Andrew Willcox (Dawson, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2023-2024 and related bills. On 9 May 2023, when the Treasurer delivered his budget speech, it was clear it would do little to address the issues in my electorate of Dawson. When analysing the budget, it's important to listen to not what is said but what is missing. The Treasurer never mentioned the word 'infrastructure', nor 'roads', and could not even muster the word 'coal'. The Treasurer referred to commodities as 'things'. This is unbelievable given the fact that iron ore, coal, gas and agricultural exports are the only reason there is a surplus.

The Dawson electorate contributes so much to our nation's wealth through our resources industry, our agricultural industry, our METS industry and our engineering industry. It's estimated that Dawson contributes $1.8 billion to GDP through our resources industry alone—yes, $1.8 billion. So it's extremely disappointing to see the Treasurer bypass our region when it comes to much-needed infrastructure—the very same region that has contributed a significant portion to the budget. As I mentioned before, the Treasurer was delighted to tell Australia of the budget surplus, but that surplus hasn't come from work or solid decisions by the Labor government. No, no, no, no, no. It was our hard-working coal, gas, iron ore, sugar and beef industries that contributed to the profits in the budget.

The Albanese Labor government has once again forgotten regional, rural and remote Australians. This is the demographic that creates the wealth for Australia, growing our food and fibre, but not only have they ripped billions of dollars out of infrastructure but they have raised our taxes, all the while in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. As I travel around my electorate, I constantly hear how the cost of living is affecting our families. While the Albanese Labor government did try to address cost-of-living pressures by increasing rent assistance and the JobSeeker allowance, extending the single parenting payment and tripling the Medicare rebate, it only reaches a minority of Australians and it falls short of the mark. Rising interest rates are putting pressure not only on mortgage holders but also on renters. This pressure on homeowners naturally pushes up rents, and it actively pushes people out of accommodation and onto the streets.

Rising fuel and grocery costs are an area of great concern in my electorate, but the government hasn't listened to these concerns; they have created a truckie tax and a fresh food tax. Adding these extra costs to our agriculture industry just does not make sense. Farmers are already under pressure with labour shortages, and this creates uncertainty as to whether or not the farmers are going to plant crops and how much to plant for fear of not having enough workers to be able to harvest these crops. How does this affect the people of Australia? It adds to the total cost of groceries and fruits and vegetables. It adds to their bill at the checkout.

There are other numerous taxes announced in this budget. Oil and gas companies will be taxed $2.4 billion over four years. Cigarettes will be taxed at five per cent more over the next three years. The superannuation tax will increase from 15 to 30 per cent for people with accounts over $3 million. The low- and middle-income tax offset has been scrapped. The safeguard mechanism, which is pretty much a carbon tax 2.0, will hit our resources industry and affect investment and jobs. These increased taxes will affect all of us in some way and will add to the cost-of-living crisis which is almost at breaking point for some people. This budget proves that Labor cannot manage their money. And when they can't manage their money, they come after yours. And all this to pay for 10,000 new bureaucrats in Canberra.

As I mentioned earlier, I was disappointed to see that infrastructure funding for Dawson was non-existent in the Treasurer's budget. We all know that the regions struggled with a lack of essential services that those in the city take as luxuries and for granted, such as mobile phone service and functional roads. Both are needed. These are a necessity to keep our families safe and sound. We've seen water funding infrastructure cut by $872½ million. Investing in water infrastructure is so important. Australia is a dry continent, and water security is a real issue. It needs to be addressed and planned for. Any cuts to water infrastructure are simply outrageous.

The already committed funding for Mackay Ring Road stage 2 has been put on hold, and our regional veterans have been turned away again. In Mackay the RSL and Kinchant Dam wellness centre funding was nowhere to be seen. It was good to see eight other veterans wellness facilities funded but extremely disappointing that all eight facilities are being constructed in Labor held seats, and that the one furthest north is in Brisbane. $17.9 million was also cut from the veterans studying program, and this affected veterans in my electorate. I had a veteran, John, contact my office who has six months to go before he graduates with a law degree. His course was subsidised through the veterans studying program. Unfortunately, he's now left in a situation where he cannot financially afford to complete his degree. As a sufferer of PTSD, this degree was giving John a sense of purpose and hope, something to look forward to, a personal achievement to be proud of. Now John is left devastated and is reeling in disbelief from the actions of this Labor government. Veteran support services and funding should not be meddled with, and I'm truly appalled by this particular funding cut from the budget. I've said it many times and I will continue to say it: if our service men and women are willing to put their bodies on the line and put their lives on the line for our country then surely they should be provided support when they come back to our shores.

Labor's election promise of $586.4 million towards Queensland's highway, the Bruce, is now being delayed until after the next federal election, in 2025—unbelievable! Local projects identified as needed by the coalition government which should have been started, like the $176 Goorganga Plains flood upgrade and the $38.4 million Burdekin deviation, are now up in the air and are now under review. The new Haughton River Bridge and flood mitigation, part of the Bruce Highway in the Dawson electorate, was delivered under the coalition government and upon completion was opened by the state Labor government. My invite to this opening, as the federal member for the region and a member of the coalition, which contributed 80 per cent of the funding, must have got lost in the mail, or maybe it couldn't reach my online inbox, due to the mobile black spot funding being cut—yes, you guessed it: by the Albanese Labor government.

We all know the Labor government is rethinking and reviewing Commonwealth infrastructure projects right across the country in its 90-day review, leaving programs like the road safety Black Spot Program and the Roads to Recovery Program up in the air. Effectively, the Albanese Labor government has the residents of Dawson's lives and safety on hold and under review. In this budget we see no new infrastructure for Dawson and existing funding cut. In fact, this budget has seen $5.5 billion—yes, you heard that right—cut from infrastructure investment across the country.

The Labor government also coldly slashed community grant programs. These programs boost our community organisations, making life easier for our volunteers and enhancing facilities for our community users. Now, at the hands of the Treasurer, they are all gone. The stronger communities grants program—a coalition initiative which for eight years funded upgrades for local community and sporting organisations—is no longer continuing under the Labor government.

Funding to our local councils for things like upgrading our local roads, parks and services has been, disappointingly, cut. Small business completely missed out in this budget. On budget night the Treasurer was proud to showcase his so-called 'fiscal responsibility' and 'budget restraint'. However, this smelt like a Labor excuse to rip funding out of what's needed where it's needed the most—in the regions—because in the same breath the Treasurer had no problem splurging $240 million for a brand-new stadium in Tasmania and $2½ billion for the Gabba redevelopment. Funding to improve regional mental health services, closing the gap between metro and regional health or creating an urgent plan for the housing crisis would be much better ways to spend our taxpayers' dollars. A good budget is all about priorities, but this government has the priorities all wrong.

Community pharmacies are set to be $3½ billion out of pocket with the Albanese Labor government's new changes to the PBS that allow 60-day dispensing instead of 30-day dispensing. This change will affect rural medicine supplies and result in a reduction in services and opening hours for small, rural and remote pharmacies. These are our small businesses. Sixty-day dispensing has been portrayed as freeing up the healthcare system and time needed to be spent with a GP, but this will not be the case. It will only add to the pressure, as pharmacists will no longer be in a position where they can support their patients with free service offerings. The dispensing fee helps cover services like consultation time, home delivery, medications support and even taking a patient's blood pressure.

As each month goes by under the leadership of the Albanese Labor government we are all losing confidence. We are seeing reckless policy changes, unnecessary taxes driving up the cost of living, more broken promises than you can poke a stick at and even more backflipping. We can see that this government has no plan, has no vision and is not using any common sense. We all know that this country needs a strong economy with lower taxes, but the Albanese Labor government seem to have no understanding of what the people need. They rob Peter to pay Paul—or should I say they rob the regions to prop up the cities? This budget proves that all Australians are always worse off under Labor.

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