Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I just want to acknowledge that the member for Moncrieff is allowing me to jump in; I thank him very much. Budgets can be a time when political discourse is in most danger of becoming separated from the real on-the-ground consequences of the work that we do here. Try as we might on this side of the chamber, the reporting of budgets is all too often about telephone-number-sized figures, percentages and complicated acronyms. However, at its heart the 2021 federal budget is about real outcomes for people in our communities that are going to result directly from the Morrison government's actions, and that is what I would like to ask the Assistant Treasurer about.

A great budget like this one means a strong economic recovery, and a strong economic recovery means more opportunities and greater prosperity for everyone in regions like mine, the good seat of Fisher. So I ask: will the minister inform the chamber of how the Morrison government's plan to secure our economic recovery is ensuring that Australia leads the global recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic?

Last year in Fisher, we saw the significant and instant impact that the Morrison government's investments can have. As the Assistant Treasurer knows, the construction industry is central to the Sunshine Coast's prosperity—an industry that I have been involved with for the last 30 years. Last year, as the COVID-19 crisis began to be felt, builders in my community came to me and said that from August they had no future work. An industry generating $6.1 billion in our region and employing some 20,000 Sunshine Coast locals was about to be shut down almost overnight. I reached out to the Assistant Treasurer and I supported him in putting together a Morrison government investment which would make a real difference to tens of thousands of people in my electorate. The HomeBuilder program that resulted is a perfect example of what this government has been able to deliver through a strong economic response to this pandemic.

Those on the opposite side all said it would never work, didn't they? The impact was tangible and immediate. Builders who had come to me saying that they had no work found themselves quickly receiving more new inquiries than they had ever before. Hundreds of new lots were opened up for homes at the Aura and Harmony developments, and people even camped out overnight to try and snap them up. Nationwide, this past financial year will end up producing a record of 137,170 starts of detached homes, an increase of 34.2 per cent on the previous year. But 'it will never work' apparently. HomeBuilder is supporting $30 billion worth of construction work, saving thousands of jobs in my community, and its effects will be felt in the back pockets of Sunshine Coast locals for many months, if not years, to come. I ask the Assistant Treasurer: what will the tangible outcomes for ordinary Australians resulting from HomeBuilder be?

Unlike the Queensland Labor state government, which yesterday yet again handed down a budget which included precisely no new investment for infrastructure on the Sunshine Coast, the Morrison government understands that building a strong economic recovery involves investing in new road and rail projects. Investing in road and rail projects creates hundreds of local jobs in construction in the short term for Sunshine Coast workers, who spend money in local businesses. In the longer term, it improves our region's economy by helping locals to move around more quickly and safely, and by providing a more attractive experience for our many tourists.

Once again, while the Queensland state Labor government does nothing, and pats itself on the back for it, the Morrison government's federal budget will have real positive consequences for working Australians on the Sunshine Coast. This federal government's budget made $15.2 billion in additional infrastructure commitments this year, supporting an extra 30,000 jobs across the lives of those projects. On the Sunshine Coast, this included $160 million for phases 1 and 2 of the Mooloolah River interchange to deal once and for all with an intersection which has become a total deathtrap. It includes $7 million for the Caloundra transport corridor upgrade, extending Third Avenue to Nicklin Way and finally taking pressure off the Nicklin Way/Caloundra Road roundabout. This year the Morrison government also invested $5 million for a study into the next duplication of the North Coast rail. What do all these projects have in common? The one thing they have in common is that they are state government projects, yet we in the federal government are continually tapped—'Please, Sir, can you give us some money?' How about the Labor government put money into their projects.

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