Phillip Thompson (Herbert, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to give a snapshot of the budget and what it means for Townsville and to talk about some of the numbers. Sixty-eight thousand of the 108,000 people in the electorate of Herbert will be getting up to $2,745 back on their tax bill, which is more of their money that they can keep to do whatever they want with. Ten thousand six hundred is the number of businesses in Herbert that will be able to continue to write off the full value of any eligible asset that they purchase. We have over 30,000 defence veterans and their families located in Townsville, and their voice has been able to see an injection of $460 million into the Department of Veterans' Affairs to ensure that the outrageous waiting times for the processing of claims are tackled and lowered. We know that these times have blown out, and it's simply not good enough. One thousand seven hundred and forty families will get cheaper childcare in the electorate of Herbert.

Some announcements are harder to quantify with numbers, like the $10 billion reinsurance pool that we've just announced. This means that you will have lower insurance premiums, whether it's for your house, business or strata. We have seen market failure of this essential service, insurance. If you want to own a house, a business or a strata, you must have insurance. It's as essential as water and electricity. This reinsurance pool will take a lot of the risk from the insurer, which will mean cheaper premiums for the people of Townsville.

We are making it even easier for locals to get into the housing market. The Family Home Guarantee will allow single parents with dependent children to buy a home with a deposit of as little as two per cent. I was brought up by a single parent, my mum. She raised me and my brother and sister, and this would have been a game changer for us and would have changed the life of our family. So I hope the Family Home Guarantee is taken up and that it can change the lives of many people around the country.

More homes mean more tradies and more builds, and we will see a massive increase in new building approvals. We're building on momentum by extending the JobTrainer Fund, creating 170,000 new apprenticeships and traineeships. That means free or low-fee courses, particularly targeting jobseekers and young people, including school leavers. While we train up new apprentices, our local businesses will be able to fill the many job vacancies they have. As they do that, they will be able to write off the cost of new equipment, which will help them expand their business and create even more new jobs.