Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Community Housing, Homelessness and Community Services) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to talk about the recently announced 2020-21 budget that was delivered on Tuesday night and the benefit for the people of the Petrie electorate. Our budget sends a clear message that we're here for local people and all Australians, delivering infrastructure they need and backing businesses to create jobs, as well as supporting essential services that people rely on. The Morrison government has announced record funding. It's the biggest funding ever in the history of the country, in schools and education and in health. Health this year receives some $90 billion of investment. There's investment in additional payments for pensioners and an additional 23,000 home-care packages for older Australians and people needing care in their own home in the Petrie electorate. There is a $3.9 billion investment in the National Disability Insurance Scheme. For Australians with disability who need help, there's an additional $3.9 billion in support. There's more than $148 million in additional funding for an extra 10 Medicare rebated psychology sessions, doubling the number of rebated sessions from 10 to 20. There's support for Australian thalidomide survivors—lump-sum, tax-free payments for survivors and their families. Cath from my electorate messaged in tears over the announcement.

The Morrison government is committed to making life easier for Australians as well. Our tax relief will benefit more than 11 million Australians and it means you get to keep more of your own cash in your pocket. That means that everyone in Petrie and around Australia who earns $45,000 per year, which is not a lot of money, will get $1,080 back. That's backdated to 1 July this year. Someone earning from $90,000 to $120,000, because they pay five times the amount of tax—an additional $24,000 in tax—will get $2,430 back. Anyone earning up to $45,000 will benefit and it's capped at $120,000. We're also investing in local roads, places like the Gateway Motorway, the Linkfield Road Overpass at Carseldine, and the on and off ramps at Griffin. Obviously, a lot of this is delivered through the state government. We really need to change the Queensland government to make sure that this is invested quicker. The time frame and delays through the state government in Queensland are pretty unacceptable. It's about four years from announcement to the time a sod is turned. But it is good news for Queenslanders.

See this speech in context