Julia Banks (Chisholm, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) recognises the positive effect of the Government's measures for a stronger economy mean that essential services are guaranteed including the Government's:

(a) support for education and childcare; and

(b) measures to support more choices for Australians to live longer, healthier lives; and

(2) notes with deep concern that the Opposition has no plan for a stronger economy that will deliver essential services to Australians.

As a very proud member of the Turnbull government I am delighted to move this motion this morning. We in the coalition recognise that the ability of our local communities to thrive and prosper relies on a federal government's capacity to balance the books. We appreciate how a stronger economy ensures that essential services are guaranteed and note that the alternative approach is to have no plan. I and many on this side of the House who have worked in and run businesses know—unlike those on the other side—the well-known adage from the business world: if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. That is the case for those in opposition. They have no plan.

Unlike the Labor Party, we on this side understand that guaranteeing essential services like health care, education and child care does not come from big promises and reckless spending. Instead it comes from the fiscal responsibility and sound economic management that the Turnbull government is proud to champion. Guaranteeing the essential services that Australians rely on means that we can make critical medicines available to patients, support mental health initiatives, support our hospitals and provide resources into areas for medical research.

Having a strong, well-managed economy means that parents can be comforted that the Turnbull government has ensured childcare and preschool support, including access to 15 hours of quality early learning and more accessible and affordable child care. For schools and education, having a strong economy means that over 20,000 students in our community will enjoy an average increase of 50 per cent per student for fair, real, needs based school funding over the next decade as part of the Turnbull government's education reforms. It means older Australians have more secure choices to lead longer and healthier lives, including more home-care packages and aged-care funding, including with better health care, demonstrating our government's respect to those who have built modern Australia.

This care for education, for senior Australians, for health and for other essential services can only be supported by targeted, measurable funding that only a responsible government like ours and a strong economic outlook, such as the Turnbull government's plan for a stronger new economy, can provide. Where Labor and Bill Shorten had 27 special secret school-funding deals—

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