Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today I rise to speak on a budget that not only will secure the future of my generation, the future of generation Y or the much-maligned millennials but in my view will determine the nature of the economy my daughters, aged 10 and five, will enter when they first become taxpayers. Our government understands that a strong economy works harder in delivering better standards of living for the Australian people than any of us could. It's trite to say we're in unprecedented times, but in unprecedented times you need a government that is focused and acting decisively in the national interest. I think it's fair to say that the measures that we've introduced have been decisive, but they've also been targeted, proportionate and scalable. That's where the genius of the Prime Minister and Treasurer's actions in responding to this global pandemic has been set. There are no overpriced school halls and no pink batts, which were subsidised on the way in and subsidised on the way out and tragically took the lives of too many young Australians. It's a focused, proportionate and scalable response.

As businesses were forced to close due to the restrictions, we introduced a range of measures to stimulate demand to keep as many businesses afloat while we suppressed the virus on the health front. We continue to learn how to live with this virus. This budget will deliver the jobs that we need to rebuild our economy and our country. As a nation we've relied heavily on the private sector's ingenuity, innovation and adaptability. It employs 11.5 million workers, or 80 per cent of the total workforce in Australia. In our budget we're focused on doing all we can to get the economy working again. We're stimulating the private sector, which will always be the backbone of the Australian economy. The measures this budget introduces stimulate the microeconomy, as our government understands the macroeconomic outcome is the sum of the strength of the micro.

Our government's ability to respond to this crisis is due to the strength of the economy before entering into the pandemic-induced recession. Our previous budgets have given us the fiscal firepower to respond. A Liberal government understands that the federal government cannot support the economy indefinitely, which is why 90 per cent of the spending is occurring this year and next. Indefinite subsidy and government interference in the free market lead to losses in productivity and the creation of nanny states. This is not the Australia I want to see, which is why our budget has made these measures temporary for the purposes of getting Australians and Australia back to work. To achieve this, business stimulus has been at the heart of our response to this global pandemic from the start.

With the expanded instant asset write-off scheme businesses will now be able to deduct the full cost of eligible business assets. It's instant asset write-off 3.0 or, as I like to say the electorate, it's an instant asset write-off on steroids. This measure will apply to 99 per cent of businesses and will apply to approximately $200 billion worth of investment. More business investment means more plant and equipment, more tools, more trucks and more of any form of capital—all things that will make Australian businesses more productive.

This measure builds, as I've said, on the capacity of businesses to increase their output in the future, not just to keep the lights on so our economy doesn't fail. It's about ensuring that profitable businesses reinvest in plant and equipment and in their productivity and expand their businesses. It will benefit approximately one million Australian companies. These measures work in conjunction with other measures, including our continued commitment to reducing overbearing red tape. These conditions for businesses to operate are vital, which is why new digital streamlining processes have been included to minimise unnecessary costs.

Another worrying outcome of this recession has been the disproportionate impact on young Australians in the workforce. The possibility of us having a lost generation is one we can't tolerate. Obviously it's a lesson we learnt from the recession we had to have. That's why the JobMaker hiring credit was introduced: to incentivise hiring additional employees aged 16 to 35. Treasury estimates this program will support significant numbers of new positions for young Australians, providing businesses with the right incentive to expand their workforces and, of course, their production capacity simultaneously. Apprenticeships and traineeships are invaluable ways of learning a trade and developing skills for their future career. We're offering a 50 per cent wage subsidy for new apprentices to support businesses that are supporting the future generation of workers. The subsidy will apply to a whopping 100,000 new apprenticeships to the value of up to $7,000 per quarter until 30 September 2021. I speak almost daily to employers who are incredibly excited about the prospect of engaging young apprentices in their future trades.

During this recession, some jobs may be lost forever—that's the reality—which is why incentives to business to hire apprentices and trainees, and employees generally, are vital as we transition the economy to what I like to call 'our now normal'. I'm a bit over the phrase 'the new normal'. Moreover, our government understands how critical it is to the Australian recovery that Australians possess the prerequisite skills and training to succeed in the new market. That's why our government is making more short courses through TAFE free or for a low fee, to ensure workers of tomorrow are prepared for the changing industries of tomorrow. All these measures encourage private investment in the hiring of new workers, but, for these to be successful, we need to increase the demand for our goods and services; otherwise, hiring additional workers is, of course, futile.

Our government is bringing forward stage 2 tax relief, delivering approximately $9 billion this year and $32 billion next year in personal income tax relief. This is income tax relief for 11 million Australians. For low- and middle-income earners, this means they'll receive between $2,745 for individuals and $5,490 for dual-income families, in terms of additional tax relief compared to 2017-18 tax bases. It's estimated these measures would boost GDP by $3.5 billion this year and $9 billion next year. That's more money in our economy to boost the economic activity of our nation. The government can never spend the public's money as well as they can. It's imperative that the public keeps as much of their hard-earned money as possible—I certainly like to, because I want to purchase the goods and services that I prioritise as important to me, rather than those that perhaps others think I should have access to. This measure once again supports our government's focus on creating jobs, with an estimated 50,000 new jobs created by this measure alone.

Deputy Speaker Gillespie, I'd like to speak about the Building Better Regions Fund, which I know is something that you see as important to regional communities, as I do. This fund has $200 million allocated in round 5. I could provide this place with a list of projects that have proceeded in my electorate courtesy of rounds 1 to 4. Suffice to say they are projects that make my electorate, my communities, more liveable and, in achieving that liveability, have delivered very real jobs in construction phases but also in the continuation phases. I look forward to continuing to work with proponents, local governments, sporting organisations and not-for-profit organisations as we develop their applications for round 5 of that program.

Another program in which funding was continued in the budget is the Stronger Communities program. That's not a budget measure that gets a lot of attention. They're small grants that are provided by individual members to their electorates. There are 151 divisions in this place and each of them get access to $150,000 to allocate vis-a-vis small projects. I describe them in the electorate as 'modest but meaningful'. They're modest applications of money from Canberra, but I have to tell you: they're some of the most meaningful funding grants that are provided. Often sporting clubs and community organisations don't have the means to make a BBRF application but do have the in-kind support that means that, under this program, they can match, dollar-for-dollar, grants of between $2,500 and $20,000. They're modest but meaningful.

If I could mention a specific project of great importance to my electorate, the Princes Highway will receive $136 million as part of this budget. This particular piece of the national road network, in my view, was easily the most dangerous section of road in my electorate. I drive 100,000 kilometres a year. I get a fair feel for the roads. I thought it was pretty bad until I took that same route with a truck driver who insisted that I spend three hours in the cab with him. He was a chatty bloke, but there were times in our discussions—I don't mind a yarn—when he asked me to be quiet because he had to concentrate on the road. There were other parts of the road where he had to reduce his speed to 80 kilometres per hour because too often the rear vision mirrors on the truck collide with other rear vision mirrors on other trucks heading in the other direction. I got a whole new perspective on what it meant to improve the safety of that very significant road. We're continuing to invest in bringing it up to the standard that you'd expect.

HomeBuilder: I can't believe the success of this program; or what I should say is that I can't believe that in the middle of a recession induced pandemic I have builders coming to me and saying, 'Tony, we can't accept anymore work. Our books are full, but we have clients literally lining up.' Such is the success of this program. For the benefit of others in this place, it's $25,000 in direct financial support for people that want to build a new home. In South Australia, if you're a first-home buyer, that can be, if you like, $15,000 from the state government in terms of support, plus $25,000 makes it $40,000. A four-bedroom house and land package in my electorate in Mount Gambier can be achieved at about $350,000 to $400,000. We're talking about 10 per cent of someone's first home. Whilst the jobs are fantastic, the third-line outcome here, which is people owning their own home and beginning that home ownership journey, is the real win.

Manufacturing: throughout this pandemic supply chains have been tested. It's become apparent that more must be done to improve our domestic supply chain resilience. Our budget created the Modern Manufacturing Strategy, which will create a new era of Australian manufacturing as part of the JobMaker plan to rebuild our economy, create jobs and support the recovery from the COVID-19 recession. If there is a silver lining to this dark COVID cloud, here it is. It is the fact that the spotlight has been shone on Australia's need to have sovereign manufacturing capacity. As someone who has grown up in a timber town, who understands the importance of those downstream processing jobs to my community and the economy that sits around it, can I say this: we have been net importers of timber into this country for far too long. I'll say it again: we are net importers of timber into this country. At the very same time as we're exporting logs overseas, we're importing product back. Enough is enough. I'm sure the member for Solomon would agree with me—in fact, he has in another place—when I say that Aussie logs should be for Aussie jobs. I feel as though we have come together on this in a way that, when I campaigned to stop the sale of the South Australian forest estate, I stood arm in arm with an organiser from the then CFMEU, now CFMMEU. Some things are just right and should happen.

This is a challenging time. This was a budget for this time. I couldn't have imagined a budget of its nature when I entered the parliament in 2013 or at any point right up to March this year, but I commend it to the House. I congratulate the Treasurer on its design and I look forward to it achieving its outcome going forward.

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