Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm pleased to say that this is a budget that has delivered for many, many Australians and many, many people across my electorate of Forde. I look at this budget and look at what we're doing as a government, and we acknowledge that there are people hurting as a result of the cost-of-living rises. Sadly, most of these issues, such as supply chain disruptions and the war in Ukraine, are out of our control. That's why we've moved to introduce a number of measures to cut the cost of living and reduce the impact of these increases. One of the biggest hits to the hip pocket has come at the petrol bowser, and that's why I'm pleased to see in the budget handed down last night that we have slashed the fuel excise by half for the next six months. It will mean a 22c-a-litre saving, which is roughly $30 a week for a two-car family or $700 over six months. Tens of thousands of motorists in my electorate of Forde will benefit from this move.

The budget also includes a one-off $420 cost-of-living tax offset which will benefit thousands of people across the electorate of Forde, particularly in places like Eagleby, Beenleigh, Loganlea, Boronia Heights, Waterford West and Logan Reserve. There's a $250 cost-of-living payment to be delivered to over six million pensioners, carers, veterans, jobseekers and concession card holders, including, importantly, self-funded retirees who have a concession card. That's a benefit to some 17,000 pensioners across the electorate of Forde.

The Logan area in my electorate is one of the fastest growing regions in Australia, including—I should add to that—the northern Gold Coast. And the member for Wright, who is here in the chamber, also represents an area that is growing very, very quickly. If you drive around, you see the new houses springing up in places like Park Ridge, Pimpama, Ormeau, Yatala and Holmview into the member for Wright's electorate at Yarrabilba, Flagstone and New Beith. All of those sit next to each other, and you'd be amazed at the difference in houses from 10 years ago, when we both first got elected, to the number of houses now. It is extraordinary and it's why I am so pleased to see in this budget the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme being expanded to 50,000 places, which allows even more people in my electorate to be able to purchase their first home with as little as a five per cent deposit. We know, from talking to our constituents about the rents they're paying now, the difficulty of accruing a 20 per cent deposit to avoid lenders mortgage insurance, which is getting increasingly expensive. So this measure will be of enormous benefit to many in my community and I'm sure in the member for Wright's community as well.

In addition, one of the joys of growth—as you would know, Mr Deputy Speaker—is a need for infrastructure. I can say that I'm very proud of the announcements in this budget for the electorate of Forde, the largest of which was a $1.21 billion upgrade to the Brisbane to Gold Coast rail line from Beenleigh to Kuraby for a faster rail upgrade. The number of tracks will be increased from two to four; there will also be improvements to seven stations, including Beenleigh, Bethania, Loganlea, Edens Landing and Holmview, and five level crossings will be removed. These works are scheduled to begin in 2024 and to create 6,700 direct and indirect jobs.

In other budget boosts for my community there's a $4 million investment in the Beenleigh Connection Road and City Road intersection in the north of the centre of Beenleigh and $11 million for a business case for future stages of the Coomera Connector. This is in addition to a number of major investments in road infrastructure already occurring across the electorate. My priority is to see our roads made safer and to reduce congestion. Not only do we need to get people home to their families more safely; we also need to ensure that the tradies and the businesspeople in our community are able to get from one place of work to the other more quickly. I am pleased to say the Morrison government continues to deliver for the community of Forde.

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