Justine Keay (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

After six years of cuts and chaos, last night's budget has confirmed that Braddon will be better off under Labor. For all of the key priorities for our region, Labor has a better plan: health, education, TAFE apprenticeships, tax cuts, jobs and economic growth. The coalition have copied Labor's personal tax cuts, but they are so out of touch that they have given a smaller tax cut to people earning less than $40,000 a year, and Braddon has some of the lowest wages in the nation. Yet again, these people have been ignored. Labor will fix this inequity.

The budget does nothing to fix Tasmania's health crisis, caused by years of Liberal cuts. It locks in cuts to hospitals, fails to address the elective surgery backlog in Tasmania and fails to fund TAZREACH, a program that ensures visiting medical specialists come to the region to save people time in travelling to see them. Labor will fix this. The budget locks in cuts to Braddon schools, but Labor will fix this. The budget fails to reverse cuts to TAFE and apprenticeships. In Braddon we've lost almost 700 apprentices under this government, but Labor will fix this. Our farmers will also be disappointed by the Liberals, as this budget does not contain one cent for tranche 3 of Tasmania's irrigation projects, but Labor will fix this. This program has the potential to create hundreds of jobs and grow our economy, and Labor will deliver this funding.

I thank the Prime Minister for delivering a budget that clearly shows that Labor is the only choice to fix the key issues in my region.