Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Madam Acting Deputy President, thank you for the opportunity to respond to the opposition's MPI. I am very happy to have the opportunity to place on record the benefits of the Gillard government's budget, a budget to ensure the long-term future of all Australians, and I congratulate Treasurer Wayne Swan on this budget. The Gillard government's budget of 2011-12 will strengthen the Australian economy, creating jobs and opportunities. We said this would be a tough budget, and it is. However, the Gillard government is delivering for Australian families with increased flexibility and fair and sustainable financial support. We will deliver a further $300 a year of the low-income tax offset into pay packets and not at the end of the year. Extra support is also being directed to families with an increase in family tax benefit part A of up to $4,208 per year for older teenagers and $3,741 per year for 18- and 19-year-olds in school. We understand the costs associated with raising children and we know that you cannot plan for unexpected expenses. For this reason we will be offering a $1,000 advance for family tax benefit part A to Australian families at any time to cover those unexpected costs. he government is providing more support for low- and middle-income families raising children through our election commitments to increase family assistance to support teenagers in school; making advance payments more flexible; and encouraging parents to get health checks for their children before they start school. Finding a way to include these important measures in a budget that makes a substantial saving to return to surplus in 2012-13 shows the strength and the discipline of the government's commitment to supporting Australian families.

The FTB part A will only be available for families where their teenager is in full-time study, secondary study or vocational equivalent. This government is committed to ensuring Australian youth have access to the best possible educational opportunities. This funding is aimed at helping youth stay in school until at the least year 12. This government believes that having the building blocks for further education or vocational training is essential for the youth of Australia. The families of around 650,000 teenagers turning 16 over the next five years could benefit from substantial increases if the young person stays in school. Family tax benefit will be the primary payment for dependent full-time secondary students living at home. Youth allowance will continue to be available for those children who meet other eligibility criteria.

This has been a budget that required us to make difficult choices and create savings where possible. However, our commitment to supporting Australian families is obvious. The Gillard government is committed to supporting families through increased funding aimed at education and training, placing industry at the heart of the training effort with a new $558 million National Workforce Development Fund. $233 million will be aimed at supporting the very long-term unemployed move back into employment through the Building Australia's Future Workforce package. Would the coalition prefer people to stay on welfare and struggle to make their lives meaningful? It is very easy to forget the day-to-day benefits of employment when all you have are concerns with political spin. The more Australians we encourage to get into the workforce, the larger our tax base will be. This gives us additional funding to spend in areas of necessity such as health and education.

There is nothing the government can do to assist a family more than to have those family members eligible to work having a job. The Gillard government is reforming the apprenticeship system to make it more modern and flexible, including accelerating apprenticeships and mentoring support. It is increasing workforce participation by getting disadvantaged Australians the skills they need to get a job—something the opposition had plenty of opportunity to do over the 11½ years those opposite sat on the government benches. We know and industry know, as the Australian community know, that they failed to do anything. They failed to provide the skills this country needed. Those on the opposition benches should hang their heads in shame because we are reaping the disadvantages of those 11½ years of the Howard government.

Mental health has been a focus of this budget, something I know we all welcome in this chamber. $2.5 billion has been committed over the next five years to improve and establish an array of community mental health services. This is, once again, another area that those opposite had 11½ years to do something about but failed miserably in. They should be ashamed of themselves. To come in here with the hypocrisy that they have demonstrated thus far is shameful. But the Australian people do see through them.

The Gillard government has also understood the importance of easy, accessible, quality health care and as a result will invest $1.8 billion to improve regional health infrastructure through the Health and Hospitals Fund regional priorities round. This funding will be directly helping people in my home state of Tasmania, where $240 million has been allocated to the Royal Hobart Hospital. Funding has also been allocated to Cygnet and Sheffield.

Senator Bushby interjecting—

I am surprised—no, I should not be surprised, Senator Bushby, at your interjection, because we know your record on standing up for Tasmania. This expansion will particularly benefit people with mental illness living in regional and remote Australia who have access to psychological and related services, with referrals through general practitioners.

Keeping Australians engaged and connected with their communities and fam­ilies is of high importance to this govern­ment. Thousands of older Australians will be able to stay connected to their family and friends through free access to broadband internet, with continued funding under the Gillard government's successful Broadband for Seniors initiative. This government will invest a further $10.4 million over four years to 30 June 2015 to keep supporting the 2,000 Broadband for Seniors kiosks already established across this country.

This is a budget that will ensure we are on track for a surplus in 2012-13. This is despite dealing with the new challenges to our finances that come from natural disasters and the lingering effects of the GFC. The budget will also train Australians for better jobs and spread the opportunities of the mining boom. Our government has a track record for getting the big economic calls right. Our policy responses helped protect hundreds of thousands of Australian jobs—

Opposition senators interjecting—

Those opposite can laugh, because we know what their solution was with the GFC—and that was to keep your head in the sand, sit back and do nothing. The Australian people have their jobs. We have Australian workers still working because we took the action that was needed. We protected Australian jobs and businesses from the worst global financial downturn in 75 years. Now we are putting the settings right to deal with the pressures and to build our economy.

The contrast with the performance of Tony Abbott and the coalition cannot be more stark. He has a knack of getting the big economic calls wrong: whether it is the GFC, the flood recovery package or health reform. That is what makes them such a risk to the bottom line, to jobs and our economy. For the party that once claimed the high moral ground for fiscal responsibility, they would now struggle to get a seat even at the Mad Hatter's tea party! All the coalition do is oppose. They oppose everything and support nothing. They say this budget is too tough and then they say it is not tough enough. The aim is to cause political division and confusion within the community. But the Australian people are much smarter than that and in fact very much smarter than those opposite. aybe it is about time the coalition thought about the Australian community rather than their own selfish interests. And what I have to say to the chamber and to those listening today it is that I encourage Australians to listen in tomorrow night to what I hope will be an alternative budget put up, because it would be the first time that has happened. We want to know where the savings are coming from, because those opposite cannot have it both ways and they cannot just attack the Public Service in this country. They will not be able to do that because the Australian community sees through them. The Australian community sees how ineffective those opposite are and they are also very much aware of the three Stooges that lead the coalition's financial team.