Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I like the member for Canberra. She is a good friend of mine even though she represents the wrong side of politics. I just want to give the member for Canberra a bit of hope that there is a vision for this country. It is summed up very succinctly. I know the member for Canberra has a busy schedule so I will get this out of the way quickly, so she can move on to other things.

For this government the vision is about lower taxes, lower spending, economic growth, jobs and innovation. Your vision on the other side is for higher taxes and higher spending. That is what Labor has only ever represented—higher taxes and higher spending. When they were last in government that is all we saw—six years of higher taxes and higher spending. It leaves us—this current government—with the job of fixing the budget. So thank you, member for Canberra, for your contribution to this debate.

Earlier, the member for Lalor, in her contribution, referred to 50 measures that are on the table by those opposite. It is interesting to reflect that most of them are not savings. They are not savings at all. Those opposite have developed this wonderful capacity to turn the term 'savings' into tax increases. They spent six years perfecting that technique and they still roll it out today. They say, 'We're going to make all of these wonderful savings. We're going to improve the budget bottom line.' But the end result for the Australian people is higher taxes and higher spending.

As the member for Page quite rightly pointed out in his contribution, we have a duty—not only for the current generation but for future generations in this country—to leave this country in a sound financial and economic condition. We will leave an inheritance for those future generations. The question is: what is the inheritance that we will leave? Will it be it one that is positive, that allows those future generations to move forward in growing the country and realising the great opportunities this country presents? Or will it be an inheritance that those opposite would like to see, full of debt and deficit and higher spending and higher taxes, which those future generations will have to deal with and pay for?

There is a clear difference between this government and those opposite, in that, as the Australian economy undergoes a transition from the mining and construction boom to an economy that is built on the export of services and agriculture—and agriculture in this country has been an enormous foundation for economic wealth for decades, if not the past hundred years or longer—we are seeking to ensure that our economy, as it becomes more diversified and more innovative, actually has the financial capacity and flexibility to adjust to changing circumstances in a global environment.

In that regard, we have already started to see some of the benefits of the free trade agreements with China, Japan and South Korea and, more recently, the Trans-Pacific Partnership. I have seen locally the benefits of positive sentiment. We have seen announcements over the last little while in my electorate of Forde of multimillion dollar investments in our local communities—over $300 million in an integrated residential and commercial centre in Beenleigh, funded entirely by private investment. And there was an announcement prior to Christmas by Zarraffa's. For those of you who do not know Zarraffa's, they make wonderful coffee, so, when you are next in in Queensland and you get the opportunity, grab some great coffee at Zarraffa's. They are looking to move their global headquarters, as well as other parts of their business, to a building in my electorate of Forde, at Eagleby, right next door to the Beenleigh Rum distillery, which is the oldest operating rum distillery in Australia.

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