Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One of the things I love about being home in Lalor is running into former students, at the supermarket, at the football, or at netball coaching my team. Last weekend was no different. A former student told me how she and others were going at university. Another spoke about his carpentry apprenticeship—great boss, interesting work—and how he has just saved up and bought his first car. Yet another who dropped out at the end of year 10 and did it hard for a few years is now working in retail after some pre-employment programs. Lalor is home to thousands of young people like these, who, regardless of the home they grew up in, want to work hard and get ahead.

These former students have benefited from Labor government initiatives like the program that encouraged universities to enrol low-SES students. This resulted in a 32 per cent increase in low-SES students from Lalor attending university. The apprenticeships programs, like the access program, have helped 50 locals secure apprenticeships. The Tools for Your Trade program and Apprenticeships Incentives Program benefited more than 6,000 apprentices in Lalor. The Youth Connections program assisted youth at risk to reconnect to education and training, leading to work opportunities.

The sad irony now, though, is that this budget changes all that. I am left wondering: will their younger siblings get to university? Will people still afford to make home improvements after the cost-of-living pressures announced in the budget? Will the apprenticeships be completed if the work dries up? Will the cuts in people's incomes see a reduction in local retail? Budgets are about priorities. They shine a light on what a government believes, and this budget is no different. For the young people of Lalor this budget carries no good news. This budget clearly shows that the young adults in Lalor and their futures are not a priority for this government, despite the rhetoric.

We see this in the actions, in the cruel changes to arrangements for Youth Allowance and Newstart eligibility. We can see it in changes to university funding, in the cutting of Youth Connections, in the cuts to employment support programs. We can see it in the cuts to apprenticeship programs. Those opposite throw around a slogan for people under 30: earn or learn. They pitch it across this chamber like a challenge—a challenge that belies the reality on the ground, the reality that their cuts and their budget will make it harder to learn and harder to earn. I have seen first-hand the impact of well-targeted support and implore those opposite to reconsider these cruel changes. I implore my community, too, to shop local, to use local tradespeople and, if employing, to look locally so that we can see our way through what this budget is going to bring us.

Brett Whiteley (Braddon, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Here we go again. In this opportunity this morning let me ask the question: what sort of member of parliament sets out, as we have just seen evidence of, to scare pensioners, to scare students, to scare young people, to scare people with significant disabilities? The answer is obvious. It is the Labor Party. Their deceit knows no bounds, and their desperation is placing political populism above the emotional interests of the elderly and the vulnerable in their community. I say to the people of Braddon, my constituents: do not listen to a word they say. Their desperation and deceit knows no bounds.

Yes, there will be a co-payment to visit the GP but something they will not tell you is that there will be 10 visits maximum, at which time the traditional bulk-billing arrangements will cut in. They would know, if they were to find a place deep in their hearts, that the current health funding system in this country is unsustainable.

The people of Braddon know me; they know what I stand for; they know my values; and they know that I would not for one moment stand up for a policy that was not in the best interests of our children and our grandchildren. It is time to cut out the deceit. There is a safety net. Everybody should be aware of it, and I am putting it on the record today.

They also should understand that health care in this country is not free; it never has been. The taxpayers of Australia fund health in this country to the tune of $38.90 on average for every standard GP visit that anyone in this country currently attends. It is a myth, a populist message being put out there, that health care in Australia is free. There is nothing that comes to this country free. The hardworking taxpayers of this country pay for health; they pay for education; they pay for welfare; and the list goes on and on. Not only that—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Brett Whiteley (Braddon, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You should listen because you might learn something. Your deceit knows no bounds. Your desperation knows no bounds. The reality is that this copayment arrangement—you may not like it; but the reality is that it is needed—does not start until 1 July 2015. So stop—

Opposition members interjecting—

You should stop, and your colleagues should stop, running around your electorates, running around my electorates, telling the vulnerable in our community that it started on budget night. What bunkum!

Opposition members interjecting—

You are saying it. The Labor Party is saying that. That is what you are doing; insidious and untrue messaging to the people of our electorates. It is not true and it is time you stopped the deceit. Labor should stop telling pensioners that their pensions will be cut, because it is not true. I will be back tomorrow to tell you exactly why not.