Anne McEwen (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

and incredulous. Mr Acting Deputy President, I would ask Senator Birmingham through you: how do you not realise that, in order to reach out and give that helping hand to those people in need, you cannot start by cutting their benefits, particularly those of unemployed people. That does not assist them to get back into the economy. That does not assist them to get back to work; it throws them on the scrap heap. How do you not realise that the Abbott government's vicious cuts will hit South Australians hard, in particular, by slashing funding to South Australian hospitals, with some $655 million having gone from South Australian hospitals? How many beds will have to be closed in South Australia? How many extra people are going to front up to the emergency services department in South Australian hospitals because they cannot afford the $7 GP tax? The South Australian government has done some modelling on this already. They estimate that waiting times in emergency departments in South Australian hospitals will increase threefold because people are forced to go to the emergency departments of hospitals because they cannot afford the $7 GP tax.

I have had quite a bit of correspondence from people across South Australia complaining about the budget and giving me their personal account of how it is going to negatively affect them. Sue, who lives in the Barker electorate, said that as a chronic asthmatic with osteoarthritis in both knees and her wrist, she will be unable to afford to pay the $7 GP tax every time she needs to get a prescription. Furthermore, she said that, on top of that, rather than having to pay more to fill those prescriptions, she will just have to live with the pain. Julie, who lives in Boothby, is a single mum with two children, who works four days a week and is also a full-time student. She lives in public housing. She has seen a 25 per cent increase in her food bills and cost of living over the last year. Her six-year-old daughter has diabetes, so Julie has added financial pressures from her medication requirements and utilities expenses. She said:

If any more financial burden is passed on to me, such as costs of medical visits, increase in diabetic pump consumables, the loss of Family Tax part B, we will be in a very serious dilemma.

She is not alone. Any additional expenditure for Julie and her daughter will be something that she will find unbearable, and clearly something else will have to give so that she can afford to purchase those essential medications for herself and her daughter. Julie further stated:

I don't think the present government—

that is, the Abbott government—

has ANY idea what it is like for those who ARE doing their best to do all the right things and STILL not being able to get ahead, or in their case, being a lot worse off. It is the difference between putting food on the table, or going to the doctor or even having to access charities—

go begging to charities—

to obtain food or assistance.

Unfortunately, Julie's and Sue's stories are just scraping the surface of the number of South Australian people that will be affected by this unfair and cruel budget. I have heard plenty of other stories from people in similar situations.

Perhaps most significant for me was the reaction of people who live in Barker, a regional seat and one of my duty electorates. Barker has always been a Liberal-held seat. In the days and weeks following the budget, the Letters to the Editor section of the newspapers were anything but Liberal-leaning, I have to say. It was extraordinary to see in those letters and messages to regional newspapers in Barker the amount of anger aimed at the coalition government that bubbled up and spilt off the pages. It was unlike anything I had seen before in South Australia. Clearly people who live in the regions know they have been dudded by the government that they supported, because the government lied to them before the election.

Another thing that has resonated in particular with regional South Australians is the cuts to the ABC. As we all know, the ABC is valued, if not loved, by regional Australians, who understand how important it is to have an independent broadcaster subsidised, if you like, by government and by the taxpayers of Australia to provide essential news services and other information services in regional Australia. We know that privately owned news media and other media outlets are withdrawing from providing comprehensive services into regional Australia. Again, I have been inundated with comments, emails and letters from people in regional South Australia and the Barker electorate saying, 'Please, protect our ABC.' Before the election, the Prime Minister clearly stated that there would be no cuts to the ABC. We have heard that quote reiterated many times in this chamber. And what was one of the first things Prime Minister Tony Abbott did? He cut $232 million from the ABC budget. The managing director of the ABC has clearly indicated that this is going to have an adverse effect on the services of the ABC. We also know that that is not the end to the cuts to the ABC. There is more to come.

I want to touch on a couple of other facets of the budget—in particular, the threat the budget poses to the vital defence industry in South Australia. We know that defence industries in South Australia contribute $2.5 billion to the state's economy and will employ over 38,000 people by 2020, if they are funded properly. But after the budget the future of those jobs in South Australia is in doubt. South Australia currently holds 25 per cent of the nation's defence projects, including the largest defence project on record, the Air Warfare Destroyer Project. There is also the Future Submarine Project. We have been asking the Minister for Defence what will happen to that, and what the impact will be in South Australia. So far we have had no solace from the responses of the Minister for Defence, who is clearly preparing to walk away from South Australia. In South Australia we also have the significant presence of the Defence Science and Technology Organisation at RAAF Base Edinburgh, another defence installation vital to the South Australian economy. We are concerned about the future of that magnificent research institution. As I mentioned in the chamber last week, we are desperately worried about the future of the shipbuilding industry in Australia and desperately worried that shipbuilding in Australia will be tossed aside by this federal government in favour of purchasing ships from overseas.

I also want to highlight the effect that this budget will have on our veterans. The government seems quite happy to gradually erode our veterans' pensions and benefits, despite that fact that the Prime Minister, before the election, said that there would be no cuts to pensions. This budget clearly includes cuts to pensions, and to veterans' pensions as well. The Veterans' Affairs budget itself has been cut by more than $100 million, down from Labor's record $12.5 billion in the 2013-14 budget. The Seniors Supplement for veterans will be scrapped. The supplement helps them pay for energy, telephone, internet, rates, water and sewerage, so its scrapping will just add to the pain of trying to live on a pension. Veterans will also suffer from the reductions in other support measures relating to medical and pharmaceutical benefits in various local and state government concessions, unless state governments step up to the mark and fund them out of their own budgets. It is disappointing when we see coalition members ready to wrap themselves in the Australian flag and declare their support for Australian veterans on one hand and then on the other hand support a budget that targets veterans who rely on pensions to live.

Last week's South Australian state budget revealed the true cost to South Australia of the Prime Minister's broken election promises—a massive $5.5 billion in cuts to our schools and hospitals over the next decade and a $123 million cut to pensioner concession funding over the next four years. Liberal cuts are going to really hurt South Australian families. On this side of the chamber, we are prepared to stand up for South Australian families and we will continue to fight against the worst aspects of this budget. As has been said, we will support the appropriation bills. That is a responsible thing to do, but that will not stop us fighting every step of the way to restore fairness and equity to the Australian budget. There is no need for a budget that is unfair and cruel, as this one is. I look forward to working with all of my colleagues to ensure that we ameliorate the worst aspects of this budget. I call upon coalition senators from South Australia to stand up for their state.