Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

This is a fairer budget than last year but it could have been fairer. The Greens helped prevent Labor's big business tax cuts, which will save the public purse $16 billion over the next decade. Unfortunately, the government chose to maintain an obsession with an early political surplus and has not used these savings, in our view, in the best possible way. The Greens would have put an extra $50 a week into Newstart to help people living below the poverty line. Unfortunately, the government did not agree. The Greens would rather maintain tax breaks for green buildings but, unfortunately, these have been removed.

The Greens believe Australia should honour its pledge of increasing overseas development assistance to 0.5 per cent of GNI by 2015-16, but this has been delayed. The Greens also advocated scaling back the diesel fuel tax rebate, but this suggestion was not picked up. The budget unfortunately does not sufficiently invest in long-term economic goals, preferring instead to focus on a short-term political surplus that will not help Australia after the mining bubble bursts. It is not smart planning for the future to put virtually no new money into schools, skills, training or higher education, to cut over 3,000 public service jobs or to invest virtually nothing in innovative manufacturing to set us up for a future beyond the mining bubble. The government says that a surplus is our best defence against global change. The Greens say that healthy, well educated and confident Australians trained in working in the new clean economy are our best preparation for the challenges of the 21st century.

I commend the government for some big and important reforms such as the National Disability Insurance Scheme and extra funding for aged care. I applaud the government for honouring the agreement with the Greens and putting half a billion dollars towards dental health, and initiating steps towards getting dental care into Medicare. I am very glad that the government agreed to the most significant funding boost SBS has ever received—$95 million over five years—and to a further $63 million to be invested in national Indigenous television. The government also agreed to exempt many of our national cultural institutions such as the National Gallery, National Library, National Museum and the National Film and Sound Archive from the efficiency dividend which would have cut into their budgets.

I am also pleased to have been able to secure funding for a number of important projects, such as a $1½ million lifeline to secure the future of Job Watch, the Carlton based employment legal centre that will continue to make a difference for vulnerable workers. The Baillieu government in Victoria cut 60 per cent of Job Watch's funding. Services that were at risk included free and confidential legal services, community education, advocacy and law reform services. I know the crucial and unique work that Job Watch does for working people and I am delighted that their good work can continue.

High-speed rail from Melbourne to Sydney is closer to reality with $20 million in the budget to establish a high-speed rail unit. The unit will build on the work of the multimillion dollar high-speed rail implementation study secured as part of the Greens agreement with the Gillard government. High-speed rail will transform the way we move around the country. We are now one step closer to building a 21st century rail network.

The government has also agreed to start funding again to important programs and to invest more in maths and science education. There will be a $54 million investment in programs such as Science by Doing and PrimaryConnections, two programs I have been championing. Boosting maths and science education in schools is smart because innovation is central to our future prosperity once the mining bubble bursts. We now need to push for a big investment in our schools in the next budget.

I am pleased that there is no federal funding for the Baillieu government plan to drive a tollway through the middle of Melbourne. There is no money for the tollway in this year's budget and, at this stage, none planned for future years. The fight is not over but it is a promising start. We now need to focus on getting the Baillieu government to invest in rail, not roads.

I was also able to negotiate $20 million to protect and celebrate the Royal Exhibition Building, the birthplace of Australia's parliament and a World Heritage icon for Melbourne. I have been working with Museum Victoria and residents groups on re-establishing a walkway on the building's dome as well as a democracy education centre and recognition of Indigenous Australians. I note that our parliament turns 111 today and I am pleased that we have delivered an appropriate gift to preserve its original home.

I also commend the government for its $67 million investment in the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre in Parkville. I will be looking at the budget over coming weeks to see if there are better ways of investing our tax dollars but I also note that without the Greens in the balance of power many of these important reforms would not be happening.

Question agreed to.

House adjourned at 20 : 00

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