Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Development and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) recognises that the Government has turned its back on regional Australia in the budget;

(2) acknowledges that the Government's broken promises and wrong priorities in the budget will hurt those living in regional Australia and further increase the divide between the city and the bush;

(3) notes that this budget will hurt regional Australia by:

(a) slashing $1 billion in funding to local government by cutting into the Financial Assistance Grants;

(b) introducing co-payments to Medicare that will discourage doctors from bulk billing, meaning there will be less choice for people to access general practitioner services in regional areas;

(c) cutting health which will mean fewer services in regional Australia;

(d) cutting education which will impact on regional schools and students with less funding available;

(e) increasing the fuel excise which will hurt regional Australians the most who rely on being mobile and being able to travel to work;

(f) cutting the ABC that regional Australians rely on for information; and

(g) increasing university fees that will hurt regional students and regional universities; and

(4) calls on the Government to reconsider its broken promises and wrong priorities for regional Australia in the Budget.

This government has really turned its back on regional Australia with this latest federal budget. The budget devised by those opposite is full of broken promises and of twisted priorities that will hurt people living in regional Australia more. The things in this budget that particularly impact on people in regional Australia include the freezing of indexation for financial assistance grants. That is more than $925 million across four years that will no longer be going to local government. Introducing a $7 GP tax will discourage bulk-billing and there is less choice for people in regional and rural Australia to visit a GP, so it will impact on them. There are cuts to health. An $80 billion cut to health and education will mean less services in regional Australia. Cutting education will impact on those smaller regional schools and students, with less funding available.

The increase in the fuel excise will hurt regional Australians more because they are more mobile and they rely more on transport, particularly their own vehicle, to get to and from work and to pick the kids up from school. Cutting the ABC will affect regional Australia as well because of the services that they rely on the ABC for. Particularly concerning is the change in the deregulation of university fees and the HECS debt, which will hurt regional students and regional Australia. There is so much in this budget that will hurt and impact on regional Australia. There is so much to talk about. Where to start?

Interestingly, we have seen the National Party, the coalition partner, stay pretty silent on the impact of this budget on regional Australia. Indeed, the minister, in this chamber in consideration in detail on the budget, would not answer when I asked many questions about whether any government agency, anywhere in the whole of government, had done an assessment of the impact of these changes in this budget on regional Australia? Of course, he did not answer because the answer is no. Nobody anywhere in government—in the education department, in the health department, in the Treasury, in the Regional Development Australia portfolio—has assessed the impact of these changes in this budget on regional Australia. One of the reasons they have not done that is that the findings will come out and show that regional Australia would indeed be hardest hit by this budget should these measures get through.

The cuts are astounding. We have the Australian Local Government Association coming to Canberra this week for the local government assembly. The financial assistance grants cuts are expected to dominate debate. Indeed, local governments across the country are pretty angry that they received no consultation and no notice of this cut, to take effect from 1 July, when the budget was introduced. This is a $925 million cut over four years across the country. This will impact more on those smaller regional and rural councils that can least afford it.

The President of Australian Local Government Association says councils are coming to Canberra 'somewhat shell-shocked'. Of course they are shell-shocked. They had prepared their budgets for the next few financial years. They had locked all that in, and suddenly they are getting a cut. As the Mayor of Geraldton said, there are 15 small councils outside of Geraldton and some of these councils depend on the grants to fund half of their budgets. This is a very substantial impact on smaller and regional councils.

What do people opposite actually think is going to happen? Councils are cutting services and staff because of this government's changes and/or increasing rates in regional and rural Australia, because of this budget and this financial assistance grant cut. It is very significant indeed and the impact on councils is very significant. We have 900 delegates coming to Canberra this week who are very, very concerned about these cuts to local government right across Australia. It will be interesting to see what those opposite are going to say to these councils en masse—900 of them—here, this week, lobbying for their councils, their regions and their cities, for funds from Canberra. They will be lobbying for the funds that they are actually entitled to under the Local Government (Financial Assistance) Act—funds that they were relying on, that were cut in the budget with no notice and no consultation.

How on earth can those opposite sit there and say they care about regional Australia when they have allowed this to happen? And where are the Nationals? They are silent. Warren Truss, Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development, has not been out there defending regional and rural councils; he has not been out there standing up to the government and Joe Hockey, the Treasurer, to say, 'These grants should not be cut.' This is almost a billion dollars that these councils will never get back. Services will be cut in regional Australia, and it comes on top of all of the other measures in the budget that will impact on regional Australia, as well as all of the public sector cuts that will impact on regional Australia.

Ross Vasta (Bonner, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is there a seconder for the motion?

Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion.

Ann Sudmalis (Gilmore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I simply cannot believe that the Labor Party has had the hide to bring forward a motion that attempts to shame the coalition over its record on regional Australia, when it is their debt in the first place. And if there is one record that regional and rural Australians are disgusted with, it is record of the past six years of Labor debt and Labor waste—the one we voted down at the last election.

The government, on the other hand, has already begun to breathe new life into regional Australia, with record investment in infrastructure and services—already more than $20 million has been committed in grants and infrastructure for Gilmore alone. More than $3 million has been made available to improve six local black spots, with the bulk of that funding put towards the Princes Highway and Turpentine Road. Programs like the $565 million Black Spot program, crucial to fixing dangerous and accident-prone sections of local roads and streets; or the $248 million Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity program, go directly to our commitment for rural and regional Australia. We have committed $100 million in this budget to fix up mobile phone black spots across the country, mainly for the benefit of rural and regional Australia. There is also $100 million extra for rural research, and more than $50 million to entice more doctors to work and train in rural and regional practices.

Gilmore is an electorate Labor abandoned, because they never understood our issues or how to address them, or even knew how to talk to us. Why is this? It is because they are fundamentally out of touch with regional Australia—predominantly small business people, families and farmers. The Labor Party has no link to these people, and does not understand the challenges that we in regional Australia face every day. Labor will never understand what it is like to be a single mother raising two kids in a regional or rural town, or how hard it really is to find employment when the only public transport into your town centre runs just once a day in each direction. This government cares about single parents, and that is why we are introducing a $750 payment to single mothers who receive the full rate of family tax benefit part A.

When they introduced the carbon tax, the Labor Party simply had no idea of the impact they had on the 39 dairy farms in Gilmore. At a time when milk was retailing for $1.00 a litre, the increases to electricity and refrigerant gases were crippling. The electricity bill for one dairy farmer in my electorate, Tracey Russell from Brundee, has increased from $1,400 a month to more than $2,400 since the introduction of the carbon tax. Tracey estimates that at least half of that—more than $500 a month—is solely due to the carbon tax. Another example is the cost of refrigerating milk on farms. Prices for refrigerant gases have increased from between 200 and 400 per cent for farmers in my electorate. This translates into an increase in costs of over $15,000 for some farmers in my electorate to re-gas their refrigeration systems.

Gilmore has a complexity of issues. Despite this, we work hard, always trying new solutions to give our community a hand-up, not just a handout. Programs like the revamped work for the dole, a program which is being piloted in the Shoalhaven from 1 July, help give regional communities like mine a sense of self-worth and opportunity, where before there was none. Labor does not understand work for the dole. Australians do not want to rely on welfare; they want to stand proud. Australians ,especially rural and regional Australians in Gilmore, are a very proud people. That is why work for the dole is so important in Gilmore. Fundamentally, I believe that most people want to work for what they have—to get ahead in life—and will always value the skills that community work can bring. It is a time to help our youths regain their sense of self, their can-do attitude and their desire to make their lives better.

This motion before the House talks about the government's budget priorities. I cannot help but think that budget criticisms are a bit rich, coming from Labor, especially as they have left all Australians a legacy of $667 billion of debt and $1 billion of monthly interest—for years to come—and more than 200,000 extra people unemployed. That is an enormous debt, and there is not a lot to show for it. What an amazing testimony to financial mismanagement. There is not a single Australian who could not make a suggestion of where this money could have been better spent—unless they be from the opposition.

Those on the other side indicate cuts to education—but if there is a net increase each year, that is not a cut. With an extra 80,000 places at university, that is not a cut. With a chance to study for an associate diploma or diploma—not just a degree—that is enhancing our tertiary opportunities for regional students, not cutting them. Labor does not get it. Our youths, our regional people, do not want their grandchildren to be burdened with debt. This budget provides a vision for a debt-free future. I have yet to hear a whisper of a plan from those on the other side.

Stephen Jones (Throsby, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development and Infrastructure) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I start by congratulating the member for Franklin and the shadow minister for regional development and local government for bringing this motion before the House today. Its timing could not be better, because there are hundreds of delegates from local government organisations in Canberra today talking about the devastating impact of Commonwealth government cuts to the services they are delivering throughout regional Australia.

The member for Gilmore, who has just spoken, seems disappointed that I have not had some time to speak in reference to her contribution. I will do that. I would have thought a member representing regional Australia with one of the highest unemployment levels in the country would have had a bit more to say about their program for dealing with unemployment. It seems to me that the only thing they have to say to the poor unemployed people, in areas like the member for Gilmore's, is: 'For God's sake, don't lose your job, because if you do you're off benefits for six months!' That is the message they are sending to unemployed people. If you want to improve your skills do not look to TAFE, because they are cutting the hell out of funding for TAFE as well.

She talks about areas where funding could be better spent. I will give you one example that puts a spotlight on the priorities of those opposite, particularly the Liberal members of those opposite. There is over $5 billion on a Paid Parental Leave scheme, which is going to disadvantage those who live in regional Australia. Whether they are people on low incomes or no incomes, they will receive nothing out of it.

We know that not all of those on the other side have got their priorities wrong. Some of them actually get it. I see the member for Dawson is going to speak in this debate and I hope that he has something to say about the misspent priorities of the government when it comes to regional Australia, paid parental leave and where they could be spending their money.

Having had a high-profile National Party candidate standing against me in the last election, I took particular interest in National Party policies. I was particularly keen on this document I have here: Our plan for regional Australia. This is the National Party platform, the promises they took to their constituents in the last election. It is actually not a bad document, if you read it closely. They promised to ensure that regional Australia was represented when the big decisions in health were going to be made. The policy says:

Only The Nationals' Regional Health Rescue Plan can ensure that the one third of Australians living in the regions get a fair go from the health system and a fair share of health funding.

And I love this bit:

When health policy decisions are being made, regional concerns must be championed by a dedicated Minister with regional experience and a primary focus on the welfare of regional Australians.

Sounds pretty good. Unfortunately, we learnt that only two weeks ago that minister was not even in the room when the biggest decisions were going to be made in relation to regional and rural health. I know the member for Dawson would not have let that happen. He is a man who is not afraid to stand out—stand up, stand out and talk out—when the interests of his constituents are at risk. I am sure the member for Dawson would have ensured that he had been in the room when this horrible GP tax was being debated and when the cuts to health and hospital funding were being considered.

We know that the cuts to hospital funds are going to have a devastating impact on regional Australia. The Nationals had a bit to say about that in their plan for regional Australia. They said that the Nationals will not support policies that lead to the closure of regional hospitals. I can point to one policy that is going to lead to the closure of regional hospital beds and regional hospitals around this country and that is the decision to rip $55 billion out of hospital funding over the forward estimates. The National Party shadow minister was not even in the room when this decision was being made. It is a damn shame because maybe she could have done something to prevent the $1 billion worth of cuts to regional and other hospitals in New South Wales. It is said that this will lead to the loss of over 300 beds in New South Wales.

If the Nationals are going to stand up for regional Australia, they could start by speaking out on the devastating impact that the GP tax, the hospital cuts, the TAFE cuts and the cuts to local governments—the myriad devastating cuts—are going to have on people in regional Australia. (Time expired)

Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You learn a lot of things in this place and you are surprised by some of them. The thing that has surprised me most in this place is the level of misinformation that is deliberately promulgated. I was sitting here thinking that there is one solution to the debt crisis. If we levied the Labor Party $1 every time they used the word 'cut', we would manage our debt quite comfortably. And we could charge them $2 every time it was an act of misrepresentation because when you pay more into a fund, invest more, it is disingenuous to call them cuts.

In any event, I thought I would talk about something I am passionate about—regional South Australia. I am passionate about it because I have lived my whole life there. If I could have got my university degree in Mt Gambier—and I could now, by the way—then I would have lived my whole life there. Do you know what is hurting regional Australia and South Australia the most?

An opposition member: The Abbott government.

No, it is $667 billion of your debt and it is $1 billion a month. I reflected on this and wondered what I could do in the electorate of Barker for $1 billion. I would be a hero, to start with. There has been a lot of discussion in South Australia—and my good friend the member for Hindmarsh would agree with me—about the Royal Adelaide Hospital. The Royal Adelaide Hospital is being built for $2 billion. I could build a Royal Adelaide Hospital in Mt Gambier after two months. I could build one in Renmark after two months. I could build one at Karoonda after two months. Those on the other side create the problem and then they whinge about us fixing the problem. The reality is that this problem is your problem and we are addressing it. Do you know what regional Australians and South Australians hate the most about this? It is not only that we are paying $1 billion a month but that we are sending $700 million of it offshore. It is time to wake up and smell the coffee, quite frankly.

The member for Bendigo would like to see more union influence when it comes to decisions. I think the people in regional South Australia would like to see less union influence. Quite frankly, the member for Franklin can laugh all she likes, but the reality is this is serious. They laugh about this motion on the budget. When I go back to my community we cry because $1 billion a month is not able to be spent in regional Australia. I have just met with the CEO of the South Australian Local Government Association—and I will be meeting with mayors from my electorate tonight over dinner—and she told me—and this has been confirmed in meetings I have had throughout the electorate over the last week—

Honourable members interjecting—

On this topic. If you waited a minute and listened, you would get the answer. She came to me and said, 'We in local government in South Australia understand that we need to do our bit.' I asked her why she had that view and her answer was—wait for it—

Honourable members interjecting—

If you listen, her answer was, 'Because Labor got us in this mess.' That was her view in the discussion. I should have taped it and played it to you. I have served in local government for eight years and the one thing I learnt in local government that I have brought to this place is that you cannot spend more money than your raise. You can do it for a year or for two years, but we had six years of it and we spent and spent. The debt was $96 billion when John Howard and Peter Costello took the treasury bench. Our task—$667 billion—is close to seven times that task. Who put us in this position? The ALP did and they come into this place and say, 'We are worried about the effects this budget will have on regional Australia and South Australia in particular.'

The reality is that we were forced to make these tough but fair calls because the Labor Party forced us to do it. Imagine if we had not wasted money on pink batts and overpriced school halls. We could have actually delivered the kind of infrastructure regional Australia needs to deliver its product to the market. In this Asian century it will be agriculture and regional Australia that drive us out of it. Quite thankfully, I am glad that it will not be the Labor Party leading this country over the next three years.

Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This budget smashes regional Australia. This budget is an absolute shocker when it comes to the families, the towns and the communities of regional Australia. There are so many examples of how this budget smashes regional Australia that it is hard to work out what to focus on in this short speech. Let us start with the $80 billion worth of education and health cuts. Everybody can see in the budget papers that these cuts will hit regional Australia hard. Because the government has walked away from the national health reform agreement, my own electorate of Bendigo will be $29 million worse off over the next five years. Bendigo Health will feel the brunt of it and have $25 million stripped away.

The former state Labor government put money aside to build a brand-new hospital. The doctors, nurses and hospital are now asking themselves whether they will have enough money to open their doors. That is now under question because this government ripped apart the agreement and has taken money out of the Bendigo hospital. The other four small hospitals in the area are now talking about mergers. They are not sure whether they will be able to keep their doors open because this funding agreement kept them open. This government is putting the health of regional Victorians at risk.

It is not just the hospital cuts but the GP tax. Local rural GPs are speaking out. Unlike in the metro areas, a lot of doctors in the regions do not operate from nine to five. Those doctors are on-call for emergency care and aged care. They want to know whether they will need a cash register when they turn up at an aged-care facility. One aged-care facility is talking about having a 10-visit card that you pay in advance. It would be just like a coffee card, and every time you see the GP, when they pop in, you cross one off. That is what they are talking about. This is what this government is now creating through the GP tax. Talk about creating red tape. The $7 GP co-payment, the tax, is creating more red tape.

It is not just health that is being hit hard; universities and regional campuses will also be hit hard. The students in central Victoria—for example, Bendigo senior secondary students—who are thinking about going to university talk about not where they will go to university but if they will go to university. Over 25 per cent of the students at the Bendigo campus of the La Trobe University are the first in their family to go to university. Those from low-socioeconomic backgrounds are now questioning whether they will go to university. If they do not go to university, what are their options? There are a lack of jobs in the regions. The jobs crisis is deepening because this government has no plan for jobs in the region. This budget does little to address the growing jobs crisis in regional Australia.

As we have heard, the regional councils are here this week in Canberra and they are demanding answers from this government. Why is it that they have to suffer the cuts when it comes to the financial assistance grants?

I met with the Greater Bendigo City Council last week, and they do not know where they are going to find the $1.8 million that this government has cut from their budget. They have already increased rates by six per cent this year and six per cent last year. Some of the council areas in regional Victoria over the last three years have already increased their rates by 20 per cent. They cannot keep hitting ratepayers, yet they might have to because this government has taken the cruel decision to freeze their financial assistance grants.

Federal government should do its bit to support regional councils and they have failed. This government in their first budget have failed—failed to support local governments that work really hard. The ratepayers in my part of the world are saying, 'We cannot afford an extra per cent. If only our wages went up by 18 per cent over three years.' They do not; yet, their rates are.

Fuel excise: nobody on the other side has even touched the fuel excise issue. Forty cents in every litre is to go to the government. If only 40 per cent in every litre in Bendigo went into Bendigo roads, maybe then we would not be so upset about the fuel excise increasing. The Nats say that this is important because this is what is needed to fix our roads, but if only every cent went into regional roads. Where are the Nats when it comes to regional Australia? Where is the impact statement? Why did they tear it up and why are they hiding it? Why are they so afraid to tell regional Australia how bad this budget is for regional Victoria? (Time expired)

George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Hearing the statements of those opposite, I am reminded of the time that they were in government. It reminds me of an old story about the farmer speaking to his city cousin. They had a conversation about politics. The farmer referred to the former Labor government as fence post turtles. When the city cousin said. 'What is a fence post turtle?', the farmer said, 'Well, he didn't get there by himself, he doesn't belong there, he doesn't know what to do up there and you just want to get the poor dumb creature down to where he belongs.' And that is exactly what the last Labor government was when it came to regional Australia.

They were put in there by these supposedly country independents—they did not get there by themselves—and when they were there they did not know what to do. There was so much mismanagement that went on and so much debt that went out of control. In fact, it was a little bit worse than that because the joke goes that they do not know what to do while they are up there. Perhaps they did not exactly know what they were doing but I suspect that some of them did when they put in a carbon tax, because there were alarm bells ringing left, right and centre about the impact that would have on regional Australia.

It has hit places like the Mackay region, that I represent—a regional town—perhaps the worst. In the Deloitte Access Economics report that was done into carbon pricing, they clearly flagged with the previous government that Queensland would be worse off and that regions in Queensland would be worse off. They were intent—these guys who are talking now about how concerned they are about regional Australia—on bringing in a carbon tax on diesel fuel, putting diesel fuel costs up through the roof. And who would be paying? Regional Australia, where freight is so important.

This is something that we have had from the Labor Party and who now come in here with this hypocritical stance that they are somehow concerned about regional Australia. There was no sign of that when they were in government. In fact, the regional ministers were all city based. Why did they not give it to a country based MP? Why was it Sydney members who had it? Why was the member for Grayndler the minister for the regions? He probably would not know a cow from a horse if you took him out west. This is the ridiculous situation that the Labor Party had us in. In fact, a while ago, he was in the other chamber denying that he was the regional minister, so I wonder what he was doing for three or four months while he was there?

But if we want to talk about what the government is doing for regional Australia, it is actually quite positive. We have a number of programs that we are rolling out which were announced in this budget and that are going to pay huge dividends for regional Australia. The building stronger regional communications fund is something that is extremely important: mobile phone funding, for the first time in a long time, helping communities get that communication that they vitally need. The National Stronger Regions Fund: $1 billion. This fund will be up and running by next year, targeting infrastructure projects supporting local and regional development. Organisations, including councils, can apply for grants from $20,000 through to $10 million for key community infrastructure—infrastructure that was neglected under Labor. Right now we are spending $314 million on the Community Development Grants program, delivering things such as an upgrade to the gymnastics centre in Mackay. We have $2½ billion that we have put forward for something that country people realise is vitally important—local roads—through a boost to the Roads to Recovery program. This includes $350 million extra, doubling funding in 2015-16 for local councils. I have to say I know the Deputy Prime Minister addressed local councils this morning. There was applause and much nodding of the heads when he told them about that $350 million extra that is going in for 2015-16. If the members opposite wanted to support something, they would get behind that because that is going to be a big win for all of their councils, not just city based ones.

Debate adjourned.