Celia Hammond (Curtin, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm very happy to speak in consideration in detail on the budget. From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic early last year, this government has understood it and dealt with it on two fronts: as a health crisis and as an economic crisis. It has been and continues to be an extraordinary challenge for all of us, all around the world. It has been testing our health systems and our economies, and it's been testing us all individually and collectively. There's no hiding from the fact that our response to COVID-19 has come at significant fiscal cost and that net debt is anticipated to grow to 40.9 per cent of GDP by June 2025. The dollars involved are enormous and, again, there is no hiding from the fact that it's going to impact on all of us for a long time. But, as the Treasurer said in his budget speech last month, the 2021-22 budget is one designed to secure Australia's economic recovery. It is a budget which is focused both on the here and now, and the future. A lot of money is being spent, but it is being spent in direct and targeted ways. This budget and the economic plan which underpins it will continue to create the right environment for the creation of more jobs, more innovation, more investment and greater confidence, all of which are needed to ensure we continue to deliver essential services and to rebuild our country.

As I suspect many in this chamber do, I have vivid recollections of March and April last year, when we were all leaping into the unknown. I recall speaking with local business owners in my electorate whose anxiety was understandably at peak levels. They were being required to shut down their operations for a significant period of time—in fact, they didn't know for how long. The overwhelming majority of them then had to make significant changes to the way they operated so they at least could be doing something and getting some money in. Many of those same business owners still come up to me now and tell me that the introduction of JobKeeper was not only their financial lifeline; it was also their morale and wellbeing lifeline. While they remained stressed, JobKeeper gave them sufficient comfort and confidence to keep going. It eased the level of their anxieties. During COVID last year, over 9,000 businesses in Curtin accessed JobKeeper, and 24,000 people were supported by this mechanism to stay in work.

About 6,600 businesses also benefited from the tax-free cash flow boost, which again was a key factor in helping to ease anxiety and bolster confidence. The range of things that this was spent on by businesses has been extraordinary, and I've gone and visited many of my local businesses to see what they did with it: updating old kitchens, replacing out-of-life equipment, putting in new technology. It's been used across the length and breadth of the businesses in my area, and this budget continues to deliver benefits to those businesses in my electorate. More than 25,000 businesses will be able to write off the full value of any eligible asset they purchase and around 12,000 businesses will be able to use the extended carry-back measure to support cash flow and again build their confidence. Despite being severely impacted by the pandemic—and let's face it, in WA, where we get shut down if somebody sneezes, they are still very stressed about how to run their businesses in these times—the measures that we're putting in place will give them confidence to keep going, not to simply shut up shop and walk away for the fear of the unknown and being shut down again. The local business owners have told me directly that they've been given the confidence to back themselves and back their businesses.

Of course, this budget is also supporting individuals. We've got the tax relief measures, which the member for Moncrieff described. Again, about 52,400 taxpayers in Curtin are going to benefit from those particular tax relief measures. There are other things supporting individuals: childcare changes, more listings on the PBS, extensions to telehealth, more funding for mental health and aged care. All of these measures have a direct impact on people in my electorate. As the Assistant Treasurer well knows, the people in my area, like many Australians all across the country, are aspirational and, if they don't already do so, many of them want to own their own home. In many ways this yearning for owning your own home has been magnified by the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions on us, so my question for the minister is to inform us how the government is backing Australian jobs through our economic— (Time expired)

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