Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

We've heard some big numbers from the government in this year's budget. Let's start with the biggest—$1 trillion of debt, one thousand billion dollars of debt, one million million dollars of debt. And that's only the projection for the forwards. By the end of the decade, gross debt will be $1.7 trillion. That's another $700 billion on top of the $1 trillion. It was the Liberals who established that control of debt and deficit was the benchmark of good economic management. They cannot criticise Labor's $234 billion of debt as 'crippling' yet be permitted to describe their own one thousand billion dollars of debt as 'responsible'. It is hypocrisy. Labor's debt kept Australia out of recession during the global financial crisis. As other nations tumbled into recession, Australia did not, thanks to the economic leadership of Kevin Rudd and Wayne Swan. The same cannot be said for this government. Despite $1 trillion of debt, the Liberals have delivered Australia a double whammy: the first recession in 29 years and more than one million Australians on the dole queues. The Liberals have failed their own test of good economic management, delivering Australia the biggest debt and deficit in the nation's history and the worst unemployment figures in the nation's history, and they should be judged by the standard that they themselves have set.

Worse than going $1 trillion into debt is the fact that poor decisions are leaving far too many Australians behind. Nine hundred and twenty-eight thousand Australians over 35 are deliberately—and, frankly, inexplicably—excluded from hiring subsidies. It's going to make it harder for them to find work. There's no plan to make child care more affordable, locking more women out of the workforce. There's no plan to do what's needed to fix the aged-care crisis, despite the royal commission, in its interim report, making it clear in the starkest of terms, from the title of the report, Neglect, that urgent action is required. There's no plan for energy. In seven years, the Liberals have drawn up 22 plans and they haven't delivered one of them. It's thousands of Public Service hours wasted, millions of dollars preparing reports, doing the policy work, wasted. Not one of these energy plans has landed. It's a nightmare for investment, and the ongoing uncertainty is keeping power prices higher than they should be. And there's no funding in the budget to expand Veteran Wellbeing Centres, which are so important for veterans' mental health.

Australians are being asked to shoulder a mighty economic burden, but there is simply not enough bang for the buck. This is a budget of short-term sugar hits, when what we need is long-term structural reform that sets the nation up for the challenges of the 21st century. The government, of course, is desperate to avoid responsibility. It wants to blame the coronavirus for everything from the recession and debt to its own failure to establish a federal integrity commission—just blame the virus, blame the virus, blame the virus. But the fact is: Australia's economy was already stumbling before COVID-19 landed with the Ruby Princesswhich this government allowed to dock. Annual growth was already well below trend, consumption was weak, business investment had fallen, underemployment and household debt had hit record highs, wages growth had hit record lows and debt had more than doubled, long before anyone had heard of coronavirus. Three decades of continuous growth, started by the economic management of the Hawke-Keating Labor governments and defended by the Rudd Labor government when it was most at risk from global forces, were ended by this Liberal government.

The fact is: this Prime Minister has the wrong instincts. His instincts are all wrong, whether it's the instinct to go on holiday overseas when bushfires are already ravaging the east coast or the instinct that says no to wage subsidies when global forces are saying that there's a recession on the way. His initial reaction was to say, 'We don't need wage subsidies.' He had to be talked into it by business, by Labor, by unions. His instincts are all wrong. His instincts were all wrong with his early push to reopen borders. If Mr Morrison had had his way, the borders in Australia would have been opened a lot sooner, and the spread of the virus would have been much worse. It's only through the leadership of the various premiers that we've seen this virus contained. The Prime Minister's instincts are all wrong. His instincts aren't wrong at looking after his own political interests—he's very good on Facebook, very good at getting his photo down at Bunnings with a snag, the happy snaps, the media manipulation. He's very good at that, but his political instincts when it comes to the economy and the welfare of Australians are all wrong.

Now we are dealing with the deepest, most damaging recession in almost 100 years. We've got a million unemployed, and a further 160,000 Australians are expected to join the dole queue by the end of the year. This government has no plan to tackle this crisis. It's put the country $1 trillion into debt and it has no idea about what to do next. By contrast, the Labor leader, Mr Albanese, articulated a clear vision that will drive long-term economic growth. If Labor were in government right now, we would be investing $500 million in the upgrade and repair of social housing. That was just one element in our budget reply. That would stimulate the trade sector. It would see the employment of apprentices. It would provide much-needed economic stimulus, but it would also improve the lives of people who need it most. It's a no-brainer. For the life of me, I cannot understand why this government is not doing more for public and social housing.

Labor would have scrapped the childcare subsidy cap, ensuring that women could return to work without sacrificing the benefits of earned income. Ninety-seven per cent of families would be up to $2,900 a year better off, with no family in Australia worse off. It would be good for the economy. It would be good for families and good for the economy. Secure jobs would be promoted through Labor's A Future Made in Australia plan, which includes a national rail manufacturing plan, a defence industry development strategy and an Australian skills guarantee. Our Rewiring the Nation initiative would drive down power prices and give the economy a boost of up to $40 billion and create thousands of jobs, particularly in regional areas.

Indeed, the federal Labor leader, Mr Albanese, is a great friend to the regions. When he was minister for regional development during the Rudd and Gillard governments, he took the opportunity to work with regional communities during the global financial crisis. He created good jobs in regional towns and cities as the key to maintaining economic growth and capitalising on the strengths of our regions. In his recent vision statement released last month, 'Tapping the potential of regional Australia', the Labor leader spoke about our regions being the key to emerging more strongly from this crisis in better shape than when we went into it, with no-one held back and no-one left behind.

As a regional MP, I firmly believe that investment in our regions is the key to national recovery. When I say investment in our regions, I don't just mean investment in roads and rail and bridges; I mean investment in people. Too often regional communities have seen good jobs, wealth and opportunity flow back into the capital cities. Around two-thirds of Australia's export earnings come from regional industries, including resources, agriculture, tourism, education and manufacturing. I see regions being rebuilt economically and socially. I want to see regional health hubs keeping people well and neighbourhood housing and community sheds keeping people connected. I want to see government agencies staffed by real people, not computers, not online centres—real people—employed in the regions, offering assistance and advice from regional Australian service centres. I want to see TAFE and training centres working hand in hand with industry.

Indeed, I've made the call for new trade training centres. I don't know why this program was cut by Mr Abbott when he became Prime Minister. John Howard created the trade training centres program. It was a great program. I think it was called something else back then. Labor came in, kept the program and renamed it the trade training centre program. Essentially what it means is that the federal government builds trade training centres, and then the state governments pay to operate them. They work really well. The ones that are there work brilliantly. I've got a few in my electorate. One of them in the south-east, in Sorell, run by Rick Birch, is going gangbusters. The next in line in my electorate was Campbell Town, but unfortunately the Liberals came into government in 2013 and axed the program, and the centre never went ahead. I would love to see this centre reborn. It's a terrific program.

I see towns, schools and sports and service clubs repopulated. I see regions full of workers and families, small businesses and industry—all harnessing the great potential that regional Australia has to offer. In Tasmania we have made a start, building for our state a global brand synonymous with quality, freshness and trust. People instinctively know that if it's Tasmanian it's world's best, whether it's whisky, wine, oysters or berries. But there's much more to do. I see us extending the Tasmanian brand out from agriculture to encompass renewable energy, manufacturing and education. I see Tasmania developing all these sectors and more. People around the globe will know that if it's Tasmanian it's the best you can buy.

Labor's vision for regions includes making more things here in Australia, whether it's rail cars, solar panels or irrigation. Under seven years of Liberal mismanagement there has been a 14 per cent decline in regional manufacturing jobs. I'll say that again: seven years of Liberal mismanagement has resulted in a 14 per cent decline in regional manufacturing jobs. It's going the wrong way under the Liberals. Regional jobs are going the wrong way. Only Labor will put it the right way. Only Labor will grow jobs in the regions.

Manufacturing requires more people with skills and training. Federal Labor will create a jobs and skills Australia agency that puts TAFE back at the centre of a national training system. Under the Liberals, the country has suffered $3 billion in cuts to TAFE and has 140,000 fewer apprentices and trainees than the country did seven years ago. In seven years of Liberal management we have had 140,000 fewer apprentices and trainees. Do the maths. We have a skills shortage and crisis now because we've had seven years of cuts to apprentices and trainees. It's no mystery. You can't make those sorts of cuts and then express surprise when there's a skills shortage. It's a disgraceful legacy.

Labor is determined to repair the damage and provide more young Australians with the pathway to prosperity. This means supporting young people from our regions who want to go to university. The ongoing attacks on the value of higher education by this government are making it more inaccessible for kids from the regions to even contemplate going to university. They're not even thinking about it. '$58,000 degrees? That's not even going to be in my mirror of ideas, I'm not even going to think of going to university if I'm going to be lumbered with a $58,000 degree. I'll stick with something else.' It's going to set up a class system in Australia where the kids from wealthy families, the inner cities, the kids of politicians and lawyers and judges and executives will go to university. They'll get the university degrees that high-level jobs in the corporate and public sectors demand. They'll get those jobs, but kids from the regions won't. They'll be relegated to a different class. It's going back to the bad old days. Labor is determined that university education should be accessible to all. A university education should never depend on your bank balance or your parents' bank balance. It should depend only on your aptitude and your endeavour at schooling.

In conclusion, this budget will rack up a trillion dollars of debt but still doesn't do enough to create jobs. It fails to build for the future and it leaves too many Australians behind. There's no plan for social housing, for cheaper or cleaner energy or to address the crisis in aged care. There's no plan to kickstart the economy, to boost productivity, to increase participation or to lift the speed limit on growth. Decisions taken by the government in this budget mean that the Morrison recession will be deeper and longer than it needs to be. Investment in our regions is the key to our national recovery, and investment in regional people, especially, is just as important as investment in roads.

Before I finish I want to speak very briefly on the integrity commission. We need an integrity commission like never before. Paying $30 million for a $3 million block of land is absolutely outrageous in anyone's language. It's a disgrace and it needs to be investigated properly. Jobs for mates—'MateKeeper'—that's what this minister does. We've got Minister Taylor, Minister Tudge, Minister Robert; we've got the Cartier watches and the ASIC scandal. We need an integrity commission now.

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