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

What an extraordinary contribution from the member for Bradfield, who, for nine months, was the minister for robodebt in the former government. Is that his idea of digital expansion? Is that his idea of a 'fundamental mind-shift' in digital delivery of services—to send robodebt notices to people who didn't owe the money? It was an illegal scheme, the details of which are now being uncovered by the robodebt royal commission.

I stand today to talk about the budget—Labor's first budget in almost a decade, which delivers the plan that Australians voted for six months ago. This responsible budget is right for the times and ready for the future. Broadly speaking, the budget does three things: it provides responsible cost-of-living relief that does not add to inflation, it invests in the capability of our people and the capacity of our economy, and it begins the hard task of long-term budget repair. This budget delivers for Australians, helping them to manage cost-of-living pressures and to plan for the future.

Our $7.5 billion five-point cost-of-living package provides responsible and targeted relief to households, without putting additional pressure on inflation. The package provides cheaper child care, with higher subsidies for around 1.26 million Australian families and no family in Australia worse off; expanded paid parental leave, with six months paid leave by 2026; cheaper medicines, slashing the PBS maximum general co-payment to $30 a script; and more affordable housing, delivering our Housing Australia Future Fund and the new National Housing Accord; and it's getting wages moving again, by supporting a wage increase for minimum- and award-wage workers, fixing the broken bargaining system and investing in the capacity of the economy. As I'm on my feet in this chamber, those in the main chamber are talking about the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Bill, a bill that will strengthen the ability of workers to get higher wages. What's more, this is a responsible budget, providing the economic stability and security that Australians need. It repays hard work and it rewards aspiration.

We know there are difficult times ahead, and we are being up-front about the challenges we face. We are experiencing a time of extreme uncertainty overseas and devastating natural disasters at home, with rising inflation and higher interest rates having an impact on the economy. The best defence in these difficult times is a responsible budget, and that's what was delivered by the Treasurer two weeks ago. This budget marks an end to a wasted decade under the former government. They gave us an energy chaos, they gave us stagnant wages—deliberately. It was a deliberate feature of their economic architecture. I find it hard to believe even now that any Australian government would boast that their plan was to keep Australian workers' wages low. They gave us a skills crisis and a trillion dollars of debt without an economic dividend to show for it. We can't clean up the whole mess overnight, but we've hit the ground running, and we are working every day to build a better future for Australia.

As the member for Lyons, I am delighted that this budget really delivers for Tasmania and for my electorate. Tasmania is well and truly on the map under the Albanese government. It won't be off the map under us. We stay true to our election commitments. We have $685 million earmarked for infrastructure across Tasmania, including $540 million to upgrade Tasmania's road and highway networks, including the Bass Highway, the Tasman Highway and the East Tamar and West Tamar Highways—and I note the member for Bass is in the chamber, and I'm sure she welcomes this investment by the Labor government. We have $15 million going to the Royal Flying Doctor Service at Launceston Airport to upgrade and modernise their facilities. They do such vital work for Tasmania's health sector, particularly across the regions. And we have $35 million to upgrade the TransLink transport hub out at Launceston Airport as well, to drive efficiencies and productivity.

A further $71 million is earmarked for targeted industry grants in Tasmania to modernise facilities and support manufacturing in my state. The Albanese government is providing more than $71 million to support the Norske Skog Boyer paper mill, the Waverley Mills wool mill, the Costa Berries distribution centre in East Devonport, the Inghams poultry facility in Sorell and the Nyrstar zinc works in Hobart. In Lyons, this means Norske, Australia's last remaining newsprint mill, can further explore options to reduce emissions and improve long-term financial stability and sustainability, through a feasibility study for the replacement of its coal fired boiler. Similarly, we are supporting upgrades to the Inghams poultry facility in Sorell to help it transition towards a carbon-zero certified business model. These two companies are major employers in Lyons, each of them supporting hundreds of jobs across regional Southern Tasmania.

It is clear that the Albanese government is committed to investment in Tasmania and in regional Australia more broadly. Our regional investments add economic value, and they improve regional liveability. We are much more interested in delivering a dividend for the community rather than a dividend for electoral margins. My electorate is already directly benefiting from the Albanese Labor government's commitment to improve regional liveability. I advocated for several important community projects, all of which were included in the budget and all of which will improve a range of services and facilities through my electorate. In the Brighton municipality, for example, the Seymour Street Master Plan will improve local community infrastructure including parking and bus stop areas, the extension and refurbishment of existing playground and picnic facilities, multipurpose outdoor courts, event space and a dog park. I was also particularly pleased to announce the Treasurer had confirmed $1.5 million towards a new Brighton GP clinic, and that was included in the budget. When the former government announced support for GPs in Tasmania I was very disappointed to see that their support was restricted to the north of the state—the electorates of Bass and Braddon, where the two Liberal MPs were based—and there was no extra support for southern Tasmania, which also includes areas and regions of GP shortage. We're righting that wrong.

I congratulate Dr Mary Lumsden and the Brighton Council for their hard work and commitment in getting this important project for Brighton up and running. We know that there is a shortage of GPs across regional areas, not just in the north, Member for Bass. This investment is a great start to relieving this pressure, alongside key health measures in the federal Labor budget, including three Medicare bulk-billing urgent care clinics for Tasmania; regional mental health telehealth services for Tasmanians; a 30 per cent cut to the price of medicines on the PBS; a strengthening Medicare fund for more affordable health care, including after-hours access; and a boost in workforce incentives to attract GPs and other healthcare professionals to rural and regional areas across Tasmania.

This budget also delivers for the Derwent Valley, with $5 million towards community sportsgrounds upgrades and $2 million to help Norske Skog modernise at Boyer. I promised that $5 million at every election since my election in 2016. Of course, we've had Liberal governments in two elections and the Liberals never came through with this $5 million for the Derwent Valley. It has taken the election of a Labor government to deliver this $5 million promise to the Derwent Valley. I'm so proud we're finally getting it done. Mayor Michelle Dracoulis described the supporting infrastructure announcement as a real win for the Derwent Valley. Her council is working closely with user groups and stakeholders to get construction started at both Boyer Oval and Tynwald Park as soon as possible.

Another big win for Lyons in the budget is confirmation of funding for the South East Regional Development Association jobs and skills hub at Sorell. Mayor Kerry Vincent has long advocated for this project and the benefits it will bring to the community by making the south-east region more sustainable and responsive to local requirements for training, job creation and employer support. The people in the corridor are delighted by this announcement. I can hear them cheering.

The budget also provided confirmation of the reopening of a Centrelink service centre in Sorell—a fully staffed centre—and more funding for the Sorell Memorial Hall extension and upgrade. Both projects are hugely important for the community in this fast-growing municipality.

I am very pleased in the budget there is about $500,000 for upgrades at Prospect Park in the Meander Valley, bringing that busy community sporting precinct into the 21st century. Sport plays such an important role in our communities and our connections with each other and in our physical and mental health. Prospect Park is the home of the Launceston City Football Club. Prospect Park currently hosts more than 3,500 players a year. It's right on the border between my electorate and the electorate of the member for Bass. She would know it well. I'm sure she also welcomes this investment in that park. With another 1,000 homes to be built in the area over the next 10 years it's clear that this facility needs futureproofing. The Meander Valley is a growing area. Football Tasmania President Bob Gordon, CEO Matt Bulkeley and Club President Danny Linger have been working tirelessly on this project. It's fantastic for the quickly growing Meander Valley region that that can now get underway.

Further to the north-west in Kentish is one of the most important funding commitments in this budget. It is more modest in terms of finances, but it's one of the most important. There is $200,000 to improve and provide training for suicide prevention and advocacy in Tasmania. We know that fewer than half of Tasmanians in distress engage with support services before seeking to take their own life. This funding will assist the Kentish Regional Clinic based in the north-west town of Sheffield to cover direct service delivery and administration costs of their CORES program, a community network of suicide prevention training and awareness across Tasmania, which I'm pleased to see is also being implemented interstate. They're doing really good work. I'm very pleased we're able to support them. Sharon, Natalie, Paige and the entire team at the Kentish Regional Clinic and across the CORES program are to be commended for their dedication to their work and to their local community.

There is much more, but I'll run out of time before I get there. That's just a snapshot of how the Albanese Labor government's first budget is delivering for Tasmania and for Lyons. There is much more, and I do look forward to sharing with my constituents the news about what this budget is delivering for Lyons in the weeks and months ahead.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the mayors, community groups, service organisations, clubs and others who have helped me secure these commitments. None of us are in here doing it by ourselves. We've got teams behind us. We've got staff, volunteers and all these clubs and people in the community who come to us seeking support. I know all of us try and support as many as we possibly can. Unfortunately, the budget's a finite pot of money, and so some things miss out, but we're always, all of us, across all the parties, in there plugging away for our groups and our communities. This budget delivers for Lyons, it delivers for Tasmania and it delivers for Australia. It's responsible, it's right for the times and it sets Australia up for the future. I commend this bill to the House.

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