Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to speak on these two appropriation bills, the Appropriation Bill 2016-17 No. 3 and Appropriation Bill 2016-17 No. 4. We know on this side that this package of bills is necessary to ensure the ordinary functions of government continue for the remainder of the 2016-17 financial year. We understand that, and we are a responsible opposition. However, the members on this side, as we always have, will continue to call out any unfair policies and any unfair decisions that are made by this government, and I have to say there are many.

Make no mistake: the current government remains committed to many of those unfair Abbott-Hockey decisions from that era, and those measures that were made back then, which are still on the table for this particular government. Some of those nasties that we saw are still there. For example, we know they want to increase the pension age for hardworking Australians right through to 70-years-old, the oldest pension age in the developed world. There is no other nation in the developed world where people retire at the age of 70.

They want to abolish the energy supplement for millions of pensioners, families, people with disability, carers and Newstart recipients—something that will actually affect their hip pocket. It will affect people when they are budgeting for their weekly bills and for their food. When you take away that energy supplement, those people will suffer, and it will make a real difference to them.

Something that is affecting my electorate quite a bit—and I am sure the member for Parramatta would agree with me on this one—is the cut to the age pension for pensioners born overseas when they spend an extended period of time visiting their family and friends overseas. This is something that is very wrong. When you are retired and a pensioner and you decide to move to Queensland for a holiday, where it is a bit warmer in the middle of winter, that is fine. That is great—and rightly so: people should be allowed to do these things. But, if you are, for example, of Italian or Vietnamese origin and you want to go for a bit of extended holiday when you have retired and you are a pensioner, we are saying: 'No, you can't. You can't do that. You can't go and visit family and friends' or 'You can't escape the very cold winter months to go and spend a few weeks or months—maybe even two months—in the northern hemisphere.' These people should be allowed to do that. They have worked all their lives and they have paid their taxes here, yet we are punishing them, and it is very wrong. I am being approached every single day by people in my electorate who are outraged by this particular measure of this government. It is wrong and it should not be taking place. People should have the right when they are retired and on a pension to be able to spend as much time as they like in any part of the world.

This government also wants to scrap the pension education supplement and the education entry payment. We have also seen that they have yet to reverse the Medicare freeze. It is obvious they do not want to reverse that freeze, which will put pressure on people seeing their doctors. We have heard about the $30 billion Gonski cuts, which are there for our students and for our young people to ensure that they are given a really good foundation in education, so they are able to go on and meet the high-tech jobs that will be there in the future. The government will cut family payments, leaving one million families worse off once these cuts take effect, and will also cut parental leave for around 70,000 new mums.

All of these cuts will have detrimental effects on people in my electorate and on people in every electorate in the country. We know that budgets are about priorities, but the Turnbull government has made it extremely clear where its priorities lie. Their priorities lie in giving a $50 billion tax cut to the wealthiest people in Australia while at the same time making all of those cuts that I have just mentioned. They side with the multinational corporations and the big banks who have been making billions of dollars in profits. They offer big business $50 billion in tax cuts while making Newstart recipients wait weeks before they can access payments. This is just wrong.

In the recent energy debate, as we have heard a lot in my state of South Australia, and in some of the debates that have been taking place, the government has absolutely shown that South Australia is not their priority. The Prime Minister has repeatedly mocked and ridiculed my state over blackouts without offering any solutions whatsoever. It is one thing to be critical of a particular policy, but you also have to back it up with what your plans are. In this case we have not seen a single plan from the federal government or the Prime Minister. All they have been doing is repeatedly mocking South Australia.

They have got in for SA. We saw it in the lead up to the 2013 election, and then straight after when they chased Holden out of the state. We then saw them continuously back down on a promise on the 12 submarines to be made in South Australia. It was only when the member for Sturt's job was at risk that they then came on board. I do not know why they have got it in for South Australia, but here is another example. It was only after the Premier of South Australia announced an outstanding policy to provide SA with energy security that the Prime Minister was compelled to make an announcement—without any backing; just something in 10 years that may or may not take place.

This is a lack of regard for my state of South Australia. It is also reflected in the decline in road funding that our state receives. This means that many important road projects in my state are not getting funded. In this respect, the government needs to restore the financial assistance grants indexation and restore a fair share of local roads funding for South Australia. Financial assistance grants are a vital payment from the Commonwealth to local councils; in fact, they make up part of the revenue base of all councils. These untied payments are essential and allow local councils to provide a reasonable level of service to local residents. These funds are used to maintain a range of different infrastructure projects, including local roads, bridges, parks, swimming pools and libraries.

In 2010 we were very successful in my electorate under the then Gillard government in getting a $6.5 million grant for the King Street Bridge—a brand new bridge. The old bridge had what was then called 'concrete cancer' and had been shut down. The residents could not get any funding for it for many years under the Howard government. They tried and tried, but it took a Labor government to get the funding for that particular bridge. As well as roads and bridges, community halls that service young people, pensioners and elderly community groups are funded by these grants.

The federal government decided in the 2014-15 budget to freeze the indexation of the financial assistance grants for three years. Over this time, almost $1 billion will be taken out of Australian communities, and the total grant space will be reduced by about 13 per cent. This has had a dire impact on my community. Metropolitan councils are also affected, albeit not to the same extent as regional communities. For example, in 2014-15 and 2016-17, four councils within my electorate of Hindmarsh—Holdfast Bay, West Torrens, Charles Sturt and Marion—face a combined loss of $700,000 to $800,000. This is a lot of money for councils. The government has so far been silent on whether it would respect the implied agreement, that the freeze would end after three years, and whether we will see the indexation recommence in 2017-18. We are yet to hear and that worries me.

I am calling on the government to come clean about whether it will restore the indexations as indicated in the budget papers. This will go some way to addressing the discrepancy in the share of the local roads funding component of the financial assistance grants that South Australian councils receive. For years SA has received less road funding than any other state. This is manifestly very unfair and means that important road improvement projects cannot be carried out. The disadvantage was recognised in 2003 by a House of Representatives standing committee which agreed that the historical funding formula lacked transparency. It was rectified by successive federal governments via an annual supplementary payment to South Australia. However, this was discontinued in 2015, having a detrimental effect on South Australia and bringing South Australia back to the bottom of the pile. Not only has this decision not been explained satisfactorily by the Turnbull government but also they have not offered an alternative solution to the problem.

Together with local councils in my electorate, I am calling on the Turnbull government to re-establish a fairer share of local road funding for South Australia, indexed annually and funded via a top-up to the total grants pool. This would allow councils to access vital funding to carry out important road upgrades. Many road upgrades are needed. One that is needed more than anything in my electorate is the West Beach Road in West Beach, west of the airport. Together with local residents of West Beach and councils, I have been calling for the problems along West Beach Road to be addressed. Applications for funding have been repeatedly ignored by this government since 2014 and, since then, the problems just keep getting worse. West Beach Road has become a high-traffic thoroughfare connecting the beach and major sporting and retail facilities, the airport and a whole range of other areas. Recent improvements include the construction of a new adventure park at West Beach. The Adelaide Shores Caravan Park at West Beach means more motorists travel along this road more often. In addition, the West Beach boat ramp is one of the only facilities boat users can launch their craft from in the metropolitan area, the construction of Harbour Town, airport retail precincts and an increase in passenger traffic at Adelaide airport have contributed, and more nonlocal motorists use West Beach Road to avoid traffic congestion on Tapleys Hill Road.

West Beach Road was built for low volumes of traffic to serve the local residents, not as a major thoroughfare to avoid arterial roads which are designed to keep high volumes of traffic moving. As a consequence, I have received numerous complaints from concerned residents, and rightly so, about the congestion. We surveyed the local residents and the main concerns raised included limited visibility when the traffic is bumper to bumper, speeding and poor road conditions. Specifically, residents reported a high number of accidents, car damage and near accidents. For example, residents reported extreme difficulty seeing traffic coming down West Beach Road when exiting driveways or turning from side streets due to the number of cars parked along the road. There have been numerous serious near misses as a result of drivers driving on the wrong side of the road. They think the road is a dual carriageway and swerve at the last minute from oncoming traffic. Increased use of the road is causing significant damage to the road's surface, adding to the likelihood of potential accidents. These are things that the financial assistance grants could help with. This is not just a group of residents complaining; this is a serious road safety issue for those residents. The major sporting and tourist facilities mean that many families, children, the elderly and visitors use the road. Buses drive along the road and cyclists face a dangerous commute.

I have long advocated for an upgrade to West Beach Road, but I feel the situation has become very, very serious over the last three years. West Beach Road needs to be upgraded urgently and it needs to be upgraded now to keep up with the significant changes and growth in the area. This includes, for example, improved and safer access, safety for the residents along West Beach Road, a review of the parking arrangements on both sides of West Beach Road, and improved walking and cycling routes. The City of West Torrens and City of Charles Sturt councils share the responsibility of the road—the border is in the middle of the road—and have previously made applications for federal funding to upgrade it urgently. Unfortunately, these requests have been denied; they have fallen on deaf ears. It is time that the federal government turns its attention to this area and funds this road.

I welcome the commitment by the federal government to making $500 million available for the Black Spot Programs. They have also made an additional $200 million available from 2015-16 to combat the rising national road toll, under the National Road Safety Strategy and its action plan. I am hoping that some of this funding will be directed to improve the conditions of West Beach Road, to make the lives of those who live along West Beach Road and around West Beach Road a bit easier, and that safety is improved on that road to ensure that people are safe when they are coming out of their driveways, heading back home or using West Beach Road.

This is just one example of many projects that could be undertaken for the betterment of local residents if the Turnbull government restores the indexation of the Financial Assistance Grants, and addresses the unfair allocation of road funding to South Australia. But we have come to expect nothing else from this government, a government that has completely lost its way. The government could have improved the budget and locked in Australia's prized AAA credit rating at MYEFO by doing two things: abandoning its $50 billion tax giveaway to the biggest businesses and banks in Australia, and adopting Labor's sensible proposals to reform negative gearing and capital gains tax breaks.

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