Daniel Mulino (Fraser, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Treasury Laws Amendment (2021 Measures No. 3) Bill 2021 implements a number of minor Treasury law amendments, and we support this bill. I'll make a few observations on some of the schedules.

Schedule 1 increases the low-income threshold for the Medicare levy, changing thresholds in line with changes to CPI. This is a sensible and unobjectionable measure, and I just wanted to note that these changes will cut across single households, pensioners, families and students and will keep Medicare levy payment thresholds in line with inflation.

Schedule 2, as earlier speakers have noted, will change the objectives of the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation Act 2018 to allow NHFIC to assist eligible single parents with dependants, and this is an objective that we on this side of the House support. The stated purpose of this measure is to allow the government to implement policies in relation to housing access and affordability for single parents entering the housing market. As speakers on this side of the chamber have pointed out, it will benefit some people, but it will benefit a relatively limited number of people compared to the numbers of single parents and, indeed, people on low incomes and vulnerable people in general seeking access to the housing market. So, while we hope that, once further details of this provision are released, this measure does provide benefit to some people, it is worth noting that it is not a broad-ranging or holistic response to what is an emerging, already present and worsening housing affordability crisis in this country.

Indeed, the Leader of the Opposition spoke at length and very eloquently about this yesterday and contrasted the Labor Party's policy, the $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund, with what is being offered to us by the government. As the Leader of the Opposition pointed out, all too often we see from the government ad hoc limited measures and all too often we see measures that are demand-side measures, which might appear superficially appealing at times but quite often do nothing more than add to price pressures. Any holistic response to housing affordability must include supply-side measures, and that is why it is so important that the opposition's policy adds significant new housing stock and does so for some of the most vulnerable people in our community—for women fleeing family violence and for veterans, who are at risk of homelessness, and for other vulnerable groups. The opposition is going to release an even more fulsome housing affordability package in the lead-up to the election, but even that first major component is a supply-side measure that is a major contribution to dealing with an issue that is already significant.

I want to stress that the opportunity for governments to act in this space is significant, given the historically low interest rates that we are experiencing. Of course, these historically low interest rates are in part driving some of the affordability issues, but we need to also look at opportunities on the government side to use those low interest rates and the government's balance sheet.

So I just want to take this opportunity to say that of course we support any measures that aim to provide increased access to housing for single parents, but I do stress that, when you look at what the government is offering, it is a range of somewhat piecemeal, ad hoc programs, compared to what the opposition is offering. We need a much more holistic set of policies and we need a much more ambitious set of policies that include material supply-side components.

Schedule 4 provides an income tax exemption for qualifying grants made to primary producers and small businesses affected by the February and March 2021 storms and floods. Again, we support measures that provide assistance to those that have been adversely affected by natural disasters—of course we do—but I do want to note the government's slow response to so many people arising from the 2021 bushfires. This is something which has been raised in this chamber by so many people on this side. It has been raised so powerfully, so eloquently and so passionately by people whose electorates were so directly affected. We had stories recounted in this chamber of people who, months and months and months after those natural disasters, still hadn't received assistance. It is a classic example of announcements being made with very large dollar figures attached but delivery occurring months and months after those announcements, if at all.

One can look at this budget. There are many, many areas where we see very large dollar figures attached to programs, but they're in areas where, from previous budgets, we see no delivery after months or, indeed, years. So I just want to stress that of course we support any kind of measures that provide assistance to people who have been adversely affected—any families and any businesses that have been adversely affected by natural disasters—but it's also important that we hold the government to account. The 2021 bushfires are unfortunately a classic example of where this government talked a big game, but there are all too many families who, months and months after the event, are still waiting for the announcements to lead to any actual positive results.

Finally, I want to make a few comments in relation to schedule 5. Schedule 5 relates to the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 and adds some organisations to the list of deductible gift recipients. There are many worthwhile organisations that have been added to that list, and we welcome that. I wanted to speak to one in particular—that is, the Andy Thomas Space Foundation, which, as a result of this bill, will be granted DGR status. Andy Thomas, of course, is an Australian hero. He was our first Australian astronaut. Andy obtained a doctorate in mechanical engineering from the University of Adelaide in South Australia in 1978. He was selected as an astronaut by NASA in 1992. He spent over 177 days in space.

I want to talk about the vision of the Andy Thomas Space Foundation. Of course we support the DGR status being granted to the Andy Thomas Space Foundation, but the vision of this organisation, I think, is a very powerful one. It also speaks to the fact it is absolutely critical that government gets behind this foundation not just in providing it DGR status but in terms of supporting the space ecosystem overall. The vision of the foundation is that it will support an ecosystem that promotes and supports the highest quality space activities in Australia to drive progress in education, research and innovation. The strategies that it pursues in trying to achieve that vision are advancing space education through STEM literacy; raising space awareness; making connections between space science, technologies and people's everyday lives; and contributing to the national space community through events and other educational opportunities.

The space sector is incredibly important not just in terms of its connection with basic and applied research but in terms of our daily lives. The space sector is one of the foundational components of so much scientific research. But, in our daily lives, many things that we do rely upon locational accuracy—we all, of course, get by these days without physical maps; we don't get lost in our electorates because we have phones telling us where to go—and this is the space sector benefiting us in extremely practical ways. We all know the many, many applications and results of research that arise from the space sector. I'll just mention a couple: CAT scans, LEDs, wireless headsets, portable computers, camera phones and, indeed, even some of the key ingredients of many baby formulas. I could go on. I could list 20 to 40 products and devices that were directly attributable to the space sector. I could list many key materials that were directly attributed to research that occurred in space in low- or zero-gravity environments.

Space is so critical for so much basic and applied research; indeed, the commercialisation of space is critical. On this side of the House, we look at the space sector as one aspect of industry that is ripe for massive expansion. The economics of space are remarkable. Even in 2018-19 in Australia, the space sector constituted over $4.5 billion and over 9,000 jobs, and of course that would be more now.

What about the global opportunity? Both public and private investment in global space constituted over $360 billion in 2019, and that figure was more than $20 billion higher than just three years earlier. Analysis undertaken just before COVID suggested that by 2040, the global space sector could constitute over $1.1 trillion in economic activity, so this is a massive sector. When you go back to some of the applications I just spoke of—the devices, the materials—and the pervasive nature of the space sector in our whole IT industry, it is absolutely clear that its importance in our economy is only going to grow.

We on this side have already put forward major policies, including a $15 billion fund to support industry. When talking about that, the shadow minister for employment, skills and national reconstruction has talked about the ways in which basic scientific research have inspired so many children, including himself, to take up science. This included the Apollo program in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and of course the landing in 1969. Today, the square-kilometre array in Australia—there is so much going on in science that is inspirational and has practical applications that is related to the space sector.

What I really want to say is the Andy Thomas Space Foundation is critical and giving it DGR status is worthwhile. But it is absolutely critical we also support the ecosystem. The vision of the Andy Thomas Space Foundation is to support an ecosystem based around STEM education, research and commercialisation. But for that you really take off in Australia, it is going to require substantial increases in government funding and government support across all of the elements of that ecosystem. So this is worthwhile but it is only a small step. It is going to require a very proactive government strategy to support a sector that is already employing so many thousands of Australians, that is already supporting so much basic research.

This bill points to the need for there to be so much more done in this sector. This is a bill we support; it contains a number of schedules. As I pointed out, in a number of areas, whether it be housing affordability, whether it be the response to natural disasters, whether it be supporting space ecosystem, the measures in this bill are welcome, the aspirations are welcome, but they allude in a number of instances to the fact that the government needs to do much more.

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