Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It has been nearly three months since the federal election. Prior to that election, as a member of parliament and as a candidate in the election, I raised concern about the possibility of enormous cuts and how they would impact the people that I represent. Since that election unfortunately that prediction has come to fruition. I am really concerned that there have been a number of services and programs that have been cut by the current government since it came to power, such as the Schoolkids Bonus, payments for small business, the environment, community safety programs and other public programs.

The government has put a stop to the NBN rollout in the Shortland electorate and it has clawed back community grants. It has cut its support for small business. The Schoolkids Bonus will go; the instant vehicle depreciation for small business will go; the Climate Change Commission has already gone; the crime prevention grants look set to go; and the high-speed NBN is missing in action. Tangible benefits to local communities in our region have been impacted upon. There is no concern about local families, business or building valuable support networks in our community. It is a government that does not get the way communities work. It is a government that does not get the way that people are feeling.

I was absolutely horrified when privatising of HECS debt was floated. Scaling back the new National Disability Insurance Agency has been touted as well as cuts to Centrelink offices. There is the prospect of Centrelink services being contracted out to organisations who I do not believe have the ability to handle the sensitive nature of frontline services. In just 2½ months things have changed. Prior to the election we heard so much about debt and now there is a bill before the House to increase our credit card to $500 billion, or nearly doubling it. I find it absolutely amazing that in such a short period of time the rhetoric of a government that was elected on slogans could change so much. They have closed down access to the media. They are being less transparent. As far as accountability is concerned, I get the impression that they do not think that they need to be accountable. If they can cut this much in just over two months, what will they do in two-and-a-half years? The mind boggles.

In the first two weeks in office, the new government said it would scrap the schoolkids bonus such that eligible families would lose $410 a year for students attending primary school and $820 a year for students attending high school. This is going to have an impact on an enormous number of families in the Shortland electorate. This is one program that really benefited families. I do not know how many people have posted on my Facebook page or contacted my office, but it would be in the hundreds, saying how supportive they are of this program. If you can get 100 postings on Facebook supporting a program, it really makes you think that this government is right out of touch with what people want. The overwhelming response I have had within my office on the dismantling of the Climate Commission just shows that this government is not committed to protecting our environment.

Prior to the government going into caretaker mode, the previous federal government announced that it would provide $2.7 million to build a new youth and community centre at San Remo in the northern part of Wyong Shire in the southern part of my electorate. It is a very disadvantaged area, and it is an area where there are no community facilities. The thing that was really special about this program was that it was to be built on the land of the Darkinjung people. They were giving the land. It was made up of a consortium of local organisations—the San Remo Neighbourhood Centre, the Central Coast Medicare Locals office, Youth Connections, ET Australia and the local advisory group of Better Futures, Local Solutions. It was just such an exciting project. It was to be funded under the regional program. It was to be a new centre with an innovative learning hub for the area. It was going to deliver community based health care, training and skills development, and also community and cultural engagement.

I do not know what has happened to this. We have been told that this program is being reassessed. This is a program that will deliver enormous benefit to the northern part of the community, and it has all the ingredients that I like to see in a program, such as whole-of-community involvement and partnerships—everything you could ask for. Yet this government is on the verge of just abandoning it. It is not good enough. It is a really despicable act. I find it just as astounding as I find the fact that they are considering capping student university enrolments and all the things that have increased the access to education within the community.

In the Shortland electorate there are two projects that were successful in gaining money under the Community Safety Fund. One of these was for the Lake Haven shopping precinct—an area where there has been considerable community vandalism and where people fear for their safety. There has been a project that has gone through a number of stages. This was the final stage of this project. The Lake Haven project received $194,000 from the National Crime Prevention Fund and it was to be delivered by the Wyong Shire Council.

The new coalition government has indicated that these funds will be clawed back. Minister Keenan has stated:

These commitments were made before the former government went into campaign mode. These were good projects and they were being funded from the proceeds of crime. Now this government wants to move away from them, just as it wants to move away from the funds that were allocated to the Lake Macquarie PCYC for the purchase of a Holden Captiva to help case managers work with youth offenders and the mentoring program for morning boxing, where young people who are at a risk engage with the local community. What a difference a few months can make to my community.

I think 19,000 residents in Shortland will miss out on the superannuation contribution, while at the same time a 15 per cent tax concession on superannuation for those earning above $100,000 will benefit 16,000— (Time expired)