Stuart Robert (Fadden, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What a fabulous budget we heard last night! The Turnbull government is getting on with the job of helping hardworking Australians, families and senior citizens. We're making sure that Australians keep more of their hard-earned money in their pocket. We're lifting tax brackets to ensure that wages aren't eaten up by higher taxes because people choose to work overtime or simply get a pay rise. In my electorate on the northern Gold Coast, an incredible 73,000 taxpayers will be better off next financial year. That is seven out of every 10 adults working in my electorate. I can't emphasise that enough. Over 70 per cent of the hardworking people in my community will have more money in their hip pocket to take home to their families because of this government and the budget they heard last night.

And it's not just tax relief. We're also implementing the National Energy Guarantee to ensure that Australian families and businesses can have affordable and more reliable electricity. We're making child care more affordable and accessible to those parents who want to work. We're backing enterprise through small- and medium-business tax relief. There are 21,480 small local businesses in my community that employ and pay their staff. They'll now have more money to spend and invest in their community. We're protecting peoples' superannuation by stripping away excess fees. We're tackling the black market economy. This is a real and sensible budget for my community on the Gold Coast.

Stephen Jones (Whitlam, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Services, Territories and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The most expensive and elaborate Work for the Dole program in this country is the one that supports the 21 National Party MPs and senators in this place. They turn up, they collect their pay, but they don't do their job. For the last few years, they've been telling everybody who'd listen that they're for the farmer and against the supermarket, for the battler and against the banks, for the worker and against the occupants of the harbourside mansion. But, yesterday, they came in here and cheered as the Treasurer delivered a budget which is delivering $80 billion worth of tax cuts for the big end of town. This is the mob that says they're for the battlers.

There are over 10,000 mobile phone blackspots in this country on their database. Right across the parliament, you've got MPs calling out for more money to fund mobile phone towers throughout regional Australia. But, last night, they virtually gave up the ghost and abandoned the program. They talk about the importance of infrastructure, but, if you look in the budget, there's not one new dollar for infrastructure throughout the country. It's not all been bad news, however. They've been campaigning for decentralisation, and the good news is they've managed to see the shift of the Indigenous Affairs Group Regional Network from Sydney to— (Time expired)

Ann Sudmalis (Gilmore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do love to follow the rhetoric of my neighbour in Whitlam. I'd like to thank my government for pulling all the financial strings together and making sure we're a stable government with good fiscal results. I'd like to thank them for being able to invest in infrastructure—in particular, the Shoalhaven River bridge. It has been a questionable project for a number of years. The people of the Shoalhaven—

Honourable Member:

An honourable member interjecting—

Ann Sudmalis (Gilmore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You only put $50 mil in—two pylons and half a bridge.

An honourable member interjecting—

You put in nothing. We have everything sorted for the people of the Shoalhaven. It has been a pinch point for economic drive, it has been a pinch point for our residents, and it has been a pinch point for our tourists. Every one of those aspects gives us jobs and growth for my region. I am proud to say that this has been delivered by my government, and I really can't wait until the New South Wales government comes in with their co-funding.

In addition to that, I'd very loudly like to support my community: those 3,000 people who signed the petition, those 2,000 people who let us ring them and talk to them about the bridge, all those people who came to our street stalls and all those people who helped us letterbox. We have an afternoon tea for them on Monday, to say thank you, at the Nowra School of Arts from 4.30 to six. It's a drop-in session. Come in, have coffee and tea, enjoy the company and celebrate the delivery of the Shoalhaven River bridge. (Time expired)

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In accordance with standing order 43, the time for members' statements has concluded.