Meryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to remind the Turnbull government that my colleagues and I believe in a fairer tax system for Australia. As such, I will not support this government's $65 billion tax cut to big business. My electorate of Paterson is home to several communities that are living, breathing, collateral damage of a system where the government takes from those who are less well off and gives to those who are far better off.

A $65 billion—just saying those words!—payout to big business is being funded by low- to middle-income individuals and families. That's $65 billion drawn from the pockets of some of the most hardworking people in our country, including in my electorate of Paterson. Under this budget, Australian families are suffering stagnating wages and rising electricity costs—we all know that too well! And don't you look forward to getting the text to tell you to turn the air-conditioner off on the 45-degree days? We'll all wait with bated breath for that. That is alongside record high unemployment and serious underemployment. In an economy that has traditionally been characterised by strong economic growth, living standards went backwards in the last quarter. I'm not sure what evidence this government is relying on to justify big business payouts, but Labor is listening to the experts. And the Assistant Governor to the Reserve Bank, Luci Ellis, nullified the argument that you need a tax cut to drive investment. We ask again: where are this government's priorities?

Labor is committed to helping the people of Australia. We want equality across the board. We want people to have good and productive lives and jobs. Labor believes that budgets are about identifying needs, prioritising them, developing good solid policy responses and compiling a measured and equitable financial pathway towards implementation. In contrast, the Turnbull government budget fails to address some very serious economic challenges. The government has assured us it's meeting the challenges on the jobs front and the wages growth front, but this government has promised the people of Australia many things. And, once again, the people of Australia have been let down, seriously let down.

Labor believes in ensuring equal access and opportunity for every Australian. That begins, first and foremost, with a properly funded education system, not this watered down Gonski 2.0 nonsense. It begins with proper investment in infrastructure and ensuring all Australians have access to information and communication that is so vital to living in a modern world. It is, indeed, so vital to every facet of business and industry, vital to staying engaged in a global community. I'm talking about connectivity, digital communication and, specifically, mobile and internet connectivity. This has been an abject failure on the part of the Turnbull government from the very person, the Prime Minister, who, when he was communications minister, was the master of all things connected. He was going to create a great internet. Do you remember that one? It was going to be faster and cheaper, and have a multi-mix technology basis—and wouldn't it be great? I can still remember that image of the member for Warringah and the then-communications minister standing in front of the illuminated board pointing out how fantastic it would be. What an abject failure it's turned out to be.

Just today, we've heard from the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman that more than 27,000 reports were lodged with them during the past financial year, and complaints about the NBN have risen a whopping 160 per cent. And I want to share some of the ombudsman's, Judi Jones's, comments in her report published today:

Australians are relying more than ever before on technology to stay connected, to be informed, and to do business, so it is critical that consumers are able to rely on the services they sign up for. While it is necessary to acknowledge the role of the national broadband network in driving significant change in Australian telecommunications, complaints have increased across the board. Complaints about services delivered over the national broadband network have more than doubled.

This is the ombudsman's report that was published today, with Judi Jones saying:

This includes an increase in complaints about connection delays and reliability issues such as faults. The increase is somewhat to be expected given the accelerated rollout of the NBN, but is still a concerning trend.

There you have it, hot off the press today from the telecommunications ombudsman, Judi Jones. Clearly, this is not good enough. It is patently not good enough. It is an outcome fundamentally out of keeping with the priorities that Australian people so desperately want. We need to keep pace with the technology. We want to be connected to each other, not only to our friends and family, but to our business associates. We see members constantly glued to their phones as they walk around this House. Imagine if they couldn't get the internet or mobile communication. As the member for Paterson, I am extremely distressed to say that I don't have the NBN and I don't even have internet at my residence. We have to rely on a dongle. It is clearly not good enough. And there are so many more in my electorate who are absolutely bitterly frustrated by this failure.

Another great fail has been this government's so-called jobs and growth agenda. What a spectacular flop! In the Hunter Valley, home to my electorate of Paterson, the unemployment rate hit 7.6 per cent in August. At the time, this was nearly two per cent higher than the national unemployment rate. In June, youth unemployment in the Hunter Valley hit 10.9 per cent. As the member for Paterson, I am committed to ensuring that high unemployment rates in my electorate become history. I am committed to ensuring that we identify the barriers that my electorate faces in finding work. I'm committed to ensuring that our communities have the opportunity to create jobs as well as just find them.

I demand to know: what has the government done to help the battlers of my electorate? Not much, I suspect. This government has offered tax cuts to big business. This government has ensured tax cuts to high-income earners. This government has ensured increased taxes for workers earning above just $21,000. And let's not forget about penalty rates. This government has worked to ensure that some of the most hardworking individuals in our country don't get financial recognition for the service they perform for our community, for the hours that they spend away from their loved ones during what is traditionally family time, for the nights they spend serving others on shift work instead of enjoying recreation themselves or even sleep.

Many of the roles that require penalty rates to provide even a modicum of a respectable wage are the province of casual or part-time employees. There has been a move towards casualisation of jobs right across Australia. People don't need to hear it from Parliament House. They're living it every day. Casual workers have minimal job security and work hours foreign to most people. We hear about the 24/7 economy. Whilst I don't deny that it exists, I say to you: when schools operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, then we might consider it, but I'm sure that will never happen. While we have young children who need to be educated within a Monday-to-Friday, nine-to-three framework, that will be the basis for the working week. It is just common sense. Anything very much outside of those times is not conducive to family time, and we need to be thinking about that more. It is the government's responsibility to address this issue. They're doing precious little, and I personally don't like waiting around.

I was delighted to welcome the Australian Jobs Taskforce to Paterson. This federal caucus committee, chaired by the member for Longman, Susan Lamb, is travelling across Australia to address inequality in employment and opportunity. The statistics are undisputed. Regional areas across Australia are suffering incredibly high rates of unemployment, and our young people are being hit the hardest. I remind you, Deputy Speaker Claydon: just last year, the youth unemployment rate in the Hunter Valley hit over 20 per cent— and I know you know this well, as, being the member for Newcastle, you share this area with me. It is truly distressing. That meant that one-fifth of our young people were looking for work and couldn't find it. This astronomical rate was second only to outback Queensland, which had a youth unemployment rate of 28 per cent—almost a third of young people not being able to find work. I fail to see how the government continues to let this happen.

A fair go is something we Australians once upon a time were proud of. We were proud to offer it to all, but it seems we are really struggling—and I am struggling to see how this is providing a fair go. During the recent Australian Jobs Taskforce hearings in my electorate, I heard from young people who were desperate for a job—people who had disabilities so minor they've fallen through the cracks with regard to any government funding or support but who still have so much to offer, and highly skilled and qualified mature age workers who, after leaving employment due to family commitments, cannot re-engage with employment. Their references are stale and their contacts are out of date, but, again, they're smart, strong and willing. These people want work. They have so much still to give, and yet no-one will give them a go. It is people such as these who are last on the list when the economic climate is tough. Those who are most vulnerable are struck the hardest.

These high unemployment rates reflect the economic climate of the region. Stagnating wages and little economic growth point to an economy that is struggling. That is squarely the remit of the Turnbull government, who like to constantly remind us that they're the economic maestros in this concert. They like to tell us how good they are at balancing the books and driving investment, driving wages growth and driving down unemployment, yet, after four years, we're still not seeing any of this. Where is it, you economic geniuses? I ask you: where is it?

Another factor driving youth unemployment is the skills mismatch we're seeing right across Australia. Growing industries in my electorate, as in many others, require high skilling, yet in the past year we've seen the constant erosion of TAFE and VET programs. Since June 2014 we've seen over 4,000 apprenticeships lost in the Hunter region alone. It's further evidence that the very great value of these training opportunities is being lost, yet this government's skewed budget priorities consistently leave this out of the equation.

The erosion of funding is only reinforcing the stigma that sees apprenticeships regarded as second class, and this is wrong. There are many skilled, well-paid, valuable and, indeed, noble crafts and trades that have literally built this country.

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