Ian Goodenough (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

With the budget moving into surplus, our government is now paying down debt to secure the future of our next generation. The Morrison government is on track to eliminate net debt by 2029-30. Our Liberal coalition government is also keeping taxes as a share of GDP within the 23.9 per cent cap, limiting the tax burden on Australians. For residents in my electorate of Moore with mortgages, it is important to keep inflation under control through responsible spending to ensure less upward pressure on interest rates and to keep housing affordable for young families in our northern suburbs.

Under our plan to reduce taxes by 2025, 94 per cent of all taxpayers will pay a marginal tax rate of no more than 30 per cent. Immediate tax relief will flow to low- and middle-income earners of up to $1,080 for singles or up to $2,160 for families. Around 4.5 million individuals will see the full benefit for the 2018-19 income year. The budget is back in the black and Australia is back on track!

Emma McBride (Dobell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This budget promises a surplus that is subsidised by short-changing people with disability, through a massive underspend in the NDIS. So, each time the Prime Minister boasts about his budget surplus, my community need to know that $1.6 billion of that is because people with a disability are being forced to wait longer for support. My office has already helped almost 300 NDIS participants and their families, struggling with delays and setbacks. This underspend will cause more delays to more families in my community.

This budget fails to reverse cuts to TAFE and apprenticeships. In the past six years, the Liberals have cut $3 billion from TAFEs and skills and cut 150,000 apprenticeship places. Locally, in Dobell, between 2013-16, this has seen a 33 per cent drop in the number of apprentices and trainees. This means 1,027 fewer apprentices and trainees on job sites, taking up a trade, learning skills and boosting our local economy.

This budget does nothing to help the 128,000 older Australians already waiting for a home care package. This budget does not deliver one new home care package that the government has not already announced. On the Central Coast, the number of people on the waitlist who have no package increased from 1,178 in September to 1,286 by the end of December 2018. Most of these people are high-needs and waiting for level 3 or 4 packages.