Lindsay Tanner (Melbourne, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The global financial crisis has caused a dramatic shift in Australia’s macroeconomic outlook since the 2008-09 budget. In response, the government is implementing swift, targeted and prudent policy responses to reduce the possibility of a severe slowdown in the Australian economy, and to shield Australians from the impact of the global financial crisis.

As part of a coordinated response to the global financial crisis, the government has taken swift and decisive action to deliver a $10.4 billion Economic Security Strategy to strengthen the Australian economy and support Australian households through these difficult times.

The Economic Security Strategy is a discretionary fiscal stimulus package that is overwhelmingly focused on the first half of 2009 and tightly targeted at key aspects of the economy—household consumption and dwelling investment.

The strategy also provides relief to those people in the community who have been struggling in the past couple of years to meet rising costs for housing, petrol and food, particularly those on low incomes or with children and other family members to support.

In the absence of the government’s Economic Security Strategy, economic growth would have been significantly weaker than currently forecast. The strategy is expected to result in a boost to the level of real GDP growth of between half and one percentage point over the next several quarters, providing a significant boost to household consumption and supporting a recovery in dwelling investment over the forecast horizon.

There are two supplementary estimates appropriation bills being introduced as part of the government’s Economic Security Strategy. They are Appropriation (Economic Security Strategy) Bills Nos 1 and 2.

These supplementary estimates bills seek appropriation authority from parliament for the additional expenditure of money from the Consolidated Revenue Fund in order to implement a number of measures in the government’s strategy.

The total appropriation being sought through the supplementary estimates bills is $1.33 billion. The total appropriation being sought in bill No. 1 is $146 million. I shall introduce bill No. 2 shortly.

Bill No. 1 provides for an investment of over $117 million to create 56,000 additional places in the Productivity Places Program in 2008-09. This funding for the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations is for places at Certificate II, III and IV levels. In the next two years, this government will provide for a total additional commitment of over $187 million to help job seekers develop skills in areas needed by Australian industry.

This funding injection will effectively double the Productivity Places Program from 57,000 to 113,000 in 2008-09. The new places will take the Rudd government’s total commitment to the Productivity Places Program to more than $2 billion with over 700,000 new training places created over five years.

By expanding the Productivity Places Program, we are building on a program that has already proved its worth. More than 50,000 job seekers have enrolled, and over 11,000 have already completed training in an area of skills shortage. When combined with other measures, this investment means that the Economic Security Strategy is expected to create about 75,000 additional jobs for Australians. For job seekers, it means improved opportunities for training and employment. For industry, it means better employees with the skills they need to build a more competitive and productive Australian economy—for today and for the future.

As well as investing in Australia’s economic future, the Economic Security Strategy provides critical measures which recognise the impact the global financial crisis is having on the budgets of seniors, pensioners, carers and families.

For Australian families, the Economic Security Strategy means $3.9 billion in immediate financial support. Around two million families will be eligible for a $1,000 bonus payment for each child. The bonus payment is recognition that many Australian families are doing it tough, particularly as the global financial crisis comes off the back of rising living costs.

For pensioners, the Economic Security Strategy brings $4 billion in additional payments. Those in receipt of age, disability, carer and veterans pensions, as well as self-funded retirees with a Commonwealth Seniors Health Care Card, will receive a $1,400 payment for singles and $2,100 for couples. These payments are one way the government can support pensioners during these difficult economic conditions.

The legislation before the House will facilitate these payments. Funding of $17.2 million is proposed for the administrative costs in implementing the one-off lump sum payment to Australian pensioners and families I have outlined. The Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs will receive some $16.5 million, with almost $0.64 million going to the Department of Veterans’ Affairs. This funding will enable the payment from 8 December 2008 of immediate financial support to Australia’s four million pensioners, carers and seniors and around two million low- and middle-income Australian families.

The Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs will also receive $11.55 million to conduct a public information campaign to ensure that those eligible recipients of the one-off lump sum payment and the first home owners boost are advised of their entitlement.

Through the Economic Security Strategy, we have acted swiftly and decisively to support the Australian economy.

I commend the bill to the House.

Debate (on motion by Mr Pearce) adjourned.