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

I touch tonight on the budget that was presented last night. I think at best it can be described as a 'get them by' budget. It is a budget that has no coherent strategy to deliver strong economic growth or long-term sustainable surpluses, or even a strategy to tackle the mountain of debt that this government has accumulated in four years. We saw that debt in the current year blow out from $22 billion to $44 billion. How do we expect to see a surplus in the next financial year's budget? Our net government debt will climb to a record $145 billion. This has required the government to legislate to increase its debt limit—the limit on the national credit card—from $250 billion to $300 billion. These are records that nobody should be proud of achieving, nor are the number of new or increased taxes that this government has introduced since 2007. With this budget's various tax hikes and measures, the total now stands at 26.

These new and increased taxes have done nothing to help ease the pressure of the rising cost of living for the Australian community. They do nothing for families who are facing higher costs of living every day. As an example, since this government was elected in 2007, electricity prices have gone up by some 66 per cent, and that is before the introduction of a carbon tax on 1 July; gas prices have gone up by 39 per cent; food prices have gone up by 11 per cent; petrol prices have gone up by another 11 per cent; and education and health costs have gone up by some 25 per cent. This is Labor's second budget in a row that has not provided tax cuts for everyday Australians. Instead, Labor is hitting Australian families and the economy with more tax hikes, including the world's biggest carbon tax, which will push prices up even further. The carbon tax will result in $9 billion a year in new tax revenue, an immediate increase of around 10 per cent in electricity bills and a nine per cent increase in gas bills in the first year alone. The impact on families will get worse with a carbon price rising to $29 a tonne in just three years. This compares to a current global carbon price of $6 to $8. Needless to say, this toxic carbon tax will have devastating effects on industries and jobs yet will do nothing for the environment. The compensation and handouts from the government are being given out to cushion the blow of these new taxes but no amount of compensation can be measured to protect the jobs of everyday Australians—and no amount of compensation will compensate them for losing their job. These sugar hits are counter-productive: they do not go the distance and they do not keep pace with the new and increased taxes designed to drive up the cost of living.

We just saw with the legislation passed today that the education tax rebate was dumped and replaced with the schoolkids bonus. Not only that, but we have blowouts like the NBN, which is not in the budget. There is another $1.4 billion blowout in asylum seeker management. Defence continues to be cut. A broken border protection and onshore-processing policy rages out of control.

Labor has delivered its fourth deficit in four years, which is, in total, $174 billion. As I said earlier, the blowout in this financial year's proposed deficit from $22 billion to $44 billion is a great example of what we are going to see over the coming 12 months. The baton of debt will be passed down to the children that are supposedly getting the benefit of these handouts. Once they enter the workforce they will be paying the interest on the debt and they will be paying their taxes to repay this debt. This government is protecting itself and the Prime Minister is doing everything in her power to keep her job. The budget is a purely political document—as I mentioned at the outset, a 'get-em-by budget'. It is only the coalition that has a proven track record of providing hope, reward and opportunity. (Time expired)

Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is a fairer budget than last year but it could have been fairer. The Greens helped prevent Labor's big business tax cuts, which will save the public purse $16 billion over the next decade. Unfortunately, the government chose to maintain an obsession with an early political surplus and has not used these savings, in our view, in the best possible way. The Greens would have put an extra $50 a week into Newstart to help people living below the poverty line. Unfortunately, the government did not agree. The Greens would rather maintain tax breaks for green buildings but, unfortunately, these have been removed.

The Greens believe Australia should honour its pledge of increasing overseas development assistance to 0.5 per cent of GNI by 2015-16, but this has been delayed. The Greens also advocated scaling back the diesel fuel tax rebate, but this suggestion was not picked up. The budget unfortunately does not sufficiently invest in long-term economic goals, preferring instead to focus on a short-term political surplus that will not help Australia after the mining bubble bursts. It is not smart planning for the future to put virtually no new money into schools, skills, training or higher education, to cut over 3,000 public service jobs or to invest virtually nothing in innovative manufacturing to set us up for a future beyond the mining bubble. The government says that a surplus is our best defence against global change. The Greens say that healthy, well educated and confident Australians trained in working in the new clean economy are our best preparation for the challenges of the 21st century.

I commend the government for some big and important reforms such as the National Disability Insurance Scheme and extra funding for aged care. I applaud the government for honouring the agreement with the Greens and putting half a billion dollars towards dental health, and initiating steps towards getting dental care into Medicare. I am very glad that the government agreed to the most significant funding boost SBS has ever received—$95 million over five years—and to a further $63 million to be invested in national Indigenous television. The government also agreed to exempt many of our national cultural institutions such as the National Gallery, National Library, National Museum and the National Film and Sound Archive from the efficiency dividend which would have cut into their budgets.

I am also pleased to have been able to secure funding for a number of important projects, such as a $1½ million lifeline to secure the future of Job Watch, the Carlton based employment legal centre that will continue to make a difference for vulnerable workers. The Baillieu government in Victoria cut 60 per cent of Job Watch's funding. Services that were at risk included free and confidential legal services, community education, advocacy and law reform services. I know the crucial and unique work that Job Watch does for working people and I am delighted that their good work can continue.

High-speed rail from Melbourne to Sydney is closer to reality with $20 million in the budget to establish a high-speed rail unit. The unit will build on the work of the multimillion dollar high-speed rail implementation study secured as part of the Greens agreement with the Gillard government. High-speed rail will transform the way we move around the country. We are now one step closer to building a 21st century rail network.

The government has also agreed to start funding again to important programs and to invest more in maths and science education. There will be a $54 million investment in programs such as Science by Doing and PrimaryConnections, two programs I have been championing. Boosting maths and science education in schools is smart because innovation is central to our future prosperity once the mining bubble bursts. We now need to push for a big investment in our schools in the next budget.

I am pleased that there is no federal funding for the Baillieu government plan to drive a tollway through the middle of Melbourne. There is no money for the tollway in this year's budget and, at this stage, none planned for future years. The fight is not over but it is a promising start. We now need to focus on getting the Baillieu government to invest in rail, not roads.

I was also able to negotiate $20 million to protect and celebrate the Royal Exhibition Building, the birthplace of Australia's parliament and a World Heritage icon for Melbourne. I have been working with Museum Victoria and residents groups on re-establishing a walkway on the building's dome as well as a democracy education centre and recognition of Indigenous Australians. I note that our parliament turns 111 today and I am pleased that we have delivered an appropriate gift to preserve its original home.

I also commend the government for its $67 million investment in the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre in Parkville. I will be looking at the budget over coming weeks to see if there are better ways of investing our tax dollars but I also note that without the Greens in the balance of power many of these important reforms would not be happening.

Question agreed to.

House adjourned at 20 : 00