Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, It is always a challenge being the last speaker on a Thursday night on the adjournment.

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

We’re listening.

Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you so much. I will attempt to keep you awake for a few minutes. I rise tonight to make a few comments about the budget that was delivered by the government this week and also to comment about some alternatives to that budget. As somebody who is old enough to remember budgets coming down under Labor, I can only say what a great budget this is for the nation. It is a very measured, sensible budget that delivers for people right across this nation in a whole range of areas. As I say, compared to those that we have seen over the years come from Labor, this is a real nation building, visionary budget that the people of this country are going to benefit from for years to come.

I think the starting point should be to look at when we came to government. I do not think enough people around this country realise what this government found when we came in. There was $96 billion of Labor debt. People around this country probably do not realise that, with that, was $8½ billion dollars worth of interest that this government had to pay because of Labor’s economic mismanagement. There is no way around that. That is just a fact. That is where we started.

Over the years, this government has shown very strong and very sound economic management—and it has not been easy; there have been some very difficult decisions that had to be made. This government is now in a position to be able to deliver the budget that we delivered. There was no magic and no tricks. It was just solid, hard work and a determination to make sure that we could get the economy right in this country. Congratulations and full credit to the Treasurer, yet again, for steering this nation on the right economic course so that not only this generation but also the next generation can benefit.

As a result of that sound economic management, we saw a budget that delivered in spades. I find it quite amusing that we have heard over the last couple of days, ‘It’s just a budget for the election.’ Last time I looked, we tend to have an election about every three years. So what are the critics saying? Are they saying that every third year we should not spend anything in the budget—because that will only be for the election? It is a load of rubbish. This is a well thought out, well planned budget that is going to deliver. And why shouldn’t the people of Australia be able to benefit from the hard work of this government and the financial gains? Why shouldn’t they be able to benefit from the $5 billion going into an education fund that is going to work in perpetuity, so that we can see capital works and research facilities in an ongoing way for years to come? And why shouldn’t they benefit from $22 billion worth of funding for road and rail infrastructure? To me, that is something they should have. I do not see that as an election grab; I see that as investment in the future of this nation. Investing in infrastructure is what we need to do.

What we are seeing from the other side is superficial statements about where they would go and what they would do, but there is nothing substantive. Tonight the Leader of the Opposition in his reply barely mentioned regional Australia. The last time I looked, about one-third of the people in this country lived out there, and Labor barely mentioned it. Labor does not care about the regions. They are focused on the cities and they will always be focused on the cities. That was shown tonight with the lack of comment or no mention virtually about anything for regional Australia from the Leader of the Opposition.

One of the great benefits that has come out of this budget is the funding for dental care. I want to particularly mention the funding for the rural dental school for Charles Sturt University. That $65 million for a new regional school for dental health is going to be great for the regions and great for the nation, because we know that if students go out to the regions and they practise out in the regions then they are far more likely to stay. We need to make sure that we do everything we can so that they do that. This government knows that. This government recognises that. That is what we need to do.

Interestingly, also, in terms of the environment, we have seen $2 billion for the Natural Heritage Trust, which is going to restore, conserve and sustainably manage our environment. This government comes under a bit of flak for not paying enough attention to the environment, but let me tell you that we do and we have been doing it for a long time. That is borne out in this budget. We are going to keep doing it. One of the things I was particularly pleased to see in this budget was the funding for an environmental stewardship initiative. This $50 million recognises the contribution that farmers make to the environment already. Labor would never understand that. They do not get it. But this government does. Our farmers every day are looking after the land. They deserve to be recognised and they are in this budget with this initiative. We are looking after the environment already. Farmers often get pilloried for being farmers, but most farmers—I would say by and large nearly all farmers—look after the land because they know that if they do not look after the land, the land will not look after them.

Interestingly, telecommunications was raised tonight by the Leader of the Opposition in his budget reply speech. I was fascinated to notice that it was merely a rerun of his press release in March. There was nothing new. It was just about the funding and what they were going to do—blah, blah, blah—for fibre to the node. There was, again, nothing substantive, no explanation, still saying nothing. The only thing we know is that they are going to rip $2.7 billion out of the Future Fund and completely wipe out the $2 billion communications fund that was specifically put there for telecommunications for rural and regional communities in the future. There was nothing more. Industry is still no further forward to knowing how on earth Labor plan to roll out their broadband plan.

What is really interesting is the fact that the telecommunications carriers are going to do it anyway. We have this extraordinary situation where Labor want to spend taxpayers’ money on a broadband initiative that private companies are going to pay for anyway. I think even Jack could figure out how stupid that is. What we need to do is let the competition work in the marketplace where it can and where it is and devote the government’s energies and the taxpayers’ dollars to where the market is not going to deliver. It is just another example of Labor’s ineptitude and inexperience and the fact that they will not be good for this country if they get into government. That is probably an understatement—there are probably much stronger words I should have used. This government is the government to lead this nation forward. People should not think about risking Labor on the other side to lead them forward.

Interestingly tonight the Leader of the Opposition started one of his sentences with, ‘There is nothing to hold us back as a nation, as a people ...’. I would have finished it slightly differently and said ‘except the Labor Party’, because we have a government now that has delivered sound economic management, sensible measures and experienced handling of the nation. Compare this to what we had back under the days of Labor when we had a leader who gave us a recession which apparently we had to have and then left us with a $96 billion debt. It does not take too much of a comparison to figure out that this is the government that should be leading this nation forward and that should continue to lead this nation forward. Under us we have half the rate of unemployment and half the inflation rate and we have mortgage rates that are on average 50 per cent lower than they were under Labor. There is no doubt this budget was a good budget; it was sensible, it was measured and it is the way forward for Australia. (Time expired)