Helen Haines (Indi, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the bills that give effect to the government's fifth budget. These bills facilitate appropriation for government expenditure. They do not, of themselves, implement the policy and legislative changes announced in the budget, and that's important to remember. However, in bringing the budget into effect, these bills reflect the priorities of the government and how it will fund the delivery of essential services and investments against revenue.

Every year, I work with local governments, health services, tourism bodies and others to develop a budget submission for Indi, which I take directly to the Treasurer. I want to acknowledge the many individuals and organisations across Indi who contributed to this budget's submission. Across regional Australia, including in my electorate of Indi, people are experiencing growing challenges, from access to health care, housing and child care to infrastructure and disaster recovery following devastating bushfires and floods. At the same time, global instability is causing tidal waves domestically for supply chains and uncertainty for key industries like agriculture, manufacturing and construction. Together, these pressures are being felt acutely in the hip pockets of everyday Australians. That's why the key message from the people of Indi was that, in these uncertain times, the budget needs to respond with targeted investment and meaningful reform.

I want to touch on the regional budget statement, because, once again, sadly, I was underwhelmed by it. I was less tactful on budget night when I said it could have been a post-it note. But the truth is that it contains an awful lot of repackaged information and very little new spending or dedicated support for regional Australia. This does very little to address the deep satisfaction felt towards governments by the third of the population living in regional Australia—the third of the population who are so often the last to get and the first to lose.

In this budget, the government has taken steps towards addressing intergenerational inequality and housing accessibility. I welcome the government committing to action, and I acknowledge the ambition it reflects. At the same time, though, there's no doubt that further work is needed. The tax changes announced in the budget will go beyond the expectations the government set in the lead-up to the budget and beyond the original framing of these measures as part of a housing response.

Tax reform, of course, requires careful design and very detailed consultation. I urge the government not to rush these changes but to undertake a genuine and comprehensive process through parliament and with stakeholders so that the legislation works as well as possible and avoids unintended consequences. This will help Australians understand these changes, whether and how they will be affected, and how the government sees these reforms delivering a fairer and more effective tax system in the future. If ever there's a potential remedy or some way of addressing misinformation, then surely bringing people along through consultation and genuine engagement is part of that remedy. It's important to consider the full impact of these changes. It's particularly important to understand what the full impact is for small businesses and primary producers. I'm reaching out to my electorate, and I'll be listening carefully to the feedback I receive.

On aged care, I was pleased to see the government reverse its stance on personal care services. When the government introduced its aged-care reforms in 2024, I raised serious concerns about the co-payment. Basic care, like help with showering, eating and getting dressed, is not a luxury. It is, essentially, clinical care that underpins dignity, health and quality of life. This is the right outcome. It shows yet again that, when communities speak up and their voices are championed by the crossbench, we can find meaningful change. I congratulate the government on changing their mind on that particular element of the aged-care reform.

This budget provides $1.7 billion over five years and $110.9 million ongoing to deliver a really important plank of what we seek from government in looking after the most vulnerable in our community, and that's the 'securing the NDIS for future generations' package. It's important to note that this is not new funding. It's not. This is a reallocation of unspent funds. Following the budget, the government introduced legislation to implement this package. I've spoken in detail on the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026. I've spoken in detail about the serious concerns that I have—in particular, the ones that have really been brought to my attention by my constituents.

I've consistently pushed this government to invest further in the critical enabling infrastructure that unlocks housing. I welcomed the Prime Minister's announcement of the Housing Support Program in 2023, one week after I met with him to make my case for this funding. In this budget, a further $2 billion is allocated through a new local infrastructure fund. That's designed to help councils and utility providers roll out the paths, the poles and the pavements that are holding back new housing and, most particularly, holding back new housing in regional electorates such as mine. I have argued long and hard for a fair share of housing investment for regional Australia. At the last election my costed policy reflected the need for, in fact, $2 billion in enabling infrastructure investment for the regions alone. There is a gaping hole out there. While there's plenty more to do, it's good to see that the government have now committed one quarter of the local infrastructure fund to the regions. It remains incumbent on the government to ensure this funding is fairly distributed to regional communities.

I welcome further funding allocated to the Growing Regions Program. However, the decision to bundle this funding announcement with a suburban program, without certainty on regional allocations, raises a really key concern that a program that's been relied upon by local communities as a merit based, competitive funding stream will be lost to metropolitan priorities. I'm really concerned about this one.

One positive for farmers in Indi is the $7.5 billion Fuel and Fertiliser Security Facility. I hear directly from primary producers that rising costs and uncertainty about supply of both fuel and fertiliser are making it difficult to sustain their operations. With the sowing season for broadacre crops well underway, access to fertiliser is critical to the success of this year's harvest. I welcome the government's recognition of this vital input and its inclusion in this facility.

While I acknowledge the government for some of these reforms, they can and they should do more to address the deep-rooted inequities facing regional and rural Australia. This is not just a question of fairness. It's about setting our nation on a path to greater productivity and long-term prosperity. Regional Australia consistently demonstrates strong productivity outcomes with a track record of outperforming our share of the population. The deputy speaker knows this. To realise our full potential, we need strong health services, we need sound infrastructure, and we need policy choices that back in the ambition of regional communities and invest in our future.

Health care remains the No. 1 concern right across the length and breadth of the electorate of Indi, and, indeed, I know it is a key concern right across rural and regional Australia. While this budget touted an extra $25 billion for hospitals, let's be clear eyed about this. This is predominantly made up of the increased base funding agreed with states and territories last year. This is not new funding over and above what the Commonwealth has already agreed to pay. Importantly, it does not address the pressing need for investment in infrastructure for rural and regional hospitals. Last year, I moved a motion calling on the government to deliver a $2 billion building rural and regional hospitals fund, a fund that would provide an open, transparent and needs based program for health services—like Albury Wodonga Health, Alpine Health, Corryong Health, Mansfield health—to apply for infrastructure funding that they absolutely desperately need. It's not too late to address the fundamental issues driving disquiet in rural and regional Australia and nor too late for action on the very real frustration that's felt by underinvestment in the most fundamental of things—health care infrastructure. If the government would do this, it would show communities that they are actually listening.

There's a compelling case for the government to expand the Commonwealth paid prac program to include all allied health and medical students. These students are required to complete hundreds, often thousands, of hours of unpaid placement. It is critical and important unpaid training, and it puts many students in the most precarious of financial situations. As a result, students are skipping meals, delaying their degrees and, in some cases, considering dropping out altogether because they simply can't make ends meet. Expanding prac payments is a targeted non-inflationary reform that invests in the future productivity of our country, and the success of schemes like Thriving Kids will rely on a strong allied health workforce, and that workforce depends on students being supported through their training, not pushed into placement poverty.

On the essential role of telecommunications and the absolutely critically essential role they play in regional Australia, despite this, this budget not only fails to announce any new funding for regional telecommunications, but, in fact, it has reprioritised millions in funding previously allocated to the Regional Connectivity Plan. In this budget, regional communications have actually gone backwards, and this absence of action on regional telecommunications is why I introduced a private member's bill earlier this week to strengthen our communications in natural disasters. This one just beggars belief to me. It absolutely beggars belief that the government have not put the investment towards this on the back of the summer bushfires that we've just had and on the back of everything that we have learnt, through Black Summer, through cyclones and through devastating floods. I'm never going to let up on this. The government has to invest in regional telecommunications in a way that is meaningful and in a way that will actually save lives.

Local governments face serious and systemic financial sustainability issues, yet this budget offers no long-term certainty nor any confidence for the hundreds of rural shires and city councils. The bringing forward of Financial Assistance Grant payments is a welcome short-term measure, but it's an accounting fix, and it shouldn't be necessary. What is necessary is meaningful action between the Commonwealth and the states to sustain regional councils to put them on a more stable footing for the long term, because, without financially sustainable councils, we can't hope to build the strong regions for our future nor address the core needs of these communities.

One of these core needs, I have to say, is the upkeep of our roads. I know the government loves to spruik increased funding for the Roads to Recovery Program, but the problem is the government is giving in one hand and taking away in the other. The planned growth in Roads to Recovery funding in the next financial year is significantly outweighed by the winding down of the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program, representing a more than $400 million shortfall between this financial year and the next. The reality is that funding for roads infrastructure is largely stagnant at an aggregate level under this government. However, you don't need to comb the budget papers to know this; you just need to take a ride down a regional road.

Another glaring hole in this budget—the biggest pothole you might ever see—is the lack of further funding for early education and care wages. The government has been touting its 15 per cent wage rise for early educators, but it's now leaving the sector in the lurch, with no clarity on how future wage rises determined by the Fair Work Commission will be funded. For smaller rural providers of child care in my electorate, it's keeping them awake at night. Many are not-for-profit operators already under strain, so the falling away of the government's support could not come at a more challenging time, and it truly puts centres across Australia at risk of closure. It's a nightmare for parents and carers struggling to balance parenthood and work and for the centres in thin markets.

As I finish, in the agriculture portfolio, I want to call out that savings are being scrapped from a number of programs that are critical to my electorate, including the wine tourism cellar door program and the pest and disease preparedness and response program. These are critical. The wine tourism cellar door program has benefited 15 wineries across Indi. We in Indi know that outbreaks of things like avian influenza are just devastating. It may seem easy for the government to cut small ag programs like this, but—mark my words—they have a huge impact on local communities.

The government might ask how I would fund the policies that I put forward. Let me just add my voice to the millions of Australians who say that one clear opportunity is to tax our gas exports and use that revenue to invest in regional Australia. (Time expired)

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