Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

The Turnbull government's latest budget, like every other Liberal budget, has failed the people of my electorate of Gorton. Under this budget, big business gets more but working-class and middle-class people, like my hardworking constituents, will miss out on the services they rely upon. Big business and the banks will get an extra $80 billion in the form of tax handouts, but ordinary Australians will pay for it with savage cuts—cuts to education and cuts to health. This budget is still cutting $17 billion from schools. In fact, it's quite remarkable to think that this government wants to provide $17 billion to banks and yet cut $17 billion from schools. Indeed, it's also cutting $270 million from TAFE.

These budget cuts will leave residents of Gorton stuck on hospital waiting lists for longer and longer. The government's freeze on the rebate for specialists means that Australians will pay even more when they visit the doctor. This budget fails pensioners by cutting the energy supplement and costing pensioners $14 a fortnight. It is forcing people to keep working until they're 70. Can you imagine, Deputy Speaker, having to work until you're 70 before you can get access to the pension? Any budget that gives a handout to big business but hurts pensioners is a bad budget.

The government's budget has failed in many ways, but it has particularly failed the residents of Gorton when it comes to infrastructure funding. Melbourne's west is one of the fastest-growing areas in the country. With this growth comes a strain on our resources and existing infrastructure. Despite lobbying from local community and, indeed, the Melton City Council, no funds were made available for an upgrade to the Western Highway between Caroline Springs and Melton. The required upgrade to the Western Highway, including a new interchange to service the Melton West area, is genuinely needed to service not just the local community but the more than 50,000 vehicles that travel in each direction every day. Unfortunately, the government is ignoring this need. Additionally, the Calder Park Drive overpass is a desperately needed piece of infrastructure upgrade that residents in my electorate have been calling out for for years. No commitment has been made by this government to see it happen.

Labor recognises that Melbourne's western suburbs are experiencing significant growth and, indeed, my electorate, the electorate of Gorton, remains one of the fastest-growing electorates in the country. Labor will improve our schools, fix our hospitals and save Medicare. Labor understands that working-class and middle-class people like the constituents of Gorton are struggling, and indeed they're struggling to deal with cost-of-living pressures. Unlike those opposite, Labor will deliver a genuine tax cut—genuine tax relief—for working Australians, and it will stop penalty rate cuts, protect pensioners and improve the budget bottom line.

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