Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise tonight in the debate on the Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2006-2007 to speak on behalf of all the people in the electorate of Richmond. This budget has failed the people of Richmond, and it has also failed the people of Australia. What is very disappointing about this budget is that it does nothing to address the real issues that people confront in their day-to-day lives. The reality for most people is that the Treasurer’s $10 tax cut has already gone through rising interest rates, through petrol price hikes, through the ever-increasing health insurance premiums and also through cuts to wages and overtime caused by the Howard government’s extreme workplace laws.

It really is a short-sighted budget that does nothing to invest in Australia’s future. It does nothing to shore up our competitiveness on the international stage, it does nothing to address our massive skills crisis, it does nothing to address our shortage of aged care services and it has no national plan to restore our crumbling infrastructure. It also fails to deliver world-class telecommunications services to regional Australia, where they are so desperately needed. This budget does not help parents access decent, affordable child care and it does not help our young people get trained, educated or qualified.

Unfortunately for the people in the electorate of Richmond, the Treasurer does not think that Australians living in regional areas are at all relevant because, in his 4,000-word budget speech, he did not mention the word ‘regional’ even once. That was very disappointing for the many people who actually live in regional Australia. This budget will not fix regional shortages of doctors and nurses, it will not fix the skyrocketing price of petrol and it will not bring our telecommunications services up to scratch.

I want to speak on behalf of all the young people in my electorate who are now facing a future of limited choice because of the Howard government’s lack of vision for the future of Australia. Right now in my electorate, as is the case right across the nation, we are facing a massive skills crisis and businesses are calling out for more skilled workers everywhere. There simply are not enough plumbers, electricians, builders, child-care workers, nurses and other health professionals. The Reserve Bank is sounding alarm bells and has clearly identified this shortage of skilled workers as one of the most significant constraints on the economy and a factor that is putting pressure on inflation and upward pressure on interest rates.

Despite this great demand for skilled labour, we have soaring youth unemployment, particularly within regional areas. Within Richmond, our local teenage unemployment hovers at about 36 per cent. That is an appalling rate. That is one in three young people who are looking for a job and cannot get one. Here is the current situation: we have a skills crisis on one hand and young people who cannot get a job on the other. And the reality is that this situation has come about because for 10 long years the Howard government has refused to properly invest in vocational education and training. In fact, the Howard government has actually decreased spending in this area. Australia is the only developed country in the world that has reduced public investment in university and TAFE since 1996. This situation is nothing short of appalling. Australia’s skills crisis is the result of bad economic management and bad policy by the Howard government.

As reported by the Productivity Commission, recurrent public spending on vocational education and training dropped by 3.1 per cent in 2004. The total number of vocational education and training students decreased by 6.6 per cent between 2000 and 2004. Real government recurrent expenditure per student hour decreased from $20.18 in 2000 to $19.12 in 2004. We know that 300,000 Australians have been turned away from TAFE since 1998, and students are now facing $100,000 university degrees. We used to be called the ‘clever country’, but our Prime Minister’s vision for Australia is not very grand at all. His vision involves importing cheap labour from overseas and stripping workers here of their rights and conditions at work. The Howard government has increased skilled migration by 270,000 since 1996 but has turned away 300,000 Australians from TAFE. The Howard government’s decision to ignore training and education is an extraordinary display of arrogance and incompetence when everyone from the Reserve Bank to the OECD is sounding alarm bells on the dangers of ignoring the skills crisis. It is our young people who are bearing the brunt of this.

In contrast to what we are seeing the Howard government doing, federal Labor are committed to investing in education and vocational education and fixing the skills crisis. Federal Labor will improve the competitiveness of our nation by improving the skills of our young people so they can reach their potential. Federal Labor will invest in schools and vocational education to offer young people better choices and greater opportunities. This will be done through establishing the skills account to cover the cost of up-front TAFE fees for traditional trade apprentices and child-care trainees. We will create more real apprenticeships, and we will offer young people better choice by teaching trades, technology and science in first-class facilities and ridding our schools of outdated workshops. We will encourage more apprentices to finish their training by providing a $2,000 trade completion bonus to the 60,000 traditional apprentices who commence training every year. If that only halves the current drop-out rate it will mean an extra 10,000 qualified tradespeople in our workplaces every year.

The Howard government is indeed so out of touch that it thinks it can address our skills shortage and the youth unemployment with its backward and extreme industrial relations changes. We need to compete with overseas developing economies by addressing our skills crisis and improving the skills of Australian workers. Australian businesses, students and workers deserve a federal government that is serious about addressing our skills crisis and serious about investing in vocational education and training. Instead, the Howard government is not only ignoring the skills crisis but also damaging the job security and conditions of so many locals in Richmond due to its extreme industrial relations changes. Only federal Labor is committed to ripping up these unfair laws and restoring fairness and security to the workplace.

Another major issue in my electorate is child care. The lack of affordable child-care as a result of this government’s short-sighted policies is a huge barrier to improving participation rates in the workforce. Local families are often telling me of the difficulties they have in accessing affordable child care as they are struggling to balance their work and family responsibilities. Without access to decent, affordable child care, women especially are affected, because they simply cannot get back into the workforce. I know of many women who have spoken of the difficulties they are having and how they are limiting the number of children they may have because they know that child care is not available to them.

The message to the federal government could not be clearer: fix the child-care system and fix it now. Families are calling for it, industry groups are calling for it, federal Labor has been calling for it and even one of the Howard government’s own backbenchers has been calling for it. With all of these people calling for it, why do the Treasurer and the Prime Minister not understand what everyone is saying—or are they just refusing to listen to what everyone is saying?

When you look at the 2006 federal budget, it is very clear that the Howard government have not the slightest interest in actually reforming the child-care sector and providing decent, affordable child care. In this budget the Treasurer offered families nothing that will actually lead to a real extra child-care place, nothing to make child care a single cent cheaper and nothing to address the lack of child-care workers. There was also nothing to address the child-care rebate debacle that they have created, with so many families waiting such a long time to get that rebate when they desperately need the money.

Only federal Labor is committed to fixing the child-care crisis—not only because it is important to address the needs of everyday working families, but also to ensure a strong, sustainable national economy. Industry groups and federal Labor agree that Australia’s economy desperately needs more skilled workers and that affordable and accessible child care is crucial to encouraging more skilled people into the workforce.

Federal Labor has a plan for Australia’s future and child care has a central position within this plan. Only federal Labor will address the national shortage of child-care workers by getting rid of TAFE fees and by building 260 new child-care centres on school grounds to remove the dreaded double drop-off that so many parents talk to me about, when they have school age kids and young kids and are having to race all around the place dropping them off, taking up a lot of their time.

Federal Labor will also fund local councils to establish single waiting lists for local child-care centres rather than parents having to be forever phoning different child-care centres finding out if a place is available. Federal Labor will get rid of the red tape so unused, outside school hours, holiday and family day care places can be quickly transferred to where they are needed. Federal Labor is also committed to fixing the child-care rebate so parents can get this rebate earlier, not having to wait months and months and indeed years sometimes to get that rebate. It is only federal Labor that is serious about supporting families and investing in Australia’s future.

Seniors have built this nation and there is no doubt that our elderly were one of the biggest losers in this year’s budget. Within Richmond, 20 per cent of the population is aged 65 years and over. There are a very large number of locals who have been forgotten by the Howard government. The tax cuts, of course, mean nothing for those on fixed incomes, particularly as the cost of living increases so rapidly. What is astounding is that many predict that by the year 2040, 20 per cent of Australia’s population will be aged over 65. That is the situation in Richmond right now and it has to be fixed right now, because there certainly are so many people in that age bracket who are really doing it tough.

I am bitterly disappointed for all the elderly people and families on low incomes who cannot afford to get dental care because of this mean-spirited government. There was nothing in this budget to fix the dental health care crisis. It was indeed the Howard government that ripped $100 million a year out of dental services and axed the Commonwealth Dental Scheme as soon as it came to power. Because of this government, half a million Australians are now waiting months and even years to see a dentist. It is because of this government that there are not enough public dentists to cater for the demand. There are only about 240 public dentists to cater to more than 2.5 million health care card holders, children and the elderly. This compares with more than 3,000 private dentists that treat the rest of the population. There must be federal funding for a Commonwealth dental health scheme. The provision of dental services is the federal government’s responsibility, as contained in the Constitution.

It is often heart-wrenching to hear stories of many of our local elderly people who are in pain, unable to eat or embarrassed because of their dental problems. Julia Morton, an 83-year-old pensioner from South Tweed, gave up waiting years to get her teeth fixed and ended up paying for them herself on her credit card. She said she was lucky she had some help from her family, but she is really worried about other locals, many of whom I have spoken to, who just cannot afford to get the dental work they need. It is not just the dental health of Australians that is at risk. So many studies show that poor dental health impacts on your general health. It can cause very drastic health problems for people as well. It is time that the Howard government stopped trying to pass the buck and showed the national leadership necessary to provide locals with the dental care they urgently need and deserve.

On other health matters, another major concern, particularly for the residents of Richmond, is the Howard government’s constant attacks on the PBS and free prescription medicines. This has indeed put the health of local elderly people at risk. We have recently seen drastic cuts in the number of scripts that have been issued in the past year. This is because the prices are too high, so people who desperately need medicine cannot access it.

The Treasurer also failed in this budget to address the ever-increasing demand for aged care services across Australia, particularly in electorates like Richmond with large elderly populations. Every week I hear from families desperate to find residential aged care for their loved ones. Waiting lists are getting longer and longer. This budget would have been an ideal opportunity to examine the failing bed allocation system, introduce new measures for capital raising to build new facilities and implement recruitment and retention measures to address the severe staff shortages of nurses and care staff in the industry.

But, after 10 long years, the Howard government is still failing to provide sufficient aged care beds for the needs of older Australians who desperately need residential care. According to the government’s own figures, the government falls short of meeting its own target by 381 in our area. The Far North Coast planning region currently has 77 beds for every 1,000 people aged 70 and over. When Labor left government in 1996, there were 92 beds for every 1,000 people aged 70 and over. After a decade of incompetence, the Howard government has turned a surplus of 800 aged care beds in 1996 into a national 3,218-bed shortfall in December 2005. The Howard government must face up to its responsibility to provide adequate numbers of aged care beds.

Richmond in particular also needs more funding for home care and more CACP and EACH packages so that elderly people are able to remain in their homes, which so many of them so desperately want to do. It also needs to address the issue of more beds in nursing homes. Also, we have a very large veteran community in Richmond and there was nothing of any substance in the budget for them. The budget completely failed to tackle many current and pressing issues that are of concern to the veteran community. Another major failing in the budget was that it does nothing to address our crumbling infrastructure. It does nothing to capitalise on Australia’s resources boom and deliver nation-building projects that secure future prosperity for Australia.

The budget does nothing to address the problem of piecemeal delivery of telecommunications services across the nation. I hear from locals literally every day who cannot get high-speed internet connection in the heart of Tweed Heads. This is only minutes from the Gold Coast. The Richmond electorate is full of many frustrated individuals and businesses who are being hit with advertising to sign up to broadband which in reality just does not exist. In many cases, one house in a street will be able to access broadband and the house next door cannot.

A good example is Narelle Walker from Tweed Heads South. Her husband, Brendan, is a federal policeman currently serving with a peacekeeping mission in the Solomon Islands. Despite the fact that Brendan can access broadband in the developing country in which he is serving, in the Solomon Islands, she cannot access it in the heart of Tweed Heads. It is an absolutely appalling situation. That means that Narelle and her children are severely limited in their ability to keep in contact with Brendan. If she were able to get broadband, they could hook up and Narelle and their kids could hear their dad’s voice whenever they wanted to. This situation is appalling. Here is Brendan Walker making huge sacrifices for the good of Australia and it is truly outrageous that they cannot access services they need to keep in touch as a family.

In contrast, federal Labor is serious about nation building through investing in Australia’s infrastructure so that we can be competitive on the world stage. Only federal Labor has the vision to build a broadband information superhighway. This is not just for those in the cities—we will take this broadband out to the regions, where it is desperately needed. Federal Labor has the vision to deliver a national broadband network in partnership with the telecommunications sector. This will be good for families and businesses and it will be crucial to the Australian economy. This super high-speed internet access—25 times faster than the current broadband benchmark—will open up opportunities for families and students and breathe new life into businesses and the Australian economy.

For the Australian economy, superfast broadband would boost the productivity of workplaces so much, as well as laying the foundation for growth for Australia’s digital connect industry. By comprehensively failing to invest in nation-building projects like delivering true broadband, the Prime Minister and the Treasurer are letting Australia slip behind our competitors. It is only federal Labor that will build a national broadband super highway to get us back on the information technology world stage.

We have had a decade of the Howard government continually refusing to invest in the systems that strengthen our nation, our economy and our community, like health, education, training, aged care and infrastructure. Indeed, this budget is no exception. So I am calling on this government to stop looking after its own interests and start listening and addressing the needs of everyday Australians and addressing the needs that people speak to me about every day in Richmond—issues such as addressing our national skills crisis and our soaring youth unemployment. So many people are concerned for their kids’ future and the options available to them, because we want them to be able to stay in regional areas, like in the federal electorate of Richmond.

We also want to see governments actually looking after our elderly and providing them with access to decent, affordable aged care facilities. As I said before, seniors built this nation and worked hard throughout their lives. Many of them defended this nation. And here they are in their older years being abandoned by this government. We need to be providing adequate resources for them. We must ensure that all Australians, not just the wealthy, can get access to health care, dental care and the medicines they need. We also must support our working families with decent, affordable child care. Also, we must invest in our crumbling infrastructure.

These are the kinds of policies that will underpin our nation. It is only through nation building that we can safeguard Australia’s long-term prosperity. It is only through federal Labor, who has a vision in terms of achieving that prosperity, that we can address so many of the concerns that people constantly raise with me. These are the issues that people are talking about day by day, about the opportunities for their kids in the future, about looking after their elderly relatives, about being able to access services like decent broadband or decent health care and about having job security. So many locals have concerns about the impact of the Howard government’s extreme industrial relations changes, how they have impacted on them in their current workplaces and how they are impacting on their family and friends and particularly on their children and their children’s future. They are concerned. They know these extreme workplace changes will impact on their children’s future. (Time expired)

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