Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Australians are rightly proud of their country. We look around the world, we see what other countries do, we see how other countries respond to things and we look at what Australia does, and I think at most times Australians feel proud of their country but so much more so over the last 12 months or so as we've looked at how this country has dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic compared to so many other countries. Whether it's been the health response or the economic response, Australians have so much to be proud of in the response of their government.

It's very easy to forget what the situation was a year ago and how much has changed over that time. A year ago, there were dire predictions as we went into lockdown as a country. We were staring down an unemployment rate of 15 per cent and we were looking at growth writedowns of 20 per cent—extraordinary figures in the history of our country and the history of the global economy. It's also worthwhile remembering the way in which COVID has affected and continues to affect hundreds of millions of people around the world. There have been 166 million cases and sadly 3.4 million deaths. In the US, more people died as a result of COVID than died in World War I, World War II and Vietnam combined. In the United Kingdom, they had the highest per capita death rate in the world. These are two countries that we regularly compare ourselves with in terms of public policy, and yet Australia's response to COVID has been so much stronger. We've had 30,000 cases and sadly lost 909 people.

One of the reasons why our response has been better has been the way in which we've approached the health issues and particularly the way in which we've looked very strongly at the importance of testing—17.9 million tests have been conducted here, and I think, particularly as a New South Welshman, the tracking and tracing system in our state has allowed us to identify and deal with COVID cases quickly.

COVID was always both a health challenge and an economic challenge, and we performed very well in relation to the health challenge. You see that by the fact that we've been able to open up our economy as much as we have. You see that in the amount of personal freedom and liberty that we have. You see that in the fact that we are sitting in this chamber during question time, just as we did before the pandemic. You see that in the fact that in Britain this week there was great celebrating because people could hug their elderly parents for the first time—this was something that we were able to do in large parts of Australia last year, and early last year too. It's just a demonstration of how differently we've done. So, on an economic front, while the economies of places like the UK, France and Italy have all contracted by more than eight per cent, Australia's strong health response has meant that our economy has only contracted by 2½ per cent.

The real economic dividend has been the unemployment figures. Employment is ultimately the translation of economic theoretical policy into something practical that all of us appreciate in our daily lives. The unemployment rate just announced last week is 5.5 per cent. Unemployment is now lower than it was when we went into the COVID-19 pandemic. No other country has had such a result as we have had in that regard, and that is because of the good economic management.

Those opposite were saying that we should keep on JobKeeper. JobKeeper has been a lifeline and a godsend to so many people across my electorate and across our community, and we knew it was the right policy to have. But it's easy to turn on the tap; it's much harder to turn it off. And if we had listened to those opposite, all we would be doing is spending money that would actually be a handbrake on our economy. We were right to draw down JobKeeper at the time we did, and the unemployment figures have shown the wisdom of that measure at that time.

The budget that was handed down a fortnight ago shows that we are doing the right thing and that we are pursuing with the COVID-19 economic recovery, securing Australia's economic future. This budget focuses not only on economic measures but also on a range of key service issues, and tonight I want to highlight a few that are particularly important to my community.

In Berowra we have 19,000 small and medium businesses, and there are a range of measures in the budget that will make those businesses better off and enable them to expand and to employ more people. At the heart of the measures announced in the budget is the extension of the instant asset write-off. That means a business can purchase a new piece of capital equipment and not wait several years until it depreciates but claim the tax deduction this year, putting more money in the hands of business, giving the business more money to further expand, further invest and further employ. The temporary loss carry-back scheme has also been extended another year, allowing businesses to better plan their balance sheet over several years. The SME Recovery Loan Scheme, available to businesses like those in my community that have been affected by the Hawkesbury River floods, also provides support to businesses like the turf farms in places like Lower Portland and Sackville North as they recover from the recent floods.

I think one of the best measures that we have introduced since COVID-19 has been the apprentice wage subsidy. You can see that in the way that people have adopted it with such great alacrity. We thought that the apprentice wage subsidy program, which we put in place last year, would take 12 months to be subscribed, but it was subscribed in only five months, with 100,000 new apprentices. This budget doubles down on that and provides for an extra 170,000 new apprentices to be subsidised by the 50 per cent wage subsidy, which is so important to businesses expanding and to giving people—young people and people who are looking to retrain—a go in a new area of the economy.

A specially focused business measure that has pleased at least two businesses in my electorate is the measure that was introduced for craft brewers. Craft brewers can now claim a refund on any excise they pay, up to an annual cap of $350,000. When I went to visit Ekim Brewing in Mount Kuring-gai recently, they talked about how this would improve their cash flow and enable them to expand their business. In fact, they are looking at expanding their operations as a result of this measure. That's a great practical instance of good measures in the budget that are making a real difference to people's lives, on the ground.

I think the measure in the budget that will affect most people in my community and make the greatest difference is the Peri-Urban Mobile Program, which will invest $16.4 million in peri-urban mobile solutions for people in communities, like mine, that are on the urban fringe of our capital cities, for whom mobile connectivity is appalling. I have spoken on many occasions, in this House and in my community, of the appalling service given to people in my community by Telstra. Telstra is the monopoly provider to large parts of my community. There are large parts of my community that are getting charged for a service they are not receiving. There are places in my community where Telstra says there is coverage but there is actually no coverage, except when you stand on a ladder in your backyard and point the coathanger in the right way while the wind is blowing in the right direction. This has got to stop. I'm very sympathetic to colleagues, like the member for Mallee, who represent rural constituencies. I understand the challenges that they face in the bush in relation to mobile telecommunications. But in an electorate like mine, which is in metropolitan Sydney, our mobile telecommunication is worse now than it was 20 years ago.

The Peri-Urban Mobile Program is going to be such a game changer for communities like mine. It will provide an avenue for telcos to invest money to address peri-urban mobile coverage issues. This is important for our emergency services personnel. It's important for people who are in critical sectors, like doctors. It's important for police and ambulance, and it's important in saving lives. I can't tell you the number of stories I've heard where people haven't been able to call 000, because they haven't been able to get reception on the mobile phone. I had an instance where someone in my electorate was bitten by a snake and their child had to email a relative in Melbourne to get them to call 000, because the mobile service in my electorate was so bad. I was speaking to a man the other day whose daughter has severe mental health issues. The phone cut out six times and he said, 'I'm going to drive 10 minutes away and stand under a tower in a park so I can make a phone call to you.' So he had to bundle his daughter up in the car and do that. This is appalling. This is 2021. This is metropolitan Sydney. Thank goodness the PUMP program will provide us with a way forward. I want to thank everyone in my community who has campaigned so hard for better telecommunications.

I mentioned the issue of mental health because it is an issue that is so important to me as the chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Suicide Prevention and as someone who has been bereaved by suicide. I think this budget is a real step-up in relation to mental health and suicide prevention. When the Prime Minister told me he was planning on announcing that we would have a target of zero suicides, I said to him, in a Sir Humphrey sense, 'That's a very courageous decision, Prime Minister.' But he said, quite rightly: 'How can we have any other figure? Suicide is not acceptable and we want to get that down to zero.' I think the single most important measure that will make an appreciable difference in relation to suicide prevention is aftercare.

Aftercare is something I have campaigned for the whole time I have been in here. If you go into hospital because you're having a hip replacement or a knee replacement, you don't get discharged into the night. You go to rehab. You learn to walk again; you learn to get your physical life back on track. But, if you've made an attempt on your own life, in too many of our jurisdictions, once you've been stabilised you get discharged into the night. What do we know? We know that the people who are most likely to die by suicide are those people who have attempted to take their own lives on a previous occasion. We know who they are and we know where they are. We've got their medical records.

What this initiative does is provide a targeted measure, properly funded aftercare—which we are seeing for the first time in this budget—to the tune of $158.6 million. It will see anybody who has been admitted to a mental health facility, such as a mental health unit in a hospital, not discharged into the night but discharged into an aftercare program, so that they will continue to get the services and support that they need, acknowledging that the acute event that might have occurred, that might have brought them in, is just one event on a journey that will get them back to health. I think this will have a real impact on the numbers of suicides that we have in this country. It is the only measure in the Productivity Commission report where there was a recommendation that actually put a number on the quantity of lives that you could save, and that's why I think this is such an important measure in the mental health space.

I also note the importance of Head to Health. There has been, rightly, a focus on the mental health of young people through the headspace program, but not everybody who has mental health challenges is young. There are many older people who have mental health challenges as well. The new Head to Health centres, that build on the concept of headspace, will help augment those services and help ensure that people are getting the support they need. I applaud the government for the $2.3 billion package of measures in relation to mental health and suicide, of which those two are absolutely key.

I want to say something about child care, because child care is a big issue for many families—the affordability of childcare and the ability of families to properly balance their budgets and to ensure that both mum and dad, should they choose, have the ability and capacity to work, and that they can make the family arrangements that are right for them. But child care is very expensive. It's expensive for families that have more than one child, and it's particularly expensive for families who haven't been able to get access to subsidies.

There are some really important measures in this budget dealing with childcare. The government are investing $1.7 billion more into child care in the budget. They're removing the $10,560 cap on the childcare subsidy, and this is a measure that will be very important for people in my electorate, where the cost of housing is very expensive and a large percentage of people's incomes is taken up with repaying mortgages and getting into the market in the first place. There will be increases in subsidies for families who have more than one child under five. The maximum subsidy used to be 85 per cent, but it will be increased to 95 per cent, and the taper rates will be adjusted. What this means for a family, like many that you would find in my electorate, with a combined income of $180,000 and with two children in childcare for four days, is that they will be $124.80 better off per week. That means more money they can put into their mortgage and into buying books and buying educational products for their children, and giving them richer experiences. The childcare reforms in this budget will directly benefit over 1,160 families in my electorate.

This budget has been well received because there is a lot of good news in there for Australians. It is a targeted budget, like so many of the measures that we have put forward over the past 12 months. It is targeted on giving lower and middle-income earners tax relief. It is targeted on helping small businesses. It is targeted on giving Australians the services that they need, whether it is mental health, whether it is childcare, whether it is any other area. I commend the bills to the House.

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