Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I am ready to have the matter taken to a vote, but before I do that I would like to reveal some further details about the arrangement that has led to an agreement between the government and the Australian Greens. I might say at the outset, without repeating earlier remarks, that this was not an easy process for the Greens. We have had considerable feedback from the community, particularly about the tax bonus component of this package, which is many billions of dollars. A very wide range of people who would receive $950—or, under the new proposal, $850—would prefer that money went to infrastructure, to nation building, to education, to hospitals and, indeed, to bushfire remediation, amongst a range of other projects. I want to thank everybody in the community because we have had some very wise feedback, the sort of feedback that normally would have gone to Senate committees had the inquiry gone a little longer. You can be sure we will be taking the suggestions and feeding them into the budget process, which will be soon upon us in this place.

The amendments the chamber has been dealing with would raise an extra $435 million by reducing all tax payments by $50 to $900 and by reducing the additional bonus to single income families to $900 as well. It simply means that the packages would go from $950 to $900 and that money, the $435 million, would indeed go, as I believe the community wants it to, into job creation and nation-building infrastructure. The stimulus package commitments—and I have a letter from the Treasurer which I will make public—include the financial assistance scheme. These are one-off grants to church, charitable, community and other organisations for no-interest loans for low-income earners and unemployed people and for the employment of financial counsellors for people who are in difficulties, as well as for a range of other helpful measures. This component is an extra $50 million on top of the government’s $80 million proposal, which itself is a doubling of the spending flagged before the stimulus package. Our estimate is that it will create directly another 200 jobs. A bigger item is $200 million for a community fund. The proposal here is for local jobs. This has one-off grants to church, charitable and community organisations and local councils for pilot projects to generate local employment opportunities. As I say, it is $200 million and we estimate—and I underline this is an estimate—that this will create an extra 6,000 to 7,000 jobs across Australia.

We have been able to convince the government of the merits of an extra $60 million going to heritage projects across Australia. This has been an area of quite extraordinary neglect. The current financial year funding in this area is as low as $200,000. According to heritage experts, we have been plunged into a crisis as far as the maintenance and upkeep of our heritage stock in Australia is concerned. I am talking here about nationally listed heritage buildings, our history and important buildings for local communities and about the natural heritage, including our parks and our natural amenities in cities and towns across this country. So this is a major item in terms of spending on Australia’s magnificent historic, cultural and natural heritage. It will mean that many projects which are shovel ready will now get the funding they deserve. We estimate this will create 1,100 jobs. It will involve skilling members of that workforce so that they will be able to continue with this very worthwhile work for a better community outcome.

We have also been able to reach agreement with the government about what I think is the beginning of a major new investment in public transport, in particular in private transport which crosses into the public domain—that is, bicycle ways. Millions of Australians are buying new bicycles each year. Without government direction, there has been a massive change in mood in the Australian community, as there has been worldwide. Bikeways are now at a premium. Bicycles are becoming a matter of new attention for people who used to ride. They can now and they are taking it up again. It has a social dividend, a health dividend, a lifestyle dividend and an environmental dividend where this money will be spent. We have been able to reach agreement on a $40 million fund for bikeways across Australia. I might add that this is predicated on a much bigger allocation for bikeways under Infrastructure Australia. Government will be taking seriously such projects, with some of them worth tens of millions of dollars. I know that one in Sydney is worth some hundreds of millions of dollars. These will bring bikeways in Australia to the same level of serious government attention that we have seen in similar countries overseas. It is estimated that 500 to 700 jobs will be created in this allocation. These are green local jobs. The spin-off to local business is obvious. The spin-off as to the improved and enhanced lifestyles of towns and cities in Australia is going to be quite enormous, I predict, in the years to come. I want to thank my colleague Senator Milne and indeed all my Greens colleagues for coming forward with suggestions from the community which have led to this outcome.

We have also got agreement for access to the local government infrastructure fund to be reopened so that local councils can apply. There was a cut-off date of 23 December on the original fund. Some small councils across the country did not get an application in. Under the provisos in this package, this expenditure of half a billion dollars would not have been available to them. That was patently unfair. There will now be a window of opportunity for smaller councils to also be able to apply in order to create local jobs and infrastructure in regional as well as urban Australia.

We have got agreement on a new concept for federal government, which is to look at energy efficiency in infrastructure when it comes to housing and schools. A massive component of the infrastructure in this package goes to building new schools and new housing—some 20,000 new houses are proposed, although an unknown component of that will be current housing or houses already underway. There will be new houses built. For the first time, the federal government has agreed to build energy efficiency ratings into future housing. We have a five-star rating. We are now going in the direction of getting a six-star rating. The government’s intention—and this goes through the COAG process—is for this rating to apply from May next year. While we certainly did not get agreement on this, the Greens are aiming to have Australia go to a seven-star rating, which involves some few thousand dollars per house for a great improvement in living standards and comfort of lifestyle and for a falling power bill. Very often, low-income earners will take up the housing that is being funded here. It is very important to recognise that not only the environment but also, through reduced power bills, the pockets of those people inhabiting the houses will win out as a result of energy efficiency.

Senator Hanson-Young has been very keen to ensure that there was a component for the Lower Murray, as was Senator Siewert. This proved to be very difficult, and there is, to say the least, resistance in government to bringing forward expenditure for the crisis faced by the Lower Murray, the Lower Lakes and the Coorong and by the people in that region. We want to see expenditure brought forward. We also—and this went to the wire—wanted to see water moved down the river to give the Lower Lakes a drink, because they are dying. However, the Minister for Climate Change and Water, Senator Wong, was not accommodating and resisted this right down the line. It is my understanding that as little as $9 million would provide 30 gigalitres to the lower river. However, that was not to be; it should be, and it is something we do not agree with the government on. In fact, we wanted to see a much bigger commitment than that. However, $10 million has been provided for bioremediation. This is to fix up the appalling state of the environment in the Lower Lakes region. From February to December this year, immediate funding for community driven bioremediation will tackle acid sulphate soil hot spots, effectively dealing with the acidification of already exposed soils. This bioremediation needs to be carried out immediately, and local people in the area who have lost their jobs because of the drought and low level of the lakes could be employed—and will be employed, as far as we are concerned—as new jobs are created to undertake this project.

There are some anomalies and inequities in the package which we wanted to—and, with the government, have been able to—address. The first is that there will be an extension of the training and learning bonus of $900 to students who enrol before 31 March and to postgraduate students. The government intended this to be so, and we are reassuring students who enrol after 3 February, the date in the package, that they are not going to miss out. We have gained reassurance for postgrad students that they also will be able to access that package.

As I said earlier, we have got agreement—and this is, let me say, Labor policy as well as Greens policy—to double the threshold of the liquid assets test waiting period for unemployed people from $2,500 to $5,000 for singles with no dependants and from $5,000 to $10,000 for others. That will cost some $20 million to $30 million, but it quite clearly (Extension of time granted) is a socially just measure. There will be $900 special payments—