Alannah Mactiernan (Perth, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to strongly protest the shameful treatment in last night's budget of young Australians who stand to lose their jobs. I support the need for strong work tests and strong work for the dole measures but here we have something completely different. Here we have a total abandonment of the social safety net for Australians under 30 when they lose their jobs.

If you are a 28-year-old who is laid off from your job and you are desperately, earnestly, trying to find work, you will have no entitlement for unemployment benefit for up to six months, nor will you be entitled to access work for the dole programs. So how do you support yourself? How do you pay your rent? How do you eat? Not everyone has a large family home where they can seek refuge or a large parental income.

Many 28-year-olds would have left home more than a decade ago. We are not told the full extent of the waiting period. There is no information on what the minimum waiting period will be. Leaving a cohort of young with no legal means of support will have to see a rise in crime levels. Some young people may have to steal to feed themselves or have to deal in drugs to pay the rent. If we want to make sure people are not bludging, let them work for the dole; do not leave them absolutely penniless.

Teresa Gambaro (Brisbane, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Following the Treasurer's delivery of the budget last night, the Abbott government will invest close to $50 billion across Australia over seven years to deliver vital transport infrastructure for the 21st century. In my home state of Queensland, we will invest $10.3 billion from 2013-14 to 2018-19, plus an additional $3.1 billion from 2019-20. Our investment also includes $6.7 billion over 10 years to 2022-23 to fix the Bruce Highway—a much-welcomed move. One such remarkable piece of infrastructure is the Legacy Way project in Brisbane, which I inspected in January this year with the Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development, the Hon. Jamie Briggs. The Abbott government has maintained the $500 million commitment to this project. It will deliver the much-needed infrastructure into the 21st century for the City of Brisbane.

Legacy Way will provide a 4.6 km tunnel connecting the Western Freeway, Toowong, with the Inner City Bypass at Kelvin Grove, making it a quicker journey for the hundreds of thousands of Brisbane people who travel every day between the western suburbs and the CBD. All works are expected to be completed in 2015 and the Legacy Way project is becoming a reality. The construction of Legacy Way will support around 5,100 jobs over the life of the project and a further $10.5 billion in flow-on benefits for the Greater Brisbane Region.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Over Easter, we usually look out for the road toll. Sadly, this Easter we looked out for the death toll through domestic violence. Tragically, there were six tragic deaths over the Easter period, all of them related to domestic violence, all at the hands of a family member or a friend. This is a blight on our society, a blight we should be doing something about, but tragically this budget has actually cut the funding towards assisting people in this insidious situation of domestic violence.

In my electorate alone, the Eastern Community Legal Centre, which has been doing phenomenal work in this area, is going to lose $200,000 per year over the next several years. Much of this money was going towards programs to alleviate and assist in the domestic violence issue. Over one in five women make their first disclosure of domestic violence to their GP. These are the same vulnerable women who will probably put off a GP visit because of the extra $7 they are going to have to pay. This will not assist people in this cycle of violence. We will see more deaths. We have seen too many already. Surely Senator Brandis's first priority—he is our first law officer—should be protecting women and children predominantly. Men have also died as a result of domestic violence. Money should be put towards assisting in this area, but no: we have seen cut, cut, cut—cuts particularly to the Legal Aid Commission and cuts to our legal community service. This is a blight on our society.