Sophie Mirabella (Indi, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

There is no leave granted, but it is there on the record and I can provide as many copies to my friends on the other side of the chamber as they would like. Nothing will detract from the reality that the project has not yet started. The people of Wodonga know the disdain in which the Bracks government continues to hold them by failing in its responsibility to provide that very basic service that a government should provide—that is, essential infrastructure. Well may the people of Wodonga ask: when is this state government going to get serious, stop playing politics and start with a real commitment? The state government can start today. It can amend its documents and put the real money for the removal of the railway in Wodonga in black and white in its budget papers. Why did it not do it? Why is the money for the relocation of the railway out of central Wodonga not in this year’s state budget? It is in the federal budget. Why has the state government failed to put it in the state budget? Is the state government not serious about it? Those are the questions that Mr Brumby needs to answer.

There are some other significant funding announcements in this federal budget that contribute to the infrastructure development of my electorate. Continuation of the Roads to Recovery program is in fact very significant. Over the previous financial year local councils wholly within the electorate of Indi received just over $10 million in funding, which is in addition to the general purpose and the specific roads funding as part of the financial assistance grants formula that local councils receive. In addition, we have had strategic regional road funding for the larger roads that are an essential part of growing economies in rural and regional Australia. I have been very fortunate to have some of that funding in very important parts of my electorate and I look forward to supporting local applications in further rounds.

We have also heard great criticism of funding specifically allocated for rural and regional Australia coming from the opposition. We have seen the Regional Partnerships program and its predecessors described as a rort, as a waste of money; yet, when we look at Labor electorates, we see that there is an equal, if not greater, distribution of funding for essential community building projects such as community halls and visitor information centres. That funding will continue under this budget, and I will continue to support those projects in my local area. All you need to do is go to any rural, regional or remote area in Australia to see how important federal funding has been in providing funds for road upgrades and basic community infrastructure. Even this road funding was labelled by one former Leader of the Opposition as a ‘boondoggle’, but local communities in the country know just how important it is to get their local roads fixed.

We have talked about the unsung heroes in our community for such a long time and they, of course, do deserve extra recognition, although most of them do not actively seek it. People have stopped me in the street to ask about some of the recent bonuses that have been provided for carers. I am delighted that there has been an extension of those eligible to receive them. We owe a great debt of gratitude to our carers. In Indi we have just under 2,700 recipients of the carers allowance and almost 670 recipients of the carer payment. This bonus will be very important to them. Significantly, it is also an important symbolic recognition of the contribution that they make on a personal level and of the contribution that they make to the living standards of others in our local communities.

The one-off seniors bonus of $500 to all individuals who are eligible for either the utilities allowance or the seniors concession allowance is also very critical to providing additional support for those who have made a contribution over their lives to the towns and, indeed, to the nation that we have today. Where we can support them where they need it the most, it is our responsibility as a nation to do so. This payment will help with day-to-day financial affairs. In my electorate, there are just under 14,000 recipients who will benefit from this bonus.

I also wish to acknowledge some important funding that is relevant to areas that have been subjected to natural disasters, such as the high country. I want to commend the Prime Minister for the funding of $24 million over four years so as to continue the Bushfire Mitigation Program under which grants are provided for the construction and maintenance of fire trails and also for the very critical research that is being conducted. Additional funding is also being provided to the Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre. This is funding into research that has not been undertaken; it is funding into research where there has been a huge gap, a huge hole, in the understanding of land management practices and fire management practices. What people have been crying out for in these communities is scientifically based information on which governments should make policy decisions. The states have not undertaken this important research, but I am very proud that the gap is starting to be filled. Of course, it is only research, and researchers cannot force an unwilling state government to manage their land, but at least the science will be on the table for those who have the political backbone to take it up and do the right thing in managing Crown land and the fires that will be there in the future.

Local councils in my area will benefit, as will communities right across the board. There is almost nothing worse than a government failing in its basic responsibility to provide essential infrastructure. But what comes very close to it is the mismanagement of crown land and how that impacts economically, personally and emotionally on private landholders who do the right thing by properly managing their properties. They provide adequate fire protection only to have their private property—something they have worked very hard to build up—irreparably damaged, often by the actions or inaction or poor management by governments. That is something that we need to stop. I will continue to support measures in this budget and in future budgets to hold governments accountable for their actions when they significantly impact, as in the case of natural disasters such as bushfires, on my local community.

I commend the bills to the House. I commend the Treasurer on his efforts and on the extraordinary achievements in the continuation of not only tax cuts but essential investment in infrastructure, in our schools, in our communities, in our roads, in health and in our telecommunications. Australia is a very different place from what it was before the coalition was fortunate enough to be granted the privilege of governing in 1996. It is a very different place. No longer do we have people sitting there waiting, listening to the budget, thinking, ‘How is the government going to do us over?’ They are now sitting there watching the government, listening to the budget, saying, ‘What will we get out of this budget?’ That is what this government has delivered: a change from a punitive Labor government—which believed in punishing people and believed that double-digit unemployment figures were acceptable—to a government that understands its basic responsibility of providing an environment in which jobs can grow. It was very pleasing to see that figure last week of a national unemployment rate of 4.2 per cent. Even in Indi, with a vibrant local economy, in a very unique part of Australia, the unemployment rate is also under five per cent. That is the human dividend of the difficult and hard decisions that the coalition government has made not just over the last year in planning for the next budget but also over those 11 years. I commend the Treasurer, the Prime Minister and all those members who have fought hard on behalf of their electorates to get the relevant funding so we can deliver those services which our communities not only require but deserve. I commend the bills to the House.

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