Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Given the government has spent a record $220 million a day in new initiatives since it was elected 18 months ago, how can the Australian people believe that there will not be one new spending initiative between now and 2017? Treasurer, can you go cold turkey?

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The last bit of the question is out of order. The Treasurer will answer the first part of the question.

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Some mothers do have them, Mr Speaker! It is unbelievable. We are charting a course back to surplus.

Stuart Robert (Fadden, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That’s been used before, you goose!

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Fadden will withdraw.

Stuart Robert (Fadden, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I withdraw, Mr Speaker.

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We have put in place an expenditure cap once growth returns to trend of two per cent. It is going to be a very, very tough discipline for this government or any other government into the future—a very tough discipline. That is why we have put in place our long-term savings. That is why we took our savings responsibilities so seriously last year and why we have taken them so seriously this year—this year particularly because of events in the global economy and particularly because we had to make some room for the pension increase. We had to make some long-term structural saves, and we have done that. We have a responsible course of action but the weight is now on those opposite: where are they going to make the savings? They say they are not going to run a deficit, they say they are going to support the pension increase, so where are the savings? They are simply not credible.

Sharon Bird (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Education, the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and the Minister for Social Inclusion. How is the government investing in jobs, skills and productivity in the budget? What has the government done to invest in tertiary education infrastructure in the budget?

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Cunningham for her question. I know that she and members of the House who are interested in jobs today and jobs of the future will be very interested to see this part of the budget documents, Transforming Australia’s higher education system, which delivers the government’s response to the Bradley and Cutler reviews and which charts a future vision for Australian higher education and also records our infrastructure spend for higher education for universities and vocational education and training to support jobs today. This is the next chapter of our education revolution, to ensure that our universities can be a world-class system receiving the resources that they need to offer the quality that Australian students want, to increase the number of Australians with qualifications at the undergraduate level or beyond, to increase the participation of Australians from lower income backgrounds in Australian higher education, and to chart a new vision for research and for innovation. It is this blueprint for reform which has been hailed by the Group of Eight universities as ‘visionary’. It is this blueprint for reform that delivers $5.7 billion to our higher education and innovation systems over the next four years.

Detailed in this document is our major infrastructure investment to support jobs today in the institutions which will matter so much for the jobs of tomorrow. In this budget we announced almost $3 billion for infrastructure in universities, vocational education and training, and research from the Education Investment Fund. This investment included an announcement of $934 million for 31 projects from the Education Investment Fund for round 2. Twelve of the successful projects are in vocational education and training, 11 are for higher education teaching and learning facilities and eight are for research. Taking into account funding that is also being provided by the project proponents, the total value of these projects is $1.8 billion.

I am not surprised that the member for Cunningham asked me this question because she would have seen in this document a major new investment in the University of Wollongong: $43.8 million for the Australian Institute for Innovation Materials. I am sure that there are members on this side of the House, including the member for Ballarat and the member for Bendigo, who would have looked at this list last night with some sense of excitement about the possibilities that it meant for their local universities.

The budget also provides a further $500 million for the Education Investment Fund round 3, and $200 million of this round will be to support the structural adjustment of Australian universities as they move towards a demand driven system for the future. The government has also announced a sustainability round worth $650 million, with $400 million to be dedicated to research infrastructure related to the Clean Energy Initiative, which my colleague the minister for resources has just been outlining to the House, and a $250 million investment for vocational education and training, higher education and research infrastructure related to climate change and sustainability activities. As part of the Australian government’s commitment to creating and supporting the jobs of the future, there is the planned allocation of $2.5 billion of funds into the Education Investment Fund, to be allocated to the groundbreaking Clean Energy Initiative, clean energy obviously being such an important part of the jobs of the future. I wait with interest, like other members of the House, to see whether tomorrow night we will find out that all of the money to support Australia’s universities and vocational education and training institutes will be cut by the opposition, as they are part of the things that the shadow Treasurer will cut, because we do know of course that the track record of the Liberal Party is not to support higher education. I will be waiting to see whether that is one of the things that they will be saying they will take a saving from.

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. I refer to the Treasurer’s words in this place during the last recession:

We will continue to worry about the deficit because we want to promote long-term sustainable growth. That can be provided only if we have a disciplined fiscal strategy; if we raise our taxes and spend to accommodate the revenue available.

Given that the Treasurer is now the biggest spending Treasurer in modern Australian history and given that he is overseeing the biggest deficit in modern Australian history and he is the Treasurer delivering the biggest debt in modern Australian history, isn’t he embarrassed by his previous words?

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Not at all because I have been committed to fiscal discipline the whole of my political life, because I understand it is fundamental for long-term growth and job creation in the economy.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The question has been asked. Those on my left!

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister and I and the finance minister are committed to fiscal discipline, which is why we have put in place our budget rules, which I was talking about before—unlike those opposite, who, when it was raining gold bars during the mining boom, could not find enough money to put a basic pension increase in for single aged pensioners. Shame on them! They could not find enough money to invest in basic infrastructure. Shame on them! They had an absolutely appalling record of not finding savings. They spent like drunken sailors at the top of the boom and now the global recession has shone a very bright light on that.

Let us just look at the savings record of the government compared to that of the previous government. This government has found savings over two budgets of $55 billion, $22.6 billion in this budget and $33 billion in the last budget. This is the record of the previous Liberal government: last budget $3.2 billion in savings for 2007-08, in 2006-07 only $4.3 billion, and in 2005-06 $4.6 billion. They were there at the top of the mining boom and it was raining gold bars and they could not look after pensioners, they could not invest in infrastructure and now they have got the hide to come into this House and claim they know what fiscal discipline means. They have not got a clue, and the country is now living with the consequences of some of the practices of those opposite as well as the global recession. We will deal with the global recession in a responsible and mature way, and we have done that, and we will chart the course back to surplus in a fiscally responsible way.

Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Small Business, Independent Contractors and the Service Economy. Will the minister advise the House of the benefits in the budget for Australia’s 1.9 million small businesses and of what has been the reaction to the budget?

Craig Emerson (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Finance Minister on Deregulation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Parramatta for her contribution to small business development in this country, because she ran a small business for seven years and an association that represented small businesses. So I say thank you very much to the member for Parramatta.

This is a budget of nation building for recovery. The budget is supporting jobs today by building the infrastructure Australia needs for tomorrow. The Commonwealth Treasury advises that up to 210,000 Australians would be out of work if not for the stimulus packages that we have initiated and for this budget. We have made the tough savings to deliver the lowest level of net debt of all major advanced economies.

In respect of small business, the budget boosts incentives and support for small businesses by well over $500 million. I will go through some of the measures. The government will increase the small business tax break from 30 per cent to 50 per cent and extend it from 30 June this year until the end of the year. Small business owners around Australia in the forums that I have been doing for the last few months tell me that what they really need is some extra advice during the global economic recession, and we are responding to that with a small business support line at a cost of $10 million so that they get that timely advice and support that they need.

The budget also provides another $10 million to establish a small business online program—maybe the member for Higgins could take advantage of that with his new, you-beaut website—so that small businesses are really well positioned to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the National Broadband Network. There is a new research and development tax credit, which will double the incentive for small businesses to undertake research and development in this country. I remind members here that when the Howard-Costello government came to office in 1996, they cut that R&D tax concession from 150 per cent to 125 per cent. This restores the effective rate of support for small businesses to undertake research and development back up to an effective 150 per cent. That is very good news for small business. I could spend more time going through a whole range of other initiatives that are contained in this budget for small business.

Government Members:

Government members interjecting—

Craig Emerson (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Finance Minister on Deregulation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Despite the encouragement that I am getting from my colleagues, I am conscious of the hour—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would ask the minister to ignore the encouragement. The minister will return to the question.

Craig Emerson (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Finance Minister on Deregulation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

and I think, in deference to you, Mr Speaker, I should not spend another quarter of an hour going through that, which would be a mercy to the coalition. But I do make this point: the initiatives contained in the budget build on the $42 billion stimulus package—a nation-building economic stimulus package which we call a ‘tradies package’ because two-thirds of that stimulus is to build infrastructure in Australia, whether it is in our schools or on our roads or local council infrastructure. That is very important to support our tradies.

I am very disappointed, again, with the shadow Treasurer, who said that this is far too much money and that the coalition would not spend anywhere near that money on supporting tradies and supporting small businesses. Of course, we know that the Leader of the Opposition will put into his budget reply speech tomorrow night some references to small business—how they love small business and how they support small business—but we have the shadow Treasurer saying that, no, they would not put anywhere near the sort of money that we would put into the tradies package to support our small businesses. He has been a constant carping critic of our small business tax break, saying, ‘No-one will take that up.’ An Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry survey for the March quarter shows that 31 per cent of businesses have said that they will bring forward investment in plant and equipment to take advantage of that tax break. If they were doing that when the rate was 30 per cent, imagine what they are going to do when the rate is 50 per cent. This is a very strong initiative for small business.

It is not just me saying this; it is the Council of Small Business of Australia, who said that ‘small business is recognised as the backbone of Australia’s economy in budget 2009’. We have the Master Builders of Australia saying that they ‘welcome the increase in the small business investment tax allowance from the current level of 30 per cent to 50 per cent’.

Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Small Business, Independent Contractors, Tourism and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Ciobo interjecting

Craig Emerson (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Finance Minister on Deregulation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, why don’t you get on board? You have the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry saying that ‘the extension of the investment allowance to 50 per cent for small business until December 2009 is an excellent initiative’ and ‘a stimulus measure first proposed by ACCI and our members’.

We have the farmers again supporting Labor’s initiatives. The farmers are saying, ‘Farmers will also welcome the small business tax break increase on capital works investment’—the very tax break increase that the coalition criticises and says, ‘Farmers won’t take it up; no-one will take it up.’ Let’s ask the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries. In a release just out, hot off the press, they say:

The Federal Government’s Budget decision to increase and extend the investment tax break for small business provides a valuable incentive for new vehicle sales. The tax break will help stimulate the new vehicle market and support jobs in the industry

There you go—supporting our jobs; supporting our tradies.

But what is happening on the coalition side? It is an unfolding tragedy because, as the Prime Minister has pointed out, the Leader of the Opposition has said, on cue—

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Members of this House had thought that the Prime Minister was somewhat boring, but the minister for small business really takes the cake. Please put the House out of its misery and sit him down.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister is being relevant to the question, but the minister will bring his answer to a close.

Craig Emerson (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Finance Minister on Deregulation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was cut to the quick by that comment, Mr Speaker. I was asked about reactions and I have been explaining some of the reactions to the budget, but there are other reactions to the budget. The opposition leader has said that he would have a small deficit or a small surplus—that is $50 billion worth of increased taxes or $50 billion of cuts in expenditure. What did we have on the same day, within 18 minutes? We had the shadow Treasurer saying that it would be $25 billion smaller. So we have one saying $50 billion to be cut and another saying $25 billion. And, of course, my counterpart, the shadow minister for small business, independent contractors, tourism and the arts, got into the act, saying just the other day that for this year the deficit will be 50 per cent lower. We know that tomorrow night all expectations are there for the Leader of the Opposition—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The minister will bring his answer to a close.

Craig Emerson (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Finance Minister on Deregulation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

All expectations are there for the Leader of the Opposition to say where he is going to cut expenditure and increase taxes. They are a disorganised rabble. They support Hoovernomics; they just do not know whether it is J Edgar Hoover, Herbert Hoover or the inventor of the vacuum cleaner.

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on that positive and enthusiastic note, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.