Margaret May (McPherson, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Australian economy has entered its 16th consecutive year of economic growth, and high levels of business investment and strong profitability are laying the foundations for ongoing prosperity.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

The Australian economy has entered its 16th consecutive year of economic growth. High levels of business profitability are laying the foundations for ongoing prosperity for this country well into the future. Our government is in extremely strong financial shape. We have eliminated net debt. But it was a very different story a decade ago—those days, which many of us will never forget, when the Australian people inherited over $96 billion worth of debt from the Labor government. With that debt came an interest bill of $8.5 billion a year—an inheritance we are pleased to see the back of. Along with eliminating debt we have begun making provision for liabilities that were never funded before. The Future Fund is one of the great achievements of the Howard government. For generations, Commonwealth government spent beyond their means, delivering benefits to the current generation and the debts to future generations—those too young to vote or not yet born. That was a policy of financial recklessness.

To arrive where we are now has taken considerable discipline, restraint and ability because by any measure paying off $96 billion worth of debt is no small matter. I know how hard it is to pay off an outstanding balance on a credit card, and I think most Australians do. It requires discipline and restraint, and there is a feeling of being back in control when credit card debt is eliminated.

Because of our discipline, the government is in control and can spend on things of importance, such as the recently announced $10 billion to secure Australia’s water system. On the Gold Coast the drought has meant level 4 restrictions, under which gardens are watered with buckets. Residents are fitting tap fixtures that reduce water pressure and a must-have item is a water tank for the backyard. Finally, this week, the rain came and I can report to the House that my own water tanks are full.

The Prime Minister travelled to the Gold Coast to announce federal government funding for Gold Coast Water of $3.15 million for the pressure and leakage management initiative. This initiative is estimated to generate water savings of between seven and 10 gigalitres per annum and approximately 20 million litres per day for the Gold Coast—massive savings by any measure.

Gold Coast Water has a number of water management projects on the go and has federal government and overseas recognition as leading the way in this area. Gold Coast Water is in the process of building a desalinisation plant at Tugun. This project will have no reliance on the weather, and I am reassured by council that they have a portfolio of water strategies and that they have not put all their eggs into one basket.

Climate change is something we are hearing a lot about. The Australian government has joined forces with the Queensland government, the Gold Coast City Council and Griffith University, who together are investing more than $350,000 to research the effects of climate change on human health. The Australian government has contributed $55,000 to this study. The study will look at climate change scenarios and their implications for particular population groups. For example, heat-related disorders are going to increase as temperatures continue to rise. We need to know how this will affect older Australians and the very young, and what we can do to assist people with this. There is so much information out there about climate change that I have become a member of the government environment and heritage committee to help me understand the complexities of the issue.

Demographic change is bearing down on us. The Australian government’s continued strong commitment to fair and affordable access to high-quality aged care is demonstrated by the announcement of an additional $1.5 billion in funding for aged-care services over the next five years. Our ageing population has always been a priority of the Howard government and, to help meet the challenges that our ageing population poses, the Australian government last year allocated $4.5 million for the Bond University health sciences and medicine building—welcome funding indeed.

The ageing of our population is going to have a huge impact on all of us, and Queensland will feel its impact the most. Queensland has a projected increase in population from 3.6 million in 2001 to 6.4 million in 2051. Nearly half of this projected increase will be persons aged 65 and over. In 1971, in Queensland, for every 100 persons of working age, there were approximately 17 persons aged 65-plus. By 2051, for every 100 people of working age, there will be approximately 52 persons aged 65-plus. That is a huge increase and the pressure on our health budget will be extreme. Add to the mix Australia’s potential shortfall of 195,000 workers in five years time as a result of population ageing and the mushrooming economies of India and China, and it can be seen that we really do have our work cut out for us.

The ageing of our population means that we have to be far more flexible and innovative in the workplace to attract a wider range of participants, including people with disabilities, and to encourage older Australians to remain in the workforce longer. Work Choices provides us with that flexibility, as employers and employees are best able to negotiate a deal that suits their particular needs and not some one-size-fits-all outdated concept that the union movement supports.

The tactics of the union movement are a disgrace. They are waging a campaign that is misleading and in many cases a pack of lies against Work Choices. The unions and the Labor Party disagree with the industrial relations system. I would not expect anything less from them. But to spend megabucks misleading the Australian public is another story. They are offering no alternative solutions and want Australians to go back to the days of union power, the days of outrageous claims and strikes costing millions upon millions of dollars to this country.

I just want to say to the union movement and the Labor Party that without good people a business is worthless. People are a business’s strength and its most important asset. Do they really think a business owner who is shouldering risk and working hard to make a success of the business is going to jeopardise a business by not looking after his or her most important asset, the workers?

With the projected shortfall in workers and our ageing population, workers are going to be more valuable than ever and employers must be flexible and innovative in attracting and retaining staff. If the unions and the Labor Party think for a minute that the Australian government has introduced a far-reaching and major reform that is not in the best interests of the Australian people, they should think again. The Australian government makes policy decisions with the best interests of all Australians in mind. It is that simple. The industrial relations reforms have been introduced for one reason and one reason only—to reflect the reality of the marketplace and to secure our future.

Other funding that has been allocated to McPherson in the last 12 months includes funding for the Tugun Bypass—that 6.7 kilometres of road which has been such an important issue for Gold Coast residents. It is steaming ahead and the latest report is that it will be built well ahead of schedule. They run a very tight ship on the construction site at Tugun. When I toured the site late last year with the Minister for Local Government, Territories and Roads, Jim Lloyd, I was struck by the professionalism of the management team and how well organised the construction of the road was. There was a very real sense of pride and ownership amongst all those working. It is important that we see this piece of infrastructure built on time—and we hear that it will be on time, that it will be before time—for the residents of the southern Gold Coast and also for those of northern New South Wales. It is an important piece of infrastructure that we have waited a long time for.

The history of the road goes back a long way. One of the reasons it has been such a long time coming is that we had to deal with a federal government, two state governments—Queensland and New South Wales—and also local government jurisdictions. But we have come a long way and it is being built. The bypass includes a tunnel that runs under the runway at the Gold Coast Airport. It is no small engineering feat and environmentally the bypass has thrown up its challenges, with the federal government designating it a controlled action. A great deal of planning has gone into programs to protect the wildlife and flora on the route. All in all it is a major road which has involved major planning and costs, to which the federal government has contributed $120 million.

Laurie Lawrence’s Kids Alive—Do the Five program has been reallocated funding of $330,000. Under the program, which has gone national, the number of drownings fell from 40 to 28 in 2004-05. The program, which has a target of zero drownings, has played a big part in saving countless toddlers’ lives in Australia. I have a very close working relationship with Laurie and I can say to the House today that his commitment and enthusiasm for the program is one of the reasons I am sure it has been such an outstanding success. I noticed again on national television this week that the program was featured, with Laurie teaching our young Australians how to swim and how to become accustomed to water.

Families are high on the Howard government’s agenda, and residents of McPherson will benefit from two major recent initiatives aimed at building stronger families. Centacare at Clear Island Waters has received $1.425 million from the federal government to establish a new early intervention service to assist families living on the Gold Coast. The service will assist family members at various stages of their relationships: prior to and during relationship formation, during relationships, through separation and divorce and during parenting, grandparenting and retirement. The range of early intervention services includes family relationships counselling, men and family relationships counselling, relationship education and skills training, parenting skills and specialised services for those who suffer family violence.

Centacare has also been named as the preferred provider to establish a family relationship centre on the Gold Coast. The new centre will provide the community with a central point for information about strengthening family relationships and dealing with relationship difficulties. The new service is part of the Australian government’s wide-ranging reforms to the family law system, which aim to shift the culture of separation from an adversarial process to one in which the interests of children come first.

Finally, I want to say that Australia is a small country by population, with less than a third of one per cent of the global population, yet we are the 16th largest economy in the world. The coalition government has much to be proud of. That is not to say that we do not face challenges in the future with our ageing population, but I think the strength of our government has been our economic management. Our strong economy means jobs for everyone in Australia, low unemployment figures that we continue to enjoy, low interest rates and continued economic growth for the future. I commend the appropriation bills to the House.

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