Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Western Australia is a big winner in the federal budget, especially in my electorate of Swan, and I take the opportunity to update my constituents on what they can expect to see from the federal budget, with the Morrison government announcing a huge package of local road and infrastructure funding which will boost our economic recovery, keep our families safe, get people home sooner and back local jobs.

Last week I joined with my federal colleagues Minister Michaelia Cash, Minister Ben Morton and Minister Ken Wyatt, along with the WA Premier, to announce that the Morrison Liberal government is committing funding of $1.3 billion for infrastructure projects in Western Australia. These local projects are going to support more than 4,000 direct and indirect jobs in Western Australia, which will boost local communities and back our small businesses. Residents in my electorate of Swan will directly benefit from a $385.5 million share in this $1.3 billion announcement. Projects funded include the Hamilton Street-Wharf Street grade separations and the elevation of associated stations, including Queens Park and Cannington stations.

This is a major win for the residents in my electorate. Over the years, I have been campaigning for the removal of dangerous level crossings on the Armadale line. The crossings cause not only a large number of car crashes but also a large amount of congestion. When I took Minister Taylor out to the level crossing on Wharf Street a couple of years ago, there were cars that sat there at the lights for in excess of 15 minutes. There was actually a truck there where the blokes managed to smoke two cigarettes while they waited for the boom gates to come up. In 2019 I secured funding for the removal of three key level crossings, at Oats Street, Welshpool Road and Mint Street. This announcement of the removal of the level crossings at Wharf Street and Hamilton Street as part of the budget's infrastructure package means I have succeeded in my campaign on behalf of my constituents and I have delivered for Swan.

I welcome the partnership with the state government, who, after years of delay and putting these projects on the backburner, have finally listened to the concerns of residents and are working with the federal government to remove the level crossings. Thank you to the over 1,000 people who signed local petitions to expedite action to remove these level crossings.

The Morrison government continues to fund and deliver on transport priorities for Western Australia. The federal government is investing $2.3 billion across 11 METRONET projects in Western Australia. This week's budget included a commitment of $31.5 million towards METRONET high-capacity signalling, an addition to the $133.8 million already committed to this project. The investment in digital technology has been prioritised in the budget, with projects like METRONET signalling supporting more efficient use of road and rail infrastructure.

One of the other key projects that residents will benefit from is the upgrade of the northern access to the Perth Airport precinct. Our government is committing $85 million to the construction of a four-lane bridge to replace the Kalamunda Road bridge. Construction for this project will start in late 2023 and is set to be completed by mid-2026. When completed, these upgrades will significantly improve access to Perth Airport. Perth Airport is ideally situated close to the CBD, in an area serviced by major arterial roads and rail freight. The interchange works will further enhance the efficiency of moving freight to and from this key economic hub.

Other key projects in Swan as part of this infrastructure announcement include $10 million for the Orrong Road expressway. I can hear a sigh of relief from constituents on that, because it's like a car park in the morning and the afternoon. There is also an additional $21.5 million towards the Leach Highway-Welshpool Road interchange project. It is the busiest intersection in Western Australia. It's great that those two projects are going to be looked at, as they will get people home faster. This funding for my electorate will support local small businesses, which means jobs; keep residents safe on the roads; and cut travel times in our community.

Through the budget, the Australian government has committed $1.6 billion for priority projects and initiatives in Western Australia to support economic recovery and jobs, increasing the government's total commitment to transport infrastructure in Western Australia to $17.3 billion since 2013. There is funding for many other major infrastructure projects, such as the Great Eastern Highway, the Reid Highway and the Toodyay Road, and $55 million for the Mandurah Estuary Bridge duplication.

I'm proud to be part of a government that is providing record funding that will boost business. The Morrison government will continue to invest in the Western Australian economy in the coming years through nation-building projects, delivering the infrastructure Western Australians need now and into the future.

Alicia Payne (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to talk about this week's budget announcement by the Morrison government. This budget is, largely, a missed opportunity to set out a vision for the Australian people and to help those most in need of support from their government, particularly in these turbulent times of a global pandemic. It is a political fix, rather than a strong policy vision for this nation.

I want to run through some of the particular issues where I think this was a missed opportunity. The first was the opportunity to set out a strong plan to transition to a sustainable economy and see some real action on climate change from this government. Canberrans are telling me every day that this is what they desperately want to see from this government as Australia increasingly becomes an embarrassment on the world stage. This budget could have been an opportunity to really invest in renewable energy, to make Australia the renewable energy superpower that we know it can be. Instead, in his speech the Treasurer doubled down on not quite committing to getting to net zero by 2050, saying, 'Preferably we'll get there.' That's not good enough. We need a commitment and a plan to get there.

Aged care is obviously a centrepiece of this budget, and rightfully so, as it is in crisis. The system has been neglected, and that has led to the neglect of our vulnerable older Australians—our grandparents, our parents, our loved ones—who have suffered in a system that is simply not acceptable in a country like Australia. But don't be fooled by the large headline figure, as it falls well short of what the royal commission actually recommended to fix the system. Yesterday I had the opportunity to talk to aged-care workers from the United Workers Union, and they were very disappointed to see that this money will not fix the crisis that they deal with every day. What was incredibly clear was that these workers are so dedicated to the residents that they serve every day. That is why they keep turning up to work, really up against it, trying to provide these people with decent care. This plan does nothing for their wages. It doesn't guarantee that we will have 24-hour registered nurses in facilities, which people have been asking for for years. We are still looking into the detail, but I think this falls short of what we needed to see for aged care in this budget.

With child care also, there is nothing for the workers, who work so hard and do an incredibly dedicated and professional job caring for our youngest Australians and educating them each and every day. Labor's plan for more affordable child care will benefit 97 per cent of families, whereas this plan from the government does not go anywhere near that. It only benefits families with two or more children in child care at one time, and even families with two or more children usually don't have them both in child care at the same time, as families know.

Then there are our universities. Representing the seat of Canberra, I represent a university town, a real centre of excellence, and I have seen it decimated by this government. There was no help for our universities through the pandemic. This is the time we should be investing in the future, investing in our young people to enable them to attend university, and investing in the universities to do the research that we need to tackle the emerging challenges. Instead we saw funding cut by 9.3 per cent again, confirming that the fee hikes, which this government has already announced and passed through the parliament, are actually to make up for other cuts in Commonwealth funding to our universities. We saw no support from this government for universities or their workers through the pandemic, and of course it's the casual workers at universities, mostly women, who are the first to lose their jobs all around the country, including in Canberra.

Unsurprisingly, we've seen nothing for the poor, for low-income people, in this budget. Research shows that the low-income tax offset will actually benefit more mid- and high-income earners, as people on really low incomes don't earn enough to benefit from it. We've seen no increase to the JobSeeker payment, apart from the pathetic $3.50 a day that was already announced. We've even seen a four-year waiting period introduced for newly arrived migrants, including refugees, which means they will have to wait four years to receive the family tax benefit, a payment that is about addressing child poverty. This is a government that wants to see refugee children living in poverty, and that is an absolute disgrace.

I look forward to tonight's budget reply from Anthony Albanese, which will set out an alternative vision for this nation, one about equality. Equality is the driving mission of the Labor Party, not something to do when we have a political problem to fix.

Question agreed to.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 12:59