Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I've got fantastic news for the member for Parkes: every taxpayer in his electorate will be getting a tax cut, thanks to the budget. I'm sure he will be glad to report back to every taxpayer in Parkes that he'll be supporting it and proudly voting for this budget—unlike what the previous government tried to do, which was to bring in tax cuts only for some people. Those on lower and middle incomes will be getting a much bigger tax cut thanks to this budget.

This budget was absolutely responsible while it also met the times right now that many Australians are facing. We know that many Australians are facing difficult times right now. We know that many Australians are facing real pressures in their household budgets. We know that, for many Australians, mortgages have been a real stress. Rents have been going up significantly in my own electorate of Macnamara. Over half the electorate are renters, including myself. It is a real stress, if you've got a year-long lease, when the time comes and you have to renegotiate the terms of the lease. Sometimes rent has gone up by 20, 30 or 40 per cent in areas like St Kilda, Southbank and Port Melbourne. It's been extremely stressful, especially for those people who are low- and middle-income earners. This budget recognises that it's time to give Australians a bit more support in their cost-of-living-pressures not only for paying for their home but also for paying for the groceries and the bare minimum. That's exactly what this budget does, and there's a tax cut for every single taxpayer.

All 95,000 workers in Macnamara will be getting a tax cut. On average, that tax cut in Macnamara will be $1,954. All 95,000 taxpayers in my electorate will be getting a tax cut. If you are a student at Monash and just got your first part-time job, you'll probably be getting a tax cut of around $500. If you're a nurse at the Alfred, one of the great hospitals in Melbourne, and you're on $75,000, you'll get a tax cut of $1,579. If you're working at one of our incredible local arts institutions—one of the fantastic world-class institutions in Macnamara that we are so proud to boast of—you'll get a tax cut. If you are at one of those incredible tech companies or at an engineering or manufacturing company at Port Melbourne, you'll be getting a tax cut as well.

In order to complement the tax cuts, we'll also be giving a $300 energy rebate to every single Australian household. You won't have to do anything. That money will go directly onto your power bill, and it will be a reduction of $300. It will also go towards the one million small businesses. They will get just over $300 for their energy bills as well. This rebate goes on top of the rebate we did last year, which was in legislation that we actually recalled the parliament for.

If you remember, those opposite like to talk about the cost-of-living pressures that Australians face. But despite being given the opportunity to put a cap on coal and gas prices, those opposite decided to vote against it. They decided to vote against a cap on gas and coal prices and to vote against a $1.5 billion nationwide reduction in rising power bills which have filtered down towards businesses and households. The price of power, especially gas on the international market, has gone up dramatically, and it's mainly due to the fact that Russia has invaded Ukraine. It's had a huge flow-on effect on the spot price and a whole range of other different factors, leading to a complicated energy market. So the price of energy has gone up, but these pressures will bring it down. The default market offer only last month reflected that that is now starting to turn, and, with renewable energy coming into the grid, the price of energy is coming down. These energy rebates will add to that.

One of the other really important reforms of this budget is around HECS. HECS is such an important program. I had a HECS debt, but, like the hundreds of thousands of people around the country who have been able to access university since HECS was brought in, I paid a relatively low-interest loan—as HECS was designed to be. When HECS was introduced, it was designed to be an access point so that anyone who wanted to go to university could go to university. They wouldn't be charged while they were at university; they would be charged only at the point when they were earning enough money to be able to pay back a low-interest loan. We know that the design of HECS was in a low-inflationary environment where wages were traditionally above the inflation rate, and what we have done in this budget is reform it so that HECS is always going to be lower than the real wage increases of Australian workers. What that means for Australians, in simple terms, is that there is now $3 billion of student debt that is going to be completely wiped out. Obviously, we have to pay for that, so there's $3 billion budgeted in this budget that will come off student debt. If you've been paying a higher rate of HECS interest, it will be reduced, and you will be getting a return or a credit in order to have a reduction in your HECS debt. This will mean hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands of dollars for most HECS-paying workers, and it is a fantastic reform. I believe in making sure that universities are accessible. The HECS system has been a program in Australia which has allowed governments to support people going to university from right across the country and provide an opportunity for people who otherwise wouldn't have been able to go or afford to go to university.

What we don't want in Australia is a United states style system where only those who can afford to go to college go to college. What we want in Australia is to maintain that incredibly important Australian principle of opportunity. We know that education is most powerful form of helping people up the ladder of opportunity and giving people social mobility, my family included. My grandparents left school when they were 13 or 14 when coming to this country, but both of my parents were able to study in a higher education institution and both of my parents were able to go on to jobs that provided a life for me, my brother and my sister that my grandparents would have only dreamed of. My brother, my sister and I were all very fortunate to be able go to university, to have a HECS arrangement and to work towards paying it off. That is something that I completely support and that change will, in this budget, affect roughly 27,000 people in Macnamara. So that, along with the tax cuts, along with the energy rebates and the HECS debt, will be very important.

I also want to mention another key aspect of this budget—that is, housing. This budget is quite historic in the way the federal government is re-engaging in the housing system right now. For 10 years the federal government had the approach that it would not be at the table funding social and affordable homes. Previous governments had an ideological bent against investing in social housing. They said it was a matter for the states. Well, it's not. It's not a matter for the states. The federal government has to be at the table working alongside the states and territories in order to fund social housing, because if there are not enough social homes the price of housing will go up everywhere. We need to ensure that right across the housing spectrum there are enough social housing homes, enough rental properties and enough homes for those people trying to buy their own homes, because if there are not then more and more people will be squeezed down the housing spectrum. That's why we have made these record investments into housing and it is why we will be investing in homes right across the country, making sure there are new pockets of development, working with states and territories, making sure there are reforms to try and meet the target of building 1.2 million homes over the next five years.

It also means we will be investing in trades and careers in the construction sector, because building homes creates jobs. It creates jobs, good jobs, and we want to make sure that not only are we supporting the training and the professional support and development of tradies but we will also be investing in 20,000 fee-free TAFE spots for those people who want to help build homes for Australians. We are providing incentives to state and territory governments to get homes built more quickly. I know those opposite like to say housing is a responsibility of the states and territories and I know the Greens, including in my own electorate, like to oppose the development of housing at every opportunity. They are very happy to say they want more social housing but are not happy to actually get on and help build it. But we are committed to delivering homes for Australians. It can't be fixed overnight. This is a very difficult problem, but we're going to be investing billions of dollars in building more homes.

In the last part of this speech, I want to make some comments about the investments and the dollars in this budget that are going towards the future of this country, especially around the investments in transitioning our economy from a high-emissions economy towards a low-emissions economy. One of the things that was a real frustration of the previous government 's budgets was they would constantly try and use the levers of government and the financial instruments of government to take away money from investing and subsidising in the energy transition from coal and other forms of fossil fuels, and use that to prolong the fossil fuel industry. But this budget does not do that. This budget does not invest in new coal. This budget does not invest in new gas. This budget does not invest in CCFs. This budget is a direct investment in the new and low-emission technology we need going forward. I'm incredibly proud of it for a number of reasons. First, it creates jobs. It creates jobs in the region and right around the country, because climate change is an economic opportunity. Deputy Speaker Vasta, you know this and I know this. Those opposite like to put their heads in the sand and pretend it's not, but it is. Instead of coming into this place and trying to do things like making the Australian Renewable Energy Agency invest in gas, in other forms of CSS—as the shadow Treasurer did when he was the energy minister—we have used every fund and budgetary measure that we can to invest in the transition towards a low-emission future.

You don't need to take my word for it. I'm going to quote the Climate Council, who said this about the budget:

Billions for green industry, no new money for gas—this is how we build Australia's clean future.

And I'm proud of that. I'm proud of the fact that, as part of the investments that we are making, we have allocated $22.7 billion to fund the transition towards net zero. There is our new money, including $28 million over two years towards a national adaptation plan, $1.3 billion over the next decade for the Hydrogen Headstart program, $121 million for Australia's first national independent environment protection agency, which the minister for the environment introduced into the parliament today and which is going to have strong new powers and penalties to better protect nature. This is a good budget and a responsible budget, when we look at how we are setting up our future and how we are setting up our economy as we transition towards a low-emissions future.

There are a couple of other measures in this budget that I'm really proud of. The electorate of Macnamara is home to some of the best artistic institutions in the entire world, let alone the country. And we don't get that world-class creative sector that we've got in my electorate without training the young Australians and training the young artists in the fields of their talents, passions and expertise. That's why I'm incredibly proud of the $117 million in this budget that is going to eight national arts training organisations, including the Australian Ballet School, which I was pleased to visit with the Minister for the Arts last week, and the Australian National Academy of Music, whose home is in South Melbourne, in my electorate; it's currently got a residency in Abbotsford, in the electorate of the member for Melbourne. I'm looking forward to ANAM taking its rightful place back at home in Macnamara. We are investing in the future of these organisations and the future careers of these young artists, and I'm incredibly proud of that.

This budget is a responsible budget. It's one that delivers a surplus for the second time in two years—something those opposite put on a mug but didn't actually deliver in the budget papers. This budget is a reflection of responsible economic management, while also understanding that Australians are facing cost-of-living pressures and while also investing in the things we need for the future—investing in more homes, investing in the future of education, making sure that more Australians can access university but not be burdened by debt. This budget also invests in the clean energy future that we desperately need.

We cannot have our heads in the sand. We need to do everything we possibly can to reduce our emissions. But we have to do it by creating jobs, bringing the country with us and investing in the sort of technology that is going to make Australia prosperous for the years to come. I'm proud of this budget. I'm proud of the impacts that this is going to have and the assistance it's going to give to the people in my wonderful electorate. I commend this motion to the House.

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