Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2015-2016 and related bills. Every year on the second Tuesday in May the government of the day delivers its budget for the next 12 months. The aim of the budget is for the government to share its vision for our nation, set its goals and its priorities and then document how this will be achieved. Australia's budget needs to be a document that will guide the nation by setting a clear and defined direction for the future and by setting clear and obtainable goals. The government determines the type of nation it wants Australia to be into the future by allocations to a variety of areas and programs and, as such, shapes societal values which determine the type of society and democracy we are now and into the future.

Australia is a nation that has a reputation for being a strong democracy, and it is vitally important that this democracy is protected and nurtured. Furthermore, our democracy must represent the values and views of all Australians while at the same time ensuring that not one group is marginalised at the expense of another group. It is the role of a government in a democratic Australia to follow the democratic principles and govern for all Australians. Recently I was reading an article by Mitzi Bolton. She is doing a fellowship at the Crawford School at the ANU. In this article she said:

True democracy isn’t a sausage sizzle and a ballot box. It’s not a #QandA retweet or a Facebook ‘like’ of memes of the PM. It’s debating our future, and that of our children. It’s reflecting on our values and showing that we do have views and we want them to be considered. It’s taking action to ensure that the reality we want is brought to life.

That is the way I see a budget. It should encompass that view of democracy and those values and should meet the expectation of Australians that our government will take our democracy seriously and show vision and leadership.

There is an expectation that the government will share its vision with Australians, but on this occasion it was impossible to find a vision in the budget. There was no plan for the future—only political rhetoric. I was really disappointed with that. I could have accepted a vision. I could have accepted a plan that was different to mine, because the government has very different views to mine. But what I am so devastated about is that it has left Australia swimming like a headless fish, without any direction or any plan of where it is going. I believe that we in Australia deserve better. I believe the people of Australia deserve better. I think we as politicians need to show some leadership and make the point that, when it comes to the delivery of a budget, the budget is going to map out and deliver a real plan of what the people of Australia can expect.

The other thing that I am particularly upset about with this budget is that it does nothing to address the inequities and unfairness of the 2014 budget—in fact, it has actually built on that unfairness—and, as I said, there is no vision, no plan for the future and no attempt to restore fairness. It is a budget that delivers winners and losers. I am very supportive of small businesses. They play a very important role in Australia. I hope that the government's predictions of the small business sector providing more jobs comes to fruition. But the budget also targeted a number of people, and they became losers—families with young children. It entrenched the fact that the family tax benefit B would be taken from those families who can least afford it. It creates a situation where there are in-groups in our society that the government is prepared to work with and support, and out-groups that it is not prepared to support. The miners and the big end of town are the in-groups. The out-groups are those people who rely on government more than other people. They are people who are more marginal, who rely on welfare and who, on most occasions, would like to be employed.

Before coming into parliament, I spent a lifetime working with people who, for one reason or another, were unemployed. I even worked with people with disabilities who were unemployed. I know how hard it is. I have been out there with them trying to organise work. It is not because they do not want to work. What I find so upsetting is that this budget really stigmatises those people. It is not about the fact that we are taking away support for people that really rely on it; it is that the government is saying it is about getting people into work. My question for the government, and it is a very strong question, is: where are those jobs? Unemployment has increased. The government made a prediction that it would create one million more jobs. No way will it make that target! In addition to that, there have been so many jobs that have disappeared. It is really important that a government is honest with the Australian people. For the record, I would say that the only jobs that this budget is about are that the jobs of the Prime Minister and the Treasurer.

What about debt and deficit? Debt is at $39 billion. The deficit has doubled. The government has been borrowing money to pay for this. It is borrowing money. The debt is increasing. The deficit is increasing. The icing on the cake is when I hear every minister in the government standing downstairs and saying they are increasing spending on every item in the budget. How can the budget be showing savings, whilst on the other hand every minister is increasing spending? I will leave that question in the air and turn to couple of areas that I am particularly concerned about.

The cuts to schools and hospitals are unforgiveable. The rhetoric, and the doubletalk, that is used in this place to cover up for that is shameful. Our schools need to be funded properly. Our hospitals need to be funded properly. The fact that so many schools are struggling at the moment and so many families are struggling—and I will touch on families in a minute—is despicable. Added to that is that funding for skills and training has been cut in this budget. There is no money for apprentices, no money for upskilling workers and no funding for group training organisations. That is very sad, because this is all about skills; this is all about training; this is all about jobs.

I promised I would talk a little about families. The Treasurer was on Q&Aon Monday night as I am sure most people in this House are aware. I was on my way home from parliament and I got a phone call saying, 'Joe Hockey is going to take $20,000 away from me over four years. I can't afford that. My wife can't go to work. I do not know how I'm going to be able to afford that. I'm in that category where $65,000 a year is what my salary is. I work weekends to even get that sort of level of salary.' I think it is absolutely despicable. I urge the government to go out and talk to real people.

The NATSEM modelling that the government has ridiculed this week is real. Nine out of 10 of the poorest families are going to be worse off; nine out of 10 of the wealthiest families are going to be better off. Those nine out of 10 families fit into the category of that phone call I got from that person on Monday who does not have the opportunity. The person I was speaking to works very, very long hours and his wife is unable to work.

I think that the government really needs to take stock of what it has done, what it is doing, to families and Australians in this budget. It is not fair. It is creating groups of winners and losers—in groups, out groups. Those people are going to find it harder and harder to survive.

This budget has not created a vision for the future. I suspect the only vision revolves around winning the next election. We are better than that. We are much better than that. As a country, we should be looking at our future, trying to make it a strong country.

The Leader of the Opposition in his response highlighted a couple of areas: jobs for the new economy, coding in schools. Once again, the Prime Minister showed he did not really understand the issue, unlike the member for Wentworth who knows and understands that you must start learning those skills when you are actually in primary school.

I was talking to a young man at a surf club presentation on Saturday night, and he told me he wanted to be a computer programmer. I talked to him about coding, and he educated me to a degree. It is about being prepared to open your mind, look to the future, look to new ideas and to where the jobs are going to be in the future. I do not think we are doing that at the moment.

The Leader of the Opposition also highlighted how our future prosperity depends on entrepreneurship and developing new global markets for Australia. If we do not do that in the future, we are in danger of becoming a much smaller economy and a much poorer society where our people would live much more frugally.

Finally, the infrastructure for the future that was announced by the Leader of the Opposition is part of our plan—taking the politics out of infrastructure and putting the national interest at the heart of nation building. It should not be about putting money into marginal seats; it should be about a plan that is developed objectively and that is in the interests of Australia, not in the interest of being re-elected.

Probably the most complaints about the budget I received in my office were from seniors. I am sure that that was pretty common throughout Australia. It did not relate to superannuation; it related to the changes to the part pension. Pensioner after pensioner contacted me saying that they had made their decisions based on what was happening at the time. I do not think the government fully understands the implications of the changes that they have made. These are not people who are wealthy, but these are people who stand to lose 20 per cent or more of their income. The paid parental leave and the failure to invest in a domestic violence strategy are disappointments.

I would like to finish where I started, by saying: vision; plan. That is what this country needs—a vision for the future and a plan for the future so that jobs that we cannot even think of will be created for all Australians. We need a government that can show real leadership. We need a government that is there for all Australians. We need a government that is not going to favour one sector over another. We need a government that delivers budgets that deliver for each and every Australian.

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