House debates

Tuesday, 18 September 2018

Questions without Notice

Aged Care, Infrastructure

2:43 pm

Photo of Jason WoodJason Wood (La Trobe, Liberal Party) Share this | | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Cities, Urban Infrastructure and Population. Will the minister update the House—

Mr Pyne interjecting

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

The member for La Trobe will pause for a second. The Leader of the House is continually interjecting, and he's sitting between me and the member for La Trobe. It makes it very difficult to hear the question. I'm presuming he wants it asked. The member for La Trobe will begin his question again.

Photo of Jason WoodJason Wood (La Trobe, Liberal Party) Share this | | Hansard source

My question is again to the Minister for Cities, Urban Infrastructure and Population. Will the minister update the House on how the government is planning for population growth and supporting older Australians now and into the future? Is the minister aware of any alternative views?

2:44 pm

Photo of Alan TudgeAlan Tudge (Aston, Liberal Party, Minister for Cities) Share this | | Hansard source

I thank the member for La Trobe for his question. As the member for La Trobe knows, Australia has been one of the fastest-growing countries amongst the OECD, growing on average by 1.7 per cent per annum over the past decade. One of the challenges of our population growth is that it has not been evenly distributed across the country. We've got big urban areas, such as Melbourne, Sydney and South-East Queensland, which have been growing very fast, and meanwhile we've got other, smaller cities and regional areas that would like to grow faster than they are presently.

To give an example of this, Adelaide last year grew by 10,000 people; Melbourne grew by 10,000 people every 25 days. That puts a lot of pressure on those big centres like Melbourne, and the member for La Trobe understands this deeply, being in one of the fastest-growing areas of Melbourne. But it also means that we've got cities such as Adelaide and some regional areas that would actually like to grow faster. A further challenge is that we've got different growth rates amongst different age cohorts. One of the fastest growth rates is amongst seniors. Indeed, over the next 40 years the cohort of seniors above the age of 65 will grow from 15 per cent of the population to 22 per cent of the population. And, as the Prime Minister indicated earlier today, the 85-plus segment will see a fourfold increase in numbers over the next four decades. That is great news, because people are living longer, as the Prime Minister said. But it also means that we need to be planning accordingly, in order to give those seniors the quality of life that they need and deserve, given their role in building Australia over the past few decades.

How are we addressing some of these population challenges? First of all, we are investing in congestion-busting infrastructure right across the country—$75 billion worth.

Mr Hill interjecting

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

The member for Bruce is warned.

Photo of Alan TudgeAlan Tudge (Aston, Liberal Party, Minister for Cities) Share this | | Hansard source

Second, we're supporting stronger growth in Adelaide and some of those smaller cities and regional areas and taking the pressure off those big capital cities. Third, we've got stronger population planning, taking into account the geographical shift in population as well as some of these demographic factors that I've been referring to, to ensure that we've got the right services in place, not just for seniors but for all Australians. We have got the plans and the policies in place to cater for those population changes, to deal with seniors going forward. And I can assure you—and when I'm asked about the alternatives—what is not in our plans for seniors going forward is a retiree tax. What is not in our plans for seniors going forward is increasing electricity prices. And what is not in our plans are policies that will wreck the economy— (Time expired)