Katie Allen (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise in this place to support Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2019-2020 and Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2019-2020 and to speak about the work of the Morrison government and show that once again a coalition government can balance the books and provide for Australians when things get tough. The government hasn't wasted a day—not one day—in ensuring that Australians continue to live in the best country in the world.

Our priority is to plan for an even stronger economy that is built on resilience and rewarding aspiration—and lower taxes, so that you can keep more of what you earn. We're about reducing the cost of doing business, whether it be deregulation, finance, or getting paid on time. We want to equip Australians with the skills that Australians need in order to boost their success, delivering better wages and more jobs. We're about expanding our trade borders so that we can access more markets and create more jobs. We are about building the infrastructure our economy needs to continue to grow. It's about keeping our budget strong to guarantee the essential services that Australians rely on and to help them deal with the challenges they face each and every day. We're about playing to our economic strengths and realising our opportunities.

We have a budget that's been returned to balance for the first time in 11 years. Contrast that with Labor, which racked up six record deficits totalling $240 billion. Labor hasn't delivered a surplus since 1989. More than 1.5 million more Australians have found jobs since we came to government. More than 55 per cent of those are full-time jobs. Employment grew by 1. 4 per cent through to January 2020. Since we came to government, over 837,000 more women have found jobs. That's 58 per cent of the total number of jobs created in that time. More Australians are finding jobs. The percentage of working-age Australians on welfare has fallen, and they're now at the lowest rate of welfare dependency in 30 years. More than that, we've delivered what I believe all Australians are proud of: a further $158 billion of tax relief, building on our already legislated Personal Income Tax Plan. This is the biggest simplification of personal income tax since the early 1990s. We are abolishing an entire tax bracket, making income taxes lower, fairer and simpler. We are lowering the 32.5 per cent rate to 30 per cent in 2024-25 and ensuring a projected 94 per cent of taxpayers will face a marginal tax rate of no more than 30c in the dollar.

Earlier this month, the RBA Governor, Philip Lowe, said that Australia's economic fundamentals remain very strong and provide a solid foundation for us to be optimistic about our future. So this is about getting the policies right. This is not about turning your head at the latest thing that comes around the corner. It's being strong, sensible and balanced. The Australian taxpayer understands that a Liberal-National government understands economics. We understand that the taxpayer needs to keep more of their money in their pocket. And if you've got a strong, certain and stable balanced budget moving forward, it means that you can invest in the services that all Australians want and deserve.

I'd like to focus for the next part of my speech on the record health funding that we've delivered. This is so important for someone like me, who had lived and worked in the healthcare system for my entire working career and spent a lot of time trying to improve the system. We have had record funding for public hospitals: $22.5 billion in 2019-20. That's up from $13.3 billion in the 2012-13 budget. That is an increase of 69 per cent over Labor's last budget.

It's not just about public health funding to hospitals; it's also about GP visits, and we had a record number of GP visits that were bulk-billed in 2018-19—a total of 136.5 million GP visits. This compares to 105.8 million GP visits bulk-billed in Labor's last year in government in 2012-13. So the bulk-billing rate has increased from 82 per cent under Labor to about 86 per cent today. I know Australians everywhere want the opportunity to be able to get health care that is fair and health care that is excellent.

Further than that, though, we've also invested in a very important initiative, which is the Youth Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan. In fact, the Prime Minister has articulated how important this is to him at a very personal level, and I'm very proud of the fact that Minister for Health Greg Hunt has been working very strongly in this area. It's an investment of $503 million. This is the largest suicide prevention plan in Australia's history. More than that, we're about expanding preventive health services and allowing people to get access to the mental health care that they need. We are expanding the headspace network and providing a significant boost to Indigenous suicide prevention, as well as early childhood and parenting support.

I want to turn now to the specifics of recent months. We all know that there have been external economic shocks across the globe; we've had droughts; we've had bushfires; and then, more recently, the coronavirus epidemic that's emerging. Australia has had an amazing response, and I'm very proud that we are a government that is ready to respond as this emerging epidemic occurs. As the Prime Minister has said, we are not immune as a country, but we are as prepared as we can be. Australia was one of the first countries in the world to declare coronavirus as a disease of potential pandemic. On 21 January it did this, and that was more than a week before the World Health Organization. That is because our government works very much hand-in-glove with the experts. Professor Brendan Murphy, the Chief Medical Officer for Australia, has also worked hand-in-glove with the experts across the states and territories. This shows a government that is organised, that is proportionate, that is reasonable and that is responding rapidly as things occur.

We all know now that at this point in time there have been 23 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Australia, and many of those have recovered—in fact, 15 of those have recovered. But a further eight cases have been identified on the Diamond Princess. I'm very pleased to say that, again, the Australian government has stepped up to respond and support those people in that situation. In fact, there have been two constituents of mine who have been on the Diamond Princess, and I've been in daily contact with them during this period of self-isolation. They have now been moved to Japan, which is really wonderful news because they are now out of that situation, which I'm pleased about.

I will also say that I have a further two constituents who have been moved with Qantas down to the Howard Springs area in order to make sure that they are going through a quarantine period for another 14 days. Again, I've been in daily contact with them. It's been very difficult for these people, but I'm very grateful for what they are doing to help ensure that all Australians are safe. They've undertaken a lot of personal sacrifice to go through this self-quarantine for 14 days while on the Diamond Princess and now a further 14 days in the Howard Springs area.

I would like to say that this has been a very important step that the Australian government has undertaken. It's been difficult, I know, for people who've had to change what they're doing with their daily life, but they are doing it for Australia and they're doing it to keep Australians safe. It's a very important initiative that we have undertaken, and we've been able to, at this point in time, contain the coronavirus outbreak.

Furthermore, all Australians quarantined on Christmas Island have been medically cleared and returned home. The National Security Committee of cabinet has agreed to extend the entry restrictions on foreign nationals who have recently been in mainland China for a further week until 29 February 2020, to again protect Australians from the risk of coronavirus. As before, Australian citizens and permanent residents will still be able to enter, as will their immediate family members.

Additionally to this, the Australian government is not just about excellent communication through all the experts and different levels of government with the people themselves who are affected, but also about containment in order to ensure that we are not exposed to this rapidly emerging problem. We've also gone further to invest in finding a cure. This is very important, because medical research in Australia is amongst, if not, the best in the world. The government has recently announced a $2 million investment to help develop a coronavirus vaccine. This morning we were receiving an update from the CSIRO, a wonderful institution which is on the front foot with regard to the development of the vaccine. These are decisions that are underpinned by medical advice and recommendations that are expert, and all Australians should feel very proud of the fact that Australia is taking the global lead in the response to the coronavirus epidemic. The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity was the first institution to grow the virus—a very important step to finding a cure or a vaccine for this globally emerging problem.

I will say that on top of this, we have actually not only been able to manage this situation but also allow Australian-Chinese to return to Australia from mainland China. Most people may not know this fact, but there's been 34,000 people travelling from mainland China to Australia since 1 February 2020, and there's not been any human-to-human transmission cases in Australia. I would like to congratulate all of the staff who have been involved in making sure that there's a safe and secure passage of those people home from a difficult circumstance. But we continue to require Australian citizens who have been to mainland China to self-isolate for 14 days from the time that they left mainland China, and obviously these people are following that advice carefully since we've had no cases since the return home of those 34,000 people.

Australia is one of the 58 countries that has introduced some form of travel restriction on passengers who've been in mainland China. Our experts have advised that the situation has not been improving for the last two weeks. But we are hopeful that we are getting to a point where things will start to stabilise in mainland China itself. It is very concerning that things have been happening overseas in other countries where we haven't seen containment, and it is definitely a wait-and-watch scenario. But, as the Prime Minister has said, we want to get as many of the brightest and smartest minds in Australia working on this task. Australia is part of an ever globalised world health system. It is very important that we show real leadership in our handling of the coronavirus, and it's wonderful we have this investment going into our medical research. Australia is part of an ever globalised world health system, and it is very important that we show real leadership in our handling of the coronavirus. It is wonderful that we have this wonderful investment going into our medical research.

I'd also like to point out that Australia has also been investing in very important at-home concerns such as ovarian cancer. Today I wear the teal ribbon to recognise those that we have lost to ovarian cancer and to recognise the investment made by the Australian government of $20 million into improving early detection, diagnosis and management of this terrible disease. Every day four women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer. It's a cancer that is so difficult to recognise because the symptoms are non-specific; they can be something like abdominal pain or distension of the abdomen. Women, if they have any new symptoms, should see their GP so that they can have the opportunity to have some early diagnosis or screening if they do indeed have a terrible problem like ovarian cancer. I'd like to recognise my co-ambassador, who is here today in the chamber, because it has been a very bipartisan response across the chamber and in the other place as well. Congratulations to all the work that you are doing in this area.

We should recognise the women who have lost the battle with ovarian cancer. It is one of those cancers that runs under the radar. It's wonderful to see that there is so much investment going into this area. Hopefully, like we've seen with breast cancer, where the rates of mortality have plummeted; and like we've seen with cervical cancer, where Australian research has been at the forefront of finding a vaccine for HPV, which therefore, again, has resulted in the plummeting of the incidence of cervical cancer, I'm able to stand here in the chamber in future years to say that ovarian cancer has had an improvement in its outcomes, because 43 per cent survival at five years is not good enough.

Lastly, I'd like to say that I've been very proud to be part of a government that has continued to develop an economic plan and has maintained a AAA credit rating, and that we have a strong economic plan despite these external shocks, because we are resilient people and we made the right choice in May last year.

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