Emma McBride (Dobell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm pleased that the member for Forde has drawn our attention to the strong rate of growth that the Australian economy's experiencing because it could very easily go unnoticed by many Australians, including in my electorate of Dobell on the New South Wales Central Coast. It could easily pass you by if you were one of the 108,000 older Australians waiting, in some cases for over a year, for a home care package to allow you to stay safely and with dignity in your own home. It could easily pass you by if you're one of the 750,000 Australians struggling to get by on the Newstart allowance. It could easily pass you by if you're one of the thousands of school leavers who will miss out on a place at uni or TAFE next year because of this government's cuts to higher education funding. It could easily pass you by if you were one of the millions of low-income Australians deciding whether to put food on the table, visit a doctor, fill a prescription or turn on a heater this past winter. It could easily pass you by if you were one of the many young people on the Central Coast and the regional areas across Australia who are looking for work. If could easily pass you by if you were one of the many millions of Australian workers who have lost their weekend penalty rates or whose wages are not rising in line with the cost of living.

So, if the GDP is up but wages are flat, where is the money going? The answer is that company profits are growing more than five times as fast as wages. The member for Forde does suggest that if Australian workers are patient and wait just that little bit longer then wages might start to increase. Just a few weeks ago they were telling us that if we gave big businesses a tax cut they might—just might—pass on some of that as a wage increase to employees—not that there was a lot of evidence to support this idea. How much longer do Australian workers have to wait until the government abandons this discredited trickle-down economic theory and shows leadership on wages in Australia today?

The member for Forde also suggests that this growth means that the government will be in a position to fund essential services. If things are so good in the Australian economy, why aren't these essential services being properly funded right now? Is it because the government is still clinging on to the billions of dollars that they had earmarked in order to give tax cuts to the top end of town and they still can't quite bring themselves to abandon this idea and instead do the right thing and use some of that money to deliver essential services that Australia needs, particularly in rural and regional Australia?

Economic growth isn't, as some of those opposite seem to suggest, something that governments just conjure up and gift to the rest of us—the working people, the ordinary Australians. If anything, the economy is growing in spite of this government rather than because of anything it does. Our economy would be even stronger if we didn't have a divided government who are focused on themselves, giving the biggest tax breaks to those who need them least, ripping money out of education and health and destroying the NBN—which could have transformed regional Australia. Economic growth doesn't come from governments; it comes from ordinary Australians, everyday Australians, all doing their bit, putting up with the long commute to and from work. One in four people in my community on the Central Coast commute outside our region for work each day. Typically that means being at a train station by a quarter past five and a commute of up to two hours into the city or to Parramatta or Hornsby just to do their job. Then they come back at the end of their working day. Some people in my electorate are spending up to three or four hours a day commuting for work, supporting our economy, supporting their families. They deserve to see the benefits of this economic growth.

Economic growth is something that all Australians have contributed to and that all Australians deserve to share in the benefits of—those Australians who have kept going in the hard times through drought, those Australians who are juggling paid work and caring commitments, particularly those who are of a working age, and those Australians in my community who are starting small businesses or studying long hours to build and improve their skills to contribute to the Australian economy. Australians have worked hard to deliver this economic growth. They deserve to share in the benefits of this economic growth. This economic growth should deliver to them and their community, and they deserve to have it delivered right now. A Labor government will focus on growing the economy for everyone, boosting wages, dealing with cost-of-living pressures and delivering for all Australians.

I'll finish quickly, since the minister is in the House, by telling you about Tom Woods of Wadalba. Tom recently had a stroke and is waiting on a home-care package. The support he has right now is inadequate. Tom and his wife, Coral, are struggling. They had a small business, they worked hard and they deserve the care right now so that Tom can have an improved quality of life.

See this speech in context