House debates

Wednesday, 10 May 2017

Questions without Notice

Budget

2:31 pm

Photo of Bill ShortenBill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer please advise what figure gross debt is projected to peak at in his budget?

Photo of Scott MorrisonScott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | | Hansard source

The gross debt position in 2021 will be $606 billion over the budget in the forward estimates. That is what it is in the budget. Accordingly, with the debt limit, which is put in place by the Treasurer—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting

Photo of Tony SmithTony Smith (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

The Treasurer will resume his seat. Yes, I am going to—

Government members interjecting

Members on my right will cease interjecting. The member for Corangamite has already been warned. I am going to give the Leader of the Opposition the call. I have been listening very closely, and the Treasurer is directly answering the question. The Leader of the Opposition.

Photo of Bill ShortenBill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

He has not. Far be it from me to disagree with you, Mr Speaker. It is a point of relevance. I asked: what is the figure that gross debt will 'peak' at?

Photo of Tony SmithTony Smith (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat. The Treasurer has the call.

Photo of Scott MorrisonScott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker. The budget is the budget for the budget and the forward estimates period. That is what the Leader of the Opposition asked me, and the answer is $606 billion. Look it up. It is in the budget papers. Knock yourself out. I can also inform him that gross debt peaks as a percentage of GDP at 30.7 per cent in 2018-19. That is what it says in the budget.

But I will tell you something else about debt. What this government has done by constraining expenditure is lower the rate of growth in debt by two-thirds. We have taken a growth rate in expenditure under the 'spend everything' policies of those opposite at over 3.5 per cent, and we have got that down to two per cent and under. Those opposite used to say, 'We will keep expenditure below two per cent growth,' but they never achieved it. It went to over 3.5 per cent. But under our budget we got it below two per cent and we continue to keep it there. And we continue to have a projected balance in 2021.

The other thing we have done in this budget is ensure that in 2018-19—that is just over 12 months away—for the first time in a long time we will no longer be putting on increased debt to pay for everyday expenditure. Those opposite put everyday expenditure on the credit card, and we all know that when you do that it never ends well. Under Labor it did not end well.

2:34 pm

Photo of Lucy WicksLucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer update the House on the right choices the government is making to sustainably and fully fund the National Disability Insurance Scheme? Why is it important for all Australians to play a part in ensuring the success of this vital program?

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting

Photo of Scott MorrisonScott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | | Hansard source

I thank the member for Robertson for her question. I take the interjection from those opposite who said 'we started that scheme'. The previous government did start this scheme—and I am very pleased to acknowledge it—and we were very pleased to support it. This program, this project, has enjoyed bipartisan support, and I think it should continue to have bipartisan support. What we have had to deal with as a government is address the issues of the funding gap for the National Disability Insurance Scheme. There is a $55.7 billion funding gap for the National Disability Insurance Scheme over the next 10 years. Those in this place will know that the government had sought to try and fill this gap by pursuing savings measures to the budget that could be put against that task. Those opposite did not wish to support those and the Senate also did not wish to support those, but the one thing this government was not going to do was walk away from the commitments that this chamber and the other chamber made to Australians living with disabilities all around the country.

What we have done in this budget is say: 'We've tried to do it through savings and we didn't agree.' So what we are saying now is: 'Meet us in the middle here on this.' We are prepared to do exactly what the Labor Party did in government by putting on a half a per cent levy on the Medicare levy to ensure that we can fully fund the NDIS once and for all. We can stop this argument about the funding. I implore those opposite to come to the middle here, join with the government and together give a commitment to everyone who is counting on this scheme that it will be 100 per cent fully funded. I invite the opposition to give that commitment.

2:36 pm

Photo of Chris BowenChris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Last night, the Treasurer quietly increased the government's debt limit beyond half a trillion dollars. Why didn't he mention this in his budget speech? How can it be that taking the national credit card beyond half a trillion dollars did not rate a mention? Can the Treasurer now reveal to the House what his new debt limit actually is?

2:37 pm

Photo of Scott MorrisonScott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | | Hansard source

It is $600 billion. That is what the debt limit has been set at. The government will seek to address it—

Mr Bowen interjecting

No, that was the peak debt over the course of the budget and forward estimates.

Mr Bowen interjecting

Photo of Tony SmithTony Smith (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

The member for McMahon!

Photo of Scott MorrisonScott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | | Hansard source

I know those opposite are frustrated, but it is a very simple formula. We on this side of the House like to ensure that we keep tension in the cord when it comes to restraining expenditure. Those opposite are quite happy to let it rip on every single occasion. That is why debt was growing at 34 per cent per annum when those opposite left the Treasury bench. Under this government, we have reduced the rate of gross debt by two-thirds.

Ms Plibersek interjecting

Photo of Tony SmithTony Smith (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

The member for Sydney is warned!

Photo of Scott MorrisonScott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | | Hansard source

What we have done is set a new debt limit in accordance with the regulations in the legislation that is required and that has been tabled in the ordinary course of events. The government will always seek to ensure that the government has lower debt than it otherwise might have. Those opposite are the authors of the debt we have today. They are the initiators of the debt we have today, because they set fire to the budget and have poured petrol on it in opposition.

2:38 pm

Photo of David LittleproudDavid Littleproud (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | | Hansard source

My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources. Will the Deputy Prime Minister outline to the House the right choices the government has made to ensure the agriculture sector benefits from the measures announced in the budget, particularly for the communities in my electorate of Maranoa? Is the Deputy Prime Minister aware of alternative policies that threaten the opportunities for regional Australian communities?

2:39 pm

Photo of Barnaby JoyceBarnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question and note the substantial investment by reason of this budget that will happen in Maranoa—most substantially, of course, the inland rail, which is a nation-building project to create a corridor of commerce from Melbourne up to Brisbane. I know the people of Goondiwindi, when we were there the other day, are looking forward to the capacity to be part of the connectivity they will have to Melbourne, to Sydney and to Brisbane. That, therefore, gives them the capacity also to connect to markets overseas. This is something that so many people have talked about but we are actually delivering on.

We look forward to the Leader of the Opposition's endorsement of this, maybe tomorrow night, where he will be able to come forward and tell us about his vision for the inland rail and how he is supporting it. It is going to be a great project for the Maranoa. Of course, the Maranoa deserves these sorts of projects. That is why we also support the 35 new and upgraded mobile phone towers in places such as Moonie, Hannaford, Wondai Road and also into the Western Downs. I know we have some people in the gallery here today from the Western Downs.

We also support the $2.5 million to replace the Lemontree-Bostock and Charlies Creek bridges, which are very important for the people of Maranoa, and the $35.6 million for roads recovery across the forwards in the seat of Maranoa. I know that after the Waltzing Matilda Centre, in Winton, burnt down we put $8 million on the table to make sure that that gets up and running again. There is the $5.9 billion for 4G into Windorah, Birdsville, Bedourie, Jundah and Stonehenge. And let us not forget the $100 million election pledge for the sealing of the third road across our nation. We are going from Laverton in Western Australia to Winton in Western Queensland.

It is this government that has had the courage to come forward with substantial infrastructure in such a way that we can get to the coal precincts that reside in the seat of Maranoa and also the grain and the cotton. This is the sort of wealth that is giving us a great economic opportunity in our nation. It is also the agricultural wealth that, under this government, has gone from $48.6 billion in gross value of agricultural production to $63.8 billion. That is a 31 per cent increase on the back of three free trade agreements. That is a 31 per cent increase on the back of diligent work by the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources to make sure that the protocols were in place so that we can move such things as more chilled beef into China. These are the sorts of outcomes that have been allowed places such as the Maranoa, whose gross value of beef has gone from $638 million when we came to government to $915 million now, a 43 per cent increase. These are the sorts of dollars and cents that are coming back through the farm gate to Maranoa to people in the agricultural sector.

But, of course, what we always await is: what is the vision for the Labor Party in agriculture? Do they have a vision? Are we ever going to see one? We will wait for tomorrow night when the member for Maribyrnong might— (Time expired)

2:42 pm

Photo of Tanya PlibersekTanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. How is it fair that in this budget the Prime Minister is going after uni students by jacking up their fees and cutting funding to universities but can find a spare $50 billion for big business tax cuts?

Photo of Malcolm TurnbullMalcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for her question. The government's higher education policy retains our support for higher education through both direct funding of the cost of higher education for students and the loan scheme as one of the most generous in the world. The majority of the cost of a student's higher education will continued to be funded by the government. It is reasonable to ask students to pay an increased amount for the extraordinary benefit of a higher education, which of course confers on those students great additional earning capacity in the years ahead.

The honourable member asked also about company tax. Part of our budget and part of our economic plan is to reduce business taxes in Australia. Why are we doing that? We are doing that so that those students and many other young Australians will get a job. That is what we are doing, because that is the whole purpose of higher education. That is the purpose of vocational education. That is the purpose of an apprenticeship. That is what young Australians want. They want to know that there will be a job. What that means is that they need Australian businesses to be competitive. You cannot be competitive with a tax rate at 30 per cent when the US is heading to 15 per cent. That is obvious. That was a rationale and an insight—a penetrating glimpse of the obvious, you might think—that was apparent to the Labor Party and indeed to the Leader of the Opposition. I remember that back in 2012 he spoke quite eloquently about it from this side of the chamber. What we are doing is securing those young Australians' future by investing in reform that will deliver more investment in business, more jobs, better jobs and better opportunities.