Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Like most here last night, I went from the budget speech to the budget papers looking specifically for things that I thought I might find in this government's latest budget. The first thing I looked for was a commitment to the irrigators in my electorate, the Werribee South growers, to match the state contributions and the stakeholder contributions on an upgrade to the Bacchus Marsh and Werribee irrigation districts. I was sorely disappointed. A mere $11 million is required to ensure the completion of a complete upgrade, and the federal government should be prepared to make that contribution. But, no, it was not there.

To talk about our food bowl in Werribee South, we are 30 kilometres from Melbourne city centre. Our vegetable growers produce 85 per cent of the state's cauliflowers, 53 per cent of the broccoli and 34 per cent of the lettuce for major supermarket chains. This is a project that needs support from this federal government and yesterday they failed to deliver that support to the growers in my electorate—growers, I must say, that have done an enormous job for many years now, for decades now.

The growers do four crops a year in my electorate. It is fantastically resilient soil but it can only take high salinity levels for so long. The answer is in an upgrade to the irrigation channels; a replacement of concrete irrigation channels that are cracked and are losing 40 per cent of water through evaporation. They have put up with that, they have taken recycled water in a shandy mix and they have changed practices because of the high salinity levels. They need support now to get that upgraded. This government has it within its power to deliver for those growers and it needs to think about that. I did expect some commitments last night, given the national significance of our growing district. I am sorely disappointed, as I know our growers will be, that this government did not see fit to match its contribution and the state government's contribution to ensure that we continue to grow the vegetables, and that we continue to have the employment rates and the successful businesses in the area. There is a lot of talk today in this chamber about small businesses. Well the small business growers in my electorate would like some love from this government.

Obviously, I knew already of the $22 billion cut to education, to schools across the country, and I knew what that was going to mean to the 56 schools in my electorate. We were also already aware of the $3 billion cuts to universities. We were already aware that this government likes to kick kids while they are down and in the process was going to reduce the threshold for when loans would be repaid. It is just more sad news for people in my electorate.

What I was really expecting to see in last night's budget and what I am most bitterly disappointed about today is that they failed to deliver that centrepiece on housing affordability that they had teased the populace with over the last few months. They did not deliver on the federal levers that could impact positively on housing affordability. I represent a community that lives in a growth corridor, and we know a lot about housing affordability. We are one of the affordable areas of Melbourne's outer regions where people can still manage to put together some kind of a deposit and get themselves into some housing. But I laughed today at question time to hear that the Treasurer thinks that $30,000 will get you a deposit into the housing market in Melbourne, even in the outer western fringe. You cannot buy much for 300 grand in the outer west of Melbourne. I can only imagine what a $30,000 deposit would get you in Sydney.

So they have failed to do what they could have done, which is to use those federal levers to really have a positive impact. They have failed to put the plans that Labor put forward at the last election into this budget, and in so doing they have let down millions of young Australians who can no longer look forward to being part of the Australian dream and who now have to make a choice between their superannuation, a university degree and the increased cost there, and a deposit for a house. They have dreadfully failed the young people in this country in this budget—as they have failed women.

The last thing I looked for last night about which I thought we might see a glimmer of hope was a report somewhere in the budget about the impacts on women. Again this government failed in an area that had been highlighted for them to address. (Time expired)

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