Kirsten Livermore (Capricornia, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am delighted to have this opportunity to speak today on the Rudd government’s first budget, delivered last night. I want to start by congratulating the Treasurer, Wayne Swan, for his magnificent work in creating a budget that delivers on each and every one of Labor’s election commitments and sets Australia on the path to meet the challenges of the future. In my electorate we have welcomed significant investments in our local sporting infrastructure and health services, just to name a few of the budget initiatives. Each of the election commitments for Capricornia has been honoured in full.

We also set out in this budget to relieve financial pressure on families, on workers and those on low incomes such as pensioners and carers. We did that because we know that many Australians are struggling with the legacy of the previous government—12 interest rate hikes in a row and the highest inflation this country has seen for 16 years. It is absolutely ironic therefore that the opposition should choose today’s topic for the MPI. Here they are accusing the government of failing to address the cost-of-living pressures on Australian families. How can they say that with a straight face? Members of the opposition have shown time and time again that they have no idea about the financial pressures Australian families are under and certainly no intention of doing anything to help alleviate those pressures. Let us not forget that until a few weeks ago the opposition’s answer to Australians’ financial pressures was Work Choices. According to them the answer to financial pressure was job insecurity and AWAs that stripped away basic entitlements and reduced take home pay.

As we have heard from previous speakers, the budget is full of measures that go directly to relieving the cost-of-living pressures on Australian families. There are the tax cuts, of course; there is increased assistance for childcare costs; there is important help with education expenses and additional measures for seniors and carers. And of course these measures will all be delivered within an overall budget framework of cuts to government spending and investment in things like education, training and infrastructure—all aimed at reducing the capacity constraints and inflationary pressures that the previous government ignored for so long.

In the time I have left I want to commend the government for one set of measures announced in last night’s budget that will address a problem of particular concern in my electorate and one which has a huge impact on household budgets. I am talking about housing affordability. This is something else that the opposition completely ignored during its time in office. Who could forget the interview on 30 July last year when the then Treasurer was asked:

Do you concede that there is a housing crisis, housing affordability crisis in Australia at the moment?

The then Treasurer and member for Higgins waffled on, but when pressed by the journalist saying, ‘So is there a crisis, Treasurer?’ the member for Higgins replied, ‘Well, no.’ Try as they did to convince the Australian people that there was not a housing crisis in Australia, in November last year the Australian people told members opposite that yes, there is a housing crisis and, in so doing, removed many of them from this House. In fact, one might say that the Liberal Party, which in 2007 denied that we had a housing crisis, was justifiably evicted from this House not only for its failure to do something about the problem but also for its failure to even acknowledge the existence of the housing problem. It was just a sign of how out of touch and arrogant the opposition had become after 12 years in office.

The cost of houses and the high cost of renting are impossible to ignore in my electorate where the coal boom has brought many opportunities but many pressures as well, particularly for those people not directly employed in the industry. The issue of access to affordable housing is especially critical in the mining towns themselves, where a three-bedroom house could cost as much as $800 to $1,000 per week to rent. But we have seen the flow-on effect in nearby cities such as Rockhampton and Mackay. Not all people are earning mining town wages, but they are all paying mining town rent. It is impossible for a postie, a baker, a nurse, a council worker in many parts of central Queensland to survive.

The previous government was happy to pocket the proceeds of the mining boom but could not care less about the living conditions of the men and women actually making the boom happen. In contrast, this government not only recognises that there is a problem, but in its budget last night, also set about tackling housing affordability and homelessness with a budget housing package investing $2.2 billion over the next four years on boosting rental stocks, helping people save for their first home and building new homes for the homeless.

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