more than four million people Australia-wide will get a tax cut of $928 a year. This is more than they would receive under the Liberals' proposals, and, unlike the Liberals, Labor can deliver on this tax cut. We can because we prioritise working people and won't be giving an $80 billion tax cut to big business and to the banks.

Unlike this government, Labor will also deliver on the services necessary for a fair and inclusive society. We will take a responsible approach that will be guided by clear fiscal principles, that will repair the budget in a fair way, that doesn't hit vulnerable Australians the hardest, while offsetting new spending with savings and revenue improvements. Labor's plan for responsible economic management will see the debt serviced in order to shore up the country for possible future headwinds, without depriving working people of vital services. Unlike the Liberals, Labor has made the tough calls on the tax system, on negative gearing, on capital gains tax, on franking credit imputation and on discretionary trusts. Labor's plan is fairer and more responsible. We have made the big calls, we have made the right calls and we've made them for the right reasons.

Looking at this budget you don't have to dig deep to see that it is all the Liberals' favourite cuts to fund its $80 billion handout to big business: there's a $2.2 billion cut from universities; continuing with a $17 billion cut from schools, which is beautifully juxtaposed against a $17 billion tax cut for the banks; and $2.8 billion cut from hospitals. The Liberals often talk about priorities. Well, this government has them all wrong.

For young people in my community this budget fails the test of fairness. As someone who has worked with young people for the majority of my working life, I know the importance of investing in our youth. Education is a value-capture exercise, if you like. We need to be investing in schools, in universities and in TAFE. But the government, instead of investing, has cut $17 billion from schools, most of which has been cut from public schools. Their education program is not needs-based and it is certainly not sector-blind, with a cap of 20 per cent to state schools across the country. Locally, in my area this means $16.8 million will be missing over the next two years from my local schools. In government, Labor will restore this $17 billion and ensure fair, needs-based, sector-blind funding.

For TAFE, the government is cutting an additional $270 million on top of the $3 billion already cut from TAFE. This cut, together with the comment by the Minister for Education and Training that TAFE is subsidised basket weaving, demonstrates clearly that this government does not value vocational training. And who can forget the $2.2 billion ripped out of our universities? Locally, nearly 19 per cent of residents in Lalor undertaking university or TAFE courses are going to be disadvantaged by this government's savage cuts.

Unlike the Liberals, I am proud to be part of a Labor team that has a real plan for tertiary and vocational education. In government, Labor will uncap university places, which will see an extra 200,000 students have access to a university education. I look forward to a Labor government and to first-in-family students accessing education. Labor will also waive the up-front fees for 100,000 TAFE students in high-priority sectors.

Another of Labor's plans for young people is to take real action on housing affordability—something that this budget has absolutely failed to address. In 2018 Australia, young people saving to buy their first home are locked out of the market by investors purchasing their sixth or seventh investment property. Labor reforms to negative gearing are not retrospective and will continue to allow negative gearing on new dwellings. This is a carefully calibrated approach that creates future savings without causing dramatic shocks to the market but, most importantly, opens the door for first home buyers.

This budget is most cruel, I think, to older Australians, who too have once again been short-changed by the Turnbull government. Their plans are to see Australians work until they are 70. They are cutting $14 fortnightly from the energy supplement for pensioners. They are spruiking an increase in home care packages, but the budget papers clearly show this to be a hoax. We all know that aged care and looking after our seniors is critically important. It is a test of who we are as a society, but this government doesn't seem to get this, despite spruiking prior to the budget that it was going to be a budget about aged care. The budget does not show an increase in the spend for aged care. It shows an increase of 14,000 home care packages, with no increased money to pay for them, which means the funds have to be taken out of the current budget. What this budget does in those terms is a cruel hoax. It is a cruel hoax to go out prior to the budget and spruik that you are going to be doing something in this space and then not deliver. Australians are not fools, and the elderly people in my community will not be taken in by this. Fourteen thousand new places in home care over the next four years will do very little to fix the needs of 105,000 people on that waiting list, with 20,000 new people joining that waiting list in the last six months. The government must be joking if they think that 3½ thousand places per year will be adequate, when this amount doesn't even keep up with the pace of demand.

The Prime Minister's latest response to older Australians waiting for increased periods of time for home care is disappointing, to say the least, and it has real impacts on residents in my community. Thousands of people are moving to Wyndham every year across a broad demographic. There are over 18,000 people over the age of 65 living in my community. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australia-wide nearly one in six people were aged 65 years and over, and that is 16 per cent of our entire population. This government needs to get serious, therefore, about making sure that it has plans in place to ensure that we can cater to the growing needs of a growing population of older Australians.

Finally, I would draw attention to this budget's failure in the multiculturalism space. The electorate of Lalor is a place where people from all over the world have come together to create a unique mixture of culture, language and religion. We have a proud history of multiculturalism. In fact, ABS data reveals that 42 per cent of residents in my community were born overseas. The government's unfair changes to the Assurance of Support scheme, if they had been followed through with, would have meant that many of these residents wouldn't have been able to bring their parents to Australia; they would in fact have been priced out due to the changes to this support scheme. The government has withdrawn this measure in response to strong community outrage, and I would say to my community to continue to engage in political processes to ensure that, when measures like this are coming into the parliament, our community responds and responds loudly to ensure that they are heard. It would have been outrageous to have seen people be priced out of bringing their parents to Australia for a 12-month period or a three-year period on the grounds of income, on the grounds of doubling that assurance and pricing people out.

It is also clear, from the waiting period extension for migrants to access welfare support that is hidden in these budget papers, that this government really is doing some sneaky things around migration, and it's sending some very mixed messages to my hardworking, aspirational migrant community. I will quote a highly successful local migrant I met with last week, who summed it up. She said, 'It makes more sense to support people when they first arrive.' She has been in Australia for over 20 years. She's a highly successful businesswoman, and she is mortified that we would be lengthening the times, because she knows, because of her own arrival and in supporting people over many years when they come, that people need the support in the early years so they can build successful businesses. Surely, after all the years of watching migrants arrive and build a life here, we in this country understand, and figures show, that multiculturalism works for our economy; that aspirational new arrivals work hard and create businesses that create jobs. That's what the figures tell us, and I would have thought that this government was up to making those statements loudly and clearly in this parliament.

It frustrates me that the Prime Minister is showing a complete disregard for the people living in my community whilst giving big business and the banks an $80 billion handout in the form of tax cuts. It is $10 a week for most workers in my community, while planning thousands of dollars in savings for the wealthy. As an alternative government, Labor gets it. Labor has a responsible plan, guided by clear fiscal principles, that makes the big calls to repair the deficit, while investing in vital services for working Australians—for education, healthcare and infrastructure.

See this speech in context