Sam Lim (Tangney, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I stand before you with great pride and excitement to share the remarkable achievement of the Albanese Labor government. As we celebrate our first anniversary of forming the Albanese Labor government and my first year of being the member for Tangney, I am filled with an overwhelming sense of happiness and relief as I address you all, for I have witnessed a remarkable transformation in the hearts and minds of those I serve. Just a few weeks before the budget announcement, I went doorknocking in my electorate, and the despair and frustration that came from my constituents really affected me. What they said echoed the same feeling as though one were crying for help. It was a desperate plea for change. For far too long, the unaffordability of health care has cast a dark shadow upon the lives of our fellow Australians. After a once-in-100-year pandemic that changed the world for many, the rising cost of living, coupled with rising medical fees, had created a barrier between those in need and the essential care they sought. I listened attentively as they shared their stories of financial strain, recounting the many painful decisions they were forced to make. To choose between putting food on the table and seeking medication or medical attention was an unthinkable predicament, yet it plagued the lives of countless individuals and families in my electorate of Tangney. But today I stand here with renewed hope and unwavering pride, for many of my constituents' pleas have been heard.

The recent federal budget announcement is the largest ever investment into bulk-billing in the history of Medicare, an historic $3.5 billion investment that will triple the bulk billing incentive and give an immediate injection to support patients and general practice, strengthening the heart of Medicare. For my electorate of Tangney, it provides an immediate benefit to 73,772 constituents: 31,164 people under the age of 16 and 42,608 concession cardholders will all get bulked-billed care, thanks to this multibillion-dollar investment. Imagine the relief and peace of mind this will bring to families across our nation. No longer will parents have to think twice about taking their child to the doctor when they fall ill, fearing the financial strains it may cause. No longer will seniors have to choose between their necessary medication and putting food on the table. No longer will individuals with low incomes delay seeking medical attention until their condition worsens. This investment will transform the lives of millions of Australians, as I know it will in Tangney, ensuring that they can access timely health care without the risk of financial stress.

As I reflect upon my most recent doorknocking, which was just last weekend, I want to share with you all the change in my constituents' disposition. The same individuals who once wore expressions of despair now bear smiles of gratitude and hope. They have eagerly shared their relief with me, recounting the new-found peace that comes with the knowledge that health care is no longer a luxury but a right accessible to all. My constituents' positive feedback is not merely because of monetary investment but because it represents a profound shift in our nation's priorities. Health care is a fundamental right, not a privilege reserved for the fortunate few. It reflects our society's compassion, fairness and commitment to the wellbeing of every individual in Australia.

Unfortunately, bulk-billing has been on a sharp decline for the past nine years. The neglect of the previous government towards Medicare has made it increasingly difficult for every Australian to afford basic medical services. Coupled with the increasing cost of living, financial barriers have hindered many Australians from receiving the health care they need. This significant allocation of investment into bulk-billing demonstrates the Albanese Labor government's unwavering commitment to improving the life of all Australians and ensuring access to quality health care, regardless of their socioeconomic status.

The effective planning and compassionate decision by the Albanese Labor government to take a practical measure to break down those barriers and build a more equitable and inclusive healthcare system has been welcomed by many of my constituents. GPs who operate local medical clinics in my electorate wrote to me to welcome this long-awaited investment in bulk-billing. Medical clinics that were on the cusp of not providing bulk-billing services are now planning to restore their bulk-billing program. Bulk-billing has long been the cornerstone of Medicare, providing Australians with the opportunity to receive medical treatment without any out-of-pocket expenses. However, we recognise that more needs to be done to ensure that this essential service reaches every corner of our nation and benefits all Australians, regardless of their financial status. With this unprecedented investment we are expanding the scope of bulk-billing, allowing more providers to offer their services with no additional cost to patients.

Through this funding boost, the Albanese Labor government will also increase rebates by more in a single year than the former government did in seven years. On top of increasing the investment in bulk-billing, we are investing a $1.5 billion indexation boost to every single Medicare rebate, which increases the amount that your doctor receives for every single Medicare service, reducing the pressure on GPs to charge you more to get the health care you need. By doing so, we are ensuring that every Australian, regardless of their socioeconomic background, can seek medical care when they need it without the burden of worrying about how they will pay for it.

I extend my heartfelt appreciation to the hardworking Minister for Health and Aged Care, who, despite inheriting a health care system that was underfunded and neglected rose to the occasion, with unwavering determination. To the Minister for Health: I commend you for your tireless efforts in the face of unprecedented challenges. You navigated our nation's health system through the recovery from the pandemic and, as we emerged on the other side, you have laid the foundation for a revival of the pride of our health care system—Medicare. Your commitment to the wellbeing of all Australians, your unwavering dedication to improving access to quality care and your vision for a thriving healthcare sector have been truly commendable.

It is through the leadership of the Albanese Labor government that we stand here today witnessing the dawn of a new era of Medicare. But this investment goes beyond just improving access to health care. It represents the Albanese Labor government's belief in the power of unity and compassion. It demonstrates our commitment to building a society where no-one is left behind, where everyone has the opportunity to live a healthy and fulfilling life. It signifies our collective understanding that the wellbeing of one Australian is intricately linked to the wellbeing of all Australians. The investment into bulk-billing is the Albanese Labor government's stand against inequality in health care. One year has passed since we were entrusted to represent and serve Australians. Affordable health care was one of the biggest concerns raised during the election. I'm honoured to stand here today, one year later, to say how very proud I am of my team, my colleagues and the Albanese Labor government.

I stand before you here today not only as a member of parliament but also as a parent who has experienced firsthand the profound impact of Medicare on the lives of everyday Australians. It is with a grateful heart that I share my personal journey, for it serves as a reminder of the importance of accessible health care and the transformative power of a system designed to put people before profit. In 2006 and 2008 my own daughter faced the unimaginable battle against cancer. The weight of that burden was overwhelming, and in those dark moments my family found solace and strength in the knowledge that we could focus solely on her recovery without the added worry of the potential cost of medical expenses.

Medicare, born out of the vision and compassion of the Labor government, became a consolation for my family. The relief my wife and I felt knowing that our daughter's treatment was covered, that we could solely concentrate on her wellbeing, is indescribable. We were spared the anguish of having to navigate through the financial constraints of medical bills while also struggling with the challenge of my daughter's illness. It is with a deep sense of gratitude that I stand here today knowing that the very system that saved my daughter's life will now be revived and allowed to thrive under a Labor government. As we move forward, let us remember that there is more work to be done for health care and that the Albanese Labor government is working hard to make repairs to Medicare, which was so weakened due to the severe neglect by the previous government.

There are still many hurdles to get through, many lives to be touched and many more stories of hope and gratitude to be shared. It is our duty as representatives of the people of Australia to ensure that the legacy of Medicare endures and its benefit reaches every corner of our nation. Through this budget we have sent a clear message that in our country your socioeconomic status will never be a barrier to receiving the care you deserve. We acknowledge that a healthier Australia is a stronger Australia. We are determined to build a future where good health is within reach for every individual regardless of their circumstances. As we embark on this transformative journey, let us remember that the true strength of a nation lies not in its wealth or power but in its compassion and care for its own people. Thank you, and may this historic investment pave the way for a brighter, healthier future for all Australians.

Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

To have to have compassion, you've got to have the economy able to earn the money to do it. What this budget failed to do—using New England as an example—is invest in that crucial infrastructure to drive the economy forward and to keep the money coming in so you can pay for Medicare. I acknowledge the concern that the member for Tangney would have had for his daughter having cancer, but you can only have that compassion if you can pay for it. That way you pay for it is to make sure you have an economy that hums and earns money. But when the Labor Party comes out and cuts money from things like Dungown Dam, that reduces the capacity of this economy to make money. It reduces the employment and manufacturing opportunities that rely on the security of water infrastructure to earn money for the nation to pay for compassion.

When we see Inland Rail kicked into the long grass, we see the Labor Party doesn't have a vision. There's this ridiculous concept where we have an inland rail that doesn't go from Melbourne up to Brisbane. It goes from Melbourne to Parkes and from Newcastle to North Star, and they're not actually connected up. It is just ludicrous. You now have a stranded multibillion dollar investment that is completely and utterly ineffective because it doesn't go from Brisbane down to Melbourne. And they've got no intention of building it. How do you expect to get the economy humming, if you're going to leave the trucks on the road rather than put the transport on the rail, if you can't drive forward these inland towns?

Now everything else is going to reviews—like the Singleton bypass. We've got 19,000 people driving down George Street in the seat of Hunter, which is a Labor seat, and it's on review! So are they just going to continue with this morass of traffic, going through the middle of a country town, when we should have the motorway extended? That bypass should be expedited, not put to a review.

Likewise, there's the Muswellbrook bypass—another review. On the New England Highway there should be a Tenterfield heavy-vehicle bypass. We've got trucks going down to 40 kilometres an hour, loaded with such things as petrol, driving through the middle of a country town. It's taking us not to the country we should be but back to some country from pre-antiquity. These trucks have to be moved out of town. It's safer, it's quicker, it's better for the economy and it drives our capacity to pay for compassion, to pay for the services such as your NDIS and your Medicare. You've got to have an economy that hums.

Now we've got a further impost coming on, an environmental impost, biodiversity offsets. There's this mad fascination with wind factories. There'll be new transmission lines in the seat of New England going from Limbri to Weabonga, over people's farmland—while they see their power bills go through the roof. Their power bills are going through the roof and we're cluttering and littering the landscape.

You'll never see people who hold this as a virtue wanting it in their electorates. No. It's got to be out in regional electorates. You've got to have your virtue somewhere else. Make it a bumper sticker. Put it on your car: 'I love wind factories as long as they're not in Hunters Hill,' 'I love wind factories as long as they are not at Middle Head,' 'I love wind factories as long as they're out in Western Australia or up in New England, where people in other seats that claim the virtue can't see them,' and, at the same time, 'Let's make it so that poor people can't afford their power bills,' because that's what has happened. That's what we've done to them. We've made poor people poorer.

There are so many things. We're trying to move timber again from up above Port Stephens Cutting, which means we have to upgrade Port Stephens Cutting. It's very dangerous having logging trucks go down there. But now that's under review, getting that road fixed: let's just leave it dangerous—let's just leave it dangerous for the mums and dads driving up and down that road. We get to Canberra and become so fascinated with issues inside this building and have no comprehension of people in regional Australia and exactly how their lives are.

Gwydir Highway improvements are also under review. The New England Highway has to be duplicated. That's under review. Even the Goonoo Goonoo Road duplication, from Greg Norman Drive to Calala Lane in Tamworth—$32 million—is under review. Tamworth is a growing city with a growing water problem. The population's moving up from Sydney into the new suburbs that are being developed all the time. You can see it when you fly over there. But we've got to have the infrastructure to keep up with the growth. The prices of houses in Sydney are becoming too dear, and people are moving out of Sydney and into Tamworth. Being a person who was born there, it amazes me how quickly it has grown.

We also have to look at the budgetary requirements, especially for veterans. We were promised so often that this was going to be better than what we had. It's great to see the minister here. The backlog in veterans affairs was the biggest thing. They haven't got better; they got worse. In the 2022-23 year, Labor's first year in office, just 11 per cent of DRCA liability claims were determined within 100 days. That's worse than the 16 per cent of the previous year, when we were there. In Labor's first year in office, just 90 per cent of the DRCA permanent impairment claims were determined within 100 days. That's worse than the 27 per cent in the previous year. In their first year of office, just 40 per cent of DRCA incapacity claims were determined within the first 100 days. That's worse than the 54 per cent in the previous year.

Even with a greater investment, Labor is doing a worse job. We've seen a massive increase in staffing. DVA average staffing levels have gone from 1,964 to 3,129, but they can't turn around their processing. This delay in processing is one of the hubs of where we are with the royal commission, trying to make sure that this thing actually works. So what is going on? Why are they going backwards? In fact, they managed to create a record in the number of claims that were outstanding. After February it was over 41,132—I can't find the number, but it's around that—and that was worse than any peak that happened under the coalition. It has gone backwards.

Labor has no plans for any new veterans hubs beyond those announced last year, two of which are completing hubs put in place and fully funded by the former coalition government. Because there are no further hubs going forward, that means the Mid North Coast of New South Wales around Coffs Harbour, where so many veterans are, doesn't get one. Wagga Wagga, with the three arms of the Defence Force there, miss out. Mackay miss out. Wide Bay miss out. The Sunshine Coast, greater Melbourne, Mornington Peninsula—that means Labor has axed plans for eight veterans hubs that were fully costed and announced by the previous coalition government.

Veterans employment transition grants such as a Soldier On, disaster relief and payments to RSL have been cut. They were supposed to maintain the incapacity payments for veterans studying. This is where a person is maintained on 100 per cent of their pre-injury earnings so that they can go to a course and get themselves back into society and back onto civvy street with new qualifications to assist them for the rest of their lives. But Labor has got rid of it. At no stage did the government flag that this scheme was a failure or was under review, but it was just lost. Veteran homelessness—the words do not appear once in the portfolio budget statements.

Government m embers interjecting—

Veteran homelessness—is it there? Veteran homelessness does not appear once in the portfolio budget statements. The reason it's not in the portfolio budget statements is that the minister is not in the cabinet. He is in the back room, and he's not being heard. That's where veterans issues are, in the back room not being heard. We support the Veteran Games, and we hoped that the Labor Party would support the Veteran Games, which are incredibly important, but we don't hear about it. I urge the minister, seeing as he's here, to reassess the decision to reject that funding.

This is something very close to my heart: a program for the funding of World War I unmarked graves has been cut. Labor's first budget last year slashed more than $2 million from a dedicated program to mark the private graves of World War I veterans. People came back from the First World War, fell on hard times from the atrocious things that happened there, with shell shock and gas, and their lives were completely turned upside down and destroyed. Families fell apart. A lot of those people, when they died, ended up in pauper's graves—unmarked graves—around the countryside. In country areas, we don't even know that the person in that plot served our nation and put their lives on the line for our nation. They're in an unmarked grave.

Now we're talking to people who believe there are probably only a couple of hundred thousand dollars left in the program. I'm going down to Tasmania to talk to some of these people to try and see what we can do to drive this program ahead. Surely if they put their lives on the line for our nation, they deserve the dignity of a grave with a headstone on it that acknowledges them. Surely they deserve that. The World War I unmarked graves funding from the coalition was $3.7 million over the forward estimates. Labor's funding was $1.5 million spread across four years, but in 2023-24, there is just $200,000 allocated for the program. That's on payment measures page 87 if you want to have a read of it—

Maybe if they let you into the room, they'd let you read your budget papers before they go out.

Now we have the Australian War Memorial. Last night was quite an interesting night. Something has happened since November last year. History has changed. In November last year, apparently there was neither the legal position nor the evidence for Frontier Wars, but last night it turned up. They can't actually nominate where it is, they can't actually nominate how they changed legal opinion and they can't actually show you the change in legislation; they've just changed. It's just changed. Could it possibly be that it's somehow part of the Voice campaign? Has this become part of the political process? What a slight, to start manipulating how the Australian War Memorial works for political purposes without being able to show any redirection via reason of change in legislation or a change in facts, but just because that's what the zeitgeist wants and that's what the zeitgeist has determined. I think it's a disgrace. I think that is an absolute and utter disgrace, and I will certainly be pursuing that.

In the War Memorial the appropriations for ordinary annual services is at $42.1 million in 2023-24, which is less than what we put towards it, which was $46.1 million in the year prior. The War Memorial should be constant, should be unsullied by any of the issues of the pertinent political zeitgeist of the day. It should remain unaffected by the political whims and nuances that might rattle around in this building.

There are things we welcome in the budget. Replacing and modernising the ICT systems is good. The Sir John Monash Centre in France—that's a good decision. Grandparents caring for children of veterans—that's a good decision. Volunteer training and suicide recognition intervention—that's a good decision. But it is also incredibly important that the veterans' affairs minister be in cabinet. He shouldn't need—

An opposition member: Well done, Barnaby. You're doing him a favour.

We shouldn't have to. In the year of the royal commission, which I was one of the people fighting for, you need to have the minister in the cabinet. That's why I believe so many of these things are falling through the cracks.

I would like to close by acknowledging that this year is the 50th anniversary of Australia's participation in the Vietnam War. I would like to acknowledge the 523 who died, the over 3,000 that were wounded, and the thousands of families affected not only by the person going away but by their circumstances on their return. I apologise on behalf of the Australian people for how they were treated. Never in the future should anybody ever be sullied by reason of offering their lives for our nation. That is an issue for the politicians to deal with and take the barbs for; never ever the soldier.

Matt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Australians can have no doubt that supporting defence personnel, veterans and families is a key priority for the Albanese Labor government. Twelve months and two budgets in, we are seeing great progress. When we came into government, the Department of Veterans' Affairs was chronically underfunded and under-resourced. The former secretary of the department made clear in estimates last year that the department, based on the resourcing constraints from the previous government, would have never cleared the veterans compensation backlog. That has serious consequences for veterans and their families. The Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide has made it clear that the Department of Veterans' Affairs claims backlog was unacceptable and could lead to suicidality and suicide in some cases. We've now turned that around. In September last year, the claims backlog was upward of 45,000. Despite the shadow minister's protestations, we're actually now down to about 36,000. That's a 20 per cent drop from the peak, and it continues to fall.

That is due to the investments made by the Albanese Labor government. After just one year, I can now confirm that DVA is better funded than it has been in three decades. We've allocated $322.3 million, across the last two Labor budgets, to employ and retain additional staff in DVA to get through the backlog and make sure it never happens again. There's $341.1 million to fund the modernisation and sustainment of ICT systems that the former government left to degenerate, $46.7 million to fund the delivery of 10 veterans and families hubs across the country—unlike the opposition, who announced hubs and then didn't fund them in their budget—and a $24 million veterans employment program.

It's important that we're supporting those who support veterans. When we came into government, there was a shameful backlog in paying invoices to those that provide services to veterans. Now, 90 per cent of invoices are being processed through DVA within 20 days. Since coming into government, we have increased the annual totally and permanently incapacitated payment by $1,000, which will better support some 27,000 veterans. Last year we introduced the Defence, Veterans' and Families' Acute Support Package to support working-age veteran families in crisis. Recognising that families look different all over the country, in this budget we announced the expansion of that to grandcarer veteran families. We've improved access to mental health supports, including $22 million to extend the PTSD therapy dog program and $2 million to continue mental health awareness and suicide intervention training to make sure volunteers that support veterans have the best training that they need.

In recent months, we've been hearing that some GPs have made commercial decisions to stop seeing veterans using veteran cards. Veterans will soon be able to better access GPs, with the tripling of the veterans access payment, and I'm pleased that we are hearing that GPs who had previously said they would stop servicing our veterans are now reversing that decision. This $33.3 million investment will come into force on 1 November and will make sure veterans aren't out of pocket while supporting GPs to treat veterans and balance their budgets.

We have also expanded defence homeownership for both defence personnel and veterans. Vitally, we've now acted on all 13 recommendations of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide interim report, including fixing staffing and resourcing in the department, bringing the claims backlog down, improving access to information for loved ones and breaking down the barriers that were deterring people from giving evidence to the royal commission. We're reforming more than a century of veterans legislation—which has been an absolute nightmare for veterans, their families and their advocates—by simplifying this into a single scheme. We're developing a defence and veteran families support strategy.

One of the six immediate priorities identified in the response to the Defence Strategic Review is the need to grow and retain our ADF personnel. Notably, we've introduced a $50,000 bonus payment for ongoing service as part of the Albanese Labor government's commitment to investing in the growth and retention of our highly skilled defence workforce. The Albanese government is moving to immediately respond to the review by investing approximately $400 million to establish this continuation bonus initiative.

People are of course defence's most important capability, and this extends to the families who support those who serve. In the last 12 months, we've increased support for ADF personnel and their families with the formal recognition of contemporary family structures, expanding a number of health and lifestyle benefits to personnel and their families. The Albanese government is already delivering important reforms in this area, including through the $46.2 million expansion of the Defence Home Ownership Assistance Scheme that was announced in the October budget. But we know there is more that can be done to improve these systems. We will undertake a review into the defence housing system to ensure that it is fit for purpose into the future.

The Albanese government deeply appreciates those who serve in our ADF. Investing in those members and increasing the value proposition will support our service personnel and ensure that Australia has the defence structure and posture needed to meet our strategic circumstances. We will ensure we're laying the strongest possible foundations for a better future for our veterans.

After a wasted decade under the Liberals, the Albanese Labor government is working hard every day and getting on with the job of creating a strong foundation for a better future. We know family budgets are under pressure. After nine years of cuts and neglect, the Albanese government is strengthening Medicare for all Australians, with the biggest ever investment in bulk-billing. This historic $3.5 billion investment will triple the bulk-billing incentive, making it easier for more than 90,000 people in Burt to access a GP. This is on top of the federal government's $3.2 billion contribution to health and hospitals in Western Australia. We will also make hundreds of medicines cheaper by allowing millions of Australians to buy two months worth of medicine for the price of a single prescription and we're also providing more than 26,000 aged-care workers in WA with a pay rise.

And we're delivering real cost-of-living relief through boosting JobSeeker by a minimum of $40 a fortnight, decreasing energy bills for households and small businesses in Western Australia, and expanding the eligibility of the parenting payment for parents until their youngest child turns 14. This will make eligible single parents $176.90 better off each fortnight. And we're increasing rent assistance for more than 6,000 households in Burt. The Albanese Labor government is also moving to help more people into homeownership sooner, by expanding eligibility for the Home Guarantee Scheme. The Home Guarantee Scheme has already helped approximately 1,100 people in Burt. Some 6,100 families in Burt will also be better off from 1 July with the delivery of our cheaper childcare package, and we're investing in the early childhood education workforce.

The Albanese government's NDIS budget initiatives include $73.4 million to better support participants to manage their plan within budget so that they can access their supports in a flexible way to better achieve their goals. This will help around 4,000 NDIS participants in Burt. We're investing in education, with a $400 million contribution to deliver an additional 300,000 fee-free TAFE and VET training places nationally. We continue to invest in nation-building infrastructure across Western Australia, including $3.7 billion towards METRONET and $125 million towards electric bus charging infrastructure. The Albanese government's $2.4 billion investment in the NBN in our last budget will see more than 30,000 premises in Burt have access to higher internet speeds.

We're committed to building a stronger future for our nation. This is about delivering for our country. After just one year in office we know there is still a lot of work to do and a lot of mess that needs to be cleaned up after a wasted decade under the Liberals and Nationals, but this is a responsible budget and a practical budget. We'll keep delivering reasonable, common sense initiatives that provide our community security and certainty while building stronger foundations for a better future.

Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to make some observations today in relation to the native hardwood timber industry in Victoria. I make a very simple point from the outset: the people of Victoria are facing a Dan-made disaster. The decision by Premier Dan Andrews to bring forward his heartless ban on native timber harvesting in that state was a direct contradiction—in fact, a lie, when you consider his original plan was 2030. Without any warning whatsoever, thousands of timber workers and their families in small communities right throughout regional Victoria have been told, 'From 1 January next year, you will not have a job.' Their jobs are going because of one man, and that is the Premier of Victoria.

My towns are resilient. They can survive fires, floods and droughts and they have worked together through COVID, but small towns can't survive the madness of Premier Dan Andrews. This decision to bring forward what was already a stupid decision has caused massive unrest right across my electorate and throughout regional Victoria. There will be devastating impacts—and I say that without any risk of being accused of exaggeration. There will be devastating social, environmental, economic and cultural impacts, all because of a premier who has made a decision based on political science, not environmental science. Make no mistake; there is no transition plan. There is no transition to plantations; the plantations aren't in the ground, and the trees won't be ready to harvest. It is a complete fabrication to suggest this industry can transition to plantations in the time frame to 2030, let alone seven months. Seriously, it is time for Labor MPs in this place and in Victoria to show some guts and stand up for blue-collar workers.

The very reason why this decision is a kick in the guts for regional communities is they have a world-class and sustainable industry. I challenge these people who are out there putting out press releases saying, 'How wonderful it is we're banning native timber harvesting' to spend one day in one of those communities, to go to a coop and understand what actually happens in the hardwood timber industry in Victoria.

The trees being harvested today were regenerated 60 or 70 years ago from previous logging operations. There is a myth being perpetuated by the Greens in this place and the eco-warriors out in the community, suggesting that, somehow, we're harvesting old growth forests. It is a fantasy. Go out into those communities and understand what you're actually talking about. In this country we have, quite rightly, an incredibly proud record of national parks and reserving high conservation value areas which will never be logged. No-one is harvesting old growth timber in Victoria today. It is a lie, and the green warriors out there, these extremists, are destroying country towns based on a lie, a complete fabrication. The trees we're talking about are in areas that have been harvested before, 60 or 70 years ago—we call it a regeneration forest.

I don't know why the Labor Party in Victoria and the Victorian Labor MPs in this place have crumbled and become so out of touch with blue-collar workers that they don't bother going out and listening to the concerns of the people they used to represent. The workers in my timber mills, the workers who drive trucks, who do the harvest and haulage work, who work in the downstream industries around furniture manufacturing, used to think the Labor Party supported them. They used to think that, if they joined a union, the Labor Party would be there to support them. Dan Andrews and Victorian Labor MPs are so gutless that they put out a press release sacking them all. They didn't go out to communities, didn't talk to local mayors, didn't talk to the mill owners, didn't talk to the workers. They put out a press release saying, 'You're out of work in six or seven months time.'

Old Labor MPs were never like this. I've got a lot of respect for old Labor MPs. This is what Joel Fitzgibbon, the former member for Hunter, had to say in relation to this announcement:

Stopping native forestry in one state to import the product from another state is not a plan, it's a pathway to more extreme bushfires, greater import dependence, and more deforestation and fauna extinction in developing countries. In a state hospital or state school crisis the Commonwealth wouldn't leave the matter to the states, it would engage.

Mr Fitzgibbon went on to say:

Like many things, people tend not to think much about where their wood products come from. There are two answers, our forests and the forests of others. In Australia, we hold ourselves to world's best forestry practices. Many of the countries we import from do not.

This is the crux of the issue. A sustainable well-managed forest industry is 100 per cent renewable. Whenever the loggers, the harvesters, go through an area, they are required by law to regenerate. That coop is regenerated, and in decades to come the next generation of growth is able to be harvested for the things we want. The demand is not going away. If you want your hardwood floor, if you want structural grade timber, if you want furniture, it's coming from hardwood.

People need to understand that these communities love the bush, respect the bush and work in the bush on a daily basis. They are using rotational harvesting of regenerated forest to generate wealth in those communities and to be part of a supply chain which people in the city depend on. Yet here we have Melbourne Labor MPs celebrating that you're kicking them in the guts and kicking them out of their jobs.

The greatest insult of all is this $200 million so-called transition plan. I say to the Premier: 'No-one wants your money, Premier; they just want their jobs. They want the decency of being able to go out there and providing for their own financial security by working in the bush and delivering a product that is world-class and completely renewable.' I say that the demand is still there, and Joel Fitzgibbon referred to it in his comments. The demand for hardwood's not going away and it can't be replaced—other than taking timber from other states into Victoria, which is happening already. We're already taking timber from Tasmania and New South Wales and processing it in Victoria. That's going to happen more in the future. Or we take it from overseas. Great idea. What a genius. Take more wood from countries with lower environmental protocols, but don't support your own world-class industry.

I'll just make a point on plantations. This will come as a shock to a lot of people. I challenge you to think about a parcel of land. You decide to plant trees on it. A plantation, either pine or blue gum, what we traditionally call a plantation, is a monoculture. Where is the biodiversity outcome in a monoculture of trees? The greenies supposedly say, 'Let's transition to plantations.' That's the sole answer to this question. Pine has a very important role to play. It's a softwood, obviously, and it's used for a whole range of things that hardwood is not required for. So you do need pine plantations, but it's a monoculture. Then think about the same parcel of land being allowed to regenerate as a mixed-species forest and then harvested on a rotational basis, so 60 or 70 years down the track. That is in fact a mixed-species plantation. It was actually planted by the loggers in the first place all those decades ago. We need to understand the consequences of decisions like this—the economic, social, cultural and environmental consequences.

In my community alone, there will be hundreds of direct job losses in little towns like Orbost and Heyfield and Swifts Creek. If you take the working-age people out of those communities and they head off to other areas to get work, you don't have a footy club, you don't have a netball club, your school's not viable, businesses start to shut down. We've had death by a thousand cuts in this industry for the last couple of decades, but this will be the final straw. Some of those towns will not be able to continue to function as you think a town should.

The point that really hurts these communities is the complete lack of respect they're being shown by people in the city. I'm sorry, but it is a city-country divide issue. People in the city, in their concrete jungle, want to tell people in the bush what jobs they can't have. They don't want to live there—don't get me wrong, they don't want to live in Orbost, they don't want to actually do the work, they just want to tell them what jobs they can't have. Now people in Orbost are about five hours drive from Melbourne. There is no town just round the corner you can go and get another job at. If you lose your job in Orbost, you leave that town. That's not fair. That is simply not fair. These people have, in many cases, major investments in their equipment and they're paying that equipment off through their own hard work. And their partner may well be working at the school or the local bush hospital, whatever it might be. They are committed to those towns; they are ingrained in those towns; they want their futures in those towns. And until last week they thought they still had a future, right up until Dan Andrews made that announcement, which was the greatest kick in the guts that Gippsland's had in my time as a member of parliament.

But I say to Dan Andrews: 'These people aren't going to take this lying down. You might think you can kick people in the guts when they're lying down, but I tell you now Gippslanders are tough, and they'll get up and fight.' There will be protests. There will be rallies. These people, who I love and respect, will stick together. They'll unite and they'll take on the Premier—and they'll take on this Prime Minister as well, because they know he's using weasel words when he pretends to support the forestry industry. We've watched his speeches in parliament this week, and they know what tricky weasel words the Prime Minister's using to try and get around the issue. They know that he's backing Dan Andrews 100 per cent. So, Prime Minister, I say this to you as well, in all sincerity: get ahead of this. Do not go down with Dan Andrews on this terrible, heartless, reckless decision, which will increase our dependence on imports and cost small-community members their jobs and livelihoods in those areas.

It's not just me saying this. My community is overwhelmingly in support of the position I've taken. This media release from the Wellington Shire Council on the announcement was put out last week:

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has devastated the futures of over 650 timber workers throughout Wellington Shire.

…   …   …

The Premier's announcement to end native timber harvesting in Victoria in 2024 is a kick in the guts for timber communities, putting on full display the Premier's disregard for local people and a preference for policy and voters in inner Melbourne.

That's from the mayor of Wellington shire. The mayor of East Gippsland shire, a former Labor candidate, was quoted in his press release as saying:

"It completely flips East Gippsland upside down and does so without a logical explanation or a plan for the future," …

…   …   …

"Six months is not a reasonable timeframe to transition. The decision disrespects East Gippsland communities and our economy."

That's the point. It is complete disrespect for all Gippsland communities. I was in Heyfield on Monday before I came to parliament, and the community was asked to get a few representatives to turn up to meet with the Today show to talk about their industry. With just 24 hours notice, 400 people rallied for the Today show to show their strength and their support for the timber industry.

But I guess in all this the question remains: what can we do to stop the madness? I know that people are tired. They shouldn't have to fight for their jobs. I know they're tired and they're sick of this. But the question of what we can do to stop the madness is one that really rests with the Prime Minister, because now we have other members in this place advocating for a total ban on native timber harvesting in our country. The Prime Minister last year, before the election, tweeted his support for the industry after the Australian Forest Products Association conference. He went to Tasmania and he said:

Labor supports your industry, your family and your community.

…   …   …

The Greens have tried to take my job for the last twenty years—I have beaten them every time and I will take up the fight against them to protect your job too.

I say to the Prime Minister: these are nice words, but you have to back it up, and I can tell you right now that your party, new Labor, this light-green Labor movement that does everything the Greens want it to do, is heading down a pathway where blue-collar workers are deserting you, for good cause, because no-one has the courage to stand up for their jobs. Those opposite aren't comfortable with this conversation. I know why: because they know it's true. They know it's true that they've sold out blue-collar workers for Green preferences. So I say to you, Prime Minister: a tweet or a press release is fine, but will you actually help timber workers in Victoria or will you surrender meekly? I have enormous respect for those old Labor lions who would fight on behalf of blue-collar workers. This new Labor is timid. It's a shadow of its former self, and the blue-collar workers know it. I challenge those opposite to actually stand up for a sustainable forest industry in Australia and stand up for working-class families.

Tracey Roberts (Pearce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about the Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2023-2024, which is focused on making the lives of all Australians better. 'Stronger foundations for a better future' is not just a tag line. It is what drives us, and we are delivering a range of measures to create a better future and a better nation. The Albanese Labor government is listening to our community and is efficiently and effectively governing for everyone. We have passed more than 80 pieces of legislation, including bills that help ease cost-of-living pressures. Since the Australian people voted for a positive change in federal politics a year ago, we have been working hard to deliver exactly that, laying the foundations for a stronger and more resilient economy.

Families in my electorate of Pearce in Western Australia are grateful for the numerous measures that provide substantial cost-of-living relief in these very challenging global economic times. I hear their very positive feedback on the productive approach that this government is taking. I remind these families that I am here to be your voice in Canberra, and the Albanese government is here for you. We understand that Australians are under the pump. That is why our No. 1 priority is providing responsible targeted relief. Importantly, we are providing cost-of-living relief that is affordable and prioritises those who need it most. Our $14.6 billion cost-of-living plan will bring down out-of-pocket health costs, support vulnerable Australians, create more affordable housing, provide help with power bills and boost wages. We have delivered a carefully considered, responsible and practical budget to alleviate inflationary pressures in response to the current local and global financial conditions, while also laying the foundations for growth by supporting clean energy and investing in value-adding industries. We are investing in skills technology in small business and delivering historic investments in Medicare, making it cheaper and easier for Australians to see a doctor. This budget breaks down the barriers and helps those experiencing disadvantage and exclusion, ensuring that no-one is left behind.

The bill also strengthens the nation's budget. A surplus is forecast for this year, with less debt followed by smaller deficits when compared with recent budgets. We are continuing our robust progress on restoring Australia's economy from the mess we inherited from the coalition. It was an economy defined by a decade of stagnant wages, energy policy chaos, flatlining productivity, weak business investment and skills shortages. That is in stark contrast to the Albanese Labor government's past year in government, during which we have been kicking many goals.

To expand on health care we have committed a $2.2 billion package of measures to strengthen Medicare to make health care more accessible and affordable. We are making medicines cheaper and easier to access, a welcome move for all Australians who rely on medications. For the first time in 75 years the maximum cost of general scripts has gone down under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. The maximum general co-payment has been reduced from $42.50 to $30 since 1 January. That means that a family with three scripts a month can now save around $300 to $400 a year. That cuts the cost of medicine by up to half for at least six million Australians. We are also making it easier for Australians to see a doctor when they need to, by improving after-hours access to primary care.

Out-of-pocket health costs are being further reduced by tripling bulk-billing incentives for GPs. This is the largest investment in bulk-billing in the history of Medicare, and a measure welcomed by Australian families. This measure also enables easier and cheaper access to health care by millions of Australians. That means better health care because people do not have to choose between their budgets and their health. Under this budget we have made medicines even cheaper by introducing 60-day dispensing. This means fewer visits to the pharmacy and one dispensing charge instead of two. This decision will include more than 300 common medicines which will be approved for two-month supply to patients. We listened to the advice of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee. This will halve the number of visits to GPs, so that patients whose condition is stable and who have been on their medicines for some time will have greater convenience and lower costs. It will reduce the pressure on our busy general practices.

The move to 60-day dispensing has been welcomed by the Consumers Health Forum and by the communities. The CHF is the national peak body for Australian health consumers, and the forum has found that many people are struggling as cost-of-living pressures bite. They are having to choose between buying family essentials and buying the medicines they need. This is simply not a situation our government would like Australians to be in, and that is why we are taking decisive action to improve access to cheaper medicines and health care.

We have committed $11.3 billion over four years to fund the outcome of the Fair Work Commission's record 15 per cent pay rise for 250,000 aged-care workers across the country from 1 July 2023. This is a move that is long overdue and will help restore dignity for both aged-care workers and the elderly Australians that they care for. We are also making life easier for thousands of single-parent families by extending their financial safety net. We are raising the cut-off age for the youngest child for the single parenting payment from eight years to 14 years. That will ensure that mothers and fathers raising children by themselves can have a sense of financial security. On all fronts, we are continuing our fiscally responsible governance as we work to recover from the pandemic and the effects of global instability.

The world has experienced the largest energy shock since the oil crisis in the 1970s due to Russia 's invasion of Ukraine. As a government we have had to respond appropriately. We have taken action to remove some of the bite from higher power prices by providing relief to over five million households and one million small businesses. Under the Albanese Labor government's energy price relief plan, every household in WA will receive a $400 electricity credit with targeted electricity support, totalling $826 for those households in most need. The scheme will be delivered in partnership with the Western Australia government. Around 90,000 small businesses in WA meeting the definition of an electricity small customer will receive quarterly bill relief of $650, automatically, from 1 July 2023.

This budget supports pensioners, renters and parents. We are responsibly increasing the base rate for JobSeeker and other payments for 1.1 million people. We have successfully argued for a minimum wage increase. We have passed legislation to get wages moving again. We are looking after those who need it most. We have invested in fee-free TAFE and VET places to ensure we have the necessary workforce for our economy and to ensure skills and education are accessible for everyone. In addition to the 180,000 fee-free TAFE places we initially funded, we have, under the budget, funded an additional 300,000 fee-free TAFE places.

We have legislated cheaper child care. Thousands of families in Pearce are set to benefit from the scheme from 1 July. The changes will cut costs by about $1,700 per year for the average family, earning $120 a year, who have a child in care three days a week. Ninety-six per cent of families in the system will be better off under Labor's changes, and no family will be worse off. Cheaper child care is another way we are easing cost-of-living pressures on families and making it easier for parents to return to paid work or to work more paid hours if they wish to. I know that families in Pearce are awaiting cheaper child care to help with their family budget.

We want to save Australian manufacturers. We are investing in our nation. We have a plan. We are investing $20 billion in Rewiring the Nation, a quarter of a billion dollars in community batteries for 100,000 households and $25 billion in reducing emissions for clean energy and market stability. There's over $60 million for small businesses to become more energy efficient, half a billion dollars in the Driving the Nation Fund and over $100 million for community solar banks to benefit 25,000 households.

I am also proud that this budget delivers for women. Equality for women is at the heart of what we do as a Labor government. This budget provides for a significant investment in Australian women. We are delivering programs and policies that are designed to permanently shift the dial on women's equality and to last long beyond the term of this parliament. We are investing in addressing violence against women. We are modernising paid parental leave, improving gender pay gap transparency and preventing sexual harassment at work. The majority of care workers are women and they will benefit from the 15 per cent aged-care pay rise. We are also supporting women's economic equality and helping to close the gender gap with investments to support highly feminised workforces.

There's around $4 billion being invested to increase funding to government and community organisations through reforms to indexation, including for organisations delivering women's safety initiatives. Many of these services also have highly feminised workforces. There's $8.6 million for the Australian Skills Guarantee, including national targets for women in apprenticeships, traineeships and cadetships. There's $72.4 million to build and retain the early childhood education and care workforce, 92 per cent of whom are women.

There's $67.5 million to support homelessness services during the transition to the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement. This supports jobs that are overwhelmingly done by women, including assisting women and children who are experiencing domestic and family violence. There's $91.3 million to a better mental health care workforce, through additional psychology placements, 80 per cent of whom are women.

The Albanese Labor government is making investments to support women's health and wellbeing, including $26.4 million to support health and medical research focusing on women's health to develop targeted treatments and improve health outcomes; and $16.8 million to introduce a new MBS item for an EndoPredict brand gene expression profile test to determine a patient's risk of recurrent breast cancer. As a survivor of breast cancer, I absolutely welcome that investment. I commend this bill.

Gavin Pearce (Braddon, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Health, Aged Care and Indigenous Health Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Deputy Speaker Wilkie, as you would be aware, around two-thirds of Tasmania's exports from mines, forests, farms and the sea come out of the electorate of Braddon. The Port of Burnie, Tasmania's largest port, transits five million tonnes of generalised containerised freight and more than 50 per cent of Tasmania's TCU containerised freight each year. Combine this with the Port of Devonport, home of the Spirits, the MV Mersey II and MV Liekut, run by SeaRoad, and the figure increases to 94.2 per cent of Tasmania's container freight transiting through the north-west coast of Tasmania and the electorate of Braddon.

It has always bewildered me that even though our region makes this significant contribution to our state and national economy, Braddon historically continually missed out on receiving the federal investment that the region deserved. When this investment did flow, it seemed to me that it was more out of pity, a result of a cap in hand from previous members in my position, focusing on our weaknesses. What that did to the confidence and self-esteem of the rising generation was not optimal.

Instead, when I was elected in 2019, I vowed to focus on our region's potential and the positive strength of our region of Braddon. Working with businesses, local governments, state governments, community groups and individuals, we identified the projects that would move us forward and set up our region for generations to come. Armed with this information, I set about talking up our region, showing by the north-west, the west coast and King Island were a sound investment for business that would return dividends many times over in future years.

That businesslike, outcome orientated approach worked. Over my first term, the electorate of Braddon received the second-highest federal investment of any electorate in the nation. More than 700 projects were shared equally across our eight local government areas, delivering $1.3 billion into local economies. No region in my electorate missed out. These investments have started to build infrastructure and have provided the services our region needs and deserves. These investments have employed thousands of Tasmanians, supported thousands of small businesses and kept money flowing in local communities and into the pockets of local families. These investments represented value for money and started the journey towards our region reaching its enormous untapped potential.

The 2023 budget was the Albanese government's opportunity to confirm that they have the same commitment that I speak of—the same commitment as the previous government—and that they were willing to continue the journey with those who live in the north-west, the west coast and King Island and continue to invest in our wealth-creating world's best industries and key infrastructure projects. Contrary to popular belief, governments don't create wealth; it's small business that creates wealth. That's where my head's at. Government's job is to provide the right business environment for those businesses to create wealth, and to get out of their way and let them get on with what they do best: turning a dollar, moving our economy forward and reinvesting in our region.

If you are government who can't think like a business, who don't have a business approach, then you only have one strategy, and that is to increase taxes. Increasing taxes on businesses, increasing taxes on hardworking families—even when Prime Minister Albanese promised that he wouldn't do this, it is, at the end of the day, the only move that Labor has in its playbook. Labor's decision to axe the low- and middle-income tax offset measure will impose the biggest tax increase in our country's history. This isn't targeted at the rich. Labor is squarely targeting hardworking, middle-income Australians, like those in my electorate—nurses, teachers, tradies, disability workers, waiters et cetera. Ninety per cent of all taxpayers across the north-west, west coast and King Island will be hit—the young, the old and everyone in between. If you earn less than $126,000, you will have up to $1,500 less in your pocket because of this government's measure. If you earn $50,000, you'll be around $20 a week worse off.

At a time when the cost of living is skyrocketing, families are really struggling. They're struggling with the mortgage, they're struggling with rent, they're struggling to pay the fuel bill and they're struggling to pay the grocery bill. This budget was an opportunity for this government to step up and begin to tackle rampant food price inflation. This is the No. 1 issue that I'm hearing right across our region. People are making really serious choices at the grocery store check-out.

Instead of implementing one single practical measure that would bring down the cost of living that all families are experiencing, the Albanese government is imposing a new $153 million biosecurity levy on our farmers. Not only will this new tax apply to three of Braddon's most important export sectors—farming, fishing and forestry—but also, to rub salt into the wound, this tax on our farmers will be used to pay for the biosecurity risk imposed by their international competitors as they import competitive products into the state. It is counterintuitive and defies logic. Farmers will have no choice but to pass this on through the supply chain. It's marvellous how gravity takes effect when it comes to the impost of cost. This will result in higher prices at the check-out and will hurt families.

Then there's a truckie tax. If trucks grind to a halt then our economy grinds to a halt. Yes, trucks carry loads, but they, more importantly, carry the country. Amid record high inflation and diesel costs, now is not the time to tax our trucking sector with an increased road user tax. Again this government is interested not in the bush but rather in the city. This charge will disproportionately affect regional Australians, who rely more heavily on trucking for the distribution of products throughout the supply chain.

The road user charge is designed to cover the cost of maintenance of roads due to heavy vehicle traffic. This applies to each litre of diesel consumed by heavy vehicles on public roads. From 1 June the current rate of 27.2c per litre of diesel will increase until it reaches 32.4c for the 2025-26 financial year. The trucking industry can't absorb this additional cost. They're already running on the smell of an oily rag. Like the biosecurity tax on our farmers, gravity will take effect and this cost will be passed down the supply chain to those families I talked about who are doing it tough. Everybody loses.

It was the coalition that began record investment in the aged-care sector. I genuinely welcome this government's continued investment in aged care. All Australians, no matter where they live, deserve to have a dignified and respectful life as they age. That's why in the lead-up to the 2022 election the federal Liberal government pledged to address the shortfall of aged-care services on the west coast of Tasmania. Our $3 million commitment meant that the west coast's requests for further aged-care beds in Queenstown would be fulfilled. The Liberal Party clearly understand that taking older residents away from those local communities and back up the coast is unviable. They need to age with dignity in the regions where they grew up.

Unfortunately, this important commitment to the communities on the west coast and, more importantly, the town of Queenstown has not been met by the Labor government. It continues to be ignored, despite several pieces of correspondence I have written. I've written to the Minister for Aged Care. The response from the Albanese government was that they will not be making any commitment to aged care on the west coast. Three million dollars is a moderate investment in budget terms in the big scheme of things. This region makes such an enormous contribution, such as the contribution I talked about earlier, and this is a priority for me, my region, my people and my communities. I ask the government to recommit to this $3 million of extra funding for west coast aged-care facilities.

I believe in small government. I believe the further away from Canberra and the more local we can make our decision-making, the better value for money taxpayers receive. Let's keep the bureaucrats out of it. Hardworking taxpayers right across the north-west, the west coast and King Island have every right to expect that a fair share of their taxes are invested right back into the region where they pay them.

This is something the former government had a proud history of delivering, with programs such as the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program, which directly funded our eight local councils in my region so they could invest in these projects that were important to them. The Stronger Communities Program fund delivered equal funds to every electorate right across the nation so wonderful community organisations could find small capital projects and fund them. Under this Albanese government, both programs have been axed. Both programs have injected billions of dollars into the electorate of Braddon and have resulted in hundreds of projects being effectively and efficiently delivered, from painting the Currie Lighthouse on King Island to providing exercise equipment in South Burnie, redeveloping a skate park in Ulverstone, constructing a new dog park in Smithton, delivering a tip shop at Devonport—I tell you what, that's being heavily utilised as we speak—resealing the roads right across Latrobe, updating the Wynyard sports centre and delivering a series of road safety initiatives right across the west coast. The list goes on and on.

To further demonstrate that this government has an absolute lack of understanding of life within the bush, while axing these programs, they have announced the single biggest increase to the Public Service in 15 years so that they can implement competitive, Australia wide Canberra-controlled alternatives, which is exactly the antithesis of what I was just speaking about. It's shameful, and regional and rural Australia has missed out. The bush has been forsaken.

There were around 1,187 fatalities on our nation's roads in the 12 months to end of February, 45 more than in the same period last year. It's a travesty. In Tasmania, this represented a 36.8 per cent increase in lost lives. It's devastating. It's sad and confronting that that statistic means Tasmania has the highest per capita road death ratio of any state in the country. Armed with this evidence, the government should be recommitting to continue funding in our critical road and road safety programs within the great state of Tassie—programs such as the Black Spot Program, the Roads to Recovery program, the Bridges Renewal Program, the Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Program. These four programs support our state. They remedy exactly what I'm talking about right across our eight local councils as they undertake priority road safety upgrades.

Previous governments from both sides knew the value of these programs both in economic terms and in terms of lives saved. They knew that, without this federal investment, councils simply don't have the support and capital that they need to conduct those works themselves. The required maintenance simply would not get done. It wouldn't go on. Every previous government knew this, but not the Albanese government.

This government has turned its back on these regional and rural roads. These four vitally important programs have been included in what Labor is calling their 90-day infrastructure review. I know that the infrastructure minister visited our electorate on a number of occasions, but that was obviously just for the photo op, as far as I'm concerned. She should have worked out pretty quickly that if she is to be a loud and clear advocate then these programs must continue. Local councils and their communities require certainty that these programs are not at risk of being axed.

To the minister and to the government, I say: the bush is important. The bush is hurting, and it's hurting the people that can't afford it—that really suffer the most. I am pleading with the government to reconsider prioritising regional and rural communities like the electorate of Braddon, because those families need that surety at the moment. They live in communities right across the electorate of Braddon which have the potential to overcome the current hurdles that they're going through. So let's look after the bush.

Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm proud to be standing here as part of the Albanese government, who genuinely cares and delivers on its promises. I've seen firsthand how the Albanese government is having a positive impact on the lives of so many in my electorate and around the nation. All of us hear from our constituents, and I do the same in my electorate of Adelaide, who are feeling more settled having a government who actually shows that it cares. But we know that we still have a very long way to go. We know that the cost of living is affecting people, and that's why we're acting on it.

Just recently, I had a constituent who came to see me in my electorate office, to plead with me for assistance with NDIS home modifications. He has a son who has no arms—that was his disability—and was on a two-year waiting list for approval of urgent and necessary home modifications. Just imagine not having any arms, or the use of your arms, and not being able to access modifications through the NDIS for your home so you can live a reasonable life. One of the ways this government cares is that I was able to reach out for the Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, the Hon. Bill Shorten, who sets up connections with department people and us to discuss directly the issues we have with the NDIS. We were able to get results and to deliver for this family, after they were waiting for two years. I thank the family for bringing this to my attention, and I thank the minister, the Hon. Bill Shorten, for the hard work he is doing in this area. I'm very proud my constituent had a voice and felt he could reach out to me and ask for help. I'm very grateful that his son now has the required instruments in his house and is able to live largely independently; that is really important. And they're grateful as well to have a government that listens to them and is on their side, delivering.

That's why the 2023-24 budget commits more than $732 million over four years to improve the effectiveness and delivery of the NDIS for people with disability, and to improve its sustainability. It's also why $429.45 million is being delivered and invested to upskill the NDIA workforce, which is very important. That is why this Albanese Labor government's NDIS budget initiatives include $73.4 million to better support participants to manage their plan within budget so they can access their supports in a flexible way to better achieve their goals. The budget provides for assisting around 4,815 NDIS participants in my federal seat of Adelaide, who, like my constituent's son that I just spoke about, need our help to not only have a better life but have a better future that they can be proud of, and live in dignity. That is something we can all be proud of as well, because the life of every single Australian matters.

We can also be proud we've delivered the largest-ever increase to the bulk-billing incentive in the history of Medicare. We saw Medicare absolutely run down over the last 10 years: no increases, no incentives for bulk-billing—just a government that really didn't care. One of our core promises was to strengthen Medicare and ensure that Medicare becomes an integral part of our health system for every Australian, and we are doing that by increasing the bulk-billing incentive. Would you say there is more to do? Yes, there is a lot more to do. But providing this benefit of the bulk-billing increase will provide an immediate benefit to 78,277 Australians in Adelaide—which is a big number. We've halved the price of medicines, another achievement I'm proud of, making it cheaper for people on low incomes, on pensions, that require medicines on a regular basis. And we've invested billions into aged care. Keeping Australians safe is a commitment that we have made and we will keep. We will keep on working to achieve goals that make Australian lives better.

In the last couple of weeks, I had the Minister for Financial Services, the member for Whitlam, attend my electorate, and we ran a great forum with the minister. We called it 'Be scam aware'—be aware of the tremendous number of scams that are going around. I hosted the Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services in the electorate. We had a great turnout. A great number of people attended, and we made sure that those who attended left with the tools that they need to protect themselves from scams.

I was pretty surprised, in a room of about 80 people, by the number of people who had been scammed, by up to $60,000—smart, intelligent, educated people. It is an area that I think needs a lot of attention to ensure that we are doing everything we can as governments but also to ensure that banks, insurance companies and other financial services—people that deal with our money on a day-to-day basis as part of their business—put in place measures that protect their customers' livelihoods and money. I was quite surprised by the number of people there who had been scammed or knew of someone who had been scammed, and we're not talking small amounts. Yes, there were some small amounts in there, but one chap spoke about losing $60,000 through some scam that had come through as a text message or something. I know we're all busy, and one of the messages was: 'We're all busy. We get hundreds of text messages per day. Just before you click, take a deep breath, let it go, read it and then click, or don't click at all, which is the safest way.'

Deputy Speaker, we know that we have a role to play in this area, which is why this government is delivering its commitment to disrupting illegal text scams with the establishment of an SMS sender ID registry. That was in the budget with investment of over $10 million. That means a register will be set up with all of these numbers, and then telcos will have the responsibility for banning them from sending out text messages or any form of message. So the government is investing in what matters, and we are investing in Australians.

My office has heard from constituents, primarily pensioners, who have expressed excitement about the 423,000 households in South Australia who are expected to be eligible for a $500 rebate because of the estimated $127.2 million for energy bill relief in 2023-24. This worthy contribution will be matched by the South Australian government.

Being an inner-city electorate, Adelaide is home to a very high volume of rental properties, and we know that rents are going up and that we have a rental crisis at the moment. For example, when I first became a member in 2004, rarely would we have people coming in to speak to us about homelessness or saying that they were on the cusp of becoming homeless. We're now seeing people regularly. Every week, two or three people who are on the cusp of becoming homeless or have just become homeless will pass through the office, and we're not talking about people who perhaps have never worked; we're talking about the working poor.

If there's something that is a crisis and needs all of our attention, it is homelessness and the ability for people to put a roof over their heads, whether it be by rent or by purchasing. I think we have to work hard on this as much as we can to create extra housing and rental assistance and assist those emergency shelters who do such a great job in my electorate. The Hutt Street Centre, for example, houses hundreds of people every night, and their numbers are swelling. They're finding it difficult to actually sustain their business model, because of the great numbers that turn up. So somehow we have to find a way to assist these agencies, who are doing a tremendous job at the moment, in dealing with numbers that they've never seen before.

The government has put some measures in place to secure our country's housing future, and it's investing billions of dollars in new support to help people through these difficult times. I'm not saying it will be the end, but it's a start, and we should work on that start as a foundation to build on it. The government will support an additional $2 billion in financing for more social and affordable rental housing by increasing the guaranteed liabilities of Housing Australia. This boost from $5.5 billion to $7.5 billion, effective from 1 July, will enable Housing Australia to continue to support the development of social and affordable rental homes by providing lower cost and longer term finance to community housing providers.

It's important to have a good mix of housing. It gives the people who are building them an incentive to build them while, at the same time, ensuring that we have social housing, and affordable housing and rental properties in a great mix. One of the greatest examples I've seen of this is from the Dunston era—that great Labor Premier of South Australia—when they developed West Lakes.

West Lakes has some very high-end properties, but amongst those very high-end properties was a mixture of what were old housing trusts houses and community housing. It's one of the best developments I've seen in Australia. It had a good mix that allowed people to rent low-income rental properties and allowed people to purchase high-end properties, thus giving those developers an incentive to go in there and actually build. And it had low-cost housing as well. They were all in the one mix. It was done fantastically. And if you haven't seen West Lakes—it's not in my electorate; it was in my old electorate of Hindmarsh—I'd encourage you to have a look at how it was done in the late seventies. What a great model it was from the great Premier Don Dunstan.

The funding boost for housing that I was talking about earlier is the government 's commitment to deliver more social and affordable rental homes. We've delivered a record-breaking increase in rental assistance, as we all heard in the budget, and this is an increase that hasn't been improved for over 30 years. This ensures that in my electorate 8,355 households will benefit from a 15 per cent boost to the maximum rates of Commonwealth rent assistance.

The Albanese Labor government has also delivered on this and will continue to deliver for all Australians. I'm proud that my electorate in Adelaide will be home to an innovative cultural precinct, with the support of the government, which is providing $39 million as part of the Adelaide City Deal. One of the aims of the cultural precinct is to house our First Nations peoples artefacts. They're all over the place in Australia at the moment—in warehouses, in basements. It will all be documented and housed in this one space. It's very important for First Nations people, but it's also important for all of us as these artefacts are part of our history and part of Australia's history.

We're working not only to improve the lives of Australians to give them a better future, but we're also committed to delivering a quality of life that all can enjoy. Being an Australian is about being part of a community that delivers much more. I know in my electorate that cultural diversity is huge. Last time I looked, we had something like 180 different languages spoken in my electorate. Everything from Arabic to Chinese, to different dialects of Indian, Greek, Italian et cetera. One of the driving forces behind these communities is entrepreneurship. You can see it. They start up little businesses. In the northern part of my electorate, on Prospect Road, you see Afghan supermarkets and restaurants, barbers, insurance brokers. You can see them thriving on Prospect Road, and they've rejuvenated the whole area. It's really great to have an electorate that is growing in eateries, restaurants and many other small businesses. With these areas thriving, the arts, sports and culture then start to thrive.

The government is restoring a national vision for our cities, delivering the first comprehensive national urban policy in over a decade. We're investing $350 million to support suburban communities by improving productivity, sustainability and liveability. I am proud that businesses in my electorate will also be supported as we move to a better future for the federal seat of Adelaide and all of South Australia.

The government is saying it's going to support up to 270,000 small businesses in SA. And I'll point out that many of these small businesses are within my electorate. I have the CBD and all the inner-city suburbs around the CBD in my electorate. This will be delivered through a turnover of up to $10 million by temporarily increasing the instant asset write-off threshold to $20,000. Eligible assets will need to be first used or installed and ready for use between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2024. And there is much, much more that we're doing. I'm proud to be part of this Albanese Labor government.

Monique Ryan (Kooyong, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As a citizen, parent, doctor, medical researcher and now proud representative of a federal electorate, I feel hugely passionate about our healthcare system and how we need to protect and improve it. There is a global consensus that effective primary health care is crucial for creating a healthier and more prosperous society. Recent evaluations of the sector have universally urged for radical reforms to modernise Medicare, which provides the foundations for primary health care around Australia. This four-decade-old scheme is now letting us down by driving up costs. It's focused on quantity of care rather than quality. Moreover, a disproportionate amount of dollars and workforce are allocated towards a smaller proportion of the population with acute health needs while many of those with chronic and complex conditions are not receiving the care that they need.

Many of the budget announcements of 2023 elicited a collective sigh of relief from health experts and commentators. The government has demonstrated a real commitment to revitalise and modernise general practice. In 2021-22 approximately 190 million consultations were recorded by Australian GPs. These amounted to a cost of $40 billion to Medicare. The new $3.5 billion allocated to triple the bulk-billing incentive will likely reduce the cost barrier for many to afford primary health care. It's a great start, but the reality is that, in electorates like my own, it is unlikely to significantly alter bulk-billing rates. The increased incentive, significant though it is, applies only to GP consultations with children under 16, pensioners and concession card holders. If the GP can't afford to bulk-bill, the reality is that these incentives are irrelevant.

This tinkering around the edges of Medicare reimbursement is insufficient to compensate for nine years of frozen rebates and the current effects of inflation. There are also concerns that these changes disproportionately reward those undertaking short consultations rather than those with a casemix of longer consultations for more chronic disorders. In fact, what they will potentially do is promote churn-and-burn medicine rather than really high-quality health care. The reality is that we have to enable doctors to see patients for as long as they need to be seen, and we have to compensate them appropriately for that.

This budget included little for mental health. Some funding was provided for programs which were otherwise about to end and some was provided for additional places in psychology training programs. The announcements earlier this week by the Minister for Health and Aged Care around additional funding for patients affected by eating disorders were also welcomed. But the reality is that mental health care services in this country remain universally understaffed and underfunded. I'm very glad that the minister has noted that this budget only just lays the groundwork for improved mental health care in Australia.

I've advocated for the extended prescription dispensing length provided in this budget. I do believe that it is good policy. Doubling the amount of medication that can be dispensed with a single prescription will increase productivity by decreasing the time that we spend in pharmacies and in GP surgeries getting routine prescriptions. It will reduce the out-of-pocket costs for many medications by $180 per medication per year. Many constituents in Kooyong will save more than $1,000 a year as a result of this change, quite apart from the cost of their GP visits. It's a really significant benefit for those individuals.

Community pharmacists have expressed concerns about this change, and I am really supportive of measures to improve the quality of care that we provide in our medical system while increasing its cost efficiency. It's entirely appropriate that we review the scope of practice of all medical and allied health care professionals. For community pharmacists, that should include arrangements around dose administration aids, vaccination, delivery services and support of residential aged-care facilities. Pharmacists also have an important role to play with the dispensing of prescription vapes. In most contexts, vaping is a scourge. We need stronger regulation and enforcement of e-cigarettes, including controls on their importation, their contents and their packaging.

Community pharmacists should be paid fairly for the services that they provide, but so should hospital pharmacists—so should physios, OTs, psychologists, ambos and all of our allied healthcare professionals. We as a country have to value the work that our most valued professionals provide for us, but we have to ensure that the care and services they provide are best practice. It has to be safe, it has to be judicious and we have to ensure that our healthcare dollars are spent such as to optimise patient outcomes.

It is fair to say, somewhat unexpectedly, that prescription medications have become a somewhat hot topic in this country. Most recently, we've learned that startups like InstantScripts, Eucalyptus, Midnight Health and Mosh are helping people access medications without them being seen by a medical practitioner either in person or via telehealth. This can be done via online quizzes, texts or emails. I welcome the changes that will come into effect on 1 September, which will effectively stop online medical clinics from prescribing drugs to patients they have never seen. This is a dangerous and exploitative model of tick-and-flick medicine. It is at odds with everything that we want to achieve in providing best practice health care for Australian patients.

The gargantuan task of rejuvenating and modernising Australian general practice has been outlined in a number of policy documents over the years, particularly the Strengthening Medicare taskforce report. Many of those documents have underscored the importance of data and digital technology in the general practices of the 21st century. But, regrettably, there are no references in the recent budget to how we can optimise the use of clinical data stored in our GPs' software, and this remains a significant and essentially untapped resource. At this point, remarkably, we cannot document the reasons that prompted the 190 million visits by Australians to their GPs last year, nor do we have any insight into the actions that those GPs took at those visits.

If we did have decent data, we could use it to identify individuals at high risk of hospitalisation, individuals whose conditions are likely to deteriorate, individuals who might benefit from early intervention or from more targeted therapies. The data we do have is problematic because we have variable coding and a lack of universally agreed terminology for common conditions, like diabetes, hypertension or depression. There have been piecemeal activities by the government and commercial operators to facilitate a collection of GP data over the last few years, but a recent survey identified more than 100 separate datasets that are currently in place. They extract data from GPs in different ways, using different tools and different data governance frameworks.

Australian general practices are now incentivised to provide a proportion of their clinical data to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Ten agreed quality indicators have been recorded annually since 2020, but these record only very basic processes of care, like smoking status, weight or alcohol consumption. That's the limit of the data we record. Just consider that for a minute. For each of the 190 million GP consultations last year, we recorded only a very small fraction of the information that we could use to provide insights into the quality of the care we receive. Instead, we rely on the most basic NBS administrative data. We have not yet found the best way to record our invaluable medical data such as to optimise patient outcomes.

In an era of evidence based medicine, we've come to rely heavily on randomised clinical trials to determine the efficacy of various treatments and interventions. But we don't generally monitor their use in real-time settings, which means we are uncertain about the effects on communities, the post-hoc effects of those medications and settings that are different from those in clinical trials. This poverty of clinical data leaves us with a critical gap in our knowledge on how to apply treatments in different settings and in different populations.

The My Health Record has had a chequered 10-year history in its development. Our governments have already sunk more than $2 billion into it without any tangible public benefit. Even the minister himself, Minister Butler, recently labelled it a waste of money for patients and for the health system. It has an ongoing cost of $500 million a year to maintain. It beggars belief that the Albanese government has invested another $950 million in My Health Record. It would be wiser to establish, at a fraction of the cost, a national interest dataset, as was initially recommended by the 2017 Productivity Commission inquiry report Data availability and use. Fostering transparent, consistent, best-practice data governance processes, we can begin to build a real capacity for GPs, for patients and for researchers to analyse and use our complex clinical datasets. Critically, a national primary care data network of this nature could build trust and confidence in our community. Patients need to know that their data will be used for the public good, but they also need to note that privacy, security, access and commercialisation processes are appropriately governed using an agreed best-practice framework.

We have a wonderful healthcare system. We have a national treasure chest of world-class health professionals. Our medical research is amongst the best in the world, and our hospitals and GP services are extremely important to all Australians. I commend this government for making definite improvements to our healthcare system after years of underfunding and of lack of vision, but I implore the government to extend its vision to talk to the experts about our data collection and about all aspects of our service provision. We can and we should provide better health care in Australia. I look forward to working with the government to that end.

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today on my wife's birthday, so happy birthday, Lisa. She's at home, and no doubt I've got to make sure the flowers get there on time. Today I proudly rise to support the Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2023-2024. I'm proud to be part of a government that can balance fiscal responsibility with providing cost-of-living relief to Australians most affected by the cost-of-living crisis. I'm especially proud of this responsible budget for our communities in McEwen, who were left behind for nearly a decade and now are finally being listened to. With this, on top of the boost for investment in local infrastructure that the government put through the October budget, like the Wallan ramps and the Macedon Ranges Regional Sports Precinct, the people of McEwen can be assured that this Albanese government stands with us and supports us. This is in stark contrast to how we were treated for nine years under those opposite, where time and time again we were totally ignored. The coalition legacy in McEwen is one of neglect and loss for our areas, with broken promises, empty rhetoric and no investment. This is why I stand proudly with a government that invests with our communities and shows up for our people.

I had the honour of accompanying our Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, in our beautiful electorate back a couple of weeks ago, the first time a prime minister had shown up in our communities outside of an election period since Julia Gillard—and that's telling. We welcomed the PM to Occasional Child Care Centre Diamond Creek, a local Nillumbik shire run centre. There the Prime Minister met with local educators and children at the centre. On arrival we met with Vicki Ward, our wonderful state member for Eltham, and with local councils and, of course, the centre staff before heading to the centre and to a welcoming reception and a lovely sign as we walked in.

Between entertaining the kids, we were able to talk about the investment we are making in early childhood education in the electorate. That means a staggering 6,500 families in McEwen will be better off because of the Albanese government's childcare package. Something we were really pleased to talk to the staff about was the $72 million to be invested to build and retain early childhood education workforce nationally. This will increase the quality of care that our wonderful childhood educators will be able to provide to students across Australia, including, in fact, the kids of Occasional Childcare Centre Diamond Creek. Emma Mobbs, a parent who uses the centre, advised that the reforms to childcare rebate coming on 1 July will have a significant impact on the family budget. She has two children in the care centre, and the rebates will see costs go down by at least $20 a day for her first and more for her second child.

But this trip wasn't just about conversations about policy in the budget; there were also big conversations about what the children at the centre's favourite animals were, where the Prime Minister proudly got out photos of his dog, Toto, and showed the kids, who were just in awe. They had a great time looking at the different pictures that he had, and I think it gave us an insight to a prime minister that actually cares and can take the time to listen and interact with people. It was a beautiful, sunny day in Diamond Creek, and the PM and I left having made wonderful connections with the children and staff. The Prime Minister especially noted the wonderful care the centre provides, and I couldn't be more proud of the way the whole show turned up that day.

All these stories just reinforce the importance of adequate funding in the childhood education space and why our government has had to act swiftly to support and build the industry that is responsible for the building blocks of our kids' futures—actually, our country's future. Quickly, I would like to especially thank the director, Anne Luttick, for having us there, talking with us and showing us around this wonderful place. We have met a few times now, as I presented her husband with a saluting certificate for his time in the Middle East, and she is very, very inspiring with the pride and passion in the way she talks about the work she does.

Early childhood education isn't the only education sector the government has increased funding to. In primary and secondary education, we have invested $4 million in Victoria through the Teacher Workload Reduction Fund to take the pressure off and maximise the value of teachers' time. For our recent and future school leavers, or those who are interested in upskilling and changing careers, I'm pleased to highlight this budget's investment in postsecondary education: $127 million to fund 4,000 additional university places over the next four years to boost the number of STEM graduates. It also provides 20,000 additional university places for disadvantaged Australians, including 4,000 additional places in Victoria. Further, in the jobs and skills sector, specifically to McEwen, over 3,000 apprentices will benefit from a $54 million investment into Australian apprenticeship supports to improve completion rates.

The Prime Minister's visit wasn't the only one we had in McEwen; we also had the wonderful Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care visit Riddells Creek. We welcomed my very good friend Ged Kearney to discuss the government's record $3.5 billion investment to GPs to bulk bill, tripling the current incentive and acting as an immediate injection to support patients in general practice. This is the largest ever bulk billing incentive increase in the history of Medicare, and it will provide benefit to some 70,000 people right across our communities. We were especially thrilled to take in the Riddell Country Practice in Riddells Creek. We spoke to the management consultant, John Cross; the practice manager, Angela Williams, and GP Greg Rowles. John Cross spoke of the difficulties faced by rural and regional practices attracting and retaining GPs—something that is not unique to our area; it's a problem right across the nation. We listened to the concerns within the professional community. We spoke of the extended healthcare concerns GPs are being presented with, especially with the need for mental health services following the pandemic.

We were able to speak to how the government is working to strengthen Medicare and assist GPs to provide the best primary care they can, because after nine long years of cuts and neglect, the Albanese government is making Medicare stronger for all Australians. Our historic investment in Medicare delivers the largest ever increase to bulk billing incentives, making it easier for Australians to visit a doctor and be bulk billed. The government is also delivering on its promise for cheaper medicines. Over 35,000 people in McEwen will be able to buy two months worth of medicine for the price of a single prescription for more than 300 common PBS medicines. Overall, it will save people around $200 a year on every single medicine they take, which is about $1.6 billion across the nation.

While we were at the practice, we also took the opportunity to talk to a local pharmacist, who raised his concerns about changes the system. We spent time listening to his concerns, and I have taken them back to the health minister. It was a great visit that showed that the government is not only listening to health care professionals but acting.

We're also working very hard to improve the quality of aged care and support for Australians by investing in aged care. In this budget, we are unlocking funding that will mean 69 more recommendations from the aged-care royal commission be implemented. We are doing this by helping older people live independently at home. We've capped administration fees and banned exit fees, and we're delivering 9,500 more aged-care packages while we develop the Support at Home Program. This budget allocates $11.3 billion over four years to fund the 15 per cent pay increase in the award for many aged-care workers. This will support approximately 56,000 aged-care workers in Victoria. We are doing this because Labor understands that looking after workers will mean that our parents, grandparents and, eventually, we will receive better care and support. Overall, the changes made to the health and care sectors in this budget will start to ease the burden on the workforce, the patients and the system overall. This budget provides that responsible relief that was missing for nearly a decade.

Importantly, this budget reinforces the safety net for Australians, and I'm proud to be part of a government that is doing all it can to ease the burden for those most in need. We are doing this through Commonwealth rent assistance as part of our $14.6 billion budget package. Ultimately, this means that payments will increase $40 a fortnight. This will help some 13,500 people in our communities who will receive an increase; almost 500 jobseekers aged between 55 and 59 in McEwen who will have their payments increase by $92 a fortnight; 425 single parents on JobKeeper in McEwen with children aged between eight and 14 who will move to parenting payment single, giving them an extra $176 a fortnight; and 11,870 households in McEwen who will benefit from a 15 per cent boost to the maximum rate of Commonwealth rent assistance. This boost to payments will help ease some of the pressures that people are facing every day due to the tumultuous global situation, while making sure our country stays in a strong position.

On top of the social support that this budget gives to Australians, the government is looking to continue to protect and improve the National Disability Insurance Scheme. We are making sure that the people who are receiving NDIS payments are at the centre of the NDIS. We're committed to delivering on its important promise to rebuild trust with NDIS participants, their families and their carers, but also, importantly, to making sure that it is sustainable into the future. A $732 million investment over four years will improve its effectiveness and delivery, including over $73 million to better support participants to manage their plan and access supports to achieve their goals. This will assist over 3,500 NDIS participants in McEwen.

We have also prioritised support for our returned service personnel. As the late President of the United States John F. Kennedy said, 'As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words but to live by them'. We know that, and that's why this government is increasing support for veterans and implementing the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. This budget is putting our words into action. More than 340,000 veterans and dependants across the country, including almost 3,000 veterans in McEwen, will benefit from the $328 million in the budget to support assessing services through the Department of Veterans' Affairs. Of that, $64 million will retain almost 500 DVA staff to deliver frontline services to veterans and families and clear the claims backlog. These are some of the public servants that the Leader of the Opposition said he wanted to cut in his budget in reply speech, when he said we have too many public servants. Under the former government, veterans were waiting over 1,000 days to have claims heard because of the shortage of staff. We've put humans back in control and working with veterans and their families to actually bring outcomes. Over 100 veterans in McEwen will benefit from the delivery of our commitment to increase the annual rate of the totally and permanently incapacitated veteran pension by $1,000 a year. Actions speak louder than words, which is why we as a government are acting swiftly on implementing these reforms and boosting funding in this area.

The government is continuing investment in Victoria. This House will know—members will have listened to me and to my colleagues from Victoria—how we missed out for a decade under the previous government. Labor is investing in genuine nation-building infrastructure. Creating economic productivity connects communities and works towards a lower carbon economy. We are doing this by investing in infrastructure projects like the $150 million for Camerons Lane into the northern freight terminal, $1.75 billion for North East Link and, of course, crucial projects in our community, like the Watson Street ramps.

For the electorate of McEwen, we are seeing huge upgrades in infrastructure. We are now getting our fair share, with $2.4 billion for the NBN in last year's budget seeing over 20,000 premises in our communities have access to higher internet speeds. On top of that, there is a $10.1 million investment in public safety mobile broadband to support connectivity for our first responders. We know the investment in this infrastructure is critical to our peri-urban and regional communities, and I fully support the work being done here.

With all these investments in the state of Victoria and in our beautiful electorate of McEwen, I am proud to support this responsible budget—a budget that gives relief where it is needed most to the most vulnerable members of our society; a budget that invests in health, our kids' future and our grandparents; and a budget that supports workers, creates jobs and redresses our infrastructure deficit. This budget is a budget that embodies the great Australian value of making sure everyone gets a fair go.

Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's a joy to speak on this budget, on the appropriation bills. There's a lot in it and I will focus on the start, with the challenges this budget has. I note the member for McEwen had a lot of infrastructure investment in his electorate, and, clearly, the residents of Casey know it's gone straight out of the Casey electorate over to McEwen. Whether it's the Canterbury Road upgrade, the Clara Road upgrade or the $150 million Roads for the Community program, it's good that at least we know where that's gone; it's left our community and gone to the member for McEwen's, who was clearly happy. Interestingly, he mentioned the North East Link funding. My understanding from the latest reports is that program was under review—so it is interesting that a member opposite maybe has some inside information that that's going to go ahead, despite the review happening at the moment. I'm not sure what's happening there; we'll dig into that one. It's interesting that some seem to know what's happening with that review and others don't. But I digress.

I want to focus, to start with, on the top line of this budget and how it's impacting all Australians, and all residents in Casey. We all know the situation that many people in this country are going through, with this cost-of-living crisis and the high inflationary environment. Yesterday we saw the monthly inflation rate increase to 6.8 per cent. We should always remember these numbers are not just numbers on a page; they are numbers that are impacting people every day when they go to the supermarket, when they put petrol into their car, when they pay their mortgage, when they want to pay for their children's sporting fees or when they have to, tragically, take their children out of community activities because they can't afford either the fees or the transport costs, of petrol in particular, to get their children to those events. It's so important that this budget is doing everything it can, but not to hold inflation at where it is at or make it worse; it should have been a budget that would drive inflation down. We're at seven per cent, and our target band is two to three per cent. We're in an environment where we have not seen inflation this high for generations. It should be a budget that drives it down.

It's amazing when you listen to the Treasurer speak in question time. In dorothy dixers from his own side, he quotes many economists. But it all talks about how this budget, at best, will not add to inflation—and that's not his job. Of course he shouldn't be adding to inflation, at seven per cent. His responsibility should be to drive inflation down, and he's not doing that. He admits that in his own words by continuing to quote the Reserve Bank governor, economists and experts that it might not at best drive inflation up. That's the wrong aim. To start with, he completely does not understand the challenges that Australians are facing because his focus is potentially on keeping it at six or seven per cent—and we saw that yesterday with the increase to 6.8 per cent.

The Treasurer doesn't really quote Bill Evans much. Bill Evans said this budget is more expansionary, or stimulatory, than any of the budgets from the 10 years before the pandemic, when inflation was within our target band. This budget spends more and drives more growth, hence driving inflation, than any of those budgets.

We've also got to remember when we talk about this Treasurer, Dr Chalmers—he likes to be referred to as a doctor, but he's not a doctor in economics.

Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He earned it!

Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He did earn it. He earned his doctorate in politics: in Paul Keating, in focusing on Paul Keating. This is the Treasurer who said—what did he say?—'It's the recession we had to have.' This Treasurer knows a lot about politics. He spent a lot of time getting an education in Paul Keating. And what he does very cleverly is spin the numbers to play the political game, with the off-budget spending, over $45 billion, which drives inflation. Even though he can move it off the budget and put it over in off-budget spending, it still drives inflation, because inflation does not care about moving numbers around. It's a nice accounting trick that the Treasurer likes to use with his political spin—doctor spin—so he can make sure that he can stand up and give a headline, but Australians know. They know every day, when they go to the grocery store. They know every day, when they have to put petrol in the car or when the electricity bill comes in, that words and spin from the Treasurer don't actually cut it.

He's got another nice little trick that he's using in question time and in the media at the moment. He talks about his claim of banking 82 per cent of savings—the upgrades that we have from the surplus that was delivered, from the revenue growth, from the strong unemployment rate of 3.5 per cent that he inherited and from the strong exports in terms of trades that we've got. But that 82 per cent, again, is a nice little trick, because what is conveniently excluded is the aged-care spending increase that the government is paying for. Both sides support it, and it's good that we're supporting aged-care workers—that's not the issue—but what he's done with his little change of words is he has decided that that's not a decision of government, so he can remove that spending and say that he's banking 82 per cent. But he's not, actually. He's actually only banking 70 per cent. He likes to talk about how he's more economically responsible than the former treasurer Josh Frydenberg. The last budget from Treasurer Frydenberg and Prime Minister Morrison actually banked 75 per cent of savings, and that was in a lower inflationary environment. So, again, we've got this great little political spin from Dr Chalmers. He's renowned for, as we said, the off-budget spending. But Australians know every time they go to the grocery store that they're actually paying more.

There's another thing we heard from this Treasurer, from the Prime Minister and from the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. As a candidate, I obviously engaged deeply and listened a lot to what the then opposition was saying, and there was a lot of talk about real wages and how if the opposition, the ALP, got into government they were going to bring real wages down. Real wages are the crucial thing when it comes to wages, because real wages are the money you take home each month or each week in actuality. That's what you get to keep. We do not hear this government talk at all about real wages anymore. They talked about it a lot before the election. They will now not talk about it. And the reason the Prime Minister, the Treasurer, the minister for workplace relations and many opposite won't talk about real wages is that the reality is Australians' real wages are going backwards. They are continuing to go backwards under this government. Again, you know it's true because you know it every time the pay packet comes in and you have to go to the grocery store or you have to put petrol in your car. This government promised real wage increases. They're not delivering real wage increases, by their own numbers, in this term of government.

To go back to our original point, one of the key ways to drive real wages up is to bring inflation down, because if the cost of goods is less, then the money you earn can buy more. Every Australian knows that, because you're doing that and making those decisions every day. We hear a lot of political spin from this Treasurer. We'll continue to hear it. But the reality is this budget, at best, by his own admission, will keep inflation at 6.8 per cent or seven per cent, as we're seeing, which isn't in the target band of two per cent to three per cent. If it stays at this level, the RBA Governor will have to continue to increase interest rates to get it down to our target band of two to three per cent.

This Treasurer is not doing the heavy lifting to help the RBA Governor. He's leaving it to the RBA. He likes to quote him, as he did yesterday, but he's leaving the heavy lifting to the RBA Governor, which means that interest rates will continue to go up. We see reports today that the market is now predicting that rates will go up again next week. I genuinely hope they won't, because I know that will hurt and cripple many families who are trying to pay their mortgage. But this is what happens when a Treasurer doesn't make the tough decisions to drive inflation down.

Those are some of the challenges at the national level that all Australians are struggling with. I now want to talk about my community of Casey. We're struggling with all of those issues, particularly in our business community, which is made up of many great people and great small businesses in agriculture, manufacturing, wine production, tourism and trade. There are amazing organisations. There are so many small-business owners and tradies. In fact, I'm proud to represent the electorate that has the highest percentage, as a percentage of the workforce, of tradies in the country. Master Builders had that data recently. It's a great example of people who are getting up every day and working hard. They're putting their life on the line. There are many challenges for many small-business owners. They are struggling at a time when the cost of living is going up and their inputs are going up.

There are many businesses I could talk about, but I have one great example. I want to quickly talk about Laurie from Aussie Growers Fruits. Yarra Valley Hilltop is one of their great brands. I had an opportunity to chat with him this week. His energy bill in the last 12 months went up over $200,000. He fears it can go up another $200,000, to $400,000, in the next 12 months. He's doing it tough. He's looking for support. His business started over 20 years ago. It was an empty paddock. He built a factory with a vision of supporting local fruit producers, particularly strawberry producers. He does a strawberry jam, for example. All of that product comes from local farmers in the Yarra Valley in my electorate of Casey. It's a great example of strong local manufacturers making a difference, supporting businesses and creating an economy.

This government talks about energy relief, but it's another example of the political spin that we hear from this government. We all got rushed back here in December to make these important changes, but energy prices are continuing to go up. The Prime Minister and the Minister for Climate Change and Energy sit in parliament in question time and crow about the amazing job that they've done. Guess what? The policy is not working. Laurie knows it and business people and families in Casey know it.

There's another interesting thing. They had to wait for the budget—and the member for Longman knows this—because it's all about the political spin. They talk about energy relief. In a cost-of-living crisis, every day and every week makes a difference. They talk about how people in Victoria will get $500. They talked about that in December. Not one dollar has gone to a resident or business in Casey—not one dollar. Let's be clear why it hasn't.

If the government wanted to, they could have had that legislation and made those decisions at the start of this year. They could have given you that relief, that money, four or five months ago, but they chose not to. The reason they held off giving you that money, that relief, is politics. By making the announcement in December they've been able to drag it out in question time and the media. They've talked about the relief and how they're supporting Australians.

This is the important bit for Dr Chalmers and his political science degree—and this is what former treasurer and prime minister Keating would have taught him. He needed that announcement on budget night because he needed to stand up with the Labor faithful and state, 'We're supporting Australian people.' But they haven't delivered a dollar. That's the choice he made. As the Treasurer of this country, whose responsibility is to support the Australian people and struggling families, he made a choice in December last year with the Prime Minister. They chose to delay your relief so he could stand up on budget night and make a big announcement about how they were going to help you. That was a choice. They could have given you that relief earlier this year. Because they've got the numbers and a very supportive Senate, they can push through whatever they want, and they chose to make you wait six to eight months so they could get a political announcement.

There are many other tragedies in this budget, particularly for farmers. There is a new tax coming around biosecurity that means, essentially, Australian farmers—all the farmers in Casey—are going to be paying more money to bring in products from overseas, increasing competition. I support biosecurity measures—we need those—but the importers should be paying it. The farmers of the Casey should not be paying more money. Residents and people in supermarkets will pay more money because, when your farmers pay more, they have to pass it on. Woolies and Coles will pass it on. That's because they're not making the tough decisions to make importers, who are bringing the risk in, pay that money. It's another example of abandoning farmers and driving inflation up.

Zaneta Mascarenhas (Swan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

After nearly a decade of waste and neglect, the Albanese Labor government is working hard to deliver the better future for all that Australians voted for last year. This is a responsible budget and a practical budget. Globally we're in uncertain economic times, but this budget delivers security and stability, and that's exactly what the Australian public need right now. This budget tackles our immediate economic challenges and helps ease pressure on families. We're delivering targeted relief to the most vulnerable Australians to make sure that no-one is left behind. This budget will help create opportunities that all Australians can share in. This budget lays the foundation for a stronger economy and a better future, building for the long term while helping Australians who are under pressure right now. We know that households and businesses are feeling the pressure, and we know that there's a lot of work to do, and we're getting on with the job.

I speak to Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2023-2024 at a time when many in my community are looking for leadership in government. Under the previous Liberal governments, we've had a decade of waste and neglect. We had a prime minister, in the member for Cook, who refused to be accountable to the people. When the fires plagued the east coast in 2020, his response was that he 'didn't hold a hose, mate'. When the federal government didn't order enough vaccinations, it was okay because it wasn't a race. When COVID ripped through our aged-care homes, it was a matter for the states.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Zaneta Mascarenhas (Swan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The thing is, we need to understand our history so we know where we're going. We need to understand that so we don't repeat the mistakes of the past. On learning about the member for Cook's secret ministries, he said that if he had to do it again he would. No leadership and no accountability was the order of the day.

When it came to the cost of living, we saw a government that was actively avoiding doing anything to soften the issue, including not looking at economic productivity. When this government promised a $1-an-hour pay increase to our lowest-paid workers, the member for Cook labelled the opposition leader a loose unit. We were talking about $20.33 an hour. Under the previous Liberal governments wage growth was at low records. The former finance minister, Mathias Cormann, described low wage growth as a deliberate design feature of our economic architecture—very intentional. It was a neoliberal, intentional policy design which was basically designed to—I can't think of a parliamentary term—basically stuff Australians over.

Australians had been doing it tough because the previous government failed to have a plan. Under the previous government inflation rose by 2.1 per cent in the March 2022 quarter, the greatest increase in inflation in decades. Yet each day, in this place, they ask a question about inflation, wilfully ignorant of the biggest hit to our community that occurred during their watch. What's the coalition's signature of a cost-of-living policy? It's $14 billion worth of JobKeeper payments to businesses turning multimillion dollar profits and having no expectation for them to pay it back and, simultaneously, chasing individual JobKeeper recipients with debt collectors because they received a few dollars more than they should have. We need to have a look at accountability mechanisms and get the measures right.

What do people doing it tough get when the coalition is in government? Announcements but no policy, handouts to the top end of town and the demonisation of JobKeeper and JobSeeker recipients. Doris from Carlisle wanted Labor to invest in skills for the future. Under the previous government there was no investment in TAFE, yet when we invest in education and skills we build a better future.

So what are we doing for the people of Swan? A part of it relates to cheaper medicines. We have introduced 60-day dispensing. This will happen from 1 September. It's really great policy and will save money in people's back pockets. We're also introducing cheaper child care. I know that some members, on the other side, also have children and may see this as a positive policy that will increase our nation's productivity. It also means we unlock more workforce in our communities and see increased incomes for households and great education opportunities for our children.

We're also strengthening Medicare. We learnt during the WA pandemic that when you get health outcomes right you get good economic outcomes. That's the reason WA kept the economy going. In Swan, I met with Dr Nick Bretland and Anastasia from Rowelthorpe Medical Centre in Bentley. Their patients are largely from the aged-care sector or are pensioners with a disability. Most of their patients are bulk-billed, but it has become financially unviable for them to bulk-bill patients. The first thing they told me when we met was that the Medicare rebate for GPs had only increased by 1.6 per cent in 10 years. This is one of the most important parts of the Australian identity, of what makes us different from other countries, having a strong bulk-billing system, and we didn't have good processes in place.

General practitioners are also at the forefront of preventative health care in this country. Preventative health care is really important for us to invest in, because it saves us costs in the future. In the mining industry, we call that preventative maintenance. The same principles apply to human bodies. The interpersonal work that GPs do with their patients allows for better health outcomes. Labor's $3.5 billion investment, tripling the bulk-billing incentive, is an immediate injection to support patients and general practitioners and strengthen the heart of Medicare. Labor built Medicare and will always protect it. The fundamental reason for that is we believe that all Australians should have access to universal health. There are 72,621 people in my community who will directly benefit from the largest bulk-billing incentive in Australian history.

We're also working at raising JobSeeker and improving rent assistance. What Labor's doing is part of a bigger picture: investing in training and jobs for the future. When we invest in skills for the future it means we have jobs for the future. One of the things industry has been telling us is that they need more skilled workers, and the thing we didn't have under the previous government was management of how our economy works.

One of the reasons we had the Jobs and Skills Summit was that we needed to bring workers, employers, unions and community leaders together to think about a vision for the future and go, 'How can we work together?' The truth is, the Albanese Labor government has been looking at unifying Australia rather than dividing the country, because what we can achieve together is so much more compared to when we're divided. So, we had the Jobs and Skills Summit; we had concrete outcomes from that. Part of that related to paid parental leave provisions, which we're expanding. We're also increasing the flexibility associated with that.

Another thing we're also doing is looking at industry of the future. One of the things we saw during the pandemic was supply chains breaking down. We saw a lot of people want a lot of toilet paper—amusingly, we manufacture most of our toilet paper—but we also saw critical things that we needed in Australia that we didn't have access to. When we went to manufacturers and said to them, 'We need your help with building face masks because we need to keep our health workers safe,' local manufacturers actually went out and designed this. And the thing that we haven't seen done in Australia is building our manufacturing capabilities so that we can build more things here to increase our resilience. We also need to make sure that we have high-skilled, good-paying jobs that are actually competitive with other countries. One of the things I hear from some manufacturers is that they are cost competitive for products, but they're not actually getting the opportunity to participate in procurement for the supply chains, so that's something we also need to fix.

We've also been talking about action on climate change. This is a moment where Australia can be united. Unfortunately, under the previous government, this was something that was politicised. The thing I would say, taking a worldwide perspective, is action on climate change is not political; it's just science. So my question is: do you accept the science of gravity? Great! That's why we're here on earth.

Did I hear you say that climate science is a cult?

Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order. Let's give the speaker an opportunity to be heard in silence.

Zaneta Mascarenhas (Swan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

But that is—

Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Longman will have an opportunity to make his remarks at a later date.

Zaneta Mascarenhas (Swan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Action on climate change is great for the environment, it's great for the economy and it's good for communities. And I can tell you that science isn't a cult; it's a fact of life. If you want to go back to high school and learn some basic scientific principles, I encourage you to do that. I'd also say that conservative governments across the world are accepting the science. Science is not political. It's not a religion. It's just a fact. You can be religious and accept science—I am one of those people. This government is acting on climate change, and we want to do this. We want to unite communities and give businesses what they've been asking for for so long—that is, certainty. They want certainty so they can invest in markets and make good investment decisions, and that's not something we've seen over the last 10 years.

One of the first things that we did when we went into government was legislate to reduce our emissions by 43 per cent by 2030. We didn't need to legislate that, but one of the reasons we did that was because we wanted to send investment signals to the community, saying, 'We accept the science, and we want to decarbonise.' And the thing we saw after that was investments flowing through, which was amazing to see. The truth is that we need to continue to do more.

One of the things that we've seen, particularly on the east coast, is an increase in energy prices. One of the reasons for that is the ratio of fossil fuels in the electricity mix. It also relates to reserves for our energy use. One of the things we have in WA is reserves of our gas for domestic electricity use, and we haven't seen that on the east coast. We've also seen an increase in renewable energy in the ACT territory grid. When you look at increases in electricity costs, when you have more renewable energy, your prices don't increase as much, and the reason why is you don't have—the sun and the wind don't care if there's some dictator in an overseas country who is basically saying: 'Hey! We want to invade this country, and this is going to have a shock ripple effect on energy and commodity prices across the country.' Sorry, I went on a rant on climate change.

The other thing that I'd talk about is the aged-care royal commission. One of the things that we said during the federal election is that we wanted to restore dignity to our oldest and most experienced citizens across this country, and we have not seen that. We had the aged-care royal commission, and some of the stories that we heard were incredibly shocking. What we wanted to see is dignity and respect but also good health outcomes, so a part of that related to the nutrition of residents in aged care and making sure that they have access to quality food. A part of that was making sure that residents have more minutes with care workers to make sure that they're getting quality care with people. A part of that related to 24-hour nursing. We wanted to put the nurses back into nursing homes, something that was really important.

Essentially, what we're doing is going through a process of cleaning up the decade that was wasted under the previous coalition government, and I'm really proud of the Albanese Labor government. This government has some of the most experienced and talented cabinet members we've seen in this place for such a long time. But I'd say that we've still got more work to do, and I'm looking forward to implementing some really great policies.

Debate adjourned.