Chris Hayes (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is almost 18 months since the Rudd government was sworn into office, vowing to meet Australia’s future head-on, and since each of us had to face our electorates and make commitments to them. I rise today to speak in support of the Appropriation Bill (No. 5) 2008-2009 and cognate bill, because this package of legislation is our government’s response to the most unprecedented economic challenge of our time. You would not get the feel for that, Mr Deputy Speaker, if you listened just to the previous speaker, who wanted to hark on matters past. It is going to require consistent and sustained effort from our community to meet that challenge, but this government is committed to meeting that challenge.

These appropriation bills support the government’s historic nation-building package. It is designed to support jobs and small business in the short term. It will build on quality schools through the largest school modernisation program in Australia’s history. Some $14.7 billion has been committed to doing that. It is designed to stimulate the building and construction industry with the construction of 20,000 new homes, supporting the thousands of tradespeople working in that industry and addressing the tragic plight of homeless people in modern Australia. It will tackle climate change and help families save on their energy costs through access to insulation and solar hot water. It is designed to upgrade our roads and local infrastructure for the long-term benefit of our respective communities.

It is only a couple of weeks ago that the Prime Minister, in the Monthly, wrote:

The global financial crisis has demonstrated already that it is no respecter of persons, nor of particular industries, nor of national boundaries. It is a crisis which is simultaneously individual, national and global. It is a crisis of both the developed and the developing world.

This is a serious economic situation that we are facing—there cannot be any debate about that. We know that we cannot totally remove ourselves from the impact of this global onslaught, but the government is determined to take the necessary steps to protect Australia and Australian jobs, and reduce the impact that the global recession is likely to have on this country.

I will continue to work with the Prime Minister and ministers to ensure that the people of Werriwa receive the full benefit of the commitments that were made in the lead-up to the last election. In particular, I would like to make reference to the widening of the F5 between Ingleburn and Campbelltown. This is a project I campaigned long for under the Howard government, but it fell on deaf ears. It is only since the lead-up to the last election, when Labor committed to widening the F5, a $140 million project, that progress is now being made on road infrastructure in the south-west of Sydney. This work has now commenced—I was at the opening of the works the other day—and it will make a huge difference to the families and local businesses that rely on this busy road network. Residents are eagerly awaiting the finalisation of this project.

The F5 is one of the busiest road routes in the country. It is used by over 81,000 vehicles per day. This $140 million project is expected to create hundreds of full-time and part-time jobs. I offer my congratulations to Nace Civil Engineering, a local engineering company from Prestons in my electorate, which won the competitive tender to widen this vital piece of road infrastructure in south-western Sydney. I know that George Kypreos, the General Manager of Nace, and his team will deliver high-quality construction work that will—as I have said many times in this House before—bring considerable benefits to my local communities.

I would also like to indicate the fact that residents and businesses in my neck of the woods turned out recently—three weeks ago, in fact—to hear from the Prime Minister directly at the recent community cabinet meeting in Campbelltown. They witnessed personally the commitment the Rudd government has in these difficult times, and they know that we are acting decisively on local community issues to support jobs and to improve the quality of local infrastructure through this economic downturn.

We, on this side of the House, have too long known the buck-passing, the rivalry and the lack of cooperation which unfortunately have beset the three levels of government in this country and have undermined Australia’s ability to build a modern economy capable of meeting these challenges for the future. The Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, Anthony Albanese, as part of this community cabinet took time out to meet with the mayors of Campbelltown, Liverpool, Camden and Wollondilly councils to discuss with them a number of local concerns. During this meeting, the minister was able to announce the successful projects that were being funded from the $800 million Regional and Local Community Infrastructure Program. This announcement, I have got to say, was very much a welcome relief for our local communities, who are feeling the pinch of this global recession. This program will help local communities in the south-west of Sydney to respond to the global financial crisis by supporting jobs and, more importantly, boosting our local economy—which, again, is job sustaining.

It should be known that more than $3 million of Commonwealth funds have been provided to build the upgraded community infrastructure in and around my electorate of Werriwa. Campbelltown City Council received $1.5 million, Liverpool City Council received $1.2 million and Camden Council received $606,000. This is more than $3 million that will help meet the urgent needs of the community, creating long-term local infrastructure, which will have a direct impact on the quality of life of residents within my local electorate. This is a chance to get moving on those important pieces of local infrastructure—things like sporting fields; things that we take for granted, but things which are necessary, particularly for growing, young families. Sporting fields, amenities blocks, environmental watering systems and cycleways—these are things which are going to be provided for. It will enable the local government to get moving on the important grassroots projects that will benefit our region and do so into the longer term.

It was not just the local mayors that had the opportunity of meeting with ministers. Following the public forum, ministers had prearranged one-on-one meetings with a number of people—local residents and business people alike. I understand that there were a lot of locals’ concerns raised. One of those was the construction of sound barriers along the freight line being constructed by the ARTC, along the rail corridor between Casula and Liverpool.

Local residents, who I have been talking to almost every day, understand that this freight line is an essential piece of infrastructure that will alleviate the bottleneck that currently exists in south-west Sydney, where freight trains share the existing rail lines with the Sydney metropolitan passenger service operated by RailCorp. Residents are concerned about the existing noise levels, which have been independently recorded as being of not an acceptable standard, but they simply should not be expected to put up with an exacerbation of that noise by the freight line. They expect and demand the construction of sound barriers along that particular easement. They full well understand that the construction of this rail line will be very good for the economy of New South Wales and the economy of Sydney, but it should not be at the expense of the wellbeing of local residents living in its immediate vicinity along that rail corridor.

That is something that I know was actually put to the minister when he visited out there as part of the community cabinet. I indicate that I will continue to work with those local residents, together with the member for Macquarie Fields, Dr Andrew McDonald, and Wendy Waller, the Mayor of Liverpool City Council, to find an appropriate balance in providing these essential community services, as well as protecting the quality of life and wellbeing of local residents.

The government’s First Home Saver Accounts and the National Rental Affordability Scheme are helping many to aspire to homeownership around Australia and, more importantly, in and about my electorate of Werriwa in the south-west of Sydney. But more recently—and I would like to spend a little bit of time on this—as part of its first Economic Security Strategy, this government doubled the first home owner grant. This grant is having a significant impact in my local electorate. In fact, the south-west of Sydney is enjoying a mini property boom, despite the financial crisis, with many new homebuyers entering the market in areas such as Liverpool and Campbelltown and related suburbs.

According to Saturday’s Daily Telegraph, half of the homes sold in these areas have been bought by first home buyers, adding about 8,500 contracts that have been exchanged in the last three months. This is a real example of people taking advantage of the first home buyer grant and moving from rental accommodation into their first home. Recently, data from the New South Wales Office of State Revenue shows that the property sales across all Western Sydney suburbs for the last three months to February soared up to 20 per cent on the last year—with Liverpool, Campbelltown and Fairfield recording approximately a 12 per cent increase in sales over that period.

Less than a year after the region was in the grip of a housing affordability crisis, young families—not investors, I might add—are driving this new boom. More than 50 per cent of all sales are first home purchases and most homes are being sold for under $500,000. This is a good news story in the outer metropolitan areas of Sydney and I have no doubt it is being repeated around the country. We are seeing tangible benefits flowing directly from the first economic stimulus package, in which the first home owner grant was doubled.

I also understand that the Commonwealth Bank has recently indicated that it has been forced to hire more staff as the increasing demand for the first home buyer grant has seen the processing time for loans start to blow out. It has been reported that the Commonwealth Bank has been inundated with people seeking first home buyer loans, with a 40 per cent increase in applications in the last month. The bank’s head of retail products, Michael Cant, says first home buyer volume has more than doubled since the grant was introduced in October and aggregate mortgage volume is up by 40 per cent since the middle of February.

Whilst the stimulus packages are welcome, we have to look at what they are doing in our local economies. As indicated by the Commonwealth Bank and other reputable sources, the stimulus packages have been stimulating a growth in sales. That shows that people have confidence to enter into that area of the market, and I think that confidence was not there prior to the first round of the economic stimulus package coming into operation.

I would like to spend a bit of time talking about the Rudd government’s commitment to education. The Rudd government is committed to seeing real improvement in Australian schools as an investment in our kids and in our future. I have a deep interest in education because I have kids and grandkids. All parents have a deep interest in education. It is something we want for our children. If we are going to be serious about this in terms of our commitment to the economy, education has to be something we invest in for the long term. Labor, in the lead-up to the last election, made it clear that Australia needs an education revolution—a substantial and sustained increase in the quantity of our investment and in the quality of our education system. It is required not just in primary school, in secondary school or in tertiary education; it is required at every level of education—from early childhood education to mature-age students.

We should be focusing on improving educational standards because all the research shows us that what we invest in education now will have direct productivity benefits within the next 10 to 15 years. That is why many on our side still draw attention to the fact that the former government withdrew $1 billion from the education system and this contributed to this country’s skills shortage in the not too distant past. Education is the platform on which our future economic prosperity is based. That is why we are introducing a national vision for Australia to become the most educated country, the most skilled economy and the best trained workforce in the world. The historic nation-building investment announced last month includes the largest school modernisation program in this country’s history. Building the Education Revolution is a $14.7 billion long-term investment to improve the quality of facilities such as gymnasiums, libraries, science labs and language centres in Australian schools.

I would like to talk about what this means for my electorate of Werriwa, which, as everyone knows, is in the outer metropolitan area of Sydney. I have 43 primary schools in my electorate. Under Primary Schools for the 21st Century, every one of those 43 primary schools can access up to $3 million for essential new buildings. That is an extraordinary amount of money—but think about the investment we are making. I spent some time with some local tradesmen the other day. They are discussing this in terms of ‘jobs per school’. Apart from the investment in education, this is a substantial contribution to creating jobs for this country now and into the future. I also have 19 high schools in my electorate. Under Science and Language Centres for the 21st Century, every one of those 19 high schools in my electorate can apply for funding for the construction of a new science block or language centre. Once again, that is very good news for carpenters, electricians and all those involved in the building of those centres. Under Renewing Australia’s Schools, all 62 schools in my electorate will have access to up to $200,000 for refurbishment and maintenance.

This package is good news for my local schools and it is good news for the economy of Werriwa. Applied across the board, this is great for education and for the economic prosperity of this country. We are investing in education and that is where we see productivity growth in the longer term. This package is also fabulous because it generates employment opportunities for all the tradespeople and those involved in the construction and maintenance of schools. I commend this bill to the House. This package is welcome in my community and, no doubt, in all communities represented in this chamber. (Time expired)

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