Jason Falinski (Mackellar, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2018-2019.

Under this coalition government, the electorate of Mackellar is strong. For nearly two years I have represented the great people of Mackellar in this place and on the streets of the Northern Beaches. In my maiden speech in this House, I said that governments should do less, but that what they do they should do much better. I'm proud and humbled to say that this government is doing just that. We are providing smaller government and creating more equality of opportunity, because a fair society is a society that gives back as much as it takes.

Under this government's policies, our country is getting fairer. The coalition government has delivered on education, health, transport, veterans' affairs and Medicare, while delivering much-needed upgrades to sporting facilities and roads, and, of course, backing small businesses and their employees. I've also fought hard and have secured over 21 community grants for Mackellar community groups, and I am constantly working to deliver more.

I'd like to start off by pointing out some of the wonderful community organisations in Mackellar who have benefitted from government grants. There are too many to name, but I would like to point out a few which I believe deserve a special mention. We provided important funding for new computer equipment for the Tibetan Community in Australia. This will make it easier for them to learn English so that they can better take advantage of all that our great country has to offer. There was a $10,000 grant to The Burdekin Association, which has established a youth hub at Avalon. This will provide support for young people in Mackellar who are struggling with mental illness. Youth mental health is a serious issue which affects many in the community, with one in seven young people experiencing a mental health disorder.

I helped to secure funding for a much-needed station upgrade to the Davidson Rural Fire Brigade. Thank you to Trent Dowling and his team, and to all the volunteers at the RFS, for their work in keeping our community safe during summer and in all seasons of the year. A grant was awarded to Easylink to purchase a much-needed new vehicle. Easylink is an organisation, largely volunteer based, which provides taxi-like transport options for the elderly and disabled around the Northern Beaches. Thank you to Susan Watson, John Wilson and their team, who do an excellent job. Just a few weeks ago they took me for a ride on a bus to meet members of the community, and to take them—

Honourable Member:

An honourable member interjecting—

Jason Falinski (Mackellar, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That's not true! I get on buses all the time! Just ask Barry Unsworth!

The Scotland Island Rural Fire Brigade, under the leadership of Captain Peter Lalor, received funding for new community fire unit boxes. The Marine Rescue Centre in Terrey Hills had an upgrade to their radio room so that they can continue to do their job of keeping our waterways safe for the residents and tourists who use them. The Manly Warringah Women's Resource Centre received funding for the installation of new appliances in their building. And I will just make a special mention of Tracy Sheedy and the team there, who do an excellent job in providing crisis accommodation for the victims of domestic violence.

There are simply too many community groups in Mackellar to name, and not enough time to name them all today. But each of them provide unique service and support to the people of the Northern Beaches, and I am proud to be able to do what I can to support them.

We are fortunate to have numerous schools which offer a high standard of education for our children. This government places great emphasis on education and the need for strong funding models which will help to give the next generation the best platform to succeed. Over the 10 years from 2018 to 2027, non-systemic independent schools in Mackellar will receive a total of $788 million in Commonwealth funding. Under the coalition, local schools now have more certainty, with an increase in funding. Over the next 10 years every public school in Mackellar—there are 25 of them—will receive 51 per cent more funding per student. Unlike Labor, we don't just talk about education policy; we deliver on it. There are numerous independent and Catholic schools in Mackellar who will also benefit from funding increases. Pittwater House students will benefit from a funding increase of over 11 per cent between 2018 and 2021, so that under the leadership of Dr Nancy Hillier those students can continue to receive one of the highest standards of education in the world.

I'd also like to make special mention of a few principals who I have met with and toured their schools recently. These principals are just some of the most excellent school leaders in Mackellar, who are consistently delivering outstanding results for their students. Mrs Leesa Martin of Elanora Heights Public School; Dr Peter Downey, who was just here last night, of Oxford Falls Grammar; Mrs Jodie Hoenig of the Sydney Japanese School; as well as Mrs Susan Tickle of Narrabeen Lakes Public School. I was also fortunate to attend a play they held there a few weeks ago, so thank you to Susan and the students for having me along. I also look forward to meeting with the school captains of all the senior schools in Mackellar in a couple of weeks to discuss politics and how we, the current crop of politicians, can continue to engage with the next generation of leaders.

As someone who started his own small business many years ago, I understand the daily pressures and stresses of a small business owner, and so does this government. In Mackellar there are over 23,000 small and medium-sized businesses, which employ locally and support the local economy. Over the past few years, I've held a number of small business forums, where small business owners have been able to express to me and the Minister for Small Business some of the big issues which face them on a day-to-day basis. This is why the coalition government has provided an instant asset write-off to invest in machinery and equipment, which will help grow their businesses and will allow them to employ more local staff. Small businesses are getting a fair go at long last, through amendments to the competition law to stop big businesses from abusing market power. The government has also established the small business ombudsman. I would also like to make special mention of local businesses AL and JA Barber, who received a business growth grant. Pat Labs received a grant under the Entrepreneurs' Program.

This government's initiative to keep defence industry manufacturing here in Australia, and not overseas, has seen local businesses thrive, including HI Fraser based in my electorate. HI Fraser is a hydraulics engineering firm, who recently won a multimillion dollar contract to supply parts to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Based in Warriewood, under the leadership of managing director Chris Williams, this contract will allow them to employ more people and further support Australia's economy and defence capabilities, while also adding to R&D expenditure in this country and making us the smart economy of Asia.

Another defence contractor in Mackellar is Incat Crowther, which is now supplying the waterproofing seals for Australia's submarines. This is a very important thing, because it is important that submarines remain waterproof. So keep up the good work keep up the good work with Incat Crowther. I look forward to introducing you to Minister Pyne when he visits in a few weeks.

This government is also providing the energy security that Labor failed to provide. This government is building Snowy Hydro 2.0, creating 5,000 jobs and providing cheaper, more reliable energy for the people of Mackellar. This government is also giving Australian consumers priority access to our natural gas before it is exported, ensuring Australians no longer have to settle for the leftovers and inflated prices.

Mackellar is finally gaining access to the NBN. Under Labor, only six premises were connected, but today I am proud to stand here and say that over 20,000 homes have been connected, and another 17,000 are under construction. All the homes will be ready for service by 2020. This is an extraordinary outcome, when you consider where we started. The NBN isn't perfect. I don't need to tell anyone in this chamber that. And, truth be told, it's not a policy that the Liberals desired. But we inherited a mess, a monumental mess, from a party that excels at monumental messes. And now the NBN will be delivered sooner and cheaper. If Labor's fibre-to-the-premises fantasy had gone ahead, it would have cost $30 billion more and taken up to eight years longer in comparison to this government's far more efficient alternative.

In 2013, then Prime Minister Tony Abbott set the goal of creating a million jobs. We've achieved that goal in the last week. Like most things this government does, we have done it ahead of schedule. Because we on this side believe that the best form of welfare is a job, rather than handing out money to people we are creating jobs for them and their families. A record $75 billion investment in infrastructure over the next decade in major highway upgrades, congestion-busting roads, public transport rail projects, inland rail, improved local roads and a new airport have also benefitted Mackellar. This government co-funded the new and much-needed Frenchs Forest hospital. It helped to secure the much-needed B-Line and began upgrades on Mona Vale Road.

There is still more to be done in my electorate. The people I represent deserve a government that provides equal opportunity and that always operates in the most efficient way possible, and that is what I will continue to advocate for this place. I look forward to continuing to work with the Prime Minister and my parliamentary colleagues to further push for smaller government, individual liberty, lower taxes, and the government services people need.

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Budgets are like sermons. At their best, they can inspire and they can offer hope. Even the difficult ones can attract and sometimes hold the attention of the electorate. They can give us all pause for thought. Budgets and budget night are about more than the national accounts. They're about more than economic management. They are a political exercise, because they are about national priorities. And that's not an entirely bad thing. Budget week offers the government and the opposition the chance to reset the national agenda. The budget process should challenge both the government and the parliament to think afresh. The budget speech and the budget reply from the opposition leader are a chance to reconnect with the people and reassure those who have been doing it tough that they have not been forgotten. A good budget will offer hope as well as help.

As I sat listening to the Treasurer's speech last Tuesday night, my thoughts turned to what it might mean for the people I represent—what they may make of it all. In particular, I wondered how many young Australians might be asking themselves, 'Why does this government hate anyone under the age of 50?' Younger Australians face a far tougher jobs market than people of my generation did. They'll find it harder to own a home or start a family. In increasing numbers, they'll be weighed down for years, paying off a HECS debt, despite the declining market value of many degrees. They are the generation that will have to bear the cost for the slow and faltering progress in addressing climate change over the last 40 years. In a country as rich as ours, it's a disgrace that, on average, over the last four years, over 270,000 of those aged 15 to 24 can't find work, no matter how hard they try. One in 200 Australians, many of them young, don't have a roof over their heads. And so many young Australians feel discarded or hopelessly left out of the system. This isn't, by the way, just a working-class problem. The sons and daughters of middle-class Australians are having a hard time and are up against it too. Times are tough all around.

According to the most recent HILDA survey, real average household disposable income has actually fallen slightly since 2012. The sharpest decline in homeownership, according to the Melbourne Institute, since 2002 has been among couples with dependent children. In 2002, 55.5 per cent of individuals in this family type were homeowners, but by 2014 it had slid to 38.6 per cent. Homeownership amongst 18- to 39-year-olds has fallen from 36 per cent in 2002 to only 25 per cent in 2014, and it's still falling. Waiting lists for public and community housing are rising, further exacerbating the systemic housing issues and outright discrimination faced by young people. Even those with means and parental support continue to find it very difficult to rent a home near their work in most of our capital cities. I look back at what my own generation has done, and I wonder whether we might have served those who have followed us just a little bit better. Young people have every reason to believe that this government has closed it's mind to all of this. This government is just incapable of joining up the dots on multimillion-dollar cuts to TAFE, further turning the screw on HECS debts and repayments, and ignoring the plight of the hundreds of thousands of people who are reliant on Newstart and job seeker allowances that are below subsistence level.

After a series of coalition budgets that have offered little, that have cut or pared back support for basic services like health and education and that have allowed the value of support to the unemployed and other victims of the economics of tough love to wither and that have conspicuously failed to address a deadening sense of economic insecurity that grips many, I wondered whether this Turnbull budget might offer at least some sign of being better attuned to the needs of young Australians and their families. Will the damage inflicted on those who've had to wear most of the pain of the last four coalition governments be eased? I'm afraid not. Was there nothing to be done for young people in this budget, other than the vicarious pleasure of handing an $80 billion tax cut to the banks and multinationals and income tax cuts spread over the next decade that will favour most of those who are on incomes over $200,000? There was nothing—not even in what's called an election-year budget.

This government, which claims to be the low-tax party, has never delivered an Australian worker earning less than $80,000 a year a tax cut or tax relief. The best that this government could offer was $10 a week, which won't actually be paid out until July 2019 at the earliest—well after the next election. What we witnessed during the last sitting week was the Treasurer handing down a typical Liberal budget. This is a budget that, above all else, fails the fairness test. This is a budget that supports the big businesses and the banks and lets down the residents of my seat of Macarthur. The Macarthur electorate has been let down time and time again by this coalition government, and local residents are understandably fed up. The people of Macarthur—the young families, the small business owners, the students, the grandparents, the migrants, the shift workers, the job seekers, the unemployed and the people with disabilities, who I have the distinct honour of representing, will see very little from this budget. The reason for that is very simple. It's because the hardworking people of south-west Sydney are not necessarily from the big end of town. Having been elected to this chamber to represent these constituents, I'm not here to represent the interests of CEOs or the big banks. I should have a couple of nice things to say about them, if I could find it in my heart to do so, but I can't. If this budget were delivering projects to the tune of $80 billion in my electorate of Macarthur, I'd be jumping up and down and singing the government's praises—but there's nothing.

This budget does very little for my community. The Prime Minister, the Treasurer and their government fail to understand the needs of the people of Macarthur. I have a few key issues in mind where it is particularly disappointing to see that the government continues to drag its feet. Firstly, I want to speak about Appin Road. As many members of this chamber would be aware, as I have spoken on this subject a number of times, Appin Road is a secondary highway which serves as a thoroughfare connecting south-west Sydney through Campbelltown to Wollongong and the Illawarra. There is one word that comes to mind when speaking about this road, and that is 'notorious'. It's notorious because so many people have died on this road. It's notorious because traffic levels are increasing rapidly, including large trucks and semitrailers. In my electorate it has a truly frightening reputation, and I was most pleased that, following Labor's commitment of $50 million to begin the upgrade of Appin Road, the coalition jumped on board, agreed that it needed to be done urgently and matched our commitment.

However, progress has been far too slow. At the previous federal budget the coalition provided a mere $5 million for 2017-18 for Appin Road, just 10 per cent of their commitment. The remainder is supposed to trickle through until the end of 2021. Very little has been done other than removing a few tree stumps. What this means for my constituents is a longer, drawn-out process in which little has been achieved. Instead of investing in a well-thought-out project that creates a dual carriageway, this government is dragging its feet. The government needs to stick by its previous commitment and make these upgrades a priority.

While we're on the subject of infrastructure, we again see in Macarthur a lack of any real action by the federal government to link the Western Sydney Airport with a rail connection to my electorate. In spite of me talking to all the transport experts around the country, who agree on the need for a rail link through Macarthur to Western Sydney Airport, through the Leppington line and the north/south line from Macarthur through the new airport and on to St Marys, nothing has been done. We have failed to get any commitment to complete the Leppington-Airport line or to complete the north/south line from Macarthur to the new airport and beyond. We are now told we have to make a business case. We know that that's not the case for many other infrastructure projects, such as the northern part of the rail link to the new airport, but nothing for the south-west. It's really been politicised, and the government has, once again, failed the electorate of Macarthur. The surrounding electorates of Werriwa and Hume et cetera have similarly failed to get proper infrastructure spent—infrastructure that might have seen the completion of the Maldon-Dombarton rail line, which connects the Illawarra through Wollongong to the electorate of Hume through Picton and then on to the Macarthur electorate. The airport must be connected by rail. We know that. Every expert says it must, and it must happen soon. But there is nothing from this government. The government's City Deal has been very elaborate, a politicised hoax, and unfortunately, to Macarthur there's nothing. It is irresponsible of the Liberal National government to continue to shirk their responsibility to the most rapidly growing electorate in the state. What the government has done time and time again is put this project in the too-hard basket and send in their public relations experts to create more spin. Without adequate infrastructure to serve the new airport, my constituents will not be able to access the economic and social benefits that this project offers. Labor, for some time now, has been committed to investing in this project, on which the government appears determined to continue to avoid taking any real action.

In addition, this government have maintained their $17 billion cuts to our schools, and they're keeping their cuts to our hospital funding. This has meant that in our schools vital resources to fulfil the full Gonski plan have been lost in some of the most disadvantaged schools in the state. This has meant that our hospital waiting lists for things like elective surgery such as cataract surgery have blown out to amongst the longest in Australia. Our waiting times in our emergency departments are blowing out in an electorate that is facing a rapidly increasing population, an older population, and in an area where there have been cutbacks to after-hours services by general practitioners, putting more and more stress on our local hospitals. It beggars belief that this is apparently what the Prime Minister calls 'responsible government'. Any man who can preside over a government that could consider a harsh cap of $3.35 million from Campbelltown Hospital as 'responsible government' is clearly out of touch and in dire need of a new dictionary.

The government has continued to do things that are really setting up our future to be even more difficult. Cuts to the ABC—it is very hard to fathom why this is happening. The government appears to have fallen in with the Pauline Hanson's One Nation party in attacking the ABC and in destroying a vital Australian institution. Is there nothing that can be done to stop this government on its destructive course?

Unfortunately, this government—a decade after the global financial crisis—is continuing to put stress on our much-needed community resources such as the ABC and on our local, state and federal infrastructure and yet it gives big tax cuts to multinational businesses. It really is relying on what they call a trickle-down economy to make things better for the people who are struggling the most. There's no evidence that this works, we hear time and time again from economists that it doesn't work, but they have persisted with their cuts. I don't call this trickle-down economics; I call this siphon-off economics. This is the economics of siphoning off desperately needed money from vital public resources, such as schools, hospitals and the ABC, to big business and wealthy shareholders.

Household debt in Australia is at record highs. What people are paying for their power costs, their council rates, their schooling costs, their health costs is blowing out further and further, and it's putting young families that I've cared for for many years under increasing stress. The economic consensus is that the task of budget repair is proceeding all too slowly, and yet the government continue with these huge tax cuts. Also, promising workers tax cuts that are so far off into the future they may or may not come into effect long after this government is gone is also irresponsible and undemocratic.

Is there a plan with this government? I doubt it very much. The government is clearly attracted to some form of budget planning, but the planning has been distorted by it's want to give many billions of dollars to big business and vested interests. Listening to the Treasurer and the Prime Minister talk about the government's plans for jobs and growth, you'd think we'd all been transported back to some eastern satellite of Soviet Russia, circa 1962. Unfortunately, while they do have some totalitarian ideals, we are not attracted to the Soviet system. The good news is that planning is pretty minimal and the jobs and growth mantra is just that, rather than any real plan. The Treasurer's budget speech brought to mind a passage from Donald Horne's 1964 seminal critique of Australian society, The Lucky Country. When it comes to claiming credit for things not of its making, this government is indeed a worthy successor— (Time expired)

Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Vocational Education and Skills) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm pleased to add my voice to those speaking in support of these appropriation bills, which are part of the 2018-19 federal budget. I've spent the last week out in my community on the southern Gold Coast speaking with locals about the budget, what's in it for them and, more importantly, what's in it for the future of our nation—because that's really what we're all here for: to ensure we can make Australia an even better place for generations to come.

The feedback has been very positive—extremely positive, in fact. People see this as a budget that's responsible, fair and balanced. It reflects where we are as a nation and the values that are important. That's because this budget is all about doing the right thing: staying the course to bring the budget back to surplus; ensuring the government lives within its means; and guaranteeing the essentials we all rely on, particularly seniors, those with a disability, those who need help the most. It's about ensuring hardworking Australian taxpayers can keep more of their earnings and have incentives to get ahead and earn more, if they choose to. It's about ensuring that small and medium businesses can grow, succeed and employ more people. It's about the aspirations we share to make sure our kids and grandkids can do their very best and not have to struggle or rely on the government. We want to help create the conditions that encourage enterprise, endeavour, free thinking, independence, self-development and community contribution in the knowledge that reward is not a bad thing, getting ahead is not a bad thing and doing well for yourself is not a bad thing. It's exactly what we hope for our kids and our grandkids.

Today, I want to outline some of the positives that are in the budget for my constituents. There's one issue that has been raised with me more than any other since I was elected, and that's upgrading the M1 all the way through to the border to reduce congestion and travelling times on the southern Gold Coast. As a community, we've lobbied for this for many years. I spoke about it in my first speech in this place. Many thousands of local residents signed my online petition, calling for funding to finally complete the upgrades. So, I'm absolutely delighted that we have been able to announce—and it's in the budget—that there will be $1 billion of funding available to upgrade the M1 from Varsity Lakes through to Tugun, and to fix bottlenecks at Eight Mile Plains, further up the M1. That's part of the $75 billion infrastructure investment to strengthen the economy and create jobs.

This funding comes on top of the funding that we provided to upgrade the section from Mudgeeraba to Varsity Lakes. We announced that at the last election—back in 2016. Work on that section of the M1 is now underway. There were some preliminary works that took place prior to the Commonwealth Games, but now that the games are over we have now been able to commence the upgrade, and, with the additional funding that has been made available from the Turnbull government, it is my aim to ensure that we have a continuous build from Varsity Lakes all the way through to Tugun, to make sure that we can capture the economies of scale. We're looking at upwards of 10 kilometres of build just in that section alone, and, of course, whilst we have a continuous project there will be economies that form part of that as well.

I have indicated throughout this very lengthy process that I will work with the state government to make sure that Queenslanders, and particularly those who live in my electorate on the southern Gold Coast, do not have to remain in the M1 carpark for a second longer than is absolutely necessary. It is an absolutely huge win for our local community, and it's recognition that our government, the federal government, understands the frustrations of being stuck in traffic when you'd rather be at home with your family or at work earning a living. We know how important decent transport systems are, and that is clearly reflected in the many infrastructure projects funded in this budget.

Making our tax system fairer and simpler is also a large part of this budget, and I'm delighted that over 69,000 taxpayers in McPherson stand to benefit from the low- and middle-income tax relief this budget delivers in the upcoming 2018-19 financial year. And, over the coming years, they will benefit even more from our plan to tackle bracket creep and restore incentive to earn more. In fact, from 1 July 2024 the government will increase the top threshold of the 32½ per cent tax bracket from $120,000 to $200,000, removing the 37 per cent tax bracket completely. The plan means that around 94 per cent of all taxpayers will have a marginal tax rate of 32.5 per cent or less in 2024-25. This compares with a projected 63 per cent of taxpayers in 2024 without change to current settings. Australians who work hard, take extra shifts, or earn pay rises or promotions will be encouraged and rewarded. Workers can plan ahead, knowing they will pay one consistent rate of income tax. That's an incredibly positive change that I know is being welcomed by my constituents.

One of our other positive tax measures is extending the $20,000 instant asset write-off for small businesses. This is a really great incentive for businesses to invest in the things they need to grow and expand. Over the last week in particular, I visited many of the local businesses in McPherson. Some had already taken advantage of that instant asset write-off for the small businesses; others are continuing to take it up in the future. I have spoken a number of times in this chamber about how the Gold Coast is the small-business capital of Australia. We have so many thriving and growing businesses on the coast. The entrepreneurial spirit is very much alive and well in my electorate. So far, 2,250 McPherson small businesses have already taken advantage of the $20,000 instant asset write-off. The further extension will allow even more businesses to continue to invest.

One of the most important aspects of the budget is that, through responsible economic management, we have been able to guarantee the essential services we all need and rely upon. We have delivered record funding for hospitals. Queensland public hospitals will receive more than $29.5 billion over the next five years, delivering an additional $7.49 billion in funding compared to the previous five years. This is a funding increase of some 34 per cent. We're providing a fully funded NDIS to help those with a disability. Once fully rolled out the NDIS will directly help an estimated 2,572 people and their families in the electorate of McPherson. These people need our help and support the most, and I am proud to be part of a government that is delivering that support and not just talking about it.

We're making child care more affordable. On 2 July our new childcare system will come into place, with 7,556 local families in McPherson benefiting from our reforms. We're guaranteeing universal access to preschool. This ensures that this year 2,267 children in McPherson can access 15 hours of quality early learning in the year before school. We are absolutely safeguarding Medicare and bulk-billing, as we always promised. Australians are now well aware that there was no truth whatsoever in Labor's 'Mediscare' campaign at the last election. We're listing more medicines on the PBS to help Australians, including new medications to treat conditions like spinal muscular atrophy and breast cancer. Since coming into government the coalition has helped improve the health of Australians by subsidising more than $8.3 billion worth of new medicines. As part of our plan to ensure the essentials we're delivering affordable and reliable energy with the National Energy Guarantee.

There are many more benefits for my constituents on the southern Gold Coast. There's increased funding for in-home aged-care places, access to a range of new programs so seniors can supplement their incomes, positive health initiatives to help seniors live longer, and a funding increase to continue improving DVA services so our veterans are given the respect they deserve. I'm delighted that we're funding another round of grants for the Stronger Communities Program, which makes a direct impact in our local community, helping local groups with infrastructure and projects that assist in their great work. We've had some fantastic local projects funded so far, and this is about delivering a social dividend and giving back to the community in a practical way.

There are so many other positives: funding to protect the Great Barrier Reef, measures to crack down on welfare fraud, measures to ensure multinationals pay their fair share of tax, and a range of other initiatives designed to further trim wasteful spending. That's the responsible and balanced approach that the coalition has taken with this budget. Importantly the coalition government is committed to building the skills to meet Australia's needs not just now but into the future with the commitment of $1.5 billion to the Skilling Australians Fund. This was first announced and formed part of last year's budget, but we have confirmed that in this year's budget, and I can inform the House that we are well on the way to finalising an agreement that will ensure the $1.5 billion goes towards addressing skills shortages, with a focus on boosting the number of apprentices in training. The figures that we are quoting are around 300,000 additional apprentices in training. I'm speaking about Australian apprenticeships, so that includes apprentices and trainees.

We're looking to build a pipeline into the future. The 300,000 figure includes pre-apprentices, apprentices, those who are completing technical or workplace based training at the certificate III or IV level, and what we're calling higher apprenticeships at the diploma and advanced diploma levels. That is for sectors such as advanced engineering or finance, for example, where we've already run a couple of projects and pilots that have indicated a need for us to provide, effectively, the dual system of training that the Germans have in place. Quite frankly, I believe Australia has a system that is equally as good as the German model, because we are training technically and we are training on the job as well. So we will be creating that pipeline.

We have indicated to the states that we want to enter into a further national partnership agreement, but it will be very different to the last national partnership agreement, which was a $1.75 billion fund over a five-year period. But, of that $1.75 billion, only $600 million went towards direct training outcomes. We are now looking at a total of $1.5 billion over a five-year period that will go to a direct training outcome. So I'm very confident that we actually have the policy right. We have said to the states that we want to work with them, and we have asked them to come back to us with some proposals for projects that they want to run in their states that will address the decline in apprenticeships that has happened over the last five years—particularly over the term of the last national partnership agreement. I guess in that context it's very important to note that there was a significant drop-off in apprentices in training that took place in 2012 and 2013; in fact, it was the largest drop-off in numbers that has been experienced. There's quite a bit of work to do, so we've said to the states, 'Come to us with your projects that you would like to put in place to halt the decline in apprenticeship numbers.' We want to see those projects working in some priority industries and priority areas. We've named some of those—they include manufacturing, health, the disability sector and agriculture. We've said to the states that we are absolutely open to looking at it on a state-by-state basis to address what their needs are and to work hand in hand with them to make sure we are addressing the skills shortages that exist in this country, both now and in the future.

This budget is responsible and it's fair. We're balancing the books and we've guaranteed the services and infrastructure we need without plunging our nation into debt and deficit. We're not socially engineering outcomes; we're supporting local communities and providing support and incentives for everyone to do better.

Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Treasury) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Plenty of Australians are struggling. They're families struggling with record levels of household debt to income. They're struggling with the cost of increasing electricity bills, with private health insurance, with child care and with education costs. If you're a worker, you haven't had a decent wage rise for six or seven years now, with the wage price index stubbornly stuck at a two per cent annual growth rate and most people's real wages—wages adjusted for inflation—falling behind. We've seen this government cut penalty rates and support the cuts to penalty rates for workers in the hospitality and commercial industries. We've seen this government introduce changes to the Fair Work Act which make it harder for workers in their workplaces to bargain for decent wages and conditions through an enterprise agreement. In fact, all the power now exists with the employers when it comes to enterprise bargaining. The system's been reformed to such a level that, if employees in negotiations with an employer can't reach an agreement, the employer can cancel that enterprise agreement and shift everyone back onto the award. That's not the way a decent bargaining system works. It's not the way Australians can maintain their wages—by allowing people to fall back onto the award. Subsequently, we're seeing very small wage increases being made in a minimum number of enterprise agreements. For the first time in many, many decades, the number of enterprise agreements that are being made in Australia is actually falling. It's not going up as a proportion of the workforce; it's falling because of the operation of those new laws.

If you're a pensioner, you face cuts to the pension through changes to the taper rates, changes to the deeming provisions. It's this government's view that in the future people should have to work until they're 70 years old before they can access the pension.

In this budget, there is still the cut to the energy supplement for pensioners, which is equivalent to about $14 a week. If you're a pensioner living in your own home on a very fixed income, struggling to make ends meet and struggling to deal with the cost of electricity, the cost of private health insurance and the cost of groceries on a weekly basis, this government wants to cut $14 a week from your budget through the energy supplement. Particularly as we're coming into winter, it's a pretty raw deal for pensioners. But that is exactly what this government is doing.

So plenty of Australians are doing it tough. But the government's view is: 'Well, we think that big businesses deserve a tax cut. We think that those large multinational corporations'—many of whom, over recent decades, have been transferring profits overseas to avoid paying tax here in Australia—'deserve a tax cut.' And this includes the big banks. Yes, those organisations that we've found through the royal commission have been ripping off many of their customers and leaving them worse off over the last decade.

It's to the banking royal commission that I want to turn my attention now. It should never be forgotten that Malcolm Turnbull, the Prime Minister, and his government, have opposed this royal commission into the banking sector for the last 600 days. They've said that there's no need for a royal commission into the banks, despite the pleas of the victims and despite the scandals and the rip-offs: the wealth management scandal at the Commonwealth Bank, the CommInsure scandal, the collapse of Trio Capital, the collapse of Storm Financial and the collapse of Timbercorp. Millions of Australians literally lost millions and millions of dollars—their hard-earned savings and, in many cases, their inheritance for their kids. Despite all of this being uncovered in numerous parliamentary inquiries and other inquiries, the government refused a royal commission. They said that there was no need for one and that there was nothing that needed to be done in the banking sector.

Well, the revelations of the banking royal commission have demonstrated the hypocrisy of this government, and vindicated the Labor Party in pushing for a royal commission. Those shocking revelations of the scandals and rip-offs that have been perpetrated on Australian families, workers and pensioners that we're seeing uncovered are unforgivable. And it should never be forgotten that if this government had its way—if this Liberal government, this Turnbull government, had its way—most of the evidence and the revelations that have been uncovered by the banking royal commission would not be illegal. They would not be illegal, it would just be a bad look for the banks.

The reason for that is that the Turnbull government and its members opposed the introduction of a comprehensive best-interest duty into financial laws in Australia when it was introduced by the Labor Party when we were in government. Believe it or not, there was no legal obligation for a financial advisor to act in the best interests of their customers prior to the Future of Financial Advice reforms being introduced by the previous Labor government. That is shocking! There was no legal requirement for a financial adviser to act in the best interests of their clients. And guess what? Many of them didn't. And we're seeing that uncovered now in the banking royal commission.

The Prime Minister and members of this government opposed the introduction of that comprehensive best-interest duty into Australian legislation. And it didn't stop there, because when they got elected they actually tried—believe it or not—to remove some of the elements of that best-interest duty and water it down. They said it was 'excessive red tape'. Believe it or not, AMP gave evidence to the parliamentary inquiry that looked at the Future of Financial Advice reforms and said that this was over the top, it was excessive and it was red tape, and that 30,000 jobs would be lost in the financial services sector in Australia. Well, we now know why, given the shocking and, in the words of the counsel assisting, 'illegal' behaviour that AMP was undertaking with respect to its clients regarding the evidence coming before the royal commission.

When the Abbott government was elected, one of their first acts was to put into the parliament legislation that sought to water-down the best-interest test in the Future of Financial Advice legislation. They wanted to remove some of the protection that existed for Australian customers of banks and financial institutions to act in their best interests. They got it through the parliament, believe it or not. They got it through the House of Representatives and the Senate. They actually succeeded. It was only because of a rescission motion in the Senate that we were able to stop that occurring.

Now we have these shocking admissions from the banking royal commission. Labor has been vindicated. We should never forget that if the Turnbull government had its way, much of the evidence and much of the behaviour being uncovered by the banks at the moment would not be illegal. It would just be a bad look. In that respect, the Prime Minister and this government owe every Australian bank customer and those that have been the victims of financial fraud a sincere apology for refusing to countenance a royal commission and holding out for so many years.

This budget contains a number of cuts to services. $2.7 billion is cut from hospitals. $17 billion is cut from the schools budget. $80 million is cut from the ABC. There are $270 million in new cuts to TAFE and apprenticeships. And $1.5 billion is being cut from remote housing through refusal to sign up to a national agreement. This is despite increases in revenue coming on the back of increases in commodity prices. The aged care announcement that this government made in the budget is an affront to seniors. There is a waiting list of 100,000 people for aged care packages in this country, and this government offers 14,000. And it's not new money—it's money that's being allocated from the existing budget and is likely to come from the residential aged care sector to pay for 14,000 additional home care packages. So no new money, and not dealing with the 100,000 waiting list in aged care services. Despite the fact that there are increases in revenue, they're offering meagre tax cuts to predominantly favour those on high incomes, and they're cutting services.

Labor believes that there is a different way. We've pledged to not only cut income taxes, but we will keep the current rate of taxation on large corporations. We won't be cutting taxes for big companies in this country. We will be able to invest in services and reverse a lot of the cuts of this government. Labor is pledging a $2.8 billion better hospitals fund to reverse the cuts to hospitals to ensure that we can reduce those elective surgery waiting lists and emergency department waiting times and that we can have more doctors and nurses in our hospitals. We are pledging to restore the $17 billion that is being cut from the schools budget, so we can have a fair dinkum needs based system that ensures that the interests of kids are foremost in delivering quality literacy and numeracy and better education for our kids.

In respect to the TAFE sector, we pledge to rebuild TAFE through a special fund that will be established if Labor is elected. Importantly, we will write off the fees for 100,000 TAFE students if they are going into areas of high demand for skills in Australia. I'm talking, of course, about areas where we've got 457 visa workers being imported into the country because there is a lack of skills in particular industries and occupations because this government has cut TAFE and apprenticeships to the bone. Labor won't stand for that. We will reinvest in TAFE, rebuild it, and ensure that 100,000 students get the opportunity to work in areas of high skill and high need in our economy.

We will also be fiscally responsible. We've indicated that we will be able to pay down debt and reduce the deficit and bring the budget back to surplus in the same year that the Turnbull government is proposing. The reason we can do this is that we've listened to the Australian people and we've made some tough choices about tax reform and areas of policy that needed reforming, namely capital gains tax discounts, negative gearing, taxing family trusts in a fair manner, and abolishing the cash refund for dividend imputation. In these areas we're not only proposing tax reform, but we're dealing with some of the pressures I mentioned earlier, particularly on households.

In my electorate, the cost of housing is one of the highest issues that is on the minds of, particularly, young families—dealing with the cost of increasing house prices and rentals every year. There has been 16 per cent growth, 20 per cent growth over the course of the last year in some of the suburbs that I represent. It's a big issue, and it's because we have some of the most generous tax concessions in the world for investors in property in this country. Labor will tackle that issue. We will reduce the capital gains tax discount that exists on the sale of investment properties, and we will reform negative gearing to ensure that it only exists for new properties and that anyone in the system is grandfathered, thereby turning down the heat that exists in the housing market today.

That's Labor's promise: we will reduce the debt, we will reduce the deficit and we will continue to increase investment in important services around health, education and aged care, as well as investment in skills and infrastructure. At the same time, we will be able to offer targeted tax cuts through our working Australians tax refund, which, for most Australians in that $50,000 to $90,000 income bracket, means about $928 per year. Labor has a better plan that is fairer and will reduce the budget deficit and the debt but will continue to invest in those important services that all Australians rely on.

Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A fish rots from the head. I can only assume that the member opposite who has just spoken, the member for Kingsford Smith, has totally swallowed the Kool Aid from the Leader of the Opposition, in what was either a dishonest or an economically clueless presentation of the facts—or somebody else wrote his speech.

I notice that he only left the last five minutes of his speech to actually talk about the budget, which is what this session is meant to be all about. Instead, he wanted to talk about another topic altogether. Once he got to talking about the budget, of course, his favourite word was 'cuts'. Yet again, the facts tell a very different story. As was mentioned today in the House, by both the Prime Minister and then the Minister for Health, there are ads being run by the Labor Party in the seat of Longman in Queensland—because there's a by-election looming—suggesting that there have actually been cuts to hospitals. Whereas—and the minister laid the facts down in the House—in fact the state Labor government has decreased funding to hospitals while the coalition has increased funding.

But this is what the Labor Party does: absolute dishonesty. You can't have it both ways. Either you are economically illiterate or you are dishonest. I put to this chamber that the speech we just heard from the member for Kingsford Smith was full of absolute dishonesties, and the losers through that are, in fact, the Australian people who believe such concoctions: the very people who are vulnerable and who need assistance, whether it be in health, in welfare, in education. Once they swallow the rot that has set in, their fears escalate. Their anxiety escalates. It is the Australian people who are living decent lives who are affected by Labor's lies.

Let's look at this budget, firstly from where we have come—and we've come a long way. We've come, of course, from the back of that disastrous Rudd-Gillard-Rudd era. It almost sends a shiver down the spine when you think of what they did to this country. Of course, they inherited a $15.6 billion credit. There was no debt from the Howard government—we had credit of $15.6 billion. What did they do? They, of course, just racked up deficit after deficit on a spend-a-thon, leaving us with well over $200 billion in debt. Labor, of course, also left us endless commitments for the Commonwealth to oblige, and that, again, has put pressure on this coalition government. But, we are on track to bringing commonsense and economic stability back.

The Australian economy is now looking strong in its 27th consecutive year of economic growth. GDP and government receipts are up. Our growth in spending is at its lowest rate in 50 years. As a percentage of GDP, costs are down and receipts are up. This means the deficit can narrow, then we are on path to a surplus. A $14.5 billion deficit is forecast for the next financial year. In the year after that will turn into a $2.2 billion surplus and then, at the end of the forward estimates, we're looking at $16.6 billion in surplus. We also know the strength of the Australian economy has seen us maintain our triple-A credit rating despite the fact that, compared to most other countries in the world, our borrowings are so highly exposed to the international market. Over a million jobs have been created since we came to office in 2013, and well over 1,000 jobs every single day over the last year. Business confidence is building, and it's no wonder the IMF has upgraded its ratings for the Australian economy.

But there is no room for complacency, and the budget demonstrates an ongoing commitment at the national level. We're delivering tax relief to hardworking Australians, ensuring taxes will be lower, fairer and flatter. We're supporting business to invest and create more jobs with our enterprise tax plan. FTAs have been signed off under the Abbott government and then under the Turnbull government, along with our $75 billion transport infrastructure plan. We're guaranteeing the essential services that Australians rely upon. We're talking about $24.5 billion in extra school funding. The opposition call that a cut, but most people will understand that, when more money goes into something, that's called additional funding, not a cut. We have record hospital and Medicare funding, new drugs added to the PBS, and nearly one million families supported by the government's new childcare package due in July this year.

We're helping older Australians stay in their own homes longer, adding an extra 14,000 home care packages over four years on top of the 6,000 places last December. We're continuing to keep Australians safe with $294 million to boost airport security, including $50 million for specialised security upgrades at regional airports, and over $160 million to help law enforcement and security agencies fight crime and terrorism. I ask anyone in the chamber: did the Leader of the Opposition even talk about security in his budget reply speech? Did he mention the importance of protecting our borders? Not a thing, absolute silence! This again shows the priorities of the Labor Party compared to those of the coalition.

Queensland is a big winner out of this budget: over $20 billion for infrastructure, and over $5 billion announced for new projects. That includes an extra $3.3 billion for the Bruce Highway. Up until the budget speech from the Treasurer, there was $6.7 billion of federal funding for the Bruce Highway. This contribution means we now have $10 billion for Queensland's Bruce Highway. Queensland hospitals will receive $29.5 billion over the next five years. That is a real funding increase of 34 per cent on the previous five years. There will be record levels of support for Queensland schools: $52.2 billion over 10 years. We're fully funding the NDIS, which will help support nearly 96,300 Queenslanders with a disability.

Then there's that wonderful place in the world called the Sunshine Coast. Never before in our history has the Sunshine Coast been the recipient of so much federal government funding. Let me underscore that by saying it again: never in our history has the Sunshine Coast received so much funding from the federal government. This budget was almost custom-made for the Sunshine Coast because we saw an amazing trifecta of infrastructure spending for the Sunshine Coast. We saw that in over $2 billion of spending for our region. We saw $800 million go towards section D between Cooroy and Curra. We saw $880 million for between Pine Rivers and Caloundra. Of course, when it comes to rail, $390 million is contributed to the upgrade of the North Coast line between Beerburrum and Nambour.

Over $2 billion in this one budget of this coalition government will assist the region of the Sunshine Coast. This comes on top of the existing $1.6 billion that is already being spent and is committed to that stretch of the Bruce Highway. This comes on top of the $181 million concessional loan for the Sunshine Coast Airport so it can become a fully-fledged international airport. There is nothing that growing successful regions need more from the federal government than assistance with vital infrastructure—infrastructure that not only gets people and products from A to B but attracts investment as a result to those regions. That is precisely what this government is doing for the region of the Sunshine Coast.

In addition to that trifecta of $2 billion of infrastructure, 70 schools across the region of the Sunshine Coast are set to benefit with more money per student for the next 10 years. Yet again those 70 schools on the Sunshine Coast are being looked after by this Turnbull coalition government. What's more, there has been another commitment made in this budget to extend the chaplaincy services. I'm delighted about this because the chaplains play a vital role in schools across the Sunshine Coast. The Scripture Union runs the chaplaincy services in Queensland. The impact that those chappies have on young people in schools is nothing short of first class. Again this budget delivers because it ensures that young people in schools can always have a chat to a chappie, because that chappie is going to still be there. That commitment has been made right across the forward estimates.

Nearly 40,000 small and medium businesses on the Sunshine Coast are already enjoying a company tax cut. As a result these businesses have either more money in their pocket, more money for investing in their business or more money for employing other people. This is where the rubber hits the road with the coalition's plans, because they are always pragmatic plans that work out in the real economy. We have seen 40,000 small and medium businesses enjoying company tax cuts on the Sunshine Coast.

We saw in this budget the extension of the $20,000 instant asset write-off. The number of businesses I've spoken to is extraordinary. When I have a chat, they say they want practical assistance. This instant asset write-off has been a miracle for some of them. Around 5,000 in my part of the world have already leveraged this, and, of course, it remains open to 40,000.

Over 126,000 residents on the Sunshine Coast will enjoy immediate tax relief. With all the pressures on individuals and on families at the moment, this tax relief is going to count. Of course, we know that this tax relief for low- and medium-income earners is but step 1 in a three-step, seven-year tax plan that will ensure that we have a tax system in Australia that is flatter, simpler and fairer. I'm told that there are approximately 4,932 people with a disability on the Sunshine Coast. That's nearly 5,000 people, probably 5,000 families, who have the peace of mind of knowing that the NDIS is fully funded. It's a reminder that the economy is not the end game; it's the means to an end. Only with a strong economy do we have the ability to guarantee the NDIS. Only with a strong economy do we have the ability to guarantee health funding. Only with a strong economy can we guarantee the safety net of welfare. Only with a strong economy can we ensure that our students are educated, that our young people are given their best chance in the world; it is only with a strong economy. And so, with that, I am delighted to stand today to fully endorse the budget that the Treasurer has brought down. I look forward to seeing whether or not the Labor Party come to their senses and support the measures in it.

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

Labor won't block supply. The member for Fairfax may be aware that we made that commitment. Speaking on the appropriation bill gives us an opportunity to highlight why it is the terrible budget that it is being described as. I first joined this parliament in 2013, so the first budget speech I heard delivered by a Liberal government was in 2014. It is fair to say that, like most of the people in my community, I am cynical now about budgets delivered by this government—and with cause. In 2014, all we heard about was the terrible, terrible state that the economy was in. We heard about debt. The opposite side suggested how poor Labor was in government, leaving with such debt. And now we're here, at the 2018 budget, and net debt has doubled. The deficit has spiralled out of control. We're in a situation where we have record-breaking company profits juxtaposed against flatlining wages growth. That's the context in which this budget has been delivered.

I was listening on 8 May, and I was angry. I was angry that I was listening to a Treasurer outlining a budget that, again, unfairly disadvantaged members of my community so that big business and the banks can be looked after. I speak for the people of the community that I represent, and I know that they share my anger that this government continues to put the interests of the top end of town ahead of everyday Australians.

There are a few points that I want to make very quickly and very early. This government didn't mention climate change. This government, in fact, didn't mention clean energy, unless, of course, you go to the point where the Clean Energy Supplement is being cut for pensioners, which will be a $14 a week cut for pensioners in my community and also a cut for other welfare recipients. Budgets are about priorities. They are a reflection of what we value as a society. For my colleagues and I on this side of the chamber, it is quite clear what we value. We value a society that is fair for all people, a society that invests in schools, hospitals and infrastructure and that gives a fair go for everyone, not just the Prime Minister's mates at the top end of town—big business, multinational organisations and the banks.

The electorate of Lalor is a diverse and growing community. We have 88 babies born every week to low- and middle-income earners. Projections estimate that our population, which is currently at over 250,000 residents, making it larger than greater Geelong, will increase to over 435,000 by 2036. So, budgets matter to our community. Our community is diverse, and this budget affects all 250,000 people living within it. Young people, families, migrants and elderly people will all be disadvantaged. To its core, this is a Liberal budget that looks after big business and the banks by giving them an $80 billion tax cut while penalising people with cuts to health care, schools and investment in jobs.

To bring further disappointment, the Prime Minister seems to think he is looking after working people with a $10-a-week tax cut sweetener. With wages flatlining and essential services being cut, this $10 a week is an insult. It is an insult if the Prime Minister thinks that for a mere $10 a week residents in my community won't mind that they can't get a decent internet connection, that penalty rates are being cut and that waiting times for elective surgery are extending in our hospitals. These are very real consequences that residents in my community are facing because of this government's failure of a budget.

Labor is offering an alternative that is fair when it comes to taxation. Under Labor, taxes will be lower for 10 million working Australians. Under Labor, people earning up to $125,000 a year will pay less tax and more than four million people Australia-wide will get a tax cut of $928 a year. This is more than they would receive under the Liberals' proposals, and, unlike the Liberals, Labor can deliver on this tax cut. We can because we prioritise working people and won't be giving an $80 billion tax cut to big business and to the banks.

Unlike this government, Labor will also deliver on the services necessary for a fair and inclusive society. We will take a responsible approach that will be guided by clear fiscal principles, that will repair the budget in a fair way, that doesn't hit vulnerable Australians the hardest, while offsetting new spending with savings and revenue improvements. Labor's plan for responsible economic management will see the debt serviced in order to shore up the country for possible future headwinds, without depriving working people of vital services. Unlike the Liberals, Labor has made the tough calls on the tax system, on negative gearing, on capital gains tax, on franking credit imputation and on discretionary trusts. Labor's plan is fairer and more responsible. We have made the big calls, we have made the right calls and we've made them for the right reasons.

Looking at this budget you don't have to dig deep to see that it is all the Liberals' favourite cuts to fund its $80 billion handout to big business: there's a $2.2 billion cut from universities; continuing with a $17 billion cut from schools, which is beautifully juxtaposed against a $17 billion tax cut for the banks; and $2.8 billion cut from hospitals. The Liberals often talk about priorities. Well, this government has them all wrong.

For young people in my community this budget fails the test of fairness. As someone who has worked with young people for the majority of my working life, I know the importance of investing in our youth. Education is a value-capture exercise, if you like. We need to be investing in schools, in universities and in TAFE. But the government, instead of investing, has cut $17 billion from schools, most of which has been cut from public schools. Their education program is not needs-based and it is certainly not sector-blind, with a cap of 20 per cent to state schools across the country. Locally, in my area this means $16.8 million will be missing over the next two years from my local schools. In government, Labor will restore this $17 billion and ensure fair, needs-based, sector-blind funding.

For TAFE, the government is cutting an additional $270 million on top of the $3 billion already cut from TAFE. This cut, together with the comment by the Minister for Education and Training that TAFE is subsidised basket weaving, demonstrates clearly that this government does not value vocational training. And who can forget the $2.2 billion ripped out of our universities? Locally, nearly 19 per cent of residents in Lalor undertaking university or TAFE courses are going to be disadvantaged by this government's savage cuts.

Unlike the Liberals, I am proud to be part of a Labor team that has a real plan for tertiary and vocational education. In government, Labor will uncap university places, which will see an extra 200,000 students have access to a university education. I look forward to a Labor government and to first-in-family students accessing education. Labor will also waive the up-front fees for 100,000 TAFE students in high-priority sectors.

Another of Labor's plans for young people is to take real action on housing affordability—something that this budget has absolutely failed to address. In 2018 Australia, young people saving to buy their first home are locked out of the market by investors purchasing their sixth or seventh investment property. Labor reforms to negative gearing are not retrospective and will continue to allow negative gearing on new dwellings. This is a carefully calibrated approach that creates future savings without causing dramatic shocks to the market but, most importantly, opens the door for first home buyers.

This budget is most cruel, I think, to older Australians, who too have once again been short-changed by the Turnbull government. Their plans are to see Australians work until they are 70. They are cutting $14 fortnightly from the energy supplement for pensioners. They are spruiking an increase in home care packages, but the budget papers clearly show this to be a hoax. We all know that aged care and looking after our seniors is critically important. It is a test of who we are as a society, but this government doesn't seem to get this, despite spruiking prior to the budget that it was going to be a budget about aged care. The budget does not show an increase in the spend for aged care. It shows an increase of 14,000 home care packages, with no increased money to pay for them, which means the funds have to be taken out of the current budget. What this budget does in those terms is a cruel hoax. It is a cruel hoax to go out prior to the budget and spruik that you are going to be doing something in this space and then not deliver. Australians are not fools, and the elderly people in my community will not be taken in by this. Fourteen thousand new places in home care over the next four years will do very little to fix the needs of 105,000 people on that waiting list, with 20,000 new people joining that waiting list in the last six months. The government must be joking if they think that 3½ thousand places per year will be adequate, when this amount doesn't even keep up with the pace of demand.

The Prime Minister's latest response to older Australians waiting for increased periods of time for home care is disappointing, to say the least, and it has real impacts on residents in my community. Thousands of people are moving to Wyndham every year across a broad demographic. There are over 18,000 people over the age of 65 living in my community. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australia-wide nearly one in six people were aged 65 years and over, and that is 16 per cent of our entire population. This government needs to get serious, therefore, about making sure that it has plans in place to ensure that we can cater to the growing needs of a growing population of older Australians.

Finally, I would draw attention to this budget's failure in the multiculturalism space. The electorate of Lalor is a place where people from all over the world have come together to create a unique mixture of culture, language and religion. We have a proud history of multiculturalism. In fact, ABS data reveals that 42 per cent of residents in my community were born overseas. The government's unfair changes to the Assurance of Support scheme, if they had been followed through with, would have meant that many of these residents wouldn't have been able to bring their parents to Australia; they would in fact have been priced out due to the changes to this support scheme. The government has withdrawn this measure in response to strong community outrage, and I would say to my community to continue to engage in political processes to ensure that, when measures like this are coming into the parliament, our community responds and responds loudly to ensure that they are heard. It would have been outrageous to have seen people be priced out of bringing their parents to Australia for a 12-month period or a three-year period on the grounds of income, on the grounds of doubling that assurance and pricing people out.

It is also clear, from the waiting period extension for migrants to access welfare support that is hidden in these budget papers, that this government really is doing some sneaky things around migration, and it's sending some very mixed messages to my hardworking, aspirational migrant community. I will quote a highly successful local migrant I met with last week, who summed it up. She said, 'It makes more sense to support people when they first arrive.' She has been in Australia for over 20 years. She's a highly successful businesswoman, and she is mortified that we would be lengthening the times, because she knows, because of her own arrival and in supporting people over many years when they come, that people need the support in the early years so they can build successful businesses. Surely, after all the years of watching migrants arrive and build a life here, we in this country understand, and figures show, that multiculturalism works for our economy; that aspirational new arrivals work hard and create businesses that create jobs. That's what the figures tell us, and I would have thought that this government was up to making those statements loudly and clearly in this parliament.

It frustrates me that the Prime Minister is showing a complete disregard for the people living in my community whilst giving big business and the banks an $80 billion handout in the form of tax cuts. It is $10 a week for most workers in my community, while planning thousands of dollars in savings for the wealthy. As an alternative government, Labor gets it. Labor has a responsible plan, guided by clear fiscal principles, that makes the big calls to repair the deficit, while investing in vital services for working Australians—for education, healthcare and infrastructure.

Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's my great pleasure to rise and speak on the Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2018-2019, which I am very pleased to say delivers for all Australians, including those in my electorate of Corangamite and the broader Geelong region. This bill and our budget, very significantly, provides tax relief to encourage and reward hardworking Australians. It backs business to invest and create jobs. It builds the infrastructure that we need in Corangamite, across the Geelong region and across the nation. It also ensures that government lives within its means.

I want to reflect on the member for Lalor's contribution. One of the things that the Prime Minister said in question time today is that repeating a falsehood over and over again doesn't make it true. One of the most disappointing things for me, being part of the political process in this House, is the constant misrepresentations and lies that we hear from those opposite. Of course we saw that in spades at the last federal election with the Mediscare campaign. It's no longer right and proper that Australians should tolerate any member of parliament, be they in government or in opposition, who is prepared to stand up and tell these falsehoods. I regret that whether it's schools funding, hospitals or taxation, the member for Lalor has made some very significant misrepresentations.

I want to reflect a little on hospital funding and the news locally that Healthscope has announced today that it's closing the Geelong Private Hospital. That is quite a shock and very concerning news. I understand the company is working very hard to deploy staff and provide for the orderly transition of patients. We're very fortunate to have University Hospital, run by Barwon Health, of course, and many other fine public and private hospitals in our region, including the St John of God Hospital and Epworth Private Hospital. I'm very hopeful that Barwon Health will be able to investigate how it can use the premises of Geelong Private to offer a broader range of services in the Geelong community.

One of the outstanding misrepresentations made by the Leader of the Opposition in his budget reply was that he was going to fix waiting lists. He obviously doesn't really understand how hospitals work in this nation, because of course waiting lists are a matter for the state government. I am hopeful that these premises may be used by Barwon Health to combat unacceptably long waiting lists for elective surgery in the Geelong region. That has to be higher priority for the state government.

I also want to note that the Commonwealth government—our government—is proudly providing record funding to Barwon Health and to Victorian hospitals. The Commonwealth has increased funding to Barwon Health by $36.2 million, or 23.8 per cent, between 2013-14 and 2016, and funding to Victorian hospitals increased by 36 per cent between 2013-14 and 2016-17. This is in comparison to the Andrews government, which has delivered growth of only 13.9 per cent. And going further forward: under the coalition, the Commonwealth is increasing funding from $3.2 billion in 2012-13 to $7.1 billion in 2024-25, a massive increase to $7.1 billion for Victorian hospitals. This means record numbers of surgeries, more doctors and more nurses.

I also want to reflect on the very significant commitment that we have made to infrastructure. In Victoria, this is very, very significant. We have invested a record $17 billion in productive infrastructure, including new spending in this budget of $7.8 billion for Victoria—and this does not include the $3 billion for the East West Link. I think it is regrettable that the member for Lalor, who represents a safe Labor seat, and the members for Corio and Gellibrand, about whom I was speaking earlier in my contribution in the MPI, take their electorates for granted. The members for Corio, Gellibrand and Lalor, who all represent either Geelong or Western Melbourne electorates, have failed to stand up for their electorates when it comes to investing in infrastructure.

Daniel Andrews cancelled the East West Link—vital, critical infrastructure for our region. That cost Victorians $1.24 billion. And what did those Labor members do? They did nothing. They didn't have the courage to stand up for their constituents and to say that we are growing at a very fast rate, which we are. Geelong and the Geelong region is now the fastest-growing region in the country. We desperately need this infrastructure and it is absolutely horrendous to see a state Labor government waste money like that and not progress the infrastructure we need. The West Gate Tunnel is a small part of the East West Link. It's not enough; it's a poor cousin, and it's very regrettable.

We've also invested $1.7 billion across Victoria for regional rail, most of which, of course, is coming from the Commonwealth, with only a very small amount from the state. Again, we've seen a paltry contribution from federal members who don't seem to be mindful of the second-rate rail service that we are being delivered by the Daniel Andrews government.

For instance, we have contributed $150 million to the Geelong rail duplication project and state Labor have put only $10 million into that project. It's an incredibly important project for the City Deal. Rail and road infrastructure in a fast-growing region such as ours is absolutely vital, and we have seen a pathetic contribution from Labor. Again, those Labor members showed a lack of courage in their ability to stand up and say that we need greater investment. It's an absolute indictment on Jacinta Allan and Daniel Andrews that of the nearly $274 million being spent on the Geelong-Colac-Warrnambool line through to Melbourne to deliver faster and more reliable services, only $20 million is coming from the state. So I call on the state government to get its act together, to deliver its business plan and to start delivering the money that we need for rail infrastructure.

The other outstanding failure in our region by Labor members is their failure to stand up for Avalon Airport. In 2008, unbelievably, the Labor government shut down Avalon Airport by refusing to allow it to build an international terminal. That happened on the member for Grayndler's watch and the member for Corio's watch. Unbelievably, the member for Corio justified that decision by saying it was not in Geelong's and Australia's interests to have Victoria's second international airport. So that is an astounding failure—an astounding failure by all Labor members, but particularly by the member for Corio.

Very proudly in this budget, as I mentioned, we've delivered another $50 million for the Geelong rail duplication project and, proudly, another $20 million for the new international terminal at Avalon Airport. We announced the funding on the Tuesday. The following Saturday, the Treasurer visited Avalon and we turned the very first sod. That terminal is now being constructed. That will be delivered before the end of the year, when AirAsia starts its international flights. We are very proud. We announced the funding on the Tuesday and on the Saturday construction began. Not only are we fixing Labor's mess but we are also getting on with the job of providing vital infrastructure for our region.

I note the member for Lalor has returned to the chamber. There are a couple of other messes that she has failed to stand up for. The Regional Rail Link has turned into an absolute disaster. There was very significant money contributed by the previous Labor government—it was their project—and it has now become a second-rate service. It is overcrowded and unreliable. It is an absolute disaster, and I would have thought that the state Labor government would have put some money into its budget to fix the Regional Rail Link. It has done absolutely nothing. In fact, I don't even remember if the member for Lalor stood up for her community when Werribee lost its direct line back to Geelong, so there is now no direct line between Werribee and Geelong. We've seen a real failure by Labor to deliver the services that we need on the Regional Rail Link. I say to state Labor: get on with the job and fix this rail service. We deserve much better. There is all this rubbish about a bullet train between Geelong and Melbourne, and they can't even fix the basic rail services.

I'm very pleased that, as part of our budget, we have announced tax relief for low- and middle-income earners. By 2024-25, around 94 per cent of taxpayers are projected to face a marginal tax rate of 32.5 per cent or less, as compared with 63 per cent if we leave the system unchanged. This is a huge win for Corangamite residents. There are 64,558 taxpayers who stand to benefit from the low- and middle-income tax relief in the upcoming 2018-19 financial year. For instance, a high school teacher on $75,000 will have an extra $530 in his or her pocket from the budget year onwards, with an extra $3,740 in their pocket over the first seven years of the tax plan.

I have to say, this is in stark contrast to the 'bigger and better' tax plan that Labor announced in its budget reply. It was a bit like hearing the Leader of the Opposition selling steak knives. It was very hard to believe when you look at what the Labor Party intends to do in terms of how it's going to fund these tax cuts. It is going to slog and hit the most vulnerable people in our community. Some pensioners and self-funded retirees will be hit with the shocking retiree tax. It's a $10.7 billion hit on those pensioners and on those self-funded retirees. It is the biggest single hit, and Labor members opposite think this is something that they want to justify. It is absolutely shocking.

The Labor Party have deserted these people in our community. With this $10.7 billion hit, it has no regard for senior Australians. When we speak about our home packages and the provision we're making for older Australians, including the 14,000 home packages, we're very proud of how we're standing up for senior Australians. We will fight for seniors every step of the way. This retiree tax is a shocking piece of policy. It is whacking the most vulnerable people in our community, the Labor Party, including the member for Lalor, should be absolutely ashamed to be defending this shocking policy which leaves older Australians high and dry.

I'm very proud of our real tax cuts, as distinct from the economic jumble that we have heard from the Leader of the Opposition in his budget reply. I also note the member for Lalor's comments in relation to supporting business. We've very proudly already delivered small- and medium-sized business tax cuts which will benefit many millions of businesses across Australia. That is for businesses with turnovers of up to $50 million if they're incorporated and up to $5 million if they're not incorporated. That impacts almost 17,000 local businesses in my electorate. This is coupled with the very significant instant asset write-off benefit for small businesses, which has been extended for another year.

As part of this $220 billion tax grab that the Labor Party is proposing if ever it got into office—and God forbid if ever that happened—it's now proposing to increase tax on small- and medium-sized businesses by reversing some of these tax cuts that we've already introduced. It's very disappointing, and when the Leader of the Opposition declares war on business—he's said very clearly that he's declared war on business; he's got no interest in standing up for business—then I think that says it all. Whether you run a small, medium or large business in this country or you work in a small, medium or large business in this country, the Labor Party is no friend of yours. The Leader of the Opposition has made that very, very clear.

The other very significant part of our budget is that we will be returning to balance, a small surplus, in 2019-20. Also, through sustainable budget management, and for the first time in a decade, the government is no longer borrowing to pay for everyday expenses. We're incredibly proud of what we are doing. It's a responsible, measured budget for all Australians and to benefit all Australians, including the people I represent. I very much commend this bill to the House.

Terri Butler (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Preventing Family Violence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker Goodenough, you, along with all of us, will have today received a statement from the UNHCR. The UN refugee agency wrote to us all to tell us it is profoundly saddened by the death of a Rohingya refugee on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, today. The statement said:

The tragic loss of yet another vulnerable person under Australian 'offshore processing' again underscores the need for proper care and immediate solutions.

It's not good enough that people who need care and who have come to us seeking help are left in unsafe and uncertain conditions. The government needs to act swiftly to end the suffering of people who have fled persecution and have come looking for help from Australia. The government needs to get people settled on both a safe and permanent basis. It needs to be done urgently. This government's failures when it comes to refugees are there for all to see. People have been left in unsafe conditions. Enough is enough. The government must settle people permanently and safely now that they've obtained refugee status determinations.

I wanted to talk briefly to the parliament about the loss of a Queensland statesman and Queensland legend, and that person is former Deputy Premier of Queensland the Hon. Terry Mackenroth. I was greatly saddened when I heard about the loss that the Mackenroth family suffered, because it was a loss that our entire community suffered. Terry was not just a friend of mine but also a constituent, and someone who was a political hero to so many of us in the Labor movement in Queensland. The respect that he was afforded was not just from our side, and that was very obvious at the funeral that was held in Carina after his death. There was such a good representation from both sides of politics, as well as from the community, from his family and from the sporting world. He made an indelible mark on the life of Queenslanders, and his legacy will be carried on every time someone goes to Lang Park or every time someone goes to the new gym that's been opened at the Clem Jones Centre at Carina. The Premier said when she gave the eulogy at his funeral, citing the testament that's been made to Christopher Wren, 'If you seek a monument, look around you'. That is absolutely the case. I know this year at the State of Origin and when we're at Lang Park, we'll be looking around thinking of the contribution that Terry Mackenroth made to rugby league, to netball, to the community, to disability, to aged care, to support people who are elderly and to our state. We're very sad to have lost him.

I also wanted to raise the Greenslopes Red Cross Hall. This is a Commonwealth-owned parcel of land across the road from the veterans' hospital, the Greenslopes Private Hospital, on Newdegate Street. This is a property that has been sitting vacant for some time. Unfortunately, the government, more than a year ago now, put up a security fence and started commissioning security patrols, but has been sitting on its hands in disposing of this property. The reason it's of such concern to my constituents is the obvious risk, that anyone can see, from the asbestos on the property. This is an old crumbling building, vacant, seemingly abandoned, but the Commonwealth still owns it. It has an asbestos roof and nothing's been done—or at least nothing obvious—in the period it's been sitting vacant. It's not good enough. The Commonwealth needs to act urgently to deal with this property and to remove any risk to residents from the presence of asbestos there.

I want to speak briefly in this place about the Bulimba Barracks. As you would be aware, the Bulimba Barracks are situated in my electorate on the Bulimba Peninsula. A sale of the Bulimba Barracks has been imminent, supposedly, for some years now. The department has appointed a real estate agent, so I anticipate that there will be a sale in coming months. It is absolutely crucial to our community that the master plan that the Labor representatives locally—that's me, the honourable Di Farmer MP, Councillor Shayne Sutton and now Councillor Kara Cook—have fought for is respected by any purchaser of that land. This is a massive parcel of land, about 21 hectares of north-facing river front land. The department must do its bit to ensure that prospective purchasers are aware of the importance of complying with the master plan.

I'm also very concerned about the presence of contamination at that site. There was a contamination report done quite some time ago now, and it identified a range of actual and potential contaminants. My community is very concerned about them. We've been asking for answers for about two years now from the Commonwealth about what has been done to remediate the contamination. The Commonwealth has been evasive. The Commonwealth needs to come clean and the Turnbull government needs to come clean with the community about what precisely has been done to remediate the contamination of this Defence site and what will be done to ensure that the prospective purchaser is aware of what further remediation will be required.

This government has cut schools funding by $17 billion. In Griffith alone government schools lose $14.1 million over just two years, and Catholic schools lose $57.1 million over two years. Parents and families in my electorate are right to be concerned about the cuts to school funding. Why is it that the Prime Minister and the Liberal-National government can find the money to give corporate tax cuts to big business and the big banks in the vicinity of $80 billion in value, but can't find the money to fund schools properly? It's a stark difference between Labor and the Liberals: $17 billion to the banks or $17 billion to schools? I think most parents and families would rather see the funding going where it's sorely needed: into school education in this country.

This government is cutting funding to universities. In last year's MYEFO, released in December, there was a $2.2 billion cut to university funding. It's the equivalent of 9,500 university places, and it was an end to the demand driven system. Universities in Queensland are losing $436 million. Under these cuts, Griffith University will lose $92 million, the University of the Sunshine Coast will lose $34 million, and UQ and QUT will lose $100 million each. It's not good enough. I'm so proud that Labor, in our budget reply, announced that we would be reinstating the demand driven system. When the demand driven system was created, what that meant for people living in my electorate of Griffith on the south side was that there were 2,400 more university places. Under our new policy of bringing back the demand driven system, we'll see around 2,300 more students on the south side living in the electorate of Griffith.

University education is important. Vocational education is equally important. Recently the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and I, along with the state minister the honourable Shannon Fentiman MP, visited the Mount Gravatt institute of TAFE. We were so lucky to be there, along with Jo Briskey, Labor's candidate for Bonner, and to see the advanced manufacturing work being done at the TAFE at Mount Gravatt. They have a fashion speciality. While we were there looking at what students were doing with textiles and design, one of the students spoke to us. She said that the funding cuts meant everybody was being asked to bear more of the cost, and that it was becoming more expensive to go to TAFE than it was to go to university. She felt that it was getting to the point where people just couldn't afford to go to TAFE. She said, 'I hope that your being here means we'll be seeing more money for TAFE.' The Deputy Leader of the Opposition said, 'Absolutely it will, to the tune of more than $600 million.' Labor has committed to restoring to TAFE more than $600 million of funding that the Liberals have previously cut. It will also be committing $100 million for equipment improvements at TAFEs.

Since then, this government cut a further $270 million from vocational education in this year's budget. It's not good enough. If we want to be a high-skilled, high-wage nation whose firms can be at the top end of global value chains and have the sorts of expertise and experience to make them able to contribute in that way then we can't keep relying on immigration and temporary skilled migration; we have to train our own people. It is ridiculous that at the very period of time in which more people have started to come in on temporary skilled visas, there has also been a decrease in the investment needed to ensure we have a properly functioning vocational education system. We must fund TAFE as a nation, and Labor will fund TAFE in the event that we're elected in future.

I also want to talk about kindies. On the weekend I visited a beautiful kindy in my electorate, Stones Corner Kindergarten. It's a gorgeous place. There were so many people there raising money, organising raffles and cooking food. I had a great time drawing the raffle. The kids were so engaged. Shortly after I got there, one of the mums said to me that she's worried about universal access kindy funding. She is right to be worried about it, because this government has committed to funding kindies only to the end of 2019. If you have a young child, a baby or a toddler, and you're right now thinking about what's going to happen with their kindergarten in 2020 or later, you have no certainty. You have no idea what it's going to cost.

Despite the fact that Labor has been calling on the government for several years to commit to longer term funding for universal access, the government has failed to do that. I can't believe it. I thought in the 2018 budget the minister and the Prime Minister might finally commit to five-year funding for universal access to kindy. No, not there; 2019! How is that supposed to give certainty not just to the families but to the staff of the kindergartens? How are directors and teachers meant to plan for their lives beyond the end of 2019? What must management committees be thinking, not knowing the source of their funding after the end of next year? The management committees are volunteers. They're parents with busy lives. They have to worry about raising $300 to improve a piece of equipment at the kindy, organising a sausage sizzle or cake stall at Bunnings, and this government is making them worry about whether there'll be universal access funding beyond the end of 2019? It's ridiculous. It needs to be funded.

Early childhood education could not be more important. It is absolutely fundamental that Australian kids get the best possible education at a very young age if we want them to be able to succeed at school, post school and in the jobs of the future, yet this government has not and will not fund universal access to kindy beyond the end of 2019. I think that's a disgrace, a real shame and a real missed opportunity. I might also mention in passing that, when it comes to long day care, more than 2,000 families in my electorate alone are set to be worse off under the Turnbull government's childcare package. It's an absolute disgrace. This government should fund education properly, it should fund kindies and child care properly, and it should fund schools and post-secondary properly.

I want to raise an issue very important to people in my electorate—that is, the issue of out-of-pocket costs for going to the doctor. My electorate of Griffith has the dubious distinction of having the highest out-of-pocket costs for visiting a GP in the whole of Queensland. It's very disappointing when you see this government's attempts to continue to push up out-of-pocket costs for going to the GP. We also have the fourth highest out-of-pocket costs in Queensland for visiting a specialist. The government, in freezing the MBS rebate, has exacerbated out-of-pocket costs for people to go to the doctor or a specialist. I'm very proud that, in the by-election that I fought in 2014 as Labor's candidate, we were able to defeat the GP tax that the government proposed. I'm very proud that Labor has stood strongly in support of Medicare for the entire history of Medicare and, of course, before it. I'm very concerned that the government seems to be willing to allow the benefits of Medicare to be eroded through constantly shifting the cost of health care onto the shoulders of families and households.

No-one wants to see the Americanisation of our health system. No-one wants a situation where it's your credit card, not your Medicare card, that determines the health care you're able to obtain. That's where we're headed under this government. Labor will always stand up for Medicare; the Liberals will always erode and damage Medicare. If you want to make sure that we have a good Medicare system in this country, the only way to do that is to vote Labor.

I want to raise the issue of hospitals in my electorate. There are large cuts to hospitals. I look forward to being able to be part of a future Shorten Labor government to ensure that hospitals are funded properly and that there are no further cuts to hospitals. I note the minister's attempts to deny hospital cuts today. Those cuts are there.

Andrew Hastie (Canning, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I raise a matter before the House that is of great importance to the Australian people. It is a matter that poses a threat to our democratic tradition, particularly the freedom of the press, and our national sovereignty. I refer to the threat of foreign interference in our political institutions. In doing so, I have considered closely my responsibilities as a member of the Australian House of Representatives. The beauty of our political tradition is that we protect the free speech of our parliamentarians. That tradition extends back to 1689, when the parliament of the United Kingdom enacted the Bill Of Rights, enshrining free speech in article 9 of that bill. Section 49 of the Australian Constitution and the Parliamentary Privileges Act 1987 declare our present-day link to that tradition, and I take hold of it today.

We live in a rapidly changing world. We are watching the rise of authoritarian states. Those states are conducting foreign interference operations across Western democracies. In Australia it is clear that the Chinese Communist Party is working to covertly interfere with our media and universities and also to influence our political processes and public debates. In the United States, Britain and France we have seen Russia attempt to undermine the integrity of democratic political processes. The Director-General of ASIO, Mr Duncan Lewis, has publicly stated that espionage and foreign interference is being conducted in Australia on an unprecedented scale. On 7 December 2017 the Prime Minister introduced legislation into the parliament designed to protect Australia from this threat. I refer to the National Security Legislation Amendment (Espionage and Foreign Interference) Bill 2017 and the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Bill 2017. This legislation is designed to reinforce the strengths of our open democratic system while reducing its vulnerabilities.

The central pillar of the government's counter foreign interference strategy is sunlight. That's why we're seeking to introduce a new Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme. The principle is simple. If a person or entity engages with the Australian political landscape on behalf of a foreign state or principal, they must register accordingly. This will give the Australian public and decision-makers proper visibility when foreign states or individuals may be seeking to influence Australian's political processes and public debates.

Both of these bills are before the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, of which I am the chair. I take my obligations as chair very seriously. I acknowledge the concerns that some have raised about the potential consequences of the bill. We are working through these issues on a bipartisan basis. But the threat remains. It's time we applied sunlight to our political system and a person who has featured prominently in Australian politics over the past decade.

This story begins in New York, USA. On 6 October 2015, Sheri Yan was arrested for the transmission and laundering of over US$1 million of bribery money from China to United Nations officials from 2011 to 2014. Officials who accepted the bribes included the 68th President of the United Nations General Assembly, John Ashe. Yan's arrest and subsequent conviction in 2016 is also significant because of her long-standing connections to Australia through her husband, Roger Uren, a former assistant secretary in the Office of National Assessments.

Yan built an extensive network of Australian and Chinese political and business leaders. ASIO raided her Canberra residence the same month of her arrest in 2015 and recovered a cache of classified Australian government documents. All this has been previously reported on, and I do not wish to cover the intricate details of each offence here. But I will now turn to an unsealed indictment, tendered by the Southern District Assistant, United States Attorneys, and focus on one offence that links back to a prominent Australian. I seek leave to table that document and a US state department cable from 2007.

Leave granted.

I make specific reference to pages 30 and 32 of the indictment, which details how, in 2013, Yan and her associate arranged for a US$200,000 payment to be made to the United Nations General Assembly President Josh Ashe in return for his attendance, in his official capacity, at a conference in China organised by a Chinese real estate developer, referred to in the indictment as co-conspirator 3, or CC-3. Yan and her associate acted in concert with CC-3, arranging the payment of the US$200,000 to Josh Ashe and also a US$25,000 payment for the travel arrangements of his entire team to China. The invitation to Ashe from CC-3 to attend the Guangzhou conference read as follows:

After attending this summit, I wish that you would remember that you have sincere friend in Guangdong Province—the economic powerhouse in China. And your friend here has the pleasure to offer you a permanent convention venue for the UN meetings on the sustainability and climate changes in the efforts to fully realise the Millennium Development Goals, as well as for the 193 members of the UN to convene for multilateral discussions on the topics of priority concerns.

In the correspondence documented in the indictment, it is clear that Yan had a relationship with CC-3. Yan's associate wrote to Ashe, describing CC-3 as 'an old friend of Sheri who is extremely wealthy'. Yan herself recommended to Ashe that the payment of US$200,000 from CC-3 be arranged through her. Ashe appointed Yan and her associate as his 'Advisers on Economic Matters', with a backdated letter referring to the appointments in an email as 'outstanding requests'. On 4 November 2013, John Ashe confirmed receipt of the US$200,000 from China from one of CC-3's companies. On 17 November 2013, John Ashe attended the Guangzhou conference and gave a speech at the conference. CC-3's real estate company, Kingold, posted a photo of the Chinese and foreign leaders who attended the global summit in Guangzhou. In the photo, CC-3 and John Ashe are standing next to each other.

For reasons that are best undisclosed, the United States government did not seek to charge CC-3 for his involvement in the bribery of John Ashe. The bribery does, however, raise the question: what were the objectives of CC-3 in securing Ashe's attendance at the conference? It is not the first time that CC-3 has appeared in US government documentation. The answer may lie in a sensitive US government cable from 2007 that details a conversation between the Guangzhou US Consul General, Robert Goldberg, and a Chinese real estate developer known by his Mandarin name of Zhou Zerong. Zhou was described as 'the well-connected head of the Kingold real estate group' and 'one of China's wealthiest individuals'. Zhou is CC-3. In 2007, he had just become the new head of the Guangdong Overseas Chinese Businessmen's Association. Goldberg wrote that the association's founding meeting clearly had political implications, with participation from several Chinese Communist Party figures, including the director of the United Front department. The United Front is a platform of the Chinese Communist Party that is tasked with influence operations for the People's Republic of China. It aims to influence the choices, direction and loyalties of its targets, with a particular focus overseas on foreign political and business elites. The primary objective of the United Front is to shape thinking and attitudes in a way that is favourable to China. Mao Zedong, for good reasons, described the United Front as one of the three magic weapons of the Chinese Communist Party. Zhou, or CC-3, was no stranger to the United Front. He had assumed leadership of an organisation intimately involved with it. In the final paragraph of the cable, Goldberg wrote that the Guangdong Overseas Chinese Businessmen's Association was essentially a creature of the Chinese Communist Party's United Front program.

What do we know thus far? We know that CC-3 was willing to participate in the bribery of the 68th president of the United Nations General Assembly, in 2013. We also know that Zhou, or CC-3, was in close contact with the United Front, the influence arm of the Chinese Communist Party, in 2007. So, what is the connection to Australia? CC-3 is a Chinese Australian citizen. He has also been a very significant donor to both of our major political parties. He has given more than $4 million since 2004. He has also donated $45 million to universities in Australia. The Australian press has reported these matters, and others, and has been sued for defamation by CC-3. CC-3 disputes a number of the reported allegations. The merits of these defamation cases are appropriately left for a court.

My concern is that defamation cases can have a chilling effect on our free press. Any attempt to silence our media from telling the truth, provided it is the truth, through a defamation claim cannot stand. Our democracy works only if we have a free press that can publish information that serves the public interest. We don't always like what the press writes, but they are essential to a free and flourishing democracy. The Australian people deserve the truth.

As chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security I led a delegation to the United States last month to discuss our espionage and foreign interference legislation with US counterparts. During discussions with United States authorities I confirmed the long-suspected identity of CC-3. It is now my duty to inform the House and the Australian people that CC-3 is Dr Chau Chak Wing, the same man who co-conspired to bribe the president of the United Nations General Assembly, John Ashe, the same man with extensive contacts in the Chinese Communist Party, including the United Front. I share it with the House because I believe it to be in the national interest. My duty first and foremost is to the Australian people and to the preservation of the ideals and democratic traditions of our Commonwealth. That tradition includes a free press. I thank the House.

Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Schools) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the appropriation bills that constitute the budget of the government. At the outset, my concern with this budget is that the whole is actually, and perhaps remarkably, rather less than the sum of its parts, bad as most of those parts are, because at the centre of this budget is a void. This is a budget of narrow vision and still lesser purpose. It fails to articulate a sense of where we should be as a nation and as an economy. So, unsurprisingly, it fails to chart a path to shared prosperity, or even to grapple with the task, which should be that of our national government. In place of a plan for growth that is inclusive, this budget represents a commitment to racing to the bottom.

When the member for Wentworth auditioned for the role of Prime Minister he was full of optimism. He spoke of innovation and agility, as watchwords for what would be his approach to securing our future prosperity—or 'what would have been' I should say, because his optimism didn't last. It's remarkable how quickly our Prime Minister was diminished as soon as he assumed that great office, but it's unforgivable that he has transposed his own weakness onto those he should be governing for. Australians today are no less capable than then. They are just less supported, less encouraged and less secure, and that is down to him.

That this is so represents I believe a moral as well as an economic failure on the part of this government. This is recognised in the alternative contributions to debate on these bills on this budget. On the one hand we have the National Press Club address of the member for McMahon, the shadow Treasurer, which started with a reference to a remote Indigenous community in Central Australia and our responsibility to secure decent lives and agency for the children and all members of that community. On the other hand the Treasurer started off by asking three questions. Members may have missed those three questions because the first one evoked a fair amount of mirth. He asked, rhetorically I believe: 'What have you achieved? What are you going to do now? What is it going to mean to me?' They were the questions he believed Australians wished to have answered. I don't think they were the right questions.

The budget ultimately is a statement of where we are and where we should be going. It's not so much, 'What's in it for me?' that Australians want answered. It's: 'What's in it for us? How can we chart a pathway to prosperity that is secure and that is shared? How can we chart a pathway to decent lives? How can we give every Australian an equal chance of fulfilling their potential in life and allow older Australians to enjoy the retirement and the dignity in retirement that they deserve?'

At the core of this is an extraordinary piece of symbolism. We see on the one hand cuts to schools—$17 billion—baked in in this budget. These mirror a $17 billion gift to the big banks that's also attempted to be baked in in this budget. This starkly shows the dividing line between the two sides of Australian politics today: blind faith in neoliberalism and blind faith in trickle-down economics on the one hand in defiance of everything we are seeing every day in the banking royal commission, apart from everything else—and I'll get to the 'everything else' later—against a plan built on evidence to invest in the capacity of Australians.

I was here for the conclusion of the member for Griffith's speech when she spoke so effectively about the importance of early years. When we talk about the cuts to schools it's important to also focus on the fact that we have a government that continues to put bandaids over early learning when instead we need long-term commitment. Again in this budget, in these appropriations, we have another bandaid. We don't have a secure pathway to ensure that every Australian child starts school having had the benefit of high-quality early years. Again the contrast between our vision for Australians and the capacity of Australians if given the chance to realise their potential and this government, which is so dismissive of them, mirroring their own lack of confidence, is absolutely stark.

The shadow Treasurer in his budget reply speech spent a bit of time focusing on things that the Treasurer should have focused on—in particular our broader commitment to investing in human capital and seeing that as absolutely key to unlocking our productivity challenge, mirroring our moral commitment, our faith in Australians and our belief that every Australian is entitled to have the education, the skills and the training to fulfil their potential as well as to make an economic contribution, but recognising that that is our pathway to higher productivity as well as some other investments. That's the other thing that's missing. Today's MPI on infrastructure showed a gaping hole in this budget. The Prime Minister managed to generate some fantastic front-pages in newspapers about infrastructure projects, but it's all smoke and mirrors.

Off-book equity finance arrangements are no way to deliver the sort of congestion-busting public transport that our big cities—particularly Melbourne, as I'm sure the member for Lalor will agree—need if we are to do the two things that we need to do in the most urbanised country in the world. The first thing is to make sure that we continue to realise the benefits of agglomeration and of having extraordinary productivity in and around our CBD. That's the first challenge, and that is absolutely hamstrung at the moment by the break on productivity that is the difficulty that my constituents and the member for Lalor's constituents have in accessing those jobs and amenities there. The flip side of this is, if we don't get the infrastructure challenge right in our big cities, we are condemning people in the outer suburbs to live as second-class citizens, to not access the labour markets that they should be able to access and to not access the amenities that they should be able to access, dividing our cities in a way that is simply unjust, as well as a ridiculous break on productivity.

I reflected more generally on the Treasurer's second reading speech, and it's interesting that he sets out quite up-front five things that he says we must do. When you scratch the surface, these things—and I think that is an appropriate descriptor—aren't plans and aren't policies; they're just empty words. They are rhetoric. What we have from the Treasurer is a budget by talking point. It is not by theory, other than this blind faith in trickle-down economics and in tax cuts as the only driver for greater productivity. There's no goal at the end of it either. I said that the worst bit about the budget is the absence of a vision for the sort of country he would like to see. Again, the contrast could not be starker, when we look at the contribution of the Leader of the Opposition. For us, the appropriations we would make are not an end in themselves. They are a means towards a fairer society and a more equal society, because we see that as a good in itself; but we recognise the economic benefits of reducing the excesses of inequality that we are headed towards under this government.

What is particularly egregious—and other Labor speakers have commented on this—is the way in which this rhetoric and these talking points attempt to wrap around a defence of the things that, from conservatives in Australia, are indefensible. Their claims to attach their tax cut agenda to securing Medicare are risible. They are risible on their record and even more so in the face of cuts that, again, are found in the appropriations that constitute this budget. The Leader of the Opposition and the shadow Treasurer have set out a clear alternative to this narrow, dark, depressing and unconfident vision of this government. It's not just an alternative to this budget, as I've said before. It's an alternative vision for the country, founded in optimism in the capacity of Australians to compete in the world economy and to look after each other.

In Labor, we recognise that this trajectory towards extreme inequality is a problem, and we commit ourselves—and we have committed ourselves, in the detailed work of the shadow Treasurer in particular—to solving this problem. It is a problem at two levels: morally and instrumentally. For me and for all of us on this side of the House, it is bad in and of itself that gaps between the haves and have-nots have increasing dramatically in Australia. We see that particularly as the suburbs in our big cities segment and people lose touch with experiences of life that aren't exactly like their own. We see this in social mobility becoming less and less achievable, with people's destiny being overly shaped by the postcode into which they are born, and our society more generally becoming more stratified, segmented and separated. That's how we think in the Labor Party; that's how we see the world. We think these are things that we should do something about, because they're not good things.

We also recognise that beyond our understanding, and beyond our ideological world view, that inequality is a drag on growth, as the IMF have recognised and as the OECD have recognised. This is why we are investing in Australia, through physical infrastructure, and investing in Australians, through developing our human capital. We are putting the money back into schools—that's every cent of the $17 billion this government has cut. We are reopening uni places to kids who are being cut out of uni and priced out of uni by this government and its arbitrary caps and plans to increase fees to unsustainable levels. By the way, that is without—and I'll give credit to the member for Sturt—even having a plan to try to compensate the universities for this. It's cutting without offering the carrot. Their plan for universities, if it can be described as such, is a complete abandonment of a sector that's so important to Australia and to the city I live in. The commitment about abolishing up-front TAFE fees for 100,000 students is a critical driver of skilling young and some not-so-young Australians to equip them for jobs of the future.

There is so much in this budget, but I'd like to talk about a couple of things in the time remaining to me. The Treasurer boasts of setting a speed limit on the tax-to-GDP ratio. He can't explain why 23.9 per cent is a magic number; the fact is, it's not. This is his way of cloaking an ideological argument in language less confronting to Australians. He is seeking to commit us to shrinking the state, our vision of the role of government, and our vision of how we support each other—the sorts of things that have characterised Australia's social compact. If he is interested in having an argument about what constitutes the Australian social compact, I think that's a good and respectable argument to have. We will stand up for our strong social wage, we will stand up for our vision of the entitlements of citizenship, and we look forward to having that contest of ideas. It's an important one, which I think we will win. This commitment is a polite way of baking in inequality, of confining people's life choices, of committing people to lives that are less secure and offer less agency than they are entitled to.

We see in this budget a reflection of who we are and who we can be, an optimistic vision based on recognising all of our common humanity. Our belief is that talent is shared equally, and it's part of the role of government to ensure it can be equally revealed, because it is becoming increasingly evident that opportunities are not being offered up in any meaningful way to too many Australians, whether it be those kids in Central Australia that the shadow Treasurer has spoken about, or too many kids in the electorate I represent. I want to talk about a particularly vulnerable cohort of people, many hundreds of whom live in the Scullin electorate: asylum seekers awaiting assessment, who have effectively been rendered destitute by decisions of this government. Despite rhetoric from Minister Tudge about finding jobs, the government cut $68 million from jobactive programs for those who have had their claims accepted, which would enable them to equip themselves for the reality of the labour market. This government talks about self-reliance and giving people the capacity to compete in this economy, but then denies it to them.

There is almost nothing in this budget for electorate of Scullin. I've talked about infrastructure generally, and I make the point that the state budget offers a very stark contrast, investing in the growing communities I represent, roads, rail and, critically, completing the trail from Diamond Creek to Hurstbridge, a vital bit of active transport and tourism infrastructure that should be completed. The fact that the Liberal government will not support it is a disgrace. I urge government members to think about what's in the Treasurer's second reading speech, what it says about the country that we live in today, and what it says about their vision for the sort of country that he and they are setting out for tomorrow. (Time expired)

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

Following the member for Scullin, as I have, I was sitting here thinking, 'Maybe he's talking about an Australia I don't know.' That might be right, but he wants to paint a very dark and dim picture of Australia and Australians in May 2018. I don't share his pessimism. I'll tell you what is dark and dim: 12 months ago today 415,000 Australians were getting up and embarking on a job search. Those very same Australians, 415,000 of them, are today in employment. That is a product of the plan that we began, the very difficult journey you and I began, Mr Deputy Speaker Goodenough, when we came to this parliament together in September 2013, and we're starting to see the dividends of that very difficult work.

The member of Scullin also wants to talk about inequality. I think it's his second-favourite subject after those in his electorate and otherwise in the country who are seeking asylum. His view of equality and mine are very different. He wants to argue for an equality of outcome. I'm passionate about equality of opportunity, and my own family is a great example of this. My parents came separately to this country in 1961—my father, in particular, with a suitcase, nothing more. He has eked out a life for himself. He's educated three children; he has the privilege of grandchildren.

While I'm rounding out on the member for Scullin's contribution, we saw there, if you like, the subtle messaging that's going out to Labor Left supporters, and maybe also those in the building. They want to tell us they're on a unity ticket with us in relation to border security, but you hear it every day—anything but. We heard it from the member for Batman in her maiden contribution. We hear it again—

Ms Ryan interjecting—

Well, maybe for you. It will always be a maiden contribution for me, Ms Ryan. In that context, let me talk, in this appropriation bill debate, about the budget that was delivered by the Treasurer the last time this place met. What's it about? It's about delivering a stronger economy, an economy that creates yet more jobs—more than the million that we've created since 2013. It's about guaranteeing the essential services Australians rely on. In our budget plan, we're delivering tax relief which will encourage and reward hardworking Australians. It will create more jobs by backing small business, boosting exports, building vital road and rail infrastructure, and making energy more affordable. It guarantees essential services like Medicare, hospitals, schools and care for older Australians. It's a budget that's focused on keeping Australians safe. And, of course—and in my view most importantly—it's a budget that ensures government lives within its means.

The Australian economy is pulling out of a tough period, but it's making real progress. I've mentioned the 415,000 jobs that have been created in the last 12 months alone, three-quarters of which are full time. As a result of the budget delivered last sitting week, it is expected that the deficit will arrive at a surplus a year earlier.

Opposition members interjecting—

If those opposite want to engage in a debate with me, I'm happy to, because, quite frankly, I think we should be proud of this budget.

Mr Perrett interjecting—

The member for Moreton can chime in all he likes, but those opposite hate our plan because that plan is delivering outcomes. Our plan is the very document that's going to deliver us government in 2019 and a further term of opposition to those opposite. Why do I say that? I say that because the member for Scullin in his contribution talked about a dark place, with no opportunity for people in his electorate. Well, maybe that's because he's been speaking to people who are negatively gearing. Under a prospective Labor government, that is a dark prospect. Maybe he's been speaking to people who enjoy refunds via dividend imputation. That's a dark prospect under a Labor government. I don't represent those people; I represent people who are bullish about their prospects, who are enjoying the recovery of the Australian economy.

Mr Deputy Speaker, I won't bore you with contributions about our tax plan, because it's a tax plan to incentivise Australians, to provide immediate relief to low- and middle-income earners, to deal with the scourge of bracket creep in the medium term and, in the long term, to get into a position where 94 per cent of Australians pay no more than 32.5c in a dollar. Why is that important? It's important because we want to incentivise people to work more. Why is that important? It's important because we want to incentivise people to work more. We want to incentivise people to do the training, to upskill, to become a more valuable contributor to the economy and from their own personal perspective.

What about the business tax cuts that those opposite are so opposed to? In my electorate there are 19,201 local businesses with turnovers of up to $50 million. That's 19,201 businesses that would benefit from medium business tax cuts. The member for Scullin, in his contribution, said that there's nothing for his electorate in this budget. That's certainly not the case in my electorate.

An honourable member interjecting—

The member opposite bemoans, nothing for her in her electorate in Tasmania. I'm looking forward to the return of Brett Whiteley for Braddon, because he achieved outcomes for Braddon in your state of Tasmania. I know those opposite are very nervous about the outcome of that election. I'm very happy looking forward to the return of Brett Whiteley. But let me talk about my electorate for a minute. Agriculture is so important for my electorate. There's $51.3 million contributing to Australian exports.

Honourable members interjecting—

I'm laughing because the contribution of those opposite is so laughable, with respect. Enjoying as I am the contribution from those opposite, I want to highlight forestry. There is $20 million to support the forestry sector. That is very important to my electorate. There is a further round of the Building Better Regions Fund, something my electorate has benefited from significantly in round 1, and let's hope in round 2.

Regional health is a real issue for those of us who live in rural, regional and remote communities. The budget strategy will deliver around 3,000 additional doctors and more than 3,000 additional nurses. I welcome the additional funding to Lifeline, which disproportionately services constituents in rural, regional and remote Australia, and of course the funding for mental health research at $125 million over the prospective 10 years.

Aged care is a real focus of this budget. There is a lot more to do, I accept that. Those opposite, quite frankly, dropped the ball. They forget that they were in government from 2007 to 2013. Sadly, those opposite don't realise that the damage they wreaked, their inactivity in this space, can't be corrected in a short period. It needs to be corrected long term.

Honourable members interjecting—

You know when you've scratched an itch, because those opposite are like the salmon that grabs the worm. They jump on the hook for you. I need to mention my good friend, Brett Whiteley in the seat of Braddon. I'll probably get another one if I throw it out there. He is someone who knows about aged constituents and fighting on their behalf. The people of Braddon won't be hoodwinked this time by Mediscare, I can tell you that much for nothing.

The National School Chaplaincy Program is back, I'm pleased to say. It's a fantastic program that deliver pastoral support into schools throughout the country, particularly in my electorate. It's something that school principals were very keen to see reinstated, and it has been reinstated. The program of $3.5 billion for upgrading key freight corridors in the Roads of Strategic Importance program is something I'm focused on squarely. I'm sure those opposite would agree with me about the Stronger Communities Program—it's rolling out yet again a further and fourth round of those small community grants that we can give to not-for-profits, sporting and other groups in our communities that make such a significant difference, whether it's soup kitchens like the Sunset Community Kitchen in Mount Gambier in my electorate, or for example the East Gambier Football Club to ensure they can drought-proof their football oval via rainwater tanks and the water savings that come with that.

This is, as I have said, a dividend in this budget that is being been delivered on the back of five years of difficult work. How can we do this? In fact, some in my electorate have said: 'How can you be so generous in this budget? How can you offer the tax relief you are offering and yet return to surplus a year earlier than was planned?' Quite frankly, because we're enjoying the benefits of over a million Australians who—

Mr Perrett interjecting—

when we came to government for those opposite, were unemployed. Over a million Australians who got up this morning were previously unemployed. Indeed, 12 months ago there were 415,000 Australians who were getting up and looking for a job. They were in receipt, no doubt, of some sort of support, as they should be in those circumstances, but today they contribute to the tax receipts of this nation.

Mr Perrett interjecting—

For those opposite, it's a two-goal turn around: no longer are we paying them a benefit to look for a job; they are paying income tax to government, which allows us the flexibility to do the kinds of things that are important to Australians. To list more drugs on the PBS; to invest in infrastructure; to secure more regional doctors and nurses; to provide for further rounds of the Building Better Regions Fund: to do all of these things and yet return to surplus a year earlier than what was planned.

Those opposite have a different plan. I think it's probably best described as magic pudding economics. They want to tax less, spend more and have more left over, and you wonder why we think that's a little unbelievable. It's unbelievable. Those across the way think they had found a plan. They say, 'We're going to tax you less, but we're going to spend more and we're going to have more left over.' You know what? I call that rubbish. It's absolute rubbish. It was just like Kevin Rudd in 2007: 'I'm a fiscal conservative.' Sadly, too many Australians fell for that rubbish and we ended up with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. We then saw a proliferation of spending announcements, the kind of unfettered spending that just kept rolling and rolling and rolling and rolling.

Mr Perrett interjecting—

Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Morton is warned.

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

On the other hand we have a plan. We have a plan that delivers tax relief. We have a plan that creates more jobs and that will back business to create yet further jobs. We've got a plan that will guarantee essential services. We've got a plan that will keep Australians safe. And we've got a plan, most importantly, to ensure that the Australian government lives within its means. I commend the appropriation bills.

Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Ageing and Mental Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This budget is so full of smoke and mirrors and hoaxes that I don't even know where to begin. There are so many hoaxes in this budget—whether it be infrastructure, whether it be health, whether it be education—but I think I'll start in my shadow portfolio of aged care.

We just heard the member for Barker speak, and we've heard so many on the other side in this place talk about how they've done something wonderful for older Australians in this budget. We know that is not true; they have not. There is not one cent more in this budget over the forward estimates than there was previously. Not one cent. They've come into this place, and they've gone out publicly, suggesting that somehow there's an extra 14,000 homecare packages. And it gets worse, because I've since found out they're spending $8 million of taxpayer money on an advertising campaign that will go out there and say there are 20,000 additional homecare packages available when they know—and they're on the record with this—that they have already put in 6,000 packages as at December last year. It's nothing to do with this budget, but they're going to spend $8 million of taxpayer funds on an advertising campaign that is not true, that says there's an additional 20,000 homecare packages when there is not.

There are 14,000 additional homecare packages over four years only. That will not even keep up with demand. There are still 105,000 older Australians sitting on a waiting list for home care packages as at December last year, according to the government's latest figures. That's the government's own figures. The average wait time for a level 3 or 4 package, according to the government, is more than 12 months. More than 12 months! So the government's response is to take some money out of other aged-care services—residential aged care and other services—to fund some more home care packages. And they are funding 14,000 over four years, so an average of 3½ thousand per year.

We know that the wait list for home care packages grew by 20,000 people in the last six months of last year. We do not know how many more people have been added to that list this year. The government's data will not be released until June for the March quarter, but I suspect that it has grown yet again, which means, of course, that what the government has done in the budget will not even keep up with demand. We know that there is no new money for aged care and that, in fact, they've taken $8 million out of services to pay for an advertising campaign that is not telling the truth. How is that fair on older Australians?

What they're actually going to do is create more demand with fewer services and not be able to fix the problem. They are going to encourage older Australians to apply for services they know they can't deliver. It's outrageous! It's unfair on older Australians, it's unfair on their families and it's a cruel hoax that this government keeps perpetuating. I've called it out in this parliament; I've asked the minister questions in this place and we still keep hearing this ridiculous notion that, somehow, people are going to be waiting less time for their home care packages. And we know it's not true. The minister knows it's not true, the government knows it's not true and it should stop trying to tell older Australians something that is not true.

Older Australians are vulnerable enough without the government trying to pretend that it has done something that it hasn't. They are taking money from residential aged care after this government has had three aged-care ministers and ripped billions of dollars out of aged care previously without any consultation with the sector and without any modelling done on how this is going to affect the industry. Quite frankly, it is not okay. And that's just in aged care.

We then, of course, still have the zombie measures that affect older Australians in this budget. We have the removal of the energy supplement for new people applying for the aged pension and Newstart. This government wants to take the energy supplement from older Australians who are applying for the pension. It wants to remove it. That measure is still in the budget. And the government, of course, still wants to have older Australians wait until they're 70 to receive the aged pension. That measure is also still in the budget. So how is this good for older Australians?

It's certainly not good for my state, which, of course, is the state with the oldest average age in Australia and is also the fastest-ageing state in Australia. But it's also not good for the low-income earners of Tasmania, or of Australia. This government is saying that they've got this great tax plan for individuals and that they're going to provide a tax cut. What they don't say, of course, is that they're also giving big business $80 billion in tax cuts and that they're giving individuals very little at all.

People will have heard that Labor has said that we will actually provide more of a tax cut for those low-income earners who have been doing it tough. And they've been doing it tough because wages growth is at the lowest it's been in a generation—the lowest it's been in a very long time in this country, because of this government. This government comes in here and crows about the number of jobs it's created. The truth is that the number of jobs that have been created by this government over the period is normal growth of jobs. It's nothing really spectacular. It is a target that any government could have set and that any government would have met. They haven't done anything spectacular with that either. It is, again, another hoax.

Infrastructure: this is another great hoax, where the government is trying to pretend that it's doing something great on infrastructure. Actually, what's happening over the forwards is that there is less investment. We've seen this government underspend on infrastructure when compared to its own estimates over the last three years.

In my home state of Tasmania it is really quite dire. We've had no new rail, no new bridges and no new roads in five years under this government. And here we are, on the eve of an election, and the government is trying to pretend suddenly it's got $461 million—or whatever it is—for the Bridgewater Bridge. Tasmanians are not going to believe this, because, before the last election, they came and they said, 'We're going to fix the Hobart Airport roundabout and fund $24 million for that, with $6 million from the state.' We heard today in Senate estimates that that roundabout is not going to be completed until 2022 at the earliest, which shows you how incompetent this government is when it comes to delivering infrastructure.

We asked about the Bridgewater Bridge and found out that the Tasmanian state Liberal government only put in a draft business case in January this year. We have no money over the forward estimates for this bridge. The government has no idea when it is going to be built. Quite frankly, Tasmanians have had enough. They've had enough of a government that overpromises and underdelivers and pretends that it's actually doing something for our state, when clearly it is not doing anything for Tasmania. It's almost as if this government has punished Tasmanians for not voting for them at the last election.

What we saw at the last election was, of course, Tasmanians remove the Liberals from the lower house. They were removed because the three people who were representing Tasmania could not deliver for our state, because this Liberal government ignored our state, and it continues to do so. The Treasurer has not been to the state of Tasmania in two years. One might ask why that is. Why do you think the Treasurer hasn't come to our state? I suspect it's got something to do with the Productivity Commission inquiry into the GST. He delayed it for the Tasmanian and South Australian state elections from January until just last week when he got it. Now that he's got it, he's delaying the release of it publicly. Tasmanians are wondering why. They're wondering why the Treasurer never comes and they're wondering why the Treasurer won't talk to them about the GST distribution and the Productivity Commission report that he commissioned.

I think Tasmanians are pretty concerned about it because, of course, Tasmania does rely heavily on the GST distribution; we do—there's no doubt about it. Tasmanians and the services that Tasmanians rely on are more expensive to deliver. Our state has less ability to raise revenue compared to some of the larger states. So we rely on that revenue to deliver essential services: to deliver police, to deliver education, to deliver health services. Without that GST money it's going to be very difficult for any state government to deliver the services that Tasmanians need, that Tasmanians deserve and that Tasmanians, like the rest of Australians, require to be treated equally as Australians.

We want nothing more than to be treated like everybody else in Australia. That is the whole point of being part of a federation. Being part of a federation means that all Australians have equal access to services no matter where they live. We already know Australians in regional and rural areas get less access to essential services, but this is going to be made worse if Tasmania cannot have access to the GST funds that it relies so heavily on. The Treasurer should come down to Tasmania, make the GST report by the Productivity Commission public, and explain to Tasmanians, prior to the Braddon by-election, exactly what the plan is for GST for Tasmania.

The people of Braddon have a right to know what is going to happen to our state with the GST distribution, because the biggest risk to Tasmania and the services Tasmanians need is the GST report and what the federal government decides to do on it. We've heard from the state Liberal government that it's all okay: 'The federal government won't do anything. They need all the states to agree.' That is not true. The federal government can make a decision about the GST distribution. Yes, it has to consult the states but it doesn't need their okay and it doesn't need their consent. All it needs to do is consult. It does not need their consent to change the GST distribution and Tasmanians are extraordinarily worried about it. And so they should be, because the Treasurer has hinted there needs to be a transition plan. A transition plan indicates you have a plan to change something. Tasmanians are really worried about where this is headed. There are no assurances in this budget. There are no assurances coming from the government.

We had the Minister for Finance, Mathias Cormann, and the Prime Minister down in Tasmania last week. It's the first time we've seen a senior government minister in a very long time. As I said, they don't like to come to our state too often. They said, essentially, 'Well, you know, whatever is in the budget papers.' There is not actually very much in the budget papers when it comes to the GST for Tasmania. What they're insinuating is, 'We might just give you what you would have received, what's estimated in the budget papers for the next couple of years, and then we might do something.' That's all that essentially says. There's no guarantee they won't change the formula. There's no guarantee that they remain committed to HFE, horizontal fiscal equalisation, which is the thing treats all Australians the same as part of its distribution method. There are no guarantees that this government is not going to do something to the GST—absolutely none. Tasmanians are really concerned.

Tasmanians are also concerned about the federal government's cuts to health and education, to TAFE and to universities. Tasmania needs to invest heavily in education if we are to overcome disadvantage. People will know in this place that Tasmania has a serious issue with children reaching the end of year 12 or equivalent. People would know that our retention rates are not where they should be compared to the rest of the country. People in this place know that Tasmanians and a large number of Tasmanians sadly are still illiterate. People would know that education is a very serious issue in Tasmania, and the only way to address it is to provide options for people close to where they live and to invest in education, to invest in the TAFE system and to invest in university education. For this government to cut all three of those is just outrageous. I cannot believe that the government of the day, when Tasmania is in such a difficult place and when we're striving to actually do better, would do something like this. Tasmanians are flabbergasted that this government wants to cut school funding, TAFE funding and university funding in our state. It will have devastating consequences for generations to come.

We then have the health issues that I alluded to. There are cuts to the hospitals in Tasmania. These are hospitals that are already overloaded. We already have some of the longest waiting lists for elective surgery in the country. We already have ambulance ramping. That is where there are not enough beds in a hospital and the ambulance crews have to stay with the patients until they're able to be taken in. We have had really serious issues in southern Tasmania, particularly at the Royal Hobart Hospital, where ambulance ramping has got so bad that there is a risk that ambulances will not be available for people who are having a critical incident. That is how bad it has got in southern Tasmania.

We then have a really serious issue with homelessness at the moment where we have a large number of Tasmanians who have nowhere to live. They are facing the intense winter out in the cold. We have a state government and a federal government that seems unable and unwilling to fix this issue. Tasmanians have had enough. There is nothing in this budget for older Australians, there is nothing in it for older Tasmanians and there is nothing in it for Tasmanians at all.

Debate adjourned.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 19 : 24