Garth Hamilton (Groom, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

ON () (): It gives me pleasure to speak to this motion put by the member for Forde. Following the budget, I spent a week out in the community reflecting upon it. I have formed an image where Labor has now absolutely taken control of the economy with this budget. You can't intervene. You can't get your fingers this deep into the budget without hitting your fingers. I'm picturing a Nigella Lawson kneading into a big cookie dough bowl, just putting her fingerprints all over it. That's how I see this economy now.

There are ways to look very clearly at the impacts of this budget. Let's look at the impact on jobs. Labor came in a year ago with the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years. We hear a lot about the decade of delay. We don't often hear about a couple of these key facts, like the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years. Labor also came in with the rate of welfare dependency at its lowest level in 30 years. That was achieved just prior to the pandemic. It's a little thing the Treasurer doesn't speak a lot about.

On top of that, across the last term of the LNP government, two million jobs were created. If you compare that to the budget, what the budget predicts is that there will be 175,000 job losses across Australia. So there's a very clear difference from a government that created jobs, that oversaw one the greatest creations of jobs we have seen in our time, and had the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years to a government that is confirming in its second budget that 175,000 job losses will take place.

Let's look at tax. Across the last term, the coalition reduced taxes for more than 11 million Australians. In the 2021-22 financial year, a person earning $90,000 was paying over $3,000 less in tax. The stage 3 tax cuts that we planned for ensured that 95 per cent of taxpayers would face a marginal rate of no more than 30 cents in the dollar. Small businesses had their tax rate reduced from 30 per cent down to 25 per cent, which was the lowest rate in 50 years.

Again, there's a stark comparison to what we've seen in this budget. We've seen a tax on farmers and fresh food, a tax on truckies, a tax on energy producers and higher taxes on low- to middle-income Australians. There's a very big difference in approach, a very big difference in intention and a big difference in consequences that we will see from this.

The Prime Minister was given two cracks at this cherry. I'm happy to say I'm going to see if I can do it in one here today. Yes, Australia's core inflation rate is higher than the UK, higher than the US and higher than the EU area. It's higher than every G7 nation. Goodness me, that wasn't that hard to do! I don't know why this fact can't be addressed. Oh, maybe it could be! There's the simple point that there are things that you can do about inflation, and different countries have approached it differently. When we look at Australia's response and see our inflation higher than those countries, perhaps it's worth asking what are the things that have created that? We can't continue to talk back to external influences that are driving inflation. As the RBA governor has well and truly confirmed, the drivers of that inflation have moved internally; they are domestic drivers now. When we see $185 billion of additional spending in this budget at a time when inflation is this high, when economists laughingly refer to this as a stimulus budget, that's exactly what we're doing, we're pouring fuel on the fire.

Where does this budget leave us? I saw a fantastic cartoon in the Sydney Morning Herald. It's not usually a paper that is very friendly towards this side of the House. There's a picture of a little girl chasing a balloon that was floating away from her. It's out of her reach. She's chasing it, and the balloon is shaped like a house. Of course, housing is out of the question for that next generation. It's getting worse and worse. And what is the wind that is blowing that balloon away? It's 1.5 million new Australians coming in in the middle of a housing crisis. If things were bad before—

Bob Katter (Kennedy, Katter's Australian Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Undermining our pay and conditions.

Garth Hamilton (Groom, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

things are going to get worse. That's right, BobKat!

Bob Katter (Kennedy, Katter's Australian Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Labor governments undermining our pay and conditions.

Garth Hamilton (Groom, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Sing the story, brother! I absolutely hear you. Hallelujah! There are problems that we need to face, and this budget is not facing them.

Jerome Laxale (Bennelong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It gives me pleasure to speak on this budget that was handed down by Treasurer Chalmers and, of course, the Labor government. When you read this motion, you see that they almost got it right. One of the parts says, 'We note that the government's second budget is an opportunity to correct the mistakes of its first.' They're so close to getting it right. This budget wasn't an opportunity to correct the mistakes of the last budget; it was an opportunity to correct the mistakes of the last government's budget—the last nine years of financial recklessness. This year's budget was an opportunity to correct the mistakes of the Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison governments and an opportunity to correct the trillion dollars worth of Liberal debt that was left behind. It was an opportunity to correct the unfunded government programs like myGov, e-health records and countless others, and it was an opportunity to correct increases in the cost of seeing a doctor, which we all know shot up under the previous government's watch. It was an opportunity to restore sensible budget practices once again, instead of the economic management bin fire we had under the former government.

On 9 May, this government presented a budget that was responsible and that had a heart. We turned around the largest budget deficit in history—a whopping $78 billion left by the previous government. This financial year we know we are on track to deliver a slim budget surplus. What a turnaround! That feat alone sets this budget apart, demonstrating our commitment to fiscal responsibility and to the welfare of our nation. Our budgetary approach is grounded in sound economic principles, with 87 per cent of revenue upgrades being reinvested back into the budget. Compare that to the previous budgets of the Morrison government, which returned only 40 per cent of budget upgrades to the bottom line, and the Howard government, which returned even less—30 per cent—to the bottom line. This decision now over two budgets returns order to our nation's finances. Instead of the bin fire of economic responsibility by the Liberals, we now have responsible management of our money, which will significantly reduce national debt over the coming years, saving us all hundreds of billions of dollars of interest rate payments over the medium and long term.

But it's also a budget with a heart. It's a budget that delivers genuine cost-of-living relief to Australian families. To alleviate the financial pressures faced by households, there is energy bill relief for five million households across the country. In my home state of New South Wales alone, 1.6 million households will enjoy savings of $500 on their energy bills. This is real relief that will impact those who need it. We're also investing an unprecedented $5.7 billion in health care to strengthen Medicare services. We will triple the bulk-billing incentives for common consultations involving children under 16 and Commonwealth concession cardholders. That means 60 per cent of presentations will be covered by this bulk-billing incentive, and that means around 66,000 eligible Australians in my electorate of Bennelong will get access to cheaper visits to the doctor, ensuring that quality health care remains within reach. Our commitment to a more robust and secure emissions reduction economy remains unwavering. There is $4 billion to create our Renewable Energy Superpower plan, bolstering our dedication to clean energy and sustainable practices. We will invest $2 billion to make green hydrogen for our regions. Skills development is also being invested in, with 180,000 fee-free TAFE places in the last budget and an additional $400 million allocated to deliver 300,000 fee-free TAFE and VET places. We know that we're in a skills crisis, and we are a government that will invest in skilling up Australians through apprenticeship programs and through TAFE.

Small businesses—the lifeblood of our economy—will receive much-needed support through this budget. The instant asset write-off threshold is up to $20,000, benefiting up to 1.2 million small businesses, and $650 off their bill automatically for 332,000 small businesses in New South Wales.

This budget reinforces our commitment to fix the mess of the former government that was left to us and to pave the way for a brighter and better future for Australia. We are committed to fixing the mess and to also providing support to those who need it most.

Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

To listen to those opposite come in here and pat themselves on the back, dripping in irony and hubris, anybody would think that they are in this place saying, 'Australians have never had it so good. They've never had it so good.' I can tell you that, out there in everyday mum-and-dad land in Australia, they are hurting and they are hurting big time. If you are a self-funded retiree or are on wages, you are working or are in small business, this budget that was just handed down by this Labor government does absolutely nothing for you. It is one of the biggest redistributions of wealth that this country has ever seen.

Ask yourself this question: Do you feel better off now today than you felt 12 months ago? The answer to that question, everywhere I ask it, is, of course, no. I've done community forums. I've spoken to many people in my electorate and all that I've heard is 'Australians are doing it tough'. They are doing it hard because of this government's failure to address the out-of-control cost of living in this country.

Government Members:

Government members interjecting—

Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will take the interjections. Those opposite are saying, 'All good here. Cost of living—nothing to see. It's wonderful out there in Australia.' Well, I have news for you: your people are hurting as well.

One of the saddest things to come out of this Labor government, just in the last couple of weeks, is this so-called 90-day review of infrastructure. This is the big con job that Labor put in this last budget. Apparently, according to the minister for infrastructure, they've kept $1.6 billion in the budget for vital infrastructure projects in my electorate like Sunshine Coast rail. Apparently, they've kept it in. Yet they have this 90-day review which is reviewing every single infrastructure project in this country that hasn't to date had a shovel in the ground. That puts at risk North Coast rail, a project that Ted O'Brien and I worked assiduously on for the last seven years to get $1.6 billion from the previous coalition government. I fear that this lot are going to rip it up and pull it out and do what they do best—redistribute it to their own electorates.

One of the other projects is greatly at risk. Quite frankly, it beggars belief that they would do this. Back in 2019, the coalition government provided $160 million for half the cost of the Malula River interchange. We didn't put one cent in but we said to the state, 'We will put in half. You put in half—$320 million all up for the first stage.' This is one of the most dangerous intersections on the Sunshine Coast. There are lots of collisions, lots of people being hurt—very dangerous. It was a good project. That's why we were prepared to put money up front.

One of the challenges with the project is that the state government has had to resume and ultimately evict people from 130 homes to build this project. It's important—it's very important—but it has meant that around 400 Sunshine Coast locals have been evicted in one of the greatest housing and homelessness crises this country has ever seen. But now, whilst the government is making this big announcement about a national housing fund, borrowing $10 billion, which is effectively a Ponzi scheme, hoping that they make more money than what it will cost them in interest payments, that project could be on the chopping block. Around 400 Australians, 400 Sunshine Coast locals, have been evicted from their homes, and now there's a great big shadow hanging over this project. Shame on Labor. If they were serious about housing, they would say that the $160 million stays and that project will go ahead. (Time expired)

Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think the member for Forde for the opportunity to speak on the budget and on our government's actions to slow inflation and provide relief for millions of families across Australia and tens of thousands in the electorate of Hasluck, which I've now had the honour of serving for one year.

The motion mentions fiscal restraint. International observers such as Bloomberg noted the government is on the 'path of fiscal restraint' with the May budget, and our own Chamber of Commerce and Industry praised the government's fiscal restraint. These are independent commentators who have said our budget straddles the line well, with relief for those who need it most, investment in public services and innovation, banking most of the surplus revenue and paying down the Liberal debt.

The member for Forde wants simpler and fairer taxes. There are a few tax measures in the budget. A modest increase in tax revenue off the back of the eye-watering profits that resource companies are making from our minerals and gas sounds pretty fair to me and to the many constituents I've spoken to. A modest tweak to our overly generous super tax concessions for literal multimillionaires—I'm struggling to find anyone who considers this an attack on fairness. The 15 per cent global minimum tax aims to ensure that multinationals and others who seek to avoid their fair tax obligations in this country can no longer get away with it. I expect that the member for Forde, if he indeed supports fair taxes, will support this legislation when it comes to the House.

The member for Forde calls for 'real action on productivity'. I can well understand the member wanting this government to grapple with that one, as the last nine years were, on the evidence, a productivity-free zone. Challenge accepted. It's something we can work on together in the House economics committee, and I know there's more than one minister very interested in seeing our report on economic dynamism later in the year.

The motion goes on, helpfully, with 'measured relief for small business and families that does not add to inflation'. The budget relief isn't just neutral; it's even anti-inflationary. These measures include relief from energy prices for business, and cheaper child care and cheaper medicines for families.

I'm very proud of this government's achievements thus far, and they are legion. Because the government's program addresses what we need to have a progressive, fair, functioning society in 2023, it includes trust in government, an educated population, a healthy population, action on climate change, a functional safety net, gender equity, investment in the future and pride in our country.

The budget contains funding specifically for a national anticorruption commission, commencing in July, which will instil a new confidence in the workings of government, underpinning trust in our democracy. There are 300,000 fee-free TAFE places. Young people can gain skills and older workers can reskill as we transition to a green economy. There are real savings for Australians on the cost of medicines, and there is real support for Medicare for our most vulnerable. Urgent care clinics are to be rolled out across the country to meet local needs and to take pressure off emergency departments.

We are investing in what we know will be a challenging but necessary transition to a green energy economy, with emissions goals legislated, the safeguard mechanism enacted—properly this time—and significant investments in renewable technologies like hydrogen and EVs, and a national reconstruction fund to support further innovation. Aged-care workers will receive a record pay rise, and the government's very first action, of which we are all proud, was to support a significant increase in the minimum wage. Cheaper child care will help over a million Australian families, and the government's commitments to fairer workplaces and a fairer health system reflect the belief that gender equity must underpin all progress in a modern society.

This government is investing in the future of the country. In Hasluck this means progressing the Ellenbrook Line of Metronet and an Olympic-size swimming pool in Ellenbrook and addressing the NBN and other communications issues in the Swan Valley and the Perth Hills. The government is also reinvesting in the arts, with the new Creative Australia, so that our stories can be told. And on the international stage the Prime Minister, the foreign minister, the trade minister and many other ministers have given us cause to be proud again as they re-establish Australia's place in the world. The member for Forde speaks of balancing the budget. Of course the Treasurer was pleased to bring down a surplus, so I expect that the member will have already congratulated the Treasurer on that score.

I am grateful for the motion, which supports the government's budget actions. But it's time now for us to address the structural deficit left to us by the previous Morrison government.

Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'd like to start by thanking all the Australians who have contributed to Labor's first budget surplus in 30 years, and they are the regional Australians, particularly those regional Australians who work in the natural resources sector or, as the Treasurer puts it, 'those things that we sell overseas'—very covertly put in the budget speech. Those things that we sell overseas are gas, coal and iron ore, which have seen this government able to put forward its first budget surplus in a very long time. The Treasurer can knock back that fact as much as he likes, saying that obviously the resources sector is making an important contribution. But the fact is that they are the X factor; they are the reason that this government has seen a budget surplus.

Secondly, again—and I'm not repeating myself—we should say thanks to regional Australians, not for providing the tax dollars but for making the sacrifices, and by sacrifices I mean that this budget has ripped out the vast majority of previously planned infrastructure projects to the tune of $23 billion. Sadly, one of these was stage 2 of the Southern Cross Health Precinct, an operational health precinct that would have seen up to 48,000 patients a year. Lismore has one, and that's how many patients they see. Can you imagine how much pressure that would take off the health system within Coffs Harbour? That's 48,000 consults.

I note my friend across the floor, the member for Solomon. I thank him for his service to our country. We also lost a veterans centre: $5 million had been put aside for a veterans centre. We have the highest cohort of veterans on the Mid North Coast in New South Wales. The data speaks for itself. Yet the $5 million that was put aside for not one but three hub-and-spoke-model veterans centres was taken away. To compound this, the director of Soldier On in Port Macquarie has just been told that she's been made redundant. Where are these people going to go? Where are these veterans—who served our country, who gave us our freedoms, who put their lives on the line—going to go?

And it took up to two weeks before the budget announcement to announce that another $120 billion worth of infrastructure projects were going to be put on pause. I heard a previous speaker talk about colour-coded charts. Well, the ANAO said that they were all worthy projects, and these were all worthy projects. Yet they're going to sit there for who knows how long until the minister decides what she's going to do with them. Many of these cancelled or on-hold projects were not even about helping the regions grow. In fact, we aren't even being thrown enough scrap in the budget to sustain our current populations, particularly in the coastal electorates like Cowper that have seen unprecedented levels of growth as a result of COVID-19, with people moving away from the major cities. Everybody's suffering from the housing crisis, but it is at a peak in those coastal areas. This is money that is now not going to maintain or improve our roads, not going to provide adequate communications in the regions, not going to housing development projects, with the removal of the Stronger Community Program, and not going to support our critical volunteer groups.

You would think farmers might be given something, but in this budget they are being slogged with a biosecurity tax that keeps our nation's $90 billion agricultural industry safe and food on our tables. It just makes no sense that we would slog our farmers. In terms of this budget, there has been a lot of backslapping and hoo-ha, but it will do nothing for the people in our regions.

Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If you're a small business in the Blue Mountains or the Hawkesbury, I know that for many of you things are tough. Supermarkets and retailers tell me they've seen changes in buying patterns as a result of the price rises on many products, although they also tell me that they are starting to see the increases stabilising. I ran a small business for 25 years and I know that the more than 12,000 small businesses in Macquarie are the lifeblood of our economy and our community. This budget is investing in the security and certainty that they need to thrive.

We know economic conditions have been challenging for Australia's small businesses, which is why the government has delivered targeted and responsible support, improved the overall business operating environment and helped business owners reduce energy price pressures. At the centre of this support is our energy price relief plan that will shield Australia households and small businesses from the worst impacts of rising energy prices. In partnership with the New South Wales government, we are providing $650 in electricity bill relief to eligible small businesses or those whose turnover is over $50 million a year. We're also introducing the small business energy incentive. This is a bonus tax deduction to help up to 3.8 million small and medium-sized businesses save energy by upgrading their facilities or finding a way to save on their energy bills.

We are temporarily increasing the instant asset write-off threshold to $20,000 for business with a turnover of up to $10 million for the next year. We are reducing the time small businesses spend doing taxes, saving them both time and money. Measures include allowing longer to amend your tax returns, trialling an independent review for small businesses in dispute with the ATO and expanding access to advice through the Tax Clinic program. We are also introducing really practical measures to guard small businesses against cyberthreats through the $23 million program to help them train in-house cyber wardens. There is nothing worse as a small business than finding you have been hacked, whether it is your social media or other IT. This will help.

The Albanese government knows just how vital small businesses are to our nation's economy and our local prosperity. That's why this budget's committed to helping them tackle immediate challenges, like energy costs, as well as helping set them up for long-term success with the investments in cybersecurity and cutting red tape.

We are also supporting businesses who work in the film industry. Over the past five years, 40 international productions have been secured for Australia. These productions, which usually come from the US, have created more than 22,000 employment opportunities and work for more than 23,500 individual Australian businesses. Between 2018 and 2021, these productions supported more than 9,000 regional jobs and 4,700 regional businesses. So it's big money coming into local economies.

Typically, 60 per cent of the spend by international producers is with businesses outside the screen sector. I am talking about transport and accommodation providers, catering, venue hire, legal services and financial services. But, in my electorate, it's things like animal trainers. Two productions in Macquarie have accessed the incredible talent we have in training. I got to go on set at the Ryan Gosling The Fall Guy movie to watch a local Hawkesbury trainer—

Honourable Member:

An honourable member interjecting—

Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, it was very cool—and her dog with Ryan Gosling. What was more interesting, quite frankly, than watching Ryan Gosling was talking to the local businesses there. They're training people up on these film sets. They're getting to use really big equipment that they otherwise might not get to use. You can see the real drive it gives to that film production sector. The other business that really relies on this is performance livestock. Renee and Graham specialise in horses but also work with dogs, cats and livestock such as goats, sheep, cattle and camels here in movies such as Planet of the Apes.

Now, we've made sure that these businesses will continue to have work on major films, and we've done that by raising the location offset to a permanent level of 30 per cent. That gives international producers the certainty they need to invest here, and it also gives our local businesses the certainty they need to ensure that they're training people up and that they're able to stay working in this important sector.

Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.