Ruth Webber (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This budget delivers in a way that budgets brought down by those opposite never did. This budget actually delivers on the Labor government’s election commitments. We do not differentiate between core and non-core promises. We took a series of commitments to the Australian people, and this budget is the down payment that delivers on each and every one of our commitments. The budget that was delivered last night by Treasurer Swan is about building a strong economy, maintaining as strong an economy as possible, for the working families of our nation. It is also a budget for the long term. It is not a short-term, electoral cycle fix; it is a budget for the long term.

It is a budget that is built around taking the rewards of the once-in-a-lifetime boom in states like my home state of Western Australia to ensure that future generations get to benefit from that boom—that is, that the money from that boom is not just put into a short-term political fix but delivers in the long term for future generations. It is a budget that, as I said, rightly targets Australia’s working families. It actually delivers on the commitments that we made to those working families in November last year. It delivers on increasing the childcare rebate and it pays it to those working families in a timely manner. The rebate goes up by some 20 per cent and is paid quarterly. You do not get paid only 30 per cent perhaps years down the track anymore. This government understands the financial pressure that working families are under and is doing what it can to assist them in that. It is a budget that delivers on increasing the childcare rebate and delivers it to families when they need it most. It delivers on the commitment that we made to increase the baby bonus and delivers it to working families—not the multimillionaires that live in parts of Perth or Sydney but to hardworking Australian families that are under financial pressure. They are quite rightly the focus of this government’s energies and efforts.

It is a budget that delivers on the tax cuts that we promised the Australian people. No core and non-core promises for us—every commitment that we took to the Australian people and that we made to them in November last year, we are starting to deliver on. But what this budget also does is to make sure that every new dollar of spending by this government on its priorities—on the priorities that it took to the Australian people and on which they gave us the mandate to deliver—is actually matched by spending cuts. By doing that and by ensuring that we carry on a very large surplus, this budget also makes sure that the government joins the Reserve Bank in the fight against inflation. For too long, the Reserve Bank has had to grapple with that incredible problem—the pressure that it puts on working families—all on its own. Where were those opposite? They were out there throwing money all around the countryside in a most irresponsible manner to try to buy themselves out of a problem.

This is a long-term plan from this government. It is a good budget. It is a sound budget. As I said, it starts to deliver on each and every one of our election commitments. To prove that it is a budget for the long term, last night Treasurer Swan announced the establishment of three new funds that will help to address the long-term challenges in the Australian community and in the Australian economy. It will take the income that we are making from the resource-rich states like my own and put it into the Building Australia Fund, which will actually help us address those long-term infrastructure needs and infrastructure bottlenecks in Australia. It will put money into the Education Investment Fund so that we can ensure that our education sector is well resourced and supported and so that we can continue to train young Australians and prepare them for the jobs of the future rather than just provide a short-term fix.

The budget sends a very clear signal that we are going to put our shoulder to the wheel and work with the state and territory governments to try to address the massive challenges in our health system. (Time expired)