Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

There's been a lot of focus on tax reforms in this budget. Our three objectives are to make it easier to own a first home, to cut income taxes and to better align the tax treatment of income and assets. I want to touch on some of the things that haven't really been talked about in some of the misinformation and disinformation willingly peddled, including by those opposite. From the 2026-27 year—so the next financial year—a new instant tax deduction of up to $1,000 every year, which will simplify work related expense deductions, kicks in. This will deliver 6.2 million workers an average tax benefit of $205 for that year. The following year we're introducing a $250 working Australians tax offset, the WATO, providing another ongoing tax cut annually for more than 13 million Australian workers. These are on top of the three tax cuts that the government's already legislated.

From 1 July this year, the 16 per cent tax rate on taxable income between $18,201 and $45,000 will drop to 15 per cent. From 1 July 2027, that tax rate will drop to 14 per cent. As this flows through every single tax bracket, it means that every single Australian taxpayer will receive a tax cut of up to $268 from 1 July and then $536 every year from 1 July 2027, compared to the 2024-25 tax settings. In every budget, we've embedded these tax cuts that are small, affordable and meaningful and that build up over time. For an Australian worker on average earnings, the combined benefit of the government's five tax cuts, which started back in 2024, could be up to $2,816 a year, helping every Australian worker keep more of what they've earned.

These cuts also help every single sole trader running a small business. Since the Treasurer handed down this budget, I've been talking to local small businesses about some of the practical measures that will benefit them in this budget. We've permanently extended the $20,000 instant asset write-off from July this year. This allows small businesses with turnovers of up to $10 million to immediately deduct eligible assets costing less than $20,000 off that year's tax return. You can claim more than one asset, which helps businesses make their investment decisions with confidence. This is estimated to improve cash flow for small businesses by around $890 million over the next five years. These are testing trading conditions for some businesses and, from July, eligible companies that make a loss in the current income year will be able to use that loss to get a refund against tax paid in the prior two income years. This will benefit up to 85,000 companies, mostly small businesses.

We're also introducing loss refundability to support new startup businesses. From 2028-29, small startups in their first two years of operation will be able to get a refund for tax losses up to the value of the fringe benefits tax and withholding tax paid on employee wages. This will benefit up to 25,000 young companies each year, providing valuable cashflow support. I think there's been less focus so far on these measures. But, from speaking with local businesses and learning about their situations, there are benefits that they'll receive.

One of our stated aims in this budget is to make it easier to own your first home. It's something I did as a matter of course in my 20s when I started earning a full-time wage. I remember the joy of being able to put whatever I wanted on the walls, to paint, to change things and to have the sense of security that having your own place brings. I think younger generations deserve to be able to make the same choice without being forced to gamble on the stock market to build their deposit. They should have an even playing field. But right now, and for many, many decades, would-be first home buyers have been up against it because it has been an unfair playing field tilted towards people buying their second, third or 13th property. In this budget we're reforming negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions to level that playing field for first home buyers. But grandfathering arrangements remain for some of the measures to respect the decisions that current investors have made. If investors still want to use negative gearing on property into the future, they can do so on new builds so that their investment goes towards creating more housing supply. These changes are estimated to support an additional 75,000 homeowners over the decade to get their own first home. I want our kids and grandkids to be able to realise the dream of owning their first home. That's the purpose of this and the housing measures in the budget. It's the most ambitious housing agenda in decades.

We're extending the ban on foreign investors buying existing homes, until mid-2029, and we're establishing the new $2 billion Local Infrastructure Fund to help governments and state utilities build essential infrastructure to support new housing, including by connecting those essential services, like water, power, sewerage and roads. In Macquarie, where we face a dual challenge of bushfires and floods, we aren't likely to see as much activity as some other areas when it comes to new housing from the Housing Australia Future Fund, but at East Penrith, not far over the electorate boundary, there are right now 135 new homes under construction. One housing measure that is already helping plenty of Macquarie first home buyers is the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme. More than 1,200 people in Macquarie have bought their own home using the scheme.

Our budgets—this one and earlier ones—recognise that you can't build new homes without a skilled workforce. More than 545 construction trades apprentices in Macquarie have benefited from the $5,000 incentive payments. What's really exciting is the establishment of a new TAFE centre of excellence for construction at the Kingswood TAFE campus. Thousands of construction workers and their employers will benefit from new skills to help boost housing supply, thanks to this $11 million joint investment by the Albanese and Minns Labor governments.

The centre will work with industry and universities to develop a first-of-its-kind higher apprenticeship in construction, creating a new pathway that combines hands-on training with higher level qualifications. Over the next two years, the TAFE NSW Construction Centre of Excellence will deliver more than 20,000 enrolments across microskills and microcredentials via online and in-person training. The centre responds to industry demand for short, practical training that helps small and medium-sized construction businesses, like those throughout my electorate, so they can upskill their workforce and deliver quality housing right across the country.

The Kingswood TAFE marks the establishment of the 20th and final nationally networked TAFE centre of excellence under the National Skills Agreement, a landmark five-year agreement between the Commonwealth and the states and territories, focused on building the skilled workforce to set Australia up for now and the future. This is Labor restoring TAFE, as we promised we would, and creating the workers who will continue to build new homes for Aussies to buy or rent.

The budget continues the important work we've done to secure Australia's fuel supply, which has come under such pressure as a result of the war in the Middle East. We're expanding the minimum stockholding obligation, with an additional 10 days supply for diesel, jet fuel and petrol. We're establishing the $3.2 billion government controlled Australian Fuel Security Reserve, which will hold around a billion litres of diesel and jet fuel to provide an additional buffer for any future crisis. Through these efforts, Australia will increase its diesel and jet fuel reserves to 50 days. We've also strengthened the fuel security services payment to protect the future of our two remaining refineries, and we've committed $10 million for feasibility studies into expanding our domestic refining capacity.

Since the budget, we've been able to announce a number of fuel deals, including 150 million litres, or 900,000 barrels, of additional diesel in three new shipments, through partnerships with Ampol, Viva and regional supplier IOR, and discussions between Australia and China helped to secure an extra three shipments of jet fuel, totalling more than 600,000 barrels, or about 100 million litres. This is all part of working with the industry to keep people and goods moving.

Securing more fertiliser is also part of the Albanese government's actions to help Australia's agriculture industry manage the impacts of the conflict in the Middle East. In Macquarie we have fruit growers and vegetable growers providing produce not just for local farmers markets and produce stores but for markets and customers further afield. Everyone knows how vital Hawkesbury-grown turf is for the backyards, footy fields and landscaping all around Sydney and beyond. Just this week, we made another announcement: around 80,000 tonnes of additional urea, now locked in through the government's $7.5 billion Fuel and Fertiliser Security Facility. These sorts of shipments, arriving in Australia in coming weeks, give confidence to small businesses growing turf and vegetables in the Hawkesbury that they'll be able to keep doing what they do best.

Our efforts to help people with the cost of living, through this budget and previous ones, is seen starkly in health. This budget contains more work in the healthcare area—like making medicines cheaper by listing new and amended medicines on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, including treatments for cystic fibrosis, chronic kidney disease and various cancers, with $5.9 billion provided over five years. An additional $25 billion over five years will strengthen our public hospitals. We're also securing the future of Medicare urgent care clinics, with $1.8 billion over five years, with ongoing secure funding.

The benefits of our investment in health care are being felt right across the electorate of Macquarie. We've increased bulk-billing rates so that more people in Macquarie are able to see a GP without any out-of-pocket costs. Prior to our reforms, it was pretty common for GPs to offer bulk-billing only for pensioners, kids and concession card holders across Macquarie. Being a fully bulk-billing practice was the exception rather than the rule. Since the Albanese Labor government's successive boosts to bulk-billing incentives, the data collected in March of this year showed that we now have nearly half of all GP practices across Macquarie bulk-billing every single one of their patients—every single one. From the top of the mountains down to the Nepean River and across to the Hawkesbury, we have 26 fully bulk-billing GP practices.

One of the reasons the improvements are happening is that we've grown the health workforce, with an extra 17,000 doctors joining the Australian health system in the last two years. That's more than at any other time in the last decade. We'll continue to give students more opportunities, and to train more doctors and nurses, with the largest GP training program in history and hundreds of scholarships for nurses and midwives to extend their skills and qualifications.

Now, there's always more to do. But these improvements are making a real difference.

Something else that I know is making a real difference in the Hawkesbury part of my electorate is the Windsor Medicare Urgent Care Clinic. This urgent care clinic, which I promised in the 2025 election, has already treated thousands of patients quickly and efficiently and saved people from presenting to Hawkesbury hospital.

Just this week, one of my staff heard from Bridget from Kurrajong, who said, 'Tell Susan I said thank you for the urgent care clinic.' Last month I received a more detailed letter from Stephen, who wrote to me about his treatment at the Windsor urgent care clinic. He said:

This is a genuinely outstanding initiative. Having used the clinic last Monday evening to treat a leg injury, I experienced first hand what an efficient, well run and highly valuable service it provides to the community.

The clinic was accessible, prompt, and professionally managed throughout.

Importantly, it delivered exactly what is needed in situations that require urgent attention without the necessity of attending a hospital emergency department.

He asked me to particularly acknowledge Dr Roy Mariathas, who treated him. Dr Mariathas is a constituent in my electorate. I'm very proud to have local doctors working in this new local facility.

Our decision to have ongoing funding to make sure these clinics remain a permanent part of the health system is another change from the Albanese Labor government to keep the cost of living under control but also to give people the best possible health care.

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