Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As we have heard said by many journalists and other contributors to this debate, the Morrison government's 2021-22 budget, presented to parliament just two weeks ago, was clearly an election budget solely driven by the political interests of the Prime Minister, who's looking to the next election and nothing else. It was, in fact, a budget of mixed messages, where, on one hand, the Treasurer was crowing about the strong economy and low unemployment, as we heard in question time again today, while, on the other hand, simultaneously spending big and promising more tax cuts to stimulate economic activity. Indeed, one wonders: if the economy is so strong, why is it that we are heading for a deficit of a quarter of a billion dollars over this year and next year? This budget is from a government that in the past has preached restraint and austerity and pursued those people who are reliant on welfare for every last dollar. Yet, under the coalition government, national debt will rise from $175 billion in 2013, when Labor left office, to a projected $617 billion this financial year and will reach nearly $1 trillion by 2025, with gross debt in 2025 projected to reach $1.2 trillion. Just as concerning is that, as a nation we have very little to show for all of that debt and, indeed, future generations will have to repay it. When interest rates rise, as inevitably they will, there will of course also be an annual interest bill of billions of dollars to be paid.

This is a government with no national vision and no economic strategy, but that is simply focused on an election campaign strategy. It is an incompetent government not only riddled with its own scandals and rorting of public funds but that has bungled every national project that it has been responsible for. It bungled the NBN rollout, where the cost nearly doubled and now the government is having to spend, on top of the doubling of the cost, billions of dollars to rectify its mistakes. The NDIS, after five years of this government, is not only being rorted but has become a constant source of complaints from and frustrations for recipients and their families. We also had the Morrison government highly embarrassed by its shameful and illegal robodebt debacle, which not only cost taxpayers billions of dollars but saw lives lost.

Then we have the replacement submarine contract, with costs already blown out from $50 billion to nearly $90 billion, but still with no clear indication of when work will commence, where it will be done or how much work it will create in Australia. With respect to that work, we have so many businesses and industries in this country that are quite capable of doing the work. Only last week I was pleased to see that Novafast, a family owned business that manufactures innovative composite pipes and fittings for the future frigates, has been awarded a Defence contract. Novafast is one of the many companies that would certainly be able to do the work required on those submarines, but which may well miss out because it seems that so much of the work will be done overseas. Indeed, the whole project is still under a cloud, as is the full-cycle docking maintenance of the Collins class submarines.

More recently, there was the COVID-19 vaccine rollout—again, we heard about that today—which the Morrison government has muddled through and is still struggling to methodically roll out. The cold, hard reality is that, after eight years of coalition governments in office, Australians are less secure, worse off and more concerned than ever before about their future, and that trend was evident before COVID-19 hit the country. It was a trend that had been caused by this government, which can no longer use COVID-19 as an excuse to hide behind.

The national health system is under stress. Homeownership is becoming increasingly out of reach for new entrants. Wages are flatlining. Jobs are becoming less secure. There is no national energy policy in this country, and even other overseas conservative governments are critical of Australia's woeful climate commitments. Indeed, in this budget there were no real climate commitments. It is a worry, because we know that, across the world, governments are responding to the genuine concerns they have about of the effects of climate change on humanity in this world. It is something that this government has ignored for the last eight years. It is something that the science is very clear about. And yet the government is happy to just plod along, claiming that it will meet its Kyoto targets. It's not prepared to do any more than that, simply claiming that meeting those targets is adequate. Well, it's not. The people that I speak to understand that and will judge the government accordingly.

This is also a government that had to be dragged kicking and screaming to address the real issues that concern the everyday lives of Australians. This government voted against a banking royal commission time and time again, over 20 times. We now see that we are going to have a veterans royal commission, and there has been public discussion about the terms of reference. I hope that this government listens to the voices of the veterans in establishing those terms of reference.

And of course there was the aged-care royal commission, a commission that was called for after some 22 other inquiries into the aged-care sector in recent times had clearly painted a picture for the government as to what was required and what was wrong with the system. The government knew what was wrong. They were simply trying to defer any response to what was wrong and kick the can down the road. That's exactly what they've done. Whilst the government has allocated some $18 billion over five years in response to the royal commission, the reality is that it is simply not enough. In addition, the money being committed does not guarantee that adequate staffing levels will be provided. It doesn't guarantee the ongoing and appropriate staff training that is required. It doesn't guarantee that there will be increased pay rates for aged-care staff, who are currently some of the lowest-paid workers in this country yet do some of the most demanding work in the country. Nor does it guarantee that aged-care residents themselves are going to get the care and nutrition that they should be getting, as was highlighted by the royal commission.

Indeed, the whole of the health system is under stress, and it has been for years. Across Australia, the situation is getting worse. Medical practices are struggling to recruit additional staff. Elective surgery waiting lists have blown out over the last eight years. Medical visits, dental treatment and prescription medications are being deferred simply because of costs, all of which results in additional demand on public hospitals right across the country. In my state of South Australia, ambulance ramping and waiting times for emergency treatment at public hospitals reach life-threatening levels on a regular basis, and the situation is not improving. Indeed, it's generally getting worse. At the same time, private health insurance rates are declining, having fallen from 47.4 per cent in 2015 to 44.2 per cent by the end of the March quarter this year. That comes as no surprise, since private health insurance rates have increased by an average of 36 per cent since the coalition took office in 2013. This year the rates again increased, by an average of 2.74 per cent. That figure is above CPI inflation rates. Even after the ACCC found that, in 2019-20, insurers paid out $500 million less in hospital and extra benefits compared to the previous year, the private health insurers have increased their fees. And I stress that those were average increases. In some cases, the increases were much higher than the figures are quoted.

Over recent months, I have been contacted by several people with concerns about the private health insurance cost increase, coupled with the diminishing cover that they now get for the extra money that they are paying. Indeed, one person who contacted me only a few weeks ago had this year's premium increased by nine per cent or $338 a year. In an email he sent to me he states, and I quote: 'This is a hefty increase, especially for pensioners like my wife and myself. I do not know how long we are going to be able to afford to have private health insurance, and like us there are so many others in the same situation.' Falling rates of private health insurance drive people into the public system and, therefore, the queues in the public system will continue to grow.

Once again, despite the government's big infrastructure spending announcements, I understand that, in my home state of South Australia, only $131 million will be spent over the next financial year on infrastructure. It is well below South Australia's fair share, and it has been year-on-year under this government. Any additional funding promised in the budget will come after the next federal election or possibly the election after that if this government is still in office—which, hopefully, will not be the case.

It has also been estimated that around $15 billion to $20 billion of COVID economic stimulus money paid under the JobKeeper program went to companies that simply did not need the money. In other words, around one in five dollars spent on JobKeeper went to firms whose earnings actually increased in the year 2020. This is another example of the government's incompetency in managing a program. This is a government that pursued pensioners, pursued unemployed people, pursued students and pursued single parents for every last dollar that they were being paid and yet has been prepared to pay not millions but billions of dollars in JobKeeper payments to companies that never needed the money and which, allegedly, in many cases, paid millions of dollars in bonuses to their executives.

It begs the question: if the government were so keen on pursuing what they referred to as their robo-debt overpayments, why is this government doing nothing about reclaiming the money overpaid to these companies? We're talking about billions of dollars that could otherwise be used to fund essential community services or infrastructure—billions of dollars that so many other sectors out there in the community are quite rightly and understandably screaming out for. It is an example of this government's priorities—priorities which are always driven by ideology.

While this government might appear to have handed down what I would generally refer to as a pretty generous budget, it is only doing so because it has an election in mind and it will be facing an election sometime in the months ahead. My real concern in respect to that is that, given this government's ideology and having handed down this year's budget and incurred such a debt, what will it do in future years if it is re-elected? It will, of course, bring back its austerity measures and seek to reclaim or to balance its budget again on the backs of those who can least afford it. That is why this budget, I believe, is actually nothing more than a con by this government to try and get it through the next election. Whilst I certainly welcome all of the money that has been committed to within it, and we won't oppose the budget, I understand that it is driven by one thing only. The flipside of that, in my view, is that a budget should be looking at the long term not the short term.

Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, I seek leave to continue my remarks.

Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted. Before the member for New England continues, I remind the House it has been agreed that a general debate be allowed covering this bill and the two related appropriation bills. The question now before the House is that the words proposed to be omitted stand part of the question.

Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'd like to acknowledge the member for Makin in allowing me to continue on. I apologise for being a little bit tardy. It's interesting to hear from the Labor Party about austerity. We've just heard the Treasurer from Victoria, the honourable Mr Pallas, say that they're going to have a new tax—basically, a tax on people—because, he says, the government has done their job and now the people have to pay. At the same time as they're proposing a tax, they've somehow managed to find $21 million for Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital for gender work with children. I don't quite know how that works. I imagine that, in the future, we will have some major problems with the psychology of these children who will have had their lives dramatically altered and who will also have, no doubt, some other medical issues that will follow on closely behind that. But that goes to show you the sometimes very confused—one might suggest, perverse—approaches that Labor Party economics has an inclination to follow.

We have only one role in this nation: It is to become as powerful as possible as quickly as possible.

They talk about things that are happening across the world in regard to climate policy. Well, across the world they don't have to deal with issues such as China just above their doorstep. Across the world, in Europe, it's a completely different world from here. What we have to do here is to understand where our strengths lie and how we need to build on them. And we need to build on them with a sense of realism.

Our exports and imports determine our terms of trade and underpin our standard of living. I note the member for Capricornia; I suspect those clothes are imported; I'd say the shoes are definitely imported. The member for Flynn is sitting beside me. That's a beautiful suit, Member for Flynn, but I'd bet you it's imported. I have a watch on; it's a Garmin; it's imported. I drove here in a car that's imported; the fuel in it was imported. There are terms of trade. And our biggest exports in this nation—as the member for Flynn would know better than anyone else, followed by the member for Capricornia—are fossil fuels, those being gas and coal. Those are our biggest exports. They're not the biggest exports of Denmark. They're not the biggest exports of the United Kingdom. They're not the biggest exports of Germany or Finland or Spain, or of all the other people across the planet. But they are our biggest exports. So our dynamics are completely different.

Second to fossil fuels is iron ore. As a unit, it's our biggest export. That's fact. As much as I love the beef industry, and I'm part of it, it is equivalent to 40 days of iron ore exports. As to our barley exports, it is equivalent to three days of iron ore exports. That's how strong that is. And iron ore exports are underwritten by the mining of metallurgical coal.

We, in becoming as powerful as possible as quickly as possible, have got to understand that our economy is basically made up of, as quoted in the paper the other day, black rocks, red rocks and shiny rocks. That's basically where the vast majority of our wealth comes from, and we have to have a budget that underpins the infrastructure that allows us to grow that section of our economy, because we don't have the Bavarian Motor Works, or BMW, cars, or Krups or Siemens. We don't have Microsoft. We don't have Boeing. We don't have those industries. We don't have Dell computers. We don't even have—in a funny way—the New Zealand dairy industry. In New Zealand, their biggest export is dairy. So we have to build on the reality of what is Australia. If we follow the policies of what is Europe, then we're going to be a country that moves away from the prosperity that it has enjoyed, almost taken as a birthright.

One of the fundamental pieces of infrastructure that would underpin the realities of our economy would be a coal-fired power station. If we're going to export this product to the world, one would suggest that we build a power plant to show the world how to use it in the most efficient and clean way—a step-down coal-fired power plant.

The Upper Hunter election was so essential for the Labor Party to win, to put on a good show. But, because of their religious fervour for the climate movement, often just climate socialism—an excuse for the socialisation of private assets and the diminution of people's capacity for private enterprise—and because their attachment to this religion is so affirmed, they were willing to sacrifice votes in the Upper Hunter. They were willing to throw the Upper Hunter under a political bus because they will not step an inch away from that zealotry—that zealotry that resides in the Manager of Opposition Business. It is so affirmed in him that, in a public broadcast, on Q&A, when he was given an opportunity to say, 'We'll support a power plant,' or even to avoid the question—he's a very astute political operator—he couldn't. It is one of their 'Ten Commandments': thou shalt always move towards the endorsement of climate zealotry and thou shalt not support any form of fossil fuel power. That's what he did and he did it in remarkable form. That was seen in the Upper Hunter.

You know the saying 'You can't get more Labor than Cessnock'? Well, you probably can now; it's probably Annandale. In Cessnock, the Labor Party got only one in five votes—one in five. One in five votes is catastrophic. But still—and maybe it's noble—they're attached to this zealotry, because they're going to catch up with people across the world! They're going to catch up to Denmark, they're going to catch up to Liechtenstein, they're going to give Monaco a run for their money—in climate policy. They're going to try and drag us to the realities of Europe, even though we live in Australia with the realities of Australia.

We live also with the paradox that our major trading partner has become rather overt in its foreign policy, and that is the regime—not the people; the regime—that runs the communist People's Republic of China. If the prospect is having in the same epoch a comparable reduction in US power and a possible sliding of overall US power and, most likely, by 2030, the supremacy of a regime in China and its power in both military and economic terms, then what is really the task before us? Is it to go down a policy structure which will have no effect on the climate whatsoever? It's merely tithing that won't even pay for the cloth of the tabernacle. But, if we have to move down that path, what would really be the great challenge of our time? Wouldn't it be the liberty and freedom of our children to live in a world that we live in—to live in a world where they could say what they liked, to live in a world where they could protect their foreign investment from people who would basically bully their way in, to live in a world where they wouldn't live in fear?

But if we were to move down that path, what would be the great challenge of our time? Wouldn't it be the liberties and freedoms of our children to live in a world that we lived in, to live in a world where they could say what they liked, to live in a world where they could protect their foreign investment from other people who would bully their way in, to live in a world where they wouldn't live in fear? The only way we can deliver that to our children is to make this nation as powerful as possible as quickly as possible, and the only way we can do that is with the most sober view of just what is before us. This budget builds on the infrastructure so we can bring that about—the money that is continuing to be spent on Dungowan Dam, the money that will be spent in the future has been allocated for Mole River dam and the money that has been spent on the roads. We heard the Deputy Prime Minister give a fair run down of that for the New England today, so I won't be repeating it. But the money has been spent across our nation to basically let our infrastructure work in a better form.

I would like to also remind people of the money that we, the coalition, put aside—that the National Party drove to put aside—for the study to take the Inland Rail from Toowoomba down to Gladstone and that is going to be vitally important, because for those exports of especially the black rocks but also the shining rocks—the gold—we are going to need to grow Gladstone. Gladstone Harbour is one of the great generators of wealth for this nation. I will give you a bigger generator of wealth: the biggest generator of wealth in this state is Newcastle Harbour. With the export of those cursed black rocks, it is the biggest exporter earner for New South Wales, which some sectors wish to close down. I acknowledge the member for Brand, who has arrived. But when they close them down, they never propose anything to take these people's places. They never propose anything for where these people's jobs are.

In closing, people can get fascinated in this mythical sort of policy approach, this sort of Fantasia of policy approach and the only thing that brings sobriety back in his policy approach is a thing called elections. Because at elections, they say, climate change is a bacon-and-eggs policy. Climate change is the egg—the passing interest—but the bacon is the election because that is when the posterior is on the line. So that by-election in Hunter Valley was an absolutely sobering call for those opposite to get their policy structure right or they will never be the government. And for our side: do not go wandering off into this butterfly-chasing approach or we will lose votes to other parties. It is as simple as that. People will vote for their jobs. And out there, overwhelmingly, I see a greater logic in the economics of this nation than resides in this building.

Ken O'Dowd (Flynn, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to thank the Member for New England for his great speech. It is so important to listen to what he says about the economy of Australia. The resources industry and the agricultural industry mean so much to the Australian economy. We cannot forget it. We cannot push it aside as though it is not there, because, if we do, if we fall into that trap, we are gone as an Australian nation. Our forefathers fought so hard in World War I, World War II and in all the other conflicts to give Australia what it has now, and we can't fritter that away to nothing.

I am pleased to speak on Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2021-2022. The federal government has delivered a good package through this budget. It continues to protect Australians from COVID. We don't know how much longer we have to protect Australians against COVID. It's an unknown disease and virus that we hope to be on top of, but who knows? When we see what's happening in other countries, we know that it's worse now than it was 12 months ago.

But it's all about creating jobs. I might note that we have created more jobs that are in existence now than there were prior to COVID, in March last year. In fact, there are a lot of job vacancies out there now in the field that cannot be filled. It doesn't matter whether you're talking about skilled workers, semiskilled workers or unskilled workers, there are jobs galore out there that need to be filled. In fact, some establishments in the tourist industry have to be closed down because they cannot get workers to run their restaurants, run their accommodation and run their sightseeing tours. That's the situation we have today. We have relied so heavily on the Seasonal Workers Program, on backpackers and of course on immigration to take over these jobs, but of course we do not have the privilege of those workers coming into the country under COVID rules. Those rules are made to protect Australians.

I spent the last week in my electorate, in places like Bundaberg, Gayndah, Monto and Gladstone, and spoke to a lot of people on the ground. I can tell you that most of them are very happy with the budget. There was not even one complaint that I heard from anyone regarding the budget. I spoke to Mary Sharp, who is the CEO of the Monto aged-care facility at Ridgehaven. She was ecstatic that the $10 a day per resident will mean about $130,000 a year to her. She is now redoing her budgets, looking at how she can make the staff's wages better and at how she can better service her clients with so many minutes a day that each staff member can spend with the clients in the base. So she was ecstatic. There are another 80,000 places in home-care packages to keep people in their homes longer and better before they go to the aged-care facilities where they get high-care treatment. So she was ecstatic, and I know her board was happy about the announcements. It's only the start, too. It's $17.8 billion over five years. It's a start to getting aged care back on the road to where it should be. It is not a diminishing problem; it's a growing problem. Future governments will have to pay a lot of attention to our aged care as we live longer and hopefully better in most cases.

Over 53,000 taxpayers in Flynn will be better off under the new tax regime. Ninety-five per cent of taxpayers will pay 30 per cent or less in tax. This is pretty incredible for the high-taxing country that we are. Those 53,000 people in Flynn are very happy. A tax cut is better than a wage rise. You get more in your pocket at the end of the day, and that should be evident to all people who think that a wage rise is everything. I can tell you what, a tax cut is better than a wage rise, if it's the same amount of dollars we're talking about.

Continuing the instant asset write-off is a great help to business investors. Over 23,000 businesses in my electorate will benefit from this. Whether you're a tradie or a doctor, whether you're a farmer trying to purchase a new harvester or a manufacturer trying to produce a production line, this is a great benefit. As they said to me only last week, 'Don't talk about tax cuts; having the write-off is better than tax cuts, because it's not only helping yourself by paying less tax but it's helping your fellow man and woman in your businesses and your towns.' These incentives will make the Australian economy keep ticking over.

There has been a problem in the last 12 to 13 months with the supply chain. What I mean by that is, because of COVID, which has reached out globally, there has been a lack of product coming into Australia, so, when you're looking for a tractor or a truck, or indeed a Toyota or a car or a quad bike, sometimes they're just not available. Under the taxation laws, you must have received the new equipment and be using it to claim it from your tax year, so that's why we have extended the instant cash write-off to the end of this year. It's a great thing, and people really appreciate it.

We all know we've got a lack of apprentices and people trained in the job. We have 2,500 apprentices in Flynn, and the extension of the JobTrainer Fund will lead to more opportunities for young Australians. Along with the 50 per cent wage subsidy, this will support more than 170,000 new apprentices across Australia. That's got to be a good thing.

There is $2 billion in Queensland for road projects. If we want agriculture to grow to $100 billion by the year 2030, we must give the farmers the roads and the water infrastructure they need to increase their business. We have the best farmers in the world, I believe, but we need to get behind them and support them with the roads to stop the bruising of product and the wasting of product on the trucks, and to get the product to the ports and to our airports as quickly as possible with the least damage.

The budget delivered, of course, $17.7 billion to aged care, but it's not only aged care that we concentrated on; it was mental health. We all know that mental health is a big issue, not only in our armed forces but, indeed, across the nation. To have over 3,000 suicides in one year, which is more than all the road and truck accidents we had in the nation, is a very, very sad state of affairs indeed. So we're looking at headspace, and we're looking at mental health issues. Hopefully it will come up with a success rate that will see our suicides greatly, greatly decreased in the next 12 months or so.

We are extending telehealth consultations with our doctors to the end of this year. This means that a person, especially in places in regional Queensland and regional Australia where it's sometimes hard to get a doctor's appointment—I know in Gladstone you've got to wait three weeks before you get a doctor's appointment—under these extended telehealth consultations, can phone their doctor and get their scripts et cetera through the mail or through to their chemist, and people are really happy about that.

Childcare reform will be a direct benefit to 880 families living in Flynn, through affordable and accessible child care. This will help women and men back into the workforce. Again, their services are needed to fill some of these vacant jobs.

Jobs are coming back. The economy is coming back. And Australia's on the road to recovery, and this budget will help a deal. Remember, resources and agriculture, including our crops in agriculture, will see us through these difficult times.

Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Wages have been flatlining for years, and this budget will make it worse, with the Treasury saying wages will actually go backwards and then flatline even further. This is supposed to be a recovery budget, but it is, in fact, a billionaire's budget that is full of handouts for the big corporations. How can the government talk about recovery when wages are going backwards in this budget? But, as the ACTU has said, low wages are, in fact, a policy of this government. It's not an accident; it's a policy. If the government were serious about raising wages, it would remove the salary cap on public service wages; it would stop fighting the minimum wage rise and instead support one; it would protect gig economy workers and it would fight insecure work; and it would have firm workplace laws to shift the balance back from the big corporations to the side of workers and their unions.

But, instead, we will have a budget with $62 billion in corporate welfare and tax cuts for billionaires. The billionaires and the big corporations have too much power and are not paying their fair share. Their fingerprints are all over this budget. While millions lost their jobs or were stood down during the pandemic, Australia's billionaires increased their wealth by a third, with some more than doubling their wealth. This is obscene.

If the Greens were putting forward these appropriation bills, we would put in place a six per cent tax on the wealth of billionaires, and we would force the billionaires to hand over half of the profiteering increases they made to their wealth during the course of the pandemic, while everyone else was doing it tough. But, instead, we have this government who, in this budget, is pushing on with its stage 3 tax cuts, when most of the benefits will go to the already super wealthy, including the billionaires. It's a budget that has tax cuts for billionaires while wages go backwards for workers and the unemployed live in poverty. That's what this budget is.

Meanwhile, one in three big corporations in this country do not pay any tax, and that includes some of the big corporations who have been on the receiving end of handouts from this government. Big corporations have been lining up and getting all sorts of handouts from this government, including JobKeeper payments. This government, in this bill and in this budget, is allowing big corporations—who have made giant profits and handed over bonuses to their super wealthy directors—to keep public money that was meant to be for workers' wages. The Greens say, very simply: if you're making enough money to buy a private jet or pay executive bonuses, then you can pay back JobKeeper.

The PBO, the Parliamentary Budget Office, the independent body, estimates over $1 billion has gone to just 65 big corporations, who then went on to make big profits and paid dividends or gave out executive bonuses. This is just the tip of the iceberg, because the government refuses to say just how much public money went in the form of handouts to billionaires and big corporations who were making out like bandits already.

Some commentators have been pleading with the billionaires and the big corporations to give it back. But it 's not enough to just ask them to pay back JobKeeper; the government and parliament have to make them do it. Simply appealing to these billionaires' better natures won't work, because they don't have better natures. Billionaire magnate Gerry Harvey, chairman of the Harvey Norman corporation, continues to refuse to pay back JobKeeper, despite the big profits made by the company—hundreds of millions of dollars. He had literally a captive audience during the lockdown. People were shovelling money through the front door, but he had his hand out for more money from the government, which this government was only too willing to give him. Many small businesses and many workers were able to stay afloat because of JobKeeper. Many businesses that went on to turn a profit have paid some or all of the JobKeeper they received back, but not billionaire Gerry Harvey and not the Harvey Norman corporation. No, they have pocketed the JobKeeper—millions of dollars—along with big profits, without even so much as a 'thank you very much'. In fact, Gerry was out last week complaining about having to contribute to a boost to mental health spending in Victoria. This guy has no shame.

That's why I will now move this amendment, an amendment to the second reading amendment moved by Dr Chalmers. I move:

That the following words be added after paragraph (3):

"(4) the 2020-21 Budget delivered the publicly-funded JobKeeper wage subsidy, that was received by many companies that enjoyed an increase in profits during the pandemic, resulting from changes in consumer spending; and

(5) the 2021-22 Budget does not include measures requiring such corporations to repay any JobKeeper payments they received as a windfall; and

calls on the Government to require companies with an annual turnover of more than $50 million that received windfall JobKeeper payments and in the last 12 months:

(1)made increased profits; or

(2)paid increased executive bonuses; or

(3)issued increased dividends;

to repay to the Commonwealth an amount equal to the amount of JobKeeper payments they received, up to the sum of increased profits made and increased executive bonuses paid".

I commend that amendment and I say again, very simply: at a time when the budget says workers are getting a wage cut and the unemployed are living in poverty, we should not be giving handouts to billionaires. Billionaires and big corporations who made profits and bought private jets do not need handouts from the government, including JobKeeper handouts. They should pay it back. There is at least $1 billion—billion with a B—there to be reclaimed. That could go into schools and hospitals. It could go into lifting people out of poverty and making education free. We could help fund all of that. You can do a lot with $1 billion. We do not need to be lining the pockets of already profitable billionaires and big corporations.

This is the problem with the billionaires and big corporations in this country. The billionaire class see this government as their plaything. When the government doesn't do what they want, they get angry. These billionaires and big corporations believe they've paid good money to the government and deserve handouts and tax cuts in return. That's what the millions in donations from big corporations and billionaires to the Liberals—and, indeed, to the Labor Party—are actually all about. It's about them buying special treatment, ensuring that taxes are kept low for billionaires and big corporations and that budgets spend big on them. Gina Rinehart more than doubled her wealth during the pandemic and is now worth $36 billion. Between them, Twiggy, Gina Rinehart and Clive Palmer increased their personal wealth by 141 per cent during the pandemic. How did you go during the pandemic, Australia? How did everyone else go? Did you increase your wealth by 141 per cent? Well, the mining billionaires did. They're now lining up for another handout, and this budget is giving it to them.

This extreme generation of wealth is obscene. We are creating in this country a class of oligarchs who have too much power—including, as we saw in the last election, the power to buy elections. Do you remember the mining tax? Gina Rinehart led the charge by the mining billionaires against the mining tax, and, as a result, it was kiboshed. Recent analysis by the Parliamentary Budget Office, commissioned by the Greens, found that a proper mining tax, as originally crafted, could have raised $17 billion over the next two years and $112 billion by the start of the decade. The killing of the mining tax by Gina and other mining billionaires has cost the budget $69 billion since 2012—$69 billion. We could have got dental into Medicare for everyone in this country had we stuck with the original mining tax. Instead, the miners came along and said to the government: we want you to scrap it because it means the billionaires and big corporations paying their fair share, and so, as a result, everyone is left worse off. If you were to ask people, 'What would you rather: billionaires and big corporations paying their fair share so that we can get dental into Medicare, or more handouts for Gina and Clive and Twiggy?' I know what most people in this country would answer. But the problem is they're not giving the political donations to the Liberal Party and the Labor Party, and that's why we end up where we are at the moment.

The mining billionaires got their way, and they've got their way again in this budget, with massive handouts to fossil fuel interests right across the budget. In the middle of a climate crisis, Scott Morrison is giving $1.1 billion in new money to new coal and gas. With a total of $51 billion in public money for coal and gas corporations—the biggest in recent memory—this budget will fast-track climate collapse. This budget should have invested in renewables, in clean and green manufacturing, in improving people's livelihoods and building up our essential services. With this budget, Australia could have become a renewable energy superpower, putting us on the path to generate—and, indeed, export—clean energy to the world, but instead the Liberals are giving public money to coal and gas. But sadly, again, it's not just the Liberals.

Just one day after the Treasurer handed down the budget, Labor voted with the Liberals to ensure that $5 billion in the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility could go to new coal and gas projects. All this big talk from the opposition counts for nothing when they come into this chamber and vote for public money to go to more coal and gas. It seems that Labor has now officially backflipped on its position that taxpayer funds shouldn't go towards new coal projects. The Greens are taking on this terrible government, demanding that they take action on the climate crisis and stop giving public money that should be going to schools and hospitals to coal and gas. We would like Labor's help, but we find time and time again that, when it comes to handouts to billionaires and big corporations, Labor is backing the Liberals. Labor and Liberal are in climate lock step, using public money to speed up the climate crisis. Neither Liberal nor Labor have science based 2030 targets. They both support opening up new coal and gas projects, and both want to give these dangerous projects public funding. At a time when the rest of the world is telling Australia to do more, not less, this dirty deal between Liberal and Labor is a complete betrayal of climate action. The Greens will renew our push to kick the Liberals out and put the Greens in the balance of power, because it is clear that the next government will not act on climate unless the Greens make them do it.

At the end of last week, two announcements highlighted again how this billionaires' budget is burning our future. The same day that the International Energy Agency released a landmark report on how the world could stay below the dangerous 1½ degrees of global warming, the Morrison government announced $600 million in funding for a new gas-fired power plant at Kurri Kurri in New South Wales. The IEA made clear in their report that no new investments in coal, oil and gas can be made, but the government wants to put in place this white elephant, this junk investment. Again, the power of mining billionaires and big corporations is on display, with Santos's Narrabri gas field to feed the station. The Snowy board is now chaired by former Santos executive David Knox. It stinks to high heaven. The Greens will fight this dirty, toxic, gas-fired junk investment with everything we've got, and we call on the opposition not just to complain about the lack of a business case but to state their opposition to this project and join the Greens in fighting it.

Last week around this country, thousands of young people took to the streets in school climate strikes. I joined this inspiring rally in Melbourne. I want to put clearly on the record that these students are heroes. They deserve the unwavering support of not only everyone in this place but everyone across the country, because they are doing what the Prime Minister should be doing and calling on the government to protect the Australian people. They are protecting all of us by fighting the government's destructive gas fired and coal fuelled recovery. They are protecting us by stating clearly that gas is as dirty as coal and telling us that we must do everything in our power to keep coal, oil and gas in the ground. The Greens are listening. We will continue our solidarity with young people who want a future by fighting this billionaires' budget and the big corporations that continue to steal and burn our future.

At the next election, the Greens are on track to secure the balance of power in the House and in the Senate, but it is not guaranteed. That's why we're calling on everyone in this country, particularly young people, to join our movement to fight for the future.

Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the amendment seconded?

Craig Kelly (Hughes, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Although fundamentally disagreeing with the vast majority of the speech by the member for Melbourne, I second the amendment as it appears on the Notice Paper and reserve my right to speak.

Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was just seeking some advice about the form of words that the member for Hughes used in seconding the amendment, but I'm assured that it is appropriate. In that case, I state the question is that the words proposed to be omitted stand part of the question.

Damian Drum (Nicholls, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to take this opportunity in the debate on the appropriations bills to talk about the wonderful area that I represent. As part of the Liberal-National coalition, I represent this area in the knowledge that our government understands the needs of rural and regional Australia. It is an incredible honour to be a representative of this area and to look at huge investment projects like the Echuca-Moama Bridge. In recent months I've had the opportunity to travel to Echuca and Moama twice to look at the progress of that facility, once with my office and then to take the Deputy Prime Minister, Michael McCormack, to look at this project. It is incredibly exciting to see the progress that is being made. It is the largest transport infrastructure project in northern Victoria and includes new bridges over both the Murray River and Campaspe and also additional flood relief bridges on either side of the Murray River and shared walking and cycling path over the length of the crossing.

As a major funding partner in this $324 million project, the federal government has a $125 million investment in this project and is very proud of the leading role that we have in getting this project to be a reality. Once complete, this bridge will provide a new vital link between Victoria and New South Wales, and the economic benefits will flow for decades to come. It is expected to be finished by the middle of next year, but the actual spans will be meeting sometime around September or October this year, which will be a very exciting time. This project has had over 400 direct jobs and 1,100 indirect jobs. It was great to see this project broken down into smaller contracts to enable some of the local subcontractors to actually bid for and win some of these earlier stages of the project. It's not just the Echuca-Moama Bridge. In Shepparton, the art museum is there for everybody to see. As you enter Shepparton, it's impossible to miss, a new and very impressive art museum. The building is now complete, with its fantastic view of Lake Victoria at the northern end of Shepparton. It will be officially opened later this year and the federal government was again the major funding partner here, with $15 million towards a $47 million project, with huge community intake as well.

We're starting to see a trend in regionalisation that we haven't seen before. The Nationals, in our coalition government with the Liberals, are investing in infrastructure that's needed to service the people and to connect growing communities that we need for a very vibrant future. As part of the government's rollout there's a $110 billion infrastructure pipeline, and our electorate of Nicholls is certainly very keen to see the $323 million for the funding of stage three of the rail upgrade. The Melbourne to Shepparton line will effectively be fixed up, so that we can get more services. We have a paltry 4½ services into Melbourne every day. It is an absolute joke, where the Victorian government has effectively taken Bendigo, Ballarat and Geelong and given them over 20 services, and yet a major hub like Shepparton has been left with four. Anyway, we're getting some upgrades now and we will see some regular, faster, more reliable VLocity trains that will hopefully be on that Shepparton line. This investment is in addition to the $244 million that we have put into the North East line that heads up towards Wangaratta and Wodonga. The North East line also runs through Broadford, Seymour and Avenel. It will form part of the Inland Rail project. The $14.5 billion that this government has put into Inland Rail is getting thousands of trucks off the roads and ultimately is a most significant infrastructure project, not just here in Australia but possibly anywhere in the world.

The Goulburn Valley produces nearly $2 billion worth of goods and services each and every year. The region is a major warehousing and logistics service area for much of New South Wales. What is grown and cropped in New South Wales is often stored in and around Goulburn Valley and Shepparton. About 25 per cent of all trucks registered in Victoria are from the Goulburn Valley. At the junction of two very significant highways, it is very much a transport hub, and B-doubles make up a huge percentage of the vehicle traffic around Shepparton. That is why the Goulburn Valley bypass is such a critical project. We have had 80 per cent of our best guestimate on the table now for two years, but the state government have been unable to put their business case together. I understand that they have finally completed the business case after three years and that that is currently sitting with the department.

There has been a whole raft of other road and infrastructure projects around the Nicholls electorate: $10 million for the Murray Valley Highway between Echuca and Yarrawonga; $10 million for the Shepparton alternative route; $5 million for the Doyles Road intersection; $2.2 million for bridgework on the Goulburn Valley Highway; and $6.7 million for local government bridges, for their renewal and heavy vehicle safety programs. We certainly have seen an enormous amount of money go into the road structures around Shepparton and the Goulburn Valley—and even more so if we can get the Shepparton bypass to proceed.

We have also had a nice relationship, network, with the government in relation to the Regional Jobs and Investment Packages. We have seen some outstanding success in Nicholls, with all of the projects that we have seen in tourism, in manufacturing, in agriculture, in food processing, in health and in sport. The Museum of Vehicle Evolution, also in Shepparton, has received funding and is nearly completed. The Yarrawonga Tourism Trail has been completed. Murray River Paddle Steamers have also received funding from the government and have transformed a couple of their paddle steamers to take them to another level in their business.

Some manufacturing and engineering companies have received funding through the Regional Jobs and Investment Packages, including Furphy Engineering, JN&R Engineering in Kyabram, Aquatech and Rubicon. It is incredible to see the water-saving programs that Rubicon are installing around the world. This Australian company, based in Shepparton, is taking their water-saving technology programs right around the world. Shepparton and the Goulburn Valley should be incredibly proud of what this company does.

We have also seen investment in food processing: ACM in Girgarre; Wine by Sam at Seymour; Ryan's Meats in Nathalia, who have really done some fantastic work; advancements in fruit growing and packaging by FJ Lenny, Turnbull Brothers, Ky-D-Pak; and also the work that has been taken on board by Thompson in relation to the FRUITCo project, which is looking to be completed later this year. That will be an investment of over $50 million in the fruit industry, of which the Australian government has contributed $15 million to assist with its development. That will not only have an impact on one business but will also create a facility that other businesses will be able to use on a pay-for-use basis. We also have health providers, such as CA Group Services and Echuca Podiatry. This is what governments should do: work with local businesses, local governments and communities and target their investment to make sure that we create the jobs and grow these regional economies.

One of the most rewarding and satisfying parts of being elected is to see projects grow from the ideas that we have and to see these projects become a reality. One such projects is the Cobram Community Cinema. The previous cinema burnt down in 2010 and we saw a group of young high school students in Cobram start a fundraising campaign, ably helped by Rob Morry. What a fantastic project!

In the end, that community, mainly driven by young kids, raised over $700,000. The federal government chipped in over $520,000. But, to see the town of Cobram now have a couple of fantastic theatres for all of the movies that they want—a $1.3 million project in partnership with the Masonic Lodge—is fantastic, and I'm very, very proud to see the way that has worked out. By providing funding through the community and volunteer grants, we are able to reach out to many of the volunteer groups—men's sheds, lots of the service groups. The Morrison-McCormack government have been very keen to make sure that we stay very firmly attached to many of these community driven groups.

On the bigger picture of what this government is doing for the Australian people through the budget, I have to acknowledge what we have done so far through the pandemic with the funding that we've put out to businesses, through JobKeeper, to make sure that the workers can keep their bills paid. JobKeeper and JobSeeker have become absolute lifesavers for many businesses and many households. We're also seeing that the loss carry-back provisions have been taken advantage of by businesses that have paid some significant levels of tax over previous years and are now suffering losses. They are able to carry those losses back and use that tax that was paid in previous years. The childcare funding that we have put into the budget gives more young families, more young parents, the opportunity to make the choice: do we continue to stay at home a little bit longer because we can afford it or do we get back to work because we've now got more assistance from the federal government to put our children into child care?

There is also the extra money that we are putting into the aged-care sector—an extra $10 per day and 80,000 additional places for home-care packages. I think the vast majority of us, when we look forward to a time when we might need additional assistance and our family can no longer look after us, would like to stay at home as long as we possibly can. As our government has said time and time again, we have added so many more home-care packages. It's critically important. But in this budget we've also had to do something for those aged-care facilities that have been struggling, and we know that many of them have been struggling. Our paying $10 per bed per day is certainly going to give them an opportunity to get their facilities back to a stage where they can provide high-quality care in a sustainable fashion. That is incredibly important.

We have also continued to be all about trying to get people to keep as much of their money as they possibly can, with the most aggressive tax cuts and tax reforms that we can possibly introduce at this time. The instant asset write-off is in fact another form of tax relief for those businesses that would normally run a successful business. They're not only paying the wages and paying their own business tax but getting an opportunity to reinvest in their business in a way that will be able to be written off from tax but also trigger and stimulate the local economy through whatever machine or equipment it is that they purchase. The instant asset write-off has seen many businesses invest in their own business to an extent that it's going to put them in a very good space for the years ahead, because they're going to be working with the very best of equipment.

It is fantastic to be part of a government that is actually thinking about how we can keep people in work, how we can keep businesses in a realm where they are able to continue to employ people, continue to put people on their books. With the way the employment numbers have jumped back, we obviously are looking at a large-scale success when it comes to looking after these businesses. Our Treasurer, Mr Frydenberg, should be proud of what he has delivered.

From the conversations that I am having with my people back in Nicholls, they are incredibly grateful of JobKeeper and JobSeeker. They are incredibly grateful for what we would call a continued spending of the government at the moment to make sure that we get through this pandemic in a way where we take businesses with us and then they can take the workers with them. As we know, eight or nine out of 10 people are employed by the private sector, so I am just grateful this government has eight or nine out of 10 people in their sights to support them as we move forward.

Sharon Bird (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2021-2022 and other bills. I want to firstly talk about a bit of overall context and then go to some very specific issues around the budget, the challenges facing the nation and how they are playing out in my own electorate. There are two great challenges facing the nation and have been for 18 months now. One, of course, has been the COVID pandemic and, along with that, the health response required of the nation—of governments, of the population, of businesses—as we dealt with the global pandemic. There is also the economic challenge, and the budget that was unveiled by the government the last time we were here should be an opportunity to address the economic challenges that we face and to set a forward plan for how we come out of what was a hit to our economy—there is no doubt about it—and build a stronger future for families and communities.

I have—unsurprisingly, probably to this chamber—some serious concerns about both of those strands of challenge in front of our nation. I want to acknowledge that they don't sit separately. They actually are intimately intertwined. How well we get the health response in place will have a direct effect on how the economy performs and so these are very, very significant issues. Just on the response to the COVID pandemic, I want to say first of all that I think this government really needs to step its game up. The mixed messaging that has been a consistent feature of this government's response to the COVID pandemic is causing confusion and hesitancy about vaccines in our community. It is not uncommon in any week, whether or not parliament is sitting, to see media conferences with different government ministers, including the Prime Minister, giving different messages to people about what the current situation is. People are saying to me in my community, 'What exactly am I supposed to be doing about vaccination?' because there is no consistent media information campaign running. There are no consistent, reliable, .ads on the TV and so forth. People are uncertain and then they see these mixed messages. Only in the last week, there have been mixed messages about the rollout and about what the new orders of Pfizer vaccines at the end of the year mean for people who are over 50. Then we're told, 'Oh, no, you heard wrong. The media reported wrong.' The amateur hour mixed messaging has a cost and that cost is the increasing hesitancy we are seeing in our communities about taking up the vaccine. We know that getting the mass vaccination of our population is one of the most significant things we can do, not only for our health but also for our economy. When I look over the record of the government—I have to say every now and then I get a notification on my phone saying the COVID app has updated itself—I wonder what the point is and how much was expended on that particular little project?

We really need to step up our game as a federal government in response to the challenges that COVID related health issues continue to put before us. I call on the government—the Prime Minister and the relevant ministers—to do exactly that.

On the economic side, it is a touch bemusing to see speaker after speaker from the government side get up and say, 'We've been so fantastic. JobKeeper was the saviour of jobs and economies in this country,' when we well remember the fact that we were told that it was a ridiculous notion. When Labor was first raising the idea of wage subsidies we were told that it was ludicrous, that there was no way that we were going to be doing anything like that. It was really only when we saw the huge lines outside Centrelink offices, and the government suddenly had a bit of a panic attack and thought that this would be very problematic for them, that we saw the formation of the national gathering of business, government and unions. Full credit to the ACTU, I have to say, who were the real ones who pushed for a wage-subsidy-based program. It was great. At the end of the day, I love a government that learns from its mistakes—

Opposition Member:

An opposition member interjecting—

Sharon Bird (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a steep learning path indeed, as my colleague says—but it is a touch bemusing to see the JobKeeper initiative used time and time again by members of the government as an example of how competent they were in responding to the economic pressures of the COVID pandemic, when we know full well that if it hadn't been for Labor and then the business and union communities calling for a wage subsidy they would never have gone down that track at all. I would also make the point that, even when they did introduce JobKeeper, they knocked down amendments Labor put up, and we've been constantly campaigning to them, about the sectors and the workers that they left out. Now they think they deserve a pat on the back because they've sustained so many jobs. That is true, and that is good for those sectors where that happened, but in my area—as in so many other people's areas, I know—we lost a lot of people out of our universities. We had a lot of people in casual work who weren't eligible for any income support. I personally met workers in the travel industry who subsequent to the end of JobKeeper lost their jobs. There were women in their 50s, who will really struggle to get another job. So I think it's a miscall by the government to be demanding that they get a pat on the back. It is disrespectful to those sectors of our economy and communities who haven't come through stronger as a result of the government's intervention. Perhaps the government should be looking at more-specific and more-targeted programs and support. I will come back to one local business that I met last week to indicate that.

Don't even get me started on skills. If you want to talk about promising and massively under-delivering, look at the record of this government, since the Abbott government, on skills. They love to say they're a big supporter of apprentices: 'Come and let me get a photo with a tradie. Let me pretend I'm laying bricks with an apprentice.' They just love doing this stuff. Then they make these huge announcements and they never deliver. Every time we get the quarterly and then annual reports of the number of people in apprenticeships it's going backwards. It's the absolute epitome of what is so wrong with this government in terms of its great joy in making big announcements and splashing large amounts of money' and then having the capacity to rebank that money and re-announce it because they didn't actually deliver what it was they announced in the first place. I will remain extraordinarily cynical about the government's announcements in the skills area.

I do welcome the aged-care additional funding. There's no doubt, after the royal commission—which, I will say, they had to be dragged kicking and screaming to hold—that it is a blight on each and every one of us until we address how our most elderly citizens are being cared for in our aged-care system, whether that's in home care or in residential care. So I do welcome the additional support for that. But, again, we know that there are over 120,000 people on the waiting list for home-care packages, for example. People will continue to get older and become eligible, so the demand will continue to rise. The government has allocated 80,000, leaving a structured undersupply in there, and that's having real effects. I had a family in my office just last week. Mum is in hospital and rehab after a serious operation and 91-year-old Dad is at home, and that family is really struggling to continue to provide him with the support that he needs. So there's a big gap, as is always the case.

There's been a lot of backslapping and big announcements: 'We're throwing all this money at it. There's no problem with $1 trillion anymore. This is all really good.' In actual fact, the budget was a list of: where are our political pain points, what are our political problems and how can we throw something at each of them to tick it off to try and take the heat out of it? There was no structured reform agenda in that whatsoever. It's $1 trillion spent without a vision for any structured reforms to see us well into the future, post COVID.

In the few minutes that are left to me, in line with what I've been outlining in my general comments, I want to talk about a local business. This local business, sadly, as I said to them, are not alone in the concerns that they came to me with. I've had a number of local businesses in the travel and tourism sector in my local area who are still really struggling. Brad and Kylie Fussell from my area run Wanderers Australia. They run a program where they get young people from around the country into a sports team and take them overseas. They play sports against schools and other junior teams in whatever place they go, and then they also incorporate into that an educational program. For example, they go to France, play some games with local school teams and juniors teams, visit the battlefields and learn about the Australian participation in the war. It's a really great initiative, and they're passionate about what they do. They just love it. They love the ties and the friendships that they're creating and the knowledge that is such an important part of that program for young people.

Twenty-five years they've been doing this. Obviously, the COVID international closures had real implications for them. They said to me they wanted to acknowledge that they got JobKeeper, so that did provide some assistance. Of course, as a partnership, they weren't both entitled to JobKeeper. Only one of them was eligible for JobKeeper. They wanted me to pass on to the government that, although the payment has ended, the circumstance hasn't changed for them. They can't pivot to a domestic option. Young people are already playing their local teams locally and can travel in Australia with their families, so they can't pivot the business. They are still really struggling to keep their heads above water. The response of the government to say, 'We've dealt with all these issues, we don't need JobKeeper anymore, and Labor is ridiculous to be saying there are ongoing issues'—there actually are.

Members opposite must have businesses like this in the travel and tourism sector in their own electorates that still haven't been able to get back on their feet. They really do need some form of continued targeted assistance. The previous speaker talked about the loss carry-back tax option to support businesses. Well, a small business like this is not eligible for that either. So, I do think there are these really very small family businesses that I would encourage the government to have a look at, because, as I said, in the travel and tourism sector in my area, I continue to meet with local businesses, just like Brad and Kylie from Wanderers Australia, who are still really struggling. I know all of my colleagues would be like me: if you met this couple and saw their passion for education and their passion for the work they've done for 25 years, it would break your heart to think that that business is going to fall over when, I think, a government could look at some sensible, targeted programs that would support small businesses like theirs.

In the context of the budget, I've acknowledged locally some good initiatives. I've said to my local community that I'm going to watch this closely because there is always such a big gap between announcement-and-promise and actual delivery, and I do think there are areas the government could look to do better in still.

Vince Connelly (Stirling, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This budget is getting Australia back on track. As the Treasurer said in his budget night speech, Australia's economic engine is roaring back to life. Consumer sentiment is at its highest level in 11 years, meaning business conditions are at an all-time high and more Australians are in work than ever before. This budget is creating jobs, guaranteeing essential services and building a more resilient and secure Australia. The Morrison government's plan is working, and Australia is far better positioned than many countries throughout the world.

We've come a long way from where we were just seven months ago when the last budget was handed down, with almost half a million jobs created since October 2020. Unemployment rates have dropped to 5½ per cent and full-time employment is at a record high. Labor force figures released just last week show that there were more than 13 million Australians in work in April 2021, with the level of employment now 0.4 per cent above its pre-COVID level in March 2020 and 17.4 per cent higher than May last year when we were in the midst of the pandemic.

We've emerged out of the other side of the immediate response phase of the pandemic, thanks to unprecedented support from our government, including JobKeeper, which kept 3.8 million people in their jobs. This included 23,000 employees in my electorate of Stirling. People still come up to me and voice their appreciation of being able to remain connected to their jobs, or, for those who are employers, to be able to keep their employees employed. We also saw JobSeeker help around 1.5 million people without work and the cashflow boost which supported 800,000 businesses and not-for-profits.

We're now on the road to recovery, but we're not out of the woods yet when it comes to COVID-19. First and foremost, we need to keep Australians safe. This is why we see the investment of a further $1.9 billion allocated in this budget for the rollout of vaccines. We also see in this budget another $1.5 billion allocated for COVID related health services.

Over ten million hardworking Australian's are set to benefit from tax cuts. In my own electorate of Stirling, this sees more than 62,000 constituents who will have more money in their pockets thanks to that tax relief, comprising up to $2,745—and that will be this year. Ninety-nine per cent of businesses employing 11 million Australians will have more cash in their hands because they're able to write off the full value of eligible assets purchased. This will generate opportunities for small businesses to further continue to fill our nation's order books, not to mention more than 450,000 new training places created through the JobTrainer Fund, while 50 per cent wage subsidies will support over 170,000 new apprenticeships and traineeships.

But, it doesn't stop there. Despite being in the middle of a once-in-a-century pandemic, the Morrison government gave Australians the chance to build a new home or to substantially renovate their existing home, through grants of up to $25,000 under the HomeBuilder program. In WA alone we've seen more than 17,700 applications, and this initiative is continuing to support both jobs and the construction sector.

This government's support for Australians, especially during the pandemic, has remained unwavering. But it still doesn't stop there. This budget invests in major road and rail projects, including across Western Australia, aimed at boosting road safety and enhancing community connectivity. There is $1.6 billion being committed in Western Australia for projects that ease congestion and connect communities, and $41.2 million of that has been committed in my electorate of Stirling. The Wanneroo Road and Morley Drive intersection in Balcatta has been flagged as the third worst intersection in Perth for congestion and for the frequency of crashes. The extra $2.5 million committed to this area in this budget will significantly bolster safety and traffic flow and will take our federal government's commitment to the improvement of this intersection to $10 million.

I recently visited the Erindale Road and Reid Highway intersection, along with our federal finance minister, Simon Birmingham. This intersection is one that many residents in my electorate of Stirling know only too well for its congestion and lack of safety, particularly during peak hours. I'm looking forward to seeing a business case for the upgrading of this intersection getting underway in the first quarter of next year, thanks to a $2 million funding injection by this federal government. These are two of the many projects that the Morrison government is helping to make a reality.

The proposed incorporation of a trackless tram from Glendalough Station through to Scarborough Beach is an innovative transport solution that will get cars off our roads and ease the heavy burden of beachside parking.

Opposition Member:

An opposition member interjecting—

Vince Connelly (Stirling, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I hear a question from those opposite about what a trackless tram is. Well, it's like a tram, carrying a similar capacity of 250 passengers, but it runs on electricity and doesn't require tracks, hence the term 'trackless'. It provides greater movement through that mobility corridor, and, in fact, that area has already been zoned for light development. This is able to be done at a fraction of the cost of traditional light rail. So I've been working closely with the City of Stirling mayor, Mark Irwin, to bring this bold vision to life and deliver a rapid transit system that will bust congestion and unlock development opportunities. Once again, it's the Morrison government that has helped facilitate this vision, with $2 million being provided to develop a business case to put this project on the right track—a project that will ultimately benefit businesses, residents and tourists.

Can I also mention the redevelopment of Yokine's Jewish Community Centre. This Morrison government has provided $6 million to rebuild the facility, which has been a hub for commemoration, work, sport and play since 1974. I note also that the redeveloped Jewish Community Centre will include an updated Holocaust museum, which will be a very welcome development indeed. I will also flag $4 million to build a new Surfing WA headquarters at Trigg, helping the next generation of Australians to stay fit, healthy and safe in the water.

These facilities are the lifeblood of our communities, and the Morrison government understands the importance of investing locally. There's more to be done, and I have no doubt that our government will continue to deliver for Australian families and businesses. Our plan is working, and Australia is coming back stronger than ever before.

Zali Steggall (Warringah, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2021-2022 and Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2021-2022, which allow the government to collect and spend public money as outlined in the budget. In the economic overview, I had hoped to see a road map for reopening the Australian economy, a phased approach to international borders, development of national quarantine and goals for the vaccine rollout. Sadly, all we saw was an ill-defined goal for vaccines, confusion from those defending it and a vague assumption that borders would reopen in mid-2022, far further in the future than many expected, and no road map or realistic time line on how that was going to happen.

There are also two main areas that were missed out in the October budget last year that I was looking for in this recent budget: environment and climate change, and gender equity measures. These two areas had been highlighted by events inside and outside Parliament House in the lead-up to the budget. The implementation of the response to the Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements was clearly not a sufficient reminder of the cost of climate impacts, because we didn't see any evidence of that being seriously taken into account in this budget. And, while the revelations of sexual assault and harassment inside Parliament House also brought to the forefront the need for greater support for women and cultural change, we need a budget that is focused on futureproofing our country and culturally ensuring change happens.

The budget papers assume that Australia's international borders will remain closed until mid-2022. Many in my electorate were shocked by this prediction and questioned why a plan has not been developed to get them open sooner. Over 30 per cent of my electorate were born overseas, and I regularly hear from dual citizens trying to leave, long-term partners separated for more than a year due to visa issues, and families cut off from one another. There are many making a lot of decisions, and, whilst they accepted the imposition of the borders as an emergency measure, the lack of long-term planning is having serious impact. No other country in the OECD has outbound restrictions on its citizens. Businesses need people from overseas to come and work in the many jobs that they can't fill locally, and educational institutions need international students. We need a road map to reopening and what we need to do as a long-term solution to deal with COVID and live with it. Quarantine, as the experts keep telling us, is a key issue. It is our ring fence. Quarantine is likely to be a feature of international travel arrangements for some years to come, and yet we've maintained the status quo in the situation of hotel quarantine, where leaks have occurred, and it is a flaw in the system.

The urgency shown by Australia in initially suppressing and then locally eliminating COVID-19 now needs to be shown towards preparing the country for reopening its international borders. The University of Sydney policy institute argues that we need to move from the anxiety of last year to a more confident and outward-looking future. If we don't, it's no exaggeration to say that young people, in particular, will face a lost decade. If we sit and wait until mid-2022, the rest of the world will be reopening around us, leaving Australia behind economically, socially and psychologically. This budget didn't allow or account for any of that planning.

Whilst the budget had several positives, it was lacking in funds for environmental protection and climate change, issues that will eclipse any other before us. It's surprising because, throughout the budget speech, the Treasurer talked, boastfully, about being custodians of this continent. But those words weren't matched with any kind of commensurate action. We are facing interconnected crises. Biodiversity loss is compounding. Global heating is accelerating. Oceans are acidifying and overflowing with plastic. Alarmingly, the World Economic Forum has found that around $44 trillion of global GDP, more than half the world's GDP, is highly or moderately dependent on nature. Climate change alone will cause $2.7 trillion of economic losses by 2050 if we miss our Paris targets. It's hard to fathom. In a situation where we have record levels of public debt, we absolutely must engage with the biggest economic risk that our future generations will face. It's on top of the mountain of debt we've accrued through this COVID-19 pandemic. It's forecast to rise to over $980 billion net debt by 2024.

Further damage to the environment and our climate is simply unaffordable. Addressing the looming crisis is not a threat but rather an enormous opportunity for our economy and one I would argue the government has simply missed. We can create good, sustainable jobs through well-targeted policies. The Beyond Zero Emissions Million Jobs Plan proposes significant investments in battery manufacturing, green industry, renewable energy, electric vehicle infrastructure and more to create more than 1.8 million jobs. But where was any of that on budget night? Nowhere.

Independent economic analysis found the plan would boost private investment by some $25 billion annually, adding one to two per cent of GDP and would boost wages by one per cent. That's why it was so disappointing in this budget to see a lack of funding for the environment; it's a missed opportunity. Only 0.8 per cent of the $590 billion in budget expenses was given to environmental programs. In contrast, the EU has targeted over 30 per cent of its budget spend towards green measures. Total environmental spending has decreased by 39 per cent in Australia since this government came into office. That is not heading into ensuring a good economic outcome.

On climate change, we saw loose change for climate adaptation. Australia will get a new climate service to help government manage climate impacts, alongside a $600 million fund to help people prepare for natural disasters. But these measures are nowhere near enough for the scale of climate change impacts that are coming. Natural disasters alone will cost the economy $39 billion per year by 2050, so several hundred million for climate impacts is not going to cover it.

On energy, we saw hundreds of millions going to support a gas-fired recovery, including opening up further basins and gas fields. The Beetaloo Basin project is a carbon bomb of historic proportions. The Northern Territory government has said the basin could increase Australia's annual emissions by seven per cent. It must not be mined or we risk absolutely fouling our commitment to the Paris agreement. The International Energy Agency found for us to be on a pathway consistent with net zero by 2050, a target which the government agrees is preferable, then there can be no new oil or gas projects from now.

In the budget, quite shockingly, $9.5 billion was allocated to the decision taken but not yet announced slush fund, which can only be seen as for the next election. We learnt of an up to $2.4 billion support package for oil refineries. The minister claims this is to secure Australia's energy but there can be no security if we rely on imported oil. The only way to secure our energy is to invest in the transition to electric vehicles that will ensure that energy comes from Australian electricity generators and not Saudi oil plants.

Another part of the budget was a slush fund. Used from this was $600 million announced some days after the budget for a gas-fired plant at Kurri Kurri. This is a plant with absolutely no business case. Coming from a government that claims good economic management, it is essentially a plan to write off $600 million worth of public funds. The chair of the Energy Security Board, Kerry Schott, has said it doesn't stack up because it is expensive power. AMO has outlined there will be a minor shortfall when Liddell closes, but all projects financially committed will be sufficient. There is simply no market for this project. The government claims the plant will create 600 construction jobs. At $1 million per job, that's a terrible return on investment; worse still, there will only be 10 ongoing jobs. People have asked what would I do instead to promote jobs in the area? I would invest in renewables and batteries, as the market is doing. Nearby the site, the CEP energy will be building a record 1,200 megawatt battery. Energy Estate has also formed a consortium of energy developers to launch a project called the Hunter Hydrogen Network, which could be Australia's very first hydrogen valley. The first stage of the project aims to produce green hydrogen and associated green feed stock for mining, vehicles and other industrial uses in the Upper Hunter.

The government's energy measures don't stack up. They're very expensive interventions that go against good judgement and sound economic management. If we want a vision of what's possible for the next budget, we should turn to discussions of a $4 trillion infrastructure bill proposed by the Biden administration in the United States which centres around clean energy investments, electric vehicle infrastructure, energy efficiency and creating new industries of the future.

I welcomed the re-establishment of the women's budget impact statement. It was noteworthy, however, that, of the $1.8 billion dedicated to women's economic security, $1.7 billion was for child care, prompting many, including myself, to comment 'But aren't men parents, too?' It seems to be that anything to do with children is put on the balance sheet for women. But, ultimately, it is all in society that benefit from proper childcare policies. Despite the women's budget impact statement coming back, there is still only one woman among seven members of the Expenditure Review Committee. To that end, the government has missed the opportunity to address the inequalities of the paid parental leave scheme, such as removing the means testing or, at the minimum, means testing the family income rather than solely that of the primary career. There are enormous economic benefits in getting child care and parental leave right, as shown by the motion I tabled earlier this year. But we have underinvested yet again and we won't see a full return realised. The benefits of this strategy, if implemented, would be substantial, with the Australian parenting strategy report estimating an 8.7 boost to GDP by 2050.

I welcome the funding and implementation of the Respect@Work recommendations—$20.5 million for the implementation of the 55 recommendations is a good first step. I've met with the Attorney-General, who assured me that more funding would be forthcoming in collaboration with states and territories. But I urge the Attorney-General to rapidly action the response to Respect@Work and make general improvements in this space.

Domestic violence is an issue that we have to deal with all too often. It was good to see nearly $1 billion over four years for initiatives to reduce the number and support the victims of family, domestic and sexual violence. I welcomed the increase from $150 million announced in the COVID response package in March last year. We can't underestimate the impact violence against women ultimately has on Australia. It costs Australia an estimated $26 billion annually. We need to do more to address this.

There are still so many areas where there was an attempt at starting to address issues but they've become so big that it really isn't enough to just have a first go at it. This can be seen in terms of aged care and NDIS, where the full amounts recommended were not allocated, and so only a part addressing of the problem will occur. We need to increase care and staffing ratios in so many of our services to ensure that we are properly taking care of the more fragile and vulnerable in our society. We need to ensure that staff are adequately remunerated for their work and that they receive proper training and support to enable them to do their jobs to the best of their abilities.

The budget had a little bit for everyone, but I would say that, overall, it missed a crucial vision for reopening Australia, for supporting the environment and for giving our young people a sense that this government has a vision for their future, has in mind the biggest intergenerational debt that is coming, recognises the costs that are coming and is actually investing wisely—that public money is being spent on infrastructure that will pay off in the long-term—and is not just following ideology. Sadly, that didn't happen, but I urge the government to use the $9.5 billion line item in this budget which is allocated but not announced towards measures that will actually ensure prosperity for future generations. You need to invest in our young people's future and not leave the biggest intergenerational debt we've ever seen.

Jason Falinski (Mackellar, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is with great pleasure that I stand up to support the government's Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2021-2022 and cognate bills tonight and, once again, bemoan the fact that Labor and the crossbenchers continue to play games with even this critical piece of legislation, moving nonsensical amendments that do no Australian any good and are a discredit to this parliament and this chamber.

What we need to remember when we look at the appropriation bills and this budget is the context in which they were made. This event was 30 times larger than the global financial crisis of 2008. This government was determined to not make the mistakes of Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Wayne Swan and Ken Henry by overspending, underinvesting and leaving this nation with an extraordinary debt—from which it took us almost seven years to get back to a balanced budget—while providing us and leaving us with nothing, other than pink batts that actually killed people and did no good, school halls that cost more to build per square metre than the Opera House and cash for Wayne's best friends' clunkers. And let us not forget the disaster that unfolded where 'the great moral challenge of our generation' got dumped at the first bad opinion poll.

I listened to the speaker just before me, who feels that this budget was not ideological enough but yet was too ideological, and that it didn't spend enough money but, at the same time, left us with too much debt. You have to love the collectivist left in this country! You have to love the regressive woke warriors of our political firmament who seem to not see a tax they don't want to put up, a program they don't want to fund or a debt they don't want to leave to the next generation, while bemoaning those of us who do the hard work of getting their budget deficits back into balance while, every step of the way, they fight it and mislead the Australian public by talking about cuts when all we are trying to do is to restore some fiscal rectitude to the Australian budget, this parliament and our nation.

The wasted debts of the Gillard-Rudd-Henry-Swan years will never happen under this government. More broadly, this budget avoids the ineptitude that we saw on the Labor side and the Greens' side and which seems to be what the member for Warringah wishes to continue. The point I wanted to make here was that this budget is about rebuilding Australia and building it back better, because what we are going to do is to fix the problems those on the other side left and that those on the other side would recreate. We want to make sure that the structural problems left by those opposite are not left for future generations. We also want to make sure that we seize the moment and this chance. This is Australia's moment.

We on this side and this nation have succeeded where other nations have not even begun to fail. The speaker before me said that we are the only nation in the OECD to have outbound restrictions—restrictions on Australians leaving. But we are also the only nation in the OECD to have a death rate under a thousand. In fact, we're the only nation in the OECD to have a death rate under 10,000. In fact, no other nation in the OECD has a death rate under 50,000, with the exception of New Zealand. In fact, we have done better than any other nation in the OECD. Yet there are those who would criticise those measures that we took to protect Australians.

We do not, in any shape, way or form, resile from those measures. Were they tough? Yes. Would we have preferred not to have taken them? Of course. We are the party of freedom, unlike those opposite. We want to make sure that the money that we have spent—that this nation has spent—to keep families safe does not keep families apart. The worst thing we could do is open our borders before it is safe to do so and inflict upon families the pain, misery, hurt and death that has been inflicted upon so many other families in so many other nations in the OECD. We do not step back from that.

We have spent $17.7 billion in this budget to create 80,000 home-care packages in Australia. We have done that because our tribal elders deserve to live a life of dignity in their retirement. We have invested in skills and training, creating 163,000 JobTrainer packages and 170,000 apprenticeships, because we believe the future belongs to those who have skills and who are educated. We have also invested $1.7 billion in child care, because we believe that families deserve to have the chance to ensure that every child in Australia, regardless of what circumstances they are born into, have all the same opportunities as a child born into the wealthiest family in Australia. We have also done this because we believe that no-one should have to choose between the education of their child and the prospect of giving back to this country by going back to work and using the skills and the education that they have spent so much time developing and acquiring, because they're not choices that any Australian should have to make. So this government has reversed the problems created by those opposite and the crossbench and invested $1.7 billion in a better childcare system.

We have also ensured that 10 million Australians will have improved incomes in their households this year by extending the low to medium income tax offset. This will directly impact those Australians who most need it when they go to work—those whose households are most in need of this income. Unlike those opposite, we have created a circumstance where Australians get to choose what sort of future they want. When we got rid of JobSeeker, those opposite said that Armageddon would follow and that job losses would be huge. What do we see instead? We saw youth unemployment at decade lows. We saw underemployment at a seven-year low. We saw participation rates high, we saw unemployment fall, we saw more permanent jobs being created, and we saw people leaving part-time work and moving into full-time work. Essentially, all their rhetoric has been shown for what it is: just a fancy hairdo, backed by 'Twitterarti' warriors. The opposite to everything that those opposite said would happen happened, again, and yet they have the gall to come in here, make amendments to this appropriation bill, lecture us on economic management and what debt levels should look like and criticise us for being ideological. It's just extraordinary.

There are organisations and people in my community whose businesses will have lower taxes—for example, Anthony Gualdi, who runs the Upper Crust pie shop in Collaroy. His business this year will have lower taxes. He will be able to invest through our changes to the tax system, which will allow him to immediately expense equipment. He has invested more money so his customers can get a better pie and better service. He may be looking at one of those customers here!

Mr Champion interjecting—

Indeed, Mr Champion. David Singer at Elanora Heights has the Frenchies Brasserie. David has made it clear that he is finding it hard to find workers that want to work in his restaurant, one of the finest restaurants in Sydney when it comes to French cuisine or cuisine generally.

Mr Champion interjecting—

Outside pies, of course!

Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

May I just remind the member for Mackellar to address members by their correct title.

Jason Falinski (Mackellar, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you—the member for Wakefield; my apologies.

Nick Champion (Spence, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's Spence now.

Jason Falinski (Mackellar, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Sorry—Spence. Pardon me. See? I'm out of here for a while, and then everything changes! A principal from Elanora Heights, Leesa Martin, has taken the money that this government has created through grants to invest in STEM, in robots and in 3D printers. She has a robot club that has a list of students waiting to get in. How many schools do you know of that have students wanting to go into the classroom in lunchtime?

Leesa Martin and her excellent teachers at Elanora Heights have created that outcome. Then we have Pittwater House and Northern Beaches Christian School which this year sent four economics students to see the budget—by the way, unlike those opposite, they thought it was very good. They got to see how this place works and the great clearing house of ideas that this chamber presents. They are doing us proud, and I know that the future of this nation is in good hands with students like those.

Then we have the employee share scheme changes, which reverse out what the Labor Party so erroneously and egregiously did nine years ago by making people pay tax on shares they are yet to receive. The damage to our innovation, the damage to our start-up culture will never actually be recovered. But this government bit the bullet. We have made changes to employee share schemes. These changes will benefit innovative companies like PharmaCare and Blackmores, like John Bacon's Budburst, like Brett Crowther's Incat Crowther. Incat Crowther has not only built ferries for Sydney Harbour but has designed the next generation of landing vessels for the US Navy and scored a US$750 million project by doing that. These enterprising entrepreneurs will be able, for the first time, to sensibly offer their employees shares that mean that they can own and be part of the wealth that they are creating.

For Blackmores and PharmaCare, for Budburst, we have created a patent box that means that, when you create an invention that you can patent, you don't need to go overseas to raise those funds. You can stay here in Australia, and any income you derive from that patent is at a lower tax rate because that's what we believe in. We believe in empowering people right around Australia to do the best that they possibly can, so that they are encouraged and incentivised to innovate, to employ, to invest and to make a difference in our society. When you grow your economy, you have more resources to fund the essential services that ordinary Australians, the hardworking Australians, hardworking families, rely upon to get on with their lives.

My area is a great area. We single-handedly this year saved Christmas for the rest of Australia and we're very proud of that. But there are still some things, in the luckiest part of the luckiest country in the world, that we would like. One is road upgrades. Too many families spend too much time in traffic congestion trying to get to work and trying to get home to be with their loved ones. Upgrades to Wakehurst Parkway are essential. The commencement of the NorthConnex tunnel is essential. These are things that will make a real difference to families in my electorate, who are the ones that go to work, that pay the taxes, that fund all these essential services that so many Australians have come to rely on.

Also, housing prices on the northern beaches and right across Australia are too high. It is simply inexcusable, in a country with the highest minimum wage in the world, with the highest wages in the world, in the least densely populated continent in the world outside the penguins of the South Pacific, that we have housing prices more commensurate with Singapore and Hong Kong than with Kansas and Nebraska. The reason is clear: it is that too many state governments have too many restrictive planning laws. This is a regulatory failure of enormous proportions. I call on this parliament to start lobbying state governments to do more to create more houses, so that more Australians can have their fair share of the Australian dream. It is both unreasonable and unfair that we have not done this earlier. It is critical to the future of our nation that we achieve this outcome because, while ever people do not own their own homes then we own them, and that's not what Australia was built to do. It was built to empower people, to make families better off and to make the lives of ordinary Australians even better.

Anika Wells (Lilley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When I was preparing the Lilley budget submission, I had one question front and centre. It was: what infrastructure do northsiders need to make our community the best place in the world to live? As it turns out, the LNP do not prioritise the north side like I do. In fact, they did not present any vision or plan at all. Not a cent of new infrastructure funding was announced for Lilley in the federal budget a fortnight ago. When the Prime Minister decided to pop by for a photo op at Geebung the following week, the least he could have done was bring a construction crew to get the Beams Road upgrade underway, rather than a camera crew to take photos of an empty construction site. Overall, this lacklustre budget is a real slap in the face for Queenslanders. Less than half of the Morrison government's infrastructure spend in Queensland will be delivered in the next four years, with more than half of their budget spend being pushed off into the never-never beyond the forward estimates. They are all announcement and no delivery.

We have had massive interstate migration to Queensland in the past 12 months. We have had a net gain of 30,000 people move to our magnificent tropical north. We have the most decentralised population in the country, and in terms of land we are twice as big as New South Wales and seven times as big as Victoria. We are fighting to be the home of the summer Olympics in 2032, which has the potential to be a huge boost for local jobs and for our hospitality and tourism sectors, but we first need the infrastructure to support that growth. We are ripe for investment, yet the Morrison government gave New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia double the infrastructure funding that it gave Queensland in the federal budget a fortnight ago.

There are three sure-fire ways to generate economic growth and get Australia out of the recession: invest in infrastructure to lift capacity and boost productivity; invest in people through education and training; and ensure all infrastructure projects include a provision for the compulsory employment of Australian apprentices. There is a simple way to do all three: build here, create jobs and train apprentices. Reconstruct Australia in Australia. Australians need a plan that genuinely contributes to our national prosperity and the growth of new modern jobs for our local economies now and for generations to come. A robust local manufacturing sector ensures local workers have well-paid, permanent jobs that allow them to spend in our small businesses and stimulate our local economies. Manufacturing creates those jobs, provides that certainty and is in our national interest.

Using the power of government, we should be transforming our economy to power manufacturing in our industrial neighbourhoods, like Geebung and Nudgee in my electorate of Lilley. An Albanese Labor government will deliver national reconstruction that is focused squarely on jobs—good, secure jobs. We will establish a $15 billion fund to invest in local industry and business to put Australian jobs first. We will rebuild the nation's manufacturing industry with a comprehensive plan to create jobs, to boost vital skills and to bring industry expertise back onshore. We will develop sovereign industrial and research capabilities and build up the skills and expertise of the Australian workforce.

I recently had the pleasure of showcasing the Sanofi manufacturing plant in Virginia, another of our industrial hubs, with Labor's shadow minister for national reconstruction, employment, skills and small business and shadow minister for science, Richard Marles. Sanofi shows us what locals can achieve if we invest in manufacturing, science and research. Sanofi employs 350 locals to manufacture supplements in Virginia, which we sell in Australia and export abroad. Sanofi has recently announced that it will be investing $630 million over five years to create a unique vaccine production site in Singapore. The new site will provide Sanofi with the ability to produce innovative vaccines on a massive scale for Asia and quickly respond to future pandemic risks. We need to create an environment that incentivises Sanofi to build vaccine production sites right here in Australia. High-tech, high-quality, Australian made manufacturing is what we need more of on the north side.

The climate emergency presents Australia with an opportunity for significant economic growth. It presents an opportunity to train apprentices for the new energy jobs of the future.

The climate emergency presents Australia with an opportunity for significant economic growth. It presents an opportunity to train apprentices for the new energy jobs of the future. We want those jobs. We want them on our shores and we want them in our local economies. As a nation we have a significant competitive advantage in creating those jobs. Australia has some of the world's best natural assets—in solar, in wind and in minerals—that could power our new energy economy. We also have some of the smartest, hardest working people on earth, who want to work in a prosperous new industry like the renewables sector. We should view addressing the climate emergency as an opportunity to create good jobs and to put Australia in a strong position to realise our potential as a superpower in the great economic reset.

Locally, in my electorate of Lilley, there are renewable companies like GEM Energy, a solar power and battery company that started out in Emerald and now has offices on the north side of Brisbane and in Darwin. They've grown from a team of five to over 60 direct employees, whose jobs range from engineering and electrical to sales and administration. The story of GEM Energy proves that there is a bright future for Australian workers in renewable energy. Aaron, who was working in an insurance call centre and living near the poverty line, started his career in solar energy and moved up through that industry over the last 10 years to become a manager for GEM. Solar has allowed Aaron and his family to build a life on the north side. Young men have gone from casual workforce employment to completing electrical apprenticeships in solar. Older workers struggling to find work can retrain and find good permanent jobs in the solar industry. We need to support these jobs of the future for our young people in need of permanent and meaningful work and for our older workers who are looking for a new industry to utilise their skills and experience.

But, instead of securing those new energy jobs for Australians, the LNP have wasted eight years of opportunities by bickering amongst themselves over 22 different climate and energy policies. Just recently, the LNP squandered a $1 billion job opportunity in Brisbane. In partnership with the federal government, the Brisbane City Council is spending $1 billion on the Brisbane Metro. I welcome the decision to improve greater Brisbane transport network connectivity and especially the decision to upgrade Brisbane's bus fleet with 16 new all-electric vehicles with zero tailpipe emissions. But, if we are going to spend $1 billion of taxpayers' money on new infrastructure projects like this, we need to make sure that Brisbane taxpayers and ratepayers get a return on that investment, by supporting local jobs and by supporting Australian manufacturers.

We have the capacity and the capability to develop and build electric buses for the city's non-metro routes. Volgren, a Brisbane based company, builds our current bus fleet. The $19 million bus-building facility was built in 2009 at Eagle Farm, and it was designed to build three buses a week. But, instead of choosing Volgren be the primary supplier of the all-new electric fleet for Brisbane, backing local jobs and backing Australian manufacturing, the Brisbane City Council, in conjunction with this Morrison government, have decided to appoint a European company, HESS, to be the prime contractor in their supply contract partnership, alongside Swiss multinational company ABB—the largest investment any Australian government has ever made in electric mass transport road vehicles. It should be supporting Australian manufacturers and supporting local workers. Money provided by taxpayers should not be going to offshore multinational companies when we have a perfectly good manufacturing plant right here in Eagle Farm, already in use, flush with local workers. But the LNP Brisbane City Council has decided to hand out over $190 million of ratepayer money to a foreign owned company to build buses for Brisbane. Shame. Only the fit-out and the finishing of those buses will happen now at Eagle Farm. Brisbane workers will only be able to come in right at the end and finish off a job that they had every right to expect to be doing right from the start—a right denied by the LNP.

We should be growing our local capacity to build these buses, not putting it in the too-hard basket and importing it from overseas instead. We know it can be done. Volgren already manufactures electric buses in Melbourne, and those buses have just been delivered to Transdev Capalaba, they are operation and they are charged by solar energy. The Brisbane City Council has also decided not to renew its contract with Volgren for the ongoing supply of our city's bus fleet, instead awarding a new contract to Yutong Australia, who have imported their buses from China since 2012. Once again, an Australian manufacturer, local jobs and local opportunities are being neglected by an LNP council and an LNP government who are focused instead on helping out their mates, the large offshore multinational companies.

Australian universities and TAFEs are the home of Australian innovation and the pursuit of knowledge and skilled work. Education and training are the great equalisers, because they give all people of all backgrounds, no matter their postcode, an opportunity to skill up and to pursue their own aspiration. Our universities and TAFEs give aspiring Australians who are entering or re-entering the workforce the skills and the tools they need to find a job that they love and that allows them to build the life that they dream of. But the Morrison government's 2021-22 federal budget reduced funding for universities by 10 per cent over the next three years, while TAFE funding will be slashed by 24 per cent. They have also decided to finish an emergency $1 billion grant to Australian universities and research.

This is a pattern of behaviour that we have come to expect from this underwhelming eight-year coalition government. In 2014-15 they underspent on TAFE and training by $183 million. They spent $247 million less than promised in 2015-16, $118 million less in 2016-17, $202 million less in 2017-18 and $170 million less in 2018-19. In total that is $920 million less spent than they have promised in TAFE and training since 2014. Is it any wonder that we have 140,000 fewer Australians in apprenticeships now than when the LNP first came to office? By annually cutting funding to universities and to TAFE, the Morrison government are robbing both younger and older Australians of opportunities to retrain, to upskill and to seize job opportunities when they come along.

The skills and training sector can supercharge Australian ingenuity and spur on economic growth, but it seems only a Labor government understands the power of that possibility. Apprenticeships are the path to good jobs in trades. That is why Labor's plan will help more Australians take up the tools. An Albanese Labor government will train thousands of workers by ensuring one in 10 workers on major government projects are Australian apprentices. Labor will invest $10 million in a new energy skills program to tailor skills training to the specific needs of new energy industries like those emerging on the north side. The New Energy Skills Program will work with the states, with industry, with unions, to ensure workers have access to training pathways that are fit for purpose. Labor will pursue a similar approach in other government-supported industries, such as disability care, aged care and child care.

We talk about picking winners and losers in this budget. Future generations are the biggest losers. The Morrison government's Intergenerational report will be released soon and is set to lay bare huge levels of debt over the next 40 years, coupled with a less productive economy. This report should have been released a year ago but was delayed due to the COVID pandemic. But the delay of this report means that, for the past year, while making monumental policy decisions that will shift the trajectory of our economy and our society for decades to come, no-one in power—no-one on that side of the House, no-one in the Morrison government—was giving thought to what intergenerational impact that would have. While young people are the ones who will be saddled with solving this problem and paying off this debt, there is no vision and no plan in this budget to make sure that they are not financially crippled by the task.

This Morrison government seems completely hypnotised—or maybe, at this point, exhausted—by the complexity of intergenerational inequality. If that's the case, they should hand over the reins to someone who cares. Millennials deserve better. Gen Z deserves better. Children deserve better. It is time that Australia had a federal government who is actually on their side instead of a government led by an ad man with no plan or vision for Australian infrastructure, no plan for Australian manufacturing and no plan for Australian jobs. It is for all of us here in this House to be good ancestors and to make decisions that will benefit Australians for decades to come. We will be talking about the COVID pandemic for the next century, as a major change in our economy and in our society. Based on the federal budget that was handed down two weeks ago, there will be nothing to show for it. There will be no nation-building infrastructure. There will be no decades-long progression. There will be no hope or vision for the generations to come, just $100 billion in new spending and absolute pork-barrelling. You should be ashamed.

Julian Simmonds (Ryan, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

How good is Australia, how good are Australians and how good is the 2020-21 Morrison budget? The work that Australians did throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the sacrifices that they made and the commitment that they showed to their fellow Australians was truly remarkable. That has meant that we, Australia, Australians, are the envy of the world when it comes to managing the COVID-19 pandemic, and now we are on the road to recovery. The measures the Treasurer outlined in this year's budget show our plan has secured that recovery and cemented our future prosperity.

We just heard the contribution from the member for Lilley where she talked for a long time about the woes and ills of the Labor Party and the desire for us to hand over power to the Labor Party, never mind those pesky elections. The 2021 budget delivered by the Treasurer was all about Australians—what they have achieved, what they want to continue to achieve and the economic recovery, what they want to continue to achieve for their families and how we, as a government, can lock in the hard-fought gains that they have won.

I want to take this opportunity to thank my community, in particular in the electorate of Ryan, for the part that they played in helping to make sure we are in the great position that we are in today but also talk about how the Morrison government's budget is working with them to deliver the opportunities that I know they are working hard for.

Starting with the families in my electorate, I gave a commitment to them that I would work every day to make sure that they got ahead, and, as part of the Morrison government, we are delivering on this promise. Around 60,200 taxpayers in Ryan will benefit from tax relief of up to $2,745 this year, because we, on this side of the House, fundamentally believe to our bootstraps that you should get to keep more of what you earn and that you are best placed to make the choices for your family. And the best way to do that is you keep more of the money that you have worked so hard for in your pocket. It is a fundamental divide between us and the Labor Party. Do not be under any misapprehension: the MPs on the other side of the chamber from the Labor Party are hedging their bets about whether or not they will support the legislated tax cuts that will remove the 37 cent bracket. It's already legislated. It's there. The tax cut is on the way. Under this government, you will keep more of what you earn. But the Labor MPs are desperate to hang on to more of your money—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Julian Simmonds (Ryan, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

and I hear them interjecting now such is their enthusiasm for it. They are so keen to keep more of your money, because they think they know how to spend it better than you do. They think that you are best to earn the money and then they are best placed to spend it on your behalf and on behalf of your families, and we fundamentally disagree with that proposition. Already over 75,000 people in Ryan have benefited from the tax cuts delivered by this government, and this next tax cut will again see them rewarded for their hard work.

Throughout COVID, the Morrison government's JobKeeper payment supported 6,100 businesses in our local area as well as supported more than 25,000 employees in the Ryan electorate. JobKeeper meant businesses could stay open and keep their employees connected to their business as they went through tough times. For employers and employees, JobKeeper has literally saved livelihoods. It's saved decades of hard-fought gains and work to create a business, to create a position and to create jobs. It has saved those jobs.

JobKeeper was always meant to be a temporary measure, and we've seen from JobKeeper being removed that none of the dire propositions that Labor MPs put forward—and there were plenty of them, including from the shadow Treasurer and the Leader of the Opposition—that the sky would fall in on the heads of Australians. That hasn't come to pass. That is, again, the fundamental danger and difference between us and the Labor Party. The fundamental danger of the Labor Party is that when it comes to a crisis, when it comes to things like COVID and the GFC, they would like to spend forever. We, on the other hand, would like to see targeted spending that does enormous good. JobKeeper has done that. It has achieved its aim, and we have seen from its withdrawal that the labour market is stronger than ever, with more jobs in the workplaces of Australia now than there were prior to the pandemic.

Although JobKeeper is finished, we're continuing to back local businesses. We're continuing the tax incentives that have allowed over 20,000 businesses in Ryan to write off the full value of eligible assets—for instance, a local cafe purchasing a new coffee machine or point-of-sale system. We are backing local businesses to create jobs and to continue to keep the economy firing. I've visited many of the local businesses that are taking advantage of the instant asset write-off. After a period of significant struggle, where they were unsure if they would even continue to exist, it has been amazing to see the transition in the minds and the ability of those small-business owners. They've shifted from survival mode, due to the insecurity of not knowing whether or not they would be around in the next couple of months, to now investing in creating jobs, because of the policies that this government has put in place to support them.

I also want to talk about the fact that every working parent understands what it is like to try to fit the costs of child care into the weekly family budget. We want to encourage families with young children to get back into the workforce, if that's the choice that they want to make. It is a significant cost, and it's one that the Morrison government is conscious of when we think about how we can reduce the cost of living for Australian families. We're increasing funding for kindies in Ryan and making child care more affordable and accessible. We're increasing the childcare subsidy for families with more than one child—and up to five—in childcare and removing the $10,560 cap on the childcare subsidy. These measures will help 250,000 Australian families, including 1,500 in my own community. This has been one of the most well-received measures of the recent budget, I have found. The families in my local community are particularly appreciative of the fact that we are working hard to reduce their cost of living and the cost of childcare.

I want to talk about my passion, and that is infrastructure for my area. Every resident in the Ryan electorate knows what it is like to be stuck in traffic, and they have been let down for decades by previous Labor governments, particular at the state level, when it comes to investing in roads. Quite simply, the Queensland Labor government's cupboard is bare after years of inappropriate spending. If it were not for the federal government doing the heavy lifting, we simply wouldn't have the investment in the roads and infrastructure in Queensland that we need.

I heard the member for Lilley's contribution, just before mine, where she tried to paint what I think was an inaccurate picture of infrastructure spending into Queensland by this federal government. The reality is it is significant. A significant proportion of the $100 billion infrastructure pipeline has gone into Queensland, including in my own electorate, which I will detail. She also neglected to mention the fact that we are the only state—and in fact Brisbane is the only city—in Australia to have a commitment from the federal government to fund 50 per cent of the infrastructure for an Olympic bid. There is billions waiting to be unlocked as part of that bid process. She spoke a little bit about the Metro project, which has got $500 million worth of spending from this federal government. Again, the member for Lilley neglected to mention the fact that this large infrastructure project—the largest infrastructure project occurring in the city of Brisbane, at over $1 billion—is entirely funded by Liberal and Nation Party governments, at the council level and at the federal level, with not a single brass razoo from the Queensland Labor government.

The Queensland Labor government has primary carriage of providing public transport in the city of Brisbane, but it is so broke and so unable to manage its spending priorities that it has not been able to put a single dollar towards it. Both the Brisbane City Council and the federal government, neither of whom have primary responsibility for providing public transport in Brisbane, have had to come up with the full funding of that $1 billion. We're happy to do so because the reality is that if we didn't it just wouldn't happen, and it would be Brisbane residents who would suffer. It's important to point out that it is in fact the LNP and the Morrison government that are doing the heavy lifting when it comes to infrastructure in Queensland, nowhere more so than in the electorate of Ryan.

At the last election I made a commitment to help fix local roads and to get federal funding to do so. We in the government want to get residents home to their families sooner and safer. We want them spending more time with their families, less time sitting in congestion, and we are getting on with the job of doing it. In just the last two years, $230 million has been poured into the electorate of Ryan, specifically to help upgrade and fix local roads and reduce congestion at notorious bottlenecks. That includes the key bottleneck at Indooroopilly roundabout, where during the last election I secured $50 million in federal funding that has been matched by the Brisbane City Council, so this is $100 million local intersection project. It is a three-lane roundabout. You would not get a traffic engineer in Australia who would sign off on a three-lane traffic roundabout anymore, such is their danger, but this has been a historical oddity that needed to be removed so that we could increase safety and reduce congestion. The $100 million between the Brisbane City Council and the Morrison government is getting the job done.

As soon as the 2019 federal election was over, having made that commitment of $50 million towards that project, we saw Brisbane City Council kick into gear. They undertook different designs. They put two different designs out to consultation with the community, and the community has chosen the design. They finished the detailed design of the residents' choice and they are about to begin work on site. That is how quickly a LNP government, federal and council, can work together to get it done.

Unfortunately, it contrasts very differently with the experience that we have had with the Labor state government, where, again, we have put $12.5 million towards a project to remove a roundabout at Kenmore, to reduce congestion and improve safety. Despite making that funding commitment two years ago and having the money sitting there in the budget ready to go, it has taken two years for the Queensland Labor government to even produce a concept design, which they thankfully are now doing consultation on. But it is a little more than a concept design. Two years it took them. It took us 1½ years just to get them to match the funding commitment but it took us two years just to get a concept design. I would love for that project to go a lot quicker for our local community. I commit to you that I will continue to, to be frank, to bash Mark Bailey around the head at every public opportunity I get, to try and get them moving on behalf of our local community.

We have also put $10 million into doing a scoping study for the Metroad 5. Anybody who travels through Baden-Auchenflower part of our electorate and Toowong, knows the trouble of the Metroad 5. The $10 million will go towards looking at how we upgrade this for the future. We hope to make further commitments on that shortly. We have $112 million to upgrade to the Centenary Bridge, another local chokepoint that anyone using the Western and Centenary freeways will know very well. The $112 million is, again, specifically targeted to a road that is entirely the responsibility of the Queensland Labor government but without the federal funding input that I have secured for the local area, it simply would not have occurred. It simply would not have started. It has been on their books for over a decade and they had no intention of starting it. It is because of the federal government's commitment of $112 million that we are now seeing significant movement on this project.

We are building retaining walls along School Road at the Gap. We are upgrading the Gretchen Circuit bridge which is another chokepoint for local residents that has needed to be done for some time. I would like to thank Councillor Steve Toomey for his contribution to that project as well. We are also fixing local blackspots in Sir Fred Schonell Drive and Coldridge Street in St Lucia, which is the entrance to UQ. I was lucky to have the Deputy Prime Minister out there to see that project firsthand and see that we are putting the infrastructure money to good use.

Also to the seniors of Ryan, who have made a significant contribution to our community, there is plenty in the 2021 budget for them as well. They deserve to be supported. Whether they are planning on retirement, whether they have already retired or whether they are looking at aged care, the Morrison government will be there to support them. For those preparing for retirement, we are allowing Australians over 62 contribute up to $300,000 to their super if they downsize their home. We have put a record investment into aged care, with $17.7 billion committed to improve our aged-care system as well.

It is clear from the measures contained in the 2021 budget that the Morrison government has had the backs of Australians throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and us all working together has put us in the miraculous place we are. The 2021 Morrison government budget has the back of Australians. It will continue to support them and lock in that economic recovery.

Chris Hayes (Fowler, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to make a contribution to this debate on the Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2021-2022 and cognate bills. From the outset I think we should make it clear that what we have here is a government that's had an abundance of opportunities to take action to drive our economy forward and to help shape the future prosperity of this nation. But that is something we have not seen put materially into effect at all through this budget. Instead, what we have seen is eight years of mismanagement, eight years of Liberal neglect, eight years of flat wages but rising costs, eight years of ignoring the problems and cutting funding to essential services and eight years of holding people back. Simply put, people have been left behind. We've never seen a government that has spent so much to achieve so little. Those opposite can spend $100 billion in one night, rack up $1 trillion of debt and still have working people falling behind. We have a budget predicated on wage cuts. One phrase that none of those opposite have said for some time is 'debt and deficit', and I don't think they'll be saying it for the next 30-odd years. Only those opposite, as I said, could spend that amount of money and yet achieve little.

At a time when people are trying to rebuild from the economic ramifications of this pandemic, Australia needs and deserves far more than what this government is offering. People need a vision for the future: a vision for jobs and school creation, a plan to kickstart the economy not only to get us through this recession but to put us on a path to future prosperity for this nation. What this nation needs is a government that understands community, but more importantly a government that puts the needs of the community ahead of politics. I've heard a few speeches from those on the other side that have talked about how much money has been spent in their electorates, and they're right. Money is being spent in their electorates. There has been pork-barrelling out there. I've got to say that electorates like mine and others represented by members on this side of the House don't see much coming from this government in terms of furthering the interests of working Australians that we all have an interest in protecting. This government really does need to focus on the national interest.

What we've seen so far is a government that's riddled with corruption, with rort after rort in the way that taxpayers' money is being spent. You have to look no further than the sports rorts or the Safer Communities grants. What about dodgy land deals? Those on the other side must thank God that they don't have an integrity commission as yet. This style of mismanagement by an elected government is what an integrity commission would be designed to actually prosecute and bring to the public's attention. But it is easy to see where this government's priorities lie. Our economy was already struggling before the pandemic. We had high casualisation of employment, record high underemployment, stagnant wage growth, slow economic growth and low business investment. Rather than addressing these systemic problems, which have only been heightened during the pandemic, this government's response is short-term policy fixes. Their response has been short-term policy to get them through to the next election, rather than a policy that has long-term transformative benefits for our economy and our nation as a whole.

The biggest failing of the budget is no doubt the cut that we see to real wages. This has become a defining aspect of the Liberal's economic plan. It is right there for us all to see in the budget papers. As a matter of fact, the former finance minister actually indicated this was a design aspect of their economic plan. We know that the many Australians who are employed are not getting enough hours to pay their bills. They cannot count on regular employment to pay their bills. We know that many Australians are being exploited, underpaid or subject to unsafe work environments and are hostage to insecure work.

One thing that often strikes me in this place is that this government never misses an opportunity to undermine or to criticise trade unions, which are designed just by their very nature to look after workers in employment. That's probably not quite correct. I have heard them refer to Kathy Jackson as being a line of the union movement, holding her up on a pedestal. That was before she was done for corruption. She's facing other judicial issues at the moment. But that was the person that they would have thought was the epitome of a trade union official.

Just remember this: it was former finance minister Mathias Cormann who made really, really clear the economic plan that this government had set the course to follow. The former finance minister said that stagnant wage growth was a deliberate design of the Liberal's economic policy. They actually planned stagnant wage growth. What they didn't plan is that there would be a restraint in terms of cost of living or all those other things that working families have to deal with. It was stagnant wage growth that did this. This is a government that's happy to hold working people back, happy to drive down wages and happy to make life harder for working families. It has become such a problem that Australian families are now facing day-to-day pressures to pay for the basic necessities of life, including rent, childcare costs, fuel and groceries. These are things that weren't planned to be restrained by this government.

My electorate in Western Sydney has been found to be one of the most disadvantaged communities across the nation based on studies conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. As matter of fact, the average household income in my electorate is just a little over $60,000 a year. That's not the average income; that's the average household income. Clearly, my community is not rich. But, also clearly, my community can't afford to have this sort of downward pressure put on their household incomes. They are struggling to make ends meet as it is. What members of my community need and deserve—and, by the way, probably what all Australians need and deserve—is a government that is prepared to look at what's necessary to boost real wages. We on this side understand that it is about increasing the productivity of this nation. That's an integral aspect of economic growth. It seems to me that only a Labor government will stand up for secure jobs, safe workplaces and fair and decent wages.

Let's not forget the approach that this government took to child care. This is a government which failed to provide adequate support to families struggling with the cost of child care. Australians pay some of the highest childcare fees in the world, with fees increasing some 35 per cent under this government's watch. This issue was raised regularly with me by local parents, particularly those who are trying to have greater participation in the workplace and trying to make ends meet. Making child care more affordable is good not only for working families but also for our economy. That's the reason that Labor, business groups, economists and other experts have all agreed that we desperately need childcare reform.

While all would, to some extent, be happy that the government has taken some serious steps in at least identifying it as an issue and throwing some money at it now, by the same token, this is the same government that only last year downplayed the economic benefit of investing in child care. It is little wonder that the end result of all that was that they rushed through a half-baked policy in that regard. Under the policy that they have introduced through their budget, only one in four families will benefit from the new childcare policy, and the budget papers actually show that, under their plan, the workplace participation rate will continue to fall. Labor's childcare policy will not only deliver support to four times the number of families as provided by the government in this regard; it will boost the economic aspects substantially and move towards a universal provision of affordable child care. Not only would that good for all Australian families; that would be sensational for stimulating the Australian economy.

Just remember the mess that this government has made of our aged-care system. The COVID-19 pandemic certainly exposed the vulnerability of our aged-care system. Regrettably, we saw more than 670 people die in aged care during this pandemic. The final report of the aged-care royal commission found that our system of aged care failed to meet the needs of some of the most vulnerable in our community. The commission strongly expressed the need for fundamental change in our aged-care sector, making 148 recommendations for reform. While it is pleasing that those opposite have finally realised the need to take action on this very pressing issue, we must remember that this is the same government that, for the last eight years, with their relentless attacks and cuts, left the aged-care sector in crisis. This is the same Liberal government who ignored the warnings of over 20 major reports and ripped $1.7 billion out of the system.

Too many Australians have suffered after years of neglect. So how is that we're expected to trust the government will fix the aged-care crisis—a crisis that they are actually responsible for creating? This is a government that ignored all advice and recommendations about aged care, staffing levels and pay and conditions for the care workers, and now they want to be congratulated for providing additional home care packages—which, by the way, will not even cover the backlog. Regrettably, the fact is that people will still die waiting. Our elderly and vulnerable in our communities must be afforded the respect, care and dignity that they deserve and our aged-care workers must be afforded better pay and conditions.

In the time I have left, I want to briefly talk about the issues of homelessness and housing affordability, which unfortunately remain very real issues for many of our communities. These issues are particularly dire in my electorate, which is, as I have indicated before, overrepresented with people living with disadvantage and has a notably higher refugee population than most other electorates.

Research conducted by the University of New South Wales found that my electorate was one of the worst affected, and obviously during the pandemic that has been exacerbated. The idea of security and having a roof over one's head should be available to all Australians. It should be regarded as a basic human right. I'm proud that Labor will address that, just as we did during the global financial crisis. Australia needs to plan to not only get through this recession but to plan for the future. Australia needs and deserves better than what this government is offering.

Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Australians are rightly proud of their country. We look around the world, we see what other countries do, we see how other countries respond to things and we look at what Australia does, and I think at most times Australians feel proud of their country but so much more so over the last 12 months or so as we've looked at how this country has dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic compared to so many other countries. Whether it's been the health response or the economic response, Australians have so much to be proud of in the response of their government.

It's very easy to forget what the situation was a year ago and how much has changed over that time. A year ago, there were dire predictions as we went into lockdown as a country. We were staring down an unemployment rate of 15 per cent and we were looking at growth writedowns of 20 per cent—extraordinary figures in the history of our country and the history of the global economy. It's also worthwhile remembering the way in which COVID has affected and continues to affect hundreds of millions of people around the world. There have been 166 million cases and sadly 3.4 million deaths. In the US, more people died as a result of COVID than died in World War I, World War II and Vietnam combined. In the United Kingdom, they had the highest per capita death rate in the world. These are two countries that we regularly compare ourselves with in terms of public policy, and yet Australia's response to COVID has been so much stronger. We've had 30,000 cases and sadly lost 909 people.

One of the reasons why our response has been better has been the way in which we've approached the health issues and particularly the way in which we've looked very strongly at the importance of testing—17.9 million tests have been conducted here, and I think, particularly as a New South Welshman, the tracking and tracing system in our state has allowed us to identify and deal with COVID cases quickly.

COVID was always both a health challenge and an economic challenge, and we performed very well in relation to the health challenge. You see that by the fact that we've been able to open up our economy as much as we have. You see that in the amount of personal freedom and liberty that we have. You see that in the fact that we are sitting in this chamber during question time, just as we did before the pandemic. You see that in the fact that in Britain this week there was great celebrating because people could hug their elderly parents for the first time—this was something that we were able to do in large parts of Australia last year, and early last year too. It's just a demonstration of how differently we've done. So, on an economic front, while the economies of places like the UK, France and Italy have all contracted by more than eight per cent, Australia's strong health response has meant that our economy has only contracted by 2½ per cent.

The real economic dividend has been the unemployment figures. Employment is ultimately the translation of economic theoretical policy into something practical that all of us appreciate in our daily lives. The unemployment rate just announced last week is 5.5 per cent. Unemployment is now lower than it was when we went into the COVID-19 pandemic. No other country has had such a result as we have had in that regard, and that is because of the good economic management.

Those opposite were saying that we should keep on JobKeeper. JobKeeper has been a lifeline and a godsend to so many people across my electorate and across our community, and we knew it was the right policy to have. But it's easy to turn on the tap; it's much harder to turn it off. And if we had listened to those opposite, all we would be doing is spending money that would actually be a handbrake on our economy. We were right to draw down JobKeeper at the time we did, and the unemployment figures have shown the wisdom of that measure at that time.

The budget that was handed down a fortnight ago shows that we are doing the right thing and that we are pursuing with the COVID-19 economic recovery, securing Australia's economic future. This budget focuses not only on economic measures but also on a range of key service issues, and tonight I want to highlight a few that are particularly important to my community.

In Berowra we have 19,000 small and medium businesses, and there are a range of measures in the budget that will make those businesses better off and enable them to expand and to employ more people. At the heart of the measures announced in the budget is the extension of the instant asset write-off. That means a business can purchase a new piece of capital equipment and not wait several years until it depreciates but claim the tax deduction this year, putting more money in the hands of business, giving the business more money to further expand, further invest and further employ. The temporary loss carry-back scheme has also been extended another year, allowing businesses to better plan their balance sheet over several years. The SME Recovery Loan Scheme, available to businesses like those in my community that have been affected by the Hawkesbury River floods, also provides support to businesses like the turf farms in places like Lower Portland and Sackville North as they recover from the recent floods.

I think one of the best measures that we have introduced since COVID-19 has been the apprentice wage subsidy. You can see that in the way that people have adopted it with such great alacrity. We thought that the apprentice wage subsidy program, which we put in place last year, would take 12 months to be subscribed, but it was subscribed in only five months, with 100,000 new apprentices. This budget doubles down on that and provides for an extra 170,000 new apprentices to be subsidised by the 50 per cent wage subsidy, which is so important to businesses expanding and to giving people—young people and people who are looking to retrain—a go in a new area of the economy.

A specially focused business measure that has pleased at least two businesses in my electorate is the measure that was introduced for craft brewers. Craft brewers can now claim a refund on any excise they pay, up to an annual cap of $350,000. When I went to visit Ekim Brewing in Mount Kuring-gai recently, they talked about how this would improve their cash flow and enable them to expand their business. In fact, they are looking at expanding their operations as a result of this measure. That's a great practical instance of good measures in the budget that are making a real difference to people's lives, on the ground.

I think the measure in the budget that will affect most people in my community and make the greatest difference is the Peri-Urban Mobile Program, which will invest $16.4 million in peri-urban mobile solutions for people in communities, like mine, that are on the urban fringe of our capital cities, for whom mobile connectivity is appalling. I have spoken on many occasions, in this House and in my community, of the appalling service given to people in my community by Telstra. Telstra is the monopoly provider to large parts of my community. There are large parts of my community that are getting charged for a service they are not receiving. There are places in my community where Telstra says there is coverage but there is actually no coverage, except when you stand on a ladder in your backyard and point the coathanger in the right way while the wind is blowing in the right direction. This has got to stop. I'm very sympathetic to colleagues, like the member for Mallee, who represent rural constituencies. I understand the challenges that they face in the bush in relation to mobile telecommunications. But in an electorate like mine, which is in metropolitan Sydney, our mobile telecommunication is worse now than it was 20 years ago.

The Peri-Urban Mobile Program is going to be such a game changer for communities like mine. It will provide an avenue for telcos to invest money to address peri-urban mobile coverage issues. This is important for our emergency services personnel. It's important for people who are in critical sectors, like doctors. It's important for police and ambulance, and it's important in saving lives. I can't tell you the number of stories I've heard where people haven't been able to call 000, because they haven't been able to get reception on the mobile phone. I had an instance where someone in my electorate was bitten by a snake and their child had to email a relative in Melbourne to get them to call 000, because the mobile service in my electorate was so bad. I was speaking to a man the other day whose daughter has severe mental health issues. The phone cut out six times and he said, 'I'm going to drive 10 minutes away and stand under a tower in a park so I can make a phone call to you.' So he had to bundle his daughter up in the car and do that. This is appalling. This is 2021. This is metropolitan Sydney. Thank goodness the PUMP program will provide us with a way forward. I want to thank everyone in my community who has campaigned so hard for better telecommunications.

I mentioned the issue of mental health because it is an issue that is so important to me as the chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Suicide Prevention and as someone who has been bereaved by suicide. I think this budget is a real step-up in relation to mental health and suicide prevention. When the Prime Minister told me he was planning on announcing that we would have a target of zero suicides, I said to him, in a Sir Humphrey sense, 'That's a very courageous decision, Prime Minister.' But he said, quite rightly: 'How can we have any other figure? Suicide is not acceptable and we want to get that down to zero.' I think the single most important measure that will make an appreciable difference in relation to suicide prevention is aftercare.

Aftercare is something I have campaigned for the whole time I have been in here. If you go into hospital because you're having a hip replacement or a knee replacement, you don't get discharged into the night. You go to rehab. You learn to walk again; you learn to get your physical life back on track. But, if you've made an attempt on your own life, in too many of our jurisdictions, once you've been stabilised you get discharged into the night. What do we know? We know that the people who are most likely to die by suicide are those people who have attempted to take their own lives on a previous occasion. We know who they are and we know where they are. We've got their medical records.

What this initiative does is provide a targeted measure, properly funded aftercare—which we are seeing for the first time in this budget—to the tune of $158.6 million. It will see anybody who has been admitted to a mental health facility, such as a mental health unit in a hospital, not discharged into the night but discharged into an aftercare program, so that they will continue to get the services and support that they need, acknowledging that the acute event that might have occurred, that might have brought them in, is just one event on a journey that will get them back to health. I think this will have a real impact on the numbers of suicides that we have in this country. It is the only measure in the Productivity Commission report where there was a recommendation that actually put a number on the quantity of lives that you could save, and that's why I think this is such an important measure in the mental health space.

I also note the importance of Head to Health. There has been, rightly, a focus on the mental health of young people through the headspace program, but not everybody who has mental health challenges is young. There are many older people who have mental health challenges as well. The new Head to Health centres, that build on the concept of headspace, will help augment those services and help ensure that people are getting the support they need. I applaud the government for the $2.3 billion package of measures in relation to mental health and suicide, of which those two are absolutely key.

I want to say something about child care, because child care is a big issue for many families—the affordability of childcare and the ability of families to properly balance their budgets and to ensure that both mum and dad, should they choose, have the ability and capacity to work, and that they can make the family arrangements that are right for them. But child care is very expensive. It's expensive for families that have more than one child, and it's particularly expensive for families who haven't been able to get access to subsidies.

There are some really important measures in this budget dealing with childcare. The government are investing $1.7 billion more into child care in the budget. They're removing the $10,560 cap on the childcare subsidy, and this is a measure that will be very important for people in my electorate, where the cost of housing is very expensive and a large percentage of people's incomes is taken up with repaying mortgages and getting into the market in the first place. There will be increases in subsidies for families who have more than one child under five. The maximum subsidy used to be 85 per cent, but it will be increased to 95 per cent, and the taper rates will be adjusted. What this means for a family, like many that you would find in my electorate, with a combined income of $180,000 and with two children in childcare for four days, is that they will be $124.80 better off per week. That means more money they can put into their mortgage and into buying books and buying educational products for their children, and giving them richer experiences. The childcare reforms in this budget will directly benefit over 1,160 families in my electorate.

This budget has been well received because there is a lot of good news in there for Australians. It is a targeted budget, like so many of the measures that we have put forward over the past 12 months. It is targeted on giving lower and middle-income earners tax relief. It is targeted on helping small businesses. It is targeted on giving Australians the services that they need, whether it is mental health, whether it is childcare, whether it is any other area. I commend the bills to the House.

Meryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Sydney Morning Herald reported this week that the Prime Minister has a premier state strategy. The Prime Minister intends to target 10 regional and marginal seats in New South Wales to win another term in government. Reading this headline, I had to smile. Not only has the Prime Minister shunted the responsibility of COVID-19 to the states but now he wants to ride on the coat-tails of Premier Berejiklian to win another term in government. Let me say this: the people of Paterson have long memories. They remember well before COVID and they know what is going on in their lives right now.

My community has some of the highest youth unemployment figures in the country. We have vast casualisation of workers and we have seen wage growth suppressed under this government. People, I feel, when they speak to me, know what is going on. They are not sure they are up for another three years like the eight that has preceded them. A classic example of short-sightedness of this government was when, after years of lobbying, they finally agreed to fund the strengthening of the runway at Newcastle Airport. My community has been completely united, from business groups to community groups to all levels of government, including me, beating the drum about how important it is for us to have a strengthened runway at Newcastle. And finally, to its credit, the government has come to the party on this $60 million spend through the Department of Defence. That is a good thing.

However, the craziness of this is that the M1, which is the last chokepoint between Sydney and Brisbane, needs to be upgraded as well. It is the vital piece in how we get people to and from the airport and that is still years away. Even though the government wants to say they have delivered it, all they did in the last budget—not the one we have just had, but the one before—was say that they would fund it to the tune of $1.6 billion. But they put it in the forwards; they put it off into the never-never. When is this road going to be built? Well, I caught up with Transport for NSW last week when we were away from Canberra and I was told that the government has no plans to commence works until 2024. By any measure, this is the height of incompetence. This is basically like building a new housing subdivision but the council comes along and says, 'There will be no roads, so you can have your house but you cannot get to it.' Honestly, this is a crazy situation. We have a liberal state government in New South Wales and a liberal federal government and they cannot collectively work together to fix this vital piece of infrastructure. We know it will create thousands of jobs. We know the money is there; it has been put aside. Why doesn't the state government get on and plan it and then have it built? It beggars belief, and everyone in the Hunter is talking about why this has not been done. A number of people in Sydney are talking about it too. In fact, I was at the Junction Inn at Raymond Terrace with my staff a week or so ago celebrating the announcement of the runway. Some people from Coffs Harbour were chatting to me. They said, 'Meryl, it's a nightmare, that Hexham Bridge. When is that going to get fixed up?' I said, 'Good luck! We're all trying to get that sorted out.' It is really ridiculous. It's not a cash flow problem and it's not because the workforce isn't available. It's just because these two governments cannot get on with it and do it.

My electorate also has one of the most extended waiting lists for aged-care packages. Many residents have packages available, but they can't get the vital support services that they need, because the government hasn't approved enough providers. Take Paula from Kurri, who was 91 this April and contacted by office after waiting two years for her aged-care package to be approved. When you're 91, two years can be an absolutely critical time frame, let me tell you. Paula has seen a few years and said, 'I'm not too happy about having to wait another two.' There's Delia, who turned 76 in March. All she wanted was some assistance with her home cleaning, but she was told all the funding had been exhausted and she'd just need to wait until July—is this really the standard that this government wants to set?—only to then learn that she can't access support for yard maintenance because this government hasn't approved enough local providers. This is at a time when we want people to age well at home, because heaven forbid they should need to go into a facility that can't help them or doesn't have enough nurses or staff to look after them adequately. We're saying, 'Age well at home,' but it's impossible for people to maintain their yards. In fact, that's one of the biggest complaints I hear. People are reasonably happy to try and stay in their home, but it's the maintenance. It's the yard. It's the upkeep. It's the physicality of those things that make it so much harder, and yet we're not providing that support, even though we want them to stay at home.

Let's look at phone reception. The government has some woeful gaps here. Indeed, the residents of Boat Harbour and much of Port Stephens, in my electorate, have been fighting this government to get some decent reception since the early 2000s. I told the story about a resident for whom phone reception was only possible if she got on a little stepladder and hopped onto her kitchen sink. She took phone calls up there on the sink, with her head tilted towards the window. Lucky we're agile in Port Stephens—seriously! Bob Baldwin, the former Liberal member, failed to deliver any of this infrastructure before I came along, and now my community is dragging the same old government kicking and screaming to get even the most basic funding for issues like mobile reception.

Port Stephens is a frequently visited holiday destination. In fact, just this week, we were named the No. 2 best holiday spot in Australia, so we know how good we are and we want people to come. We want people to experience our beautiful beaches. In winter, there are whales. Seeing a whale at sea is one of those rare and wonderful life experiences. But we've got terrible mobile phone reception, also at Boat Harbour, to the point where the locals are worried that, if someone gets into strife on the beach, they won't have the mobile phone service they need to be able to save them. This is a life or death reality. The government just has no credibility on this in the Hunter.

I'm proud of the hard-fought battles that my community and I have waged and won since I was elected in 2016, including the outcome for PFAS victims, who were most terribly done by in my electorate; the strengthening of the runway at the Newcastle Airport; and Testers Hollow. These are all good victories. I've encouraged and assisted countless individuals, schools, councils and community groups to apply for funds through the grants process, but, for every one I assist, there are many, many more in need. This recent caper by the government to outsource all the grants to the local member's office means we are overwhelmed by the need in our communities and the grants are incredibly oversubscribed. For one of the recent grant rounds, there was close to $800,000 worth of applications for $250,000 worth of funds. So the community are screaming out for assistance. The only people who will listen and take action are a Labor government.

Labor founded the NDIS and we will always ensure that the funding for that doesn't go backwards. Under this government, we see an attempt to reduce resources to the agency and to outsource vital decision-making. This minister was quoted as saying she believed public servants had too much natural empathy. I mean, honestly, is this the government's view—really? Maybe the government, rather than paying for empathy consultants, just need to go and work for the NDIA or Centrelink for a week and they might garner some empathy from the professionals who work in those organisations. Under the watch of this government, we have seen millions of dollars wasted on pork-barrelling, sports rorts, land acquisition, deals done for 10 times the value of the land like the Leppington Triangle. This is the government that has cut Medicare rebates, cut Centrelink staff and spent $10,000 per person on the trial of its Indue card scheme, which has proven not to be effective, created a stigma and traumatised some of our most vulnerable Australians. The government tried to hide the cost of this scheme because they felt ashamed that they had wasted 18.9 million taxpayers' dollars to vilify vulnerable Australians. Then they only spent $2.6 million on support services for the same vulnerable Australians, but gave $18.9 million to the company owned by their financial and banking industry mates. How does that even add up? Labor founded the NDIS and we will always make sure funding does not go backwards.

Since the 2019 election I've continued to campaign hard in my local area on the cuts to Medicare bulk-billing and the incentives that have literally driven GPs from my area. I've worked hard to hold this government to account for its commitment to match Labor's pledge to fund the M1 Raymond Terrace bypass and have continued to demand that this government fix our NBN. This Prime Minister can target all he likes, but still the track record of this government is appalling and the Prime Minister's inability to deliver is a shining example of how the Liberals don't understand the needs of regional communities like mine. Energy prices in New South Wales and, indeed, in my electorate of Paterson have continued to rise under this government. As Treasurer, Scott Morrison signed off on power privatisation and undermined investment in renewables, pushing up power bills for families and small business. Mr Morrison has been at the helm as Australians have seen more than 23 failed energy policies that have resulted in market instability and rising costs.

The Liberals have scared off private investment, so is it any wonder they're now trying to deliver a gas plant in my home town of Kurri Kurri? They've come up with a solution to a problem of their own making. They want to ride into town on a silver steed and say, 'We are the heroes of the day,' when, in fact, they've created all of the chaos that has proceeded this resolution. It's a problem of their own making. Only a Labor government will better regulate power prices to protect families and small business from price gouging by big energy companies. Also, it's only a Labor government that is going to upgrade the grid and is going to support manufacturers, like Tomago Aluminium in my electorate. One thing we've learned from COVID is that we need to continue to make things here in Australia. We've seen some incredible disruption to global supply chains. If we do not continue to manufacture in Australia, we know that we will be designated to be an economy that is not as rich and as diversified as it needs to be. We need to keep high-level manufacturing because it underpins all of the other manufacturing that comes around it. We need manufacturing in Australia, and this government isn't committed to it in the way it should be. Labor is committed to projects that stack up economically, environmentally and for the benefit of our people. We're going to work to reduce the cost of household energy bill and generate jobs in the energy and renewables sector. This government sold out Australian workers by supporting agreements that allow companies to bring in workers from overseas without even advertising their jobs.

This mob have seen the $1.2 billion robodebt disaster, our first recession in 20 years, the death of Australian manufacturing, no wage growth, $30 million paid for a $3 million property, water theft and shady deals, prime ministers with big foreign bank accounts, peaceful protesters told they were lucky not to be shot, vaccination rates amongst the lowest in the developed world, lies about vaccine supply and lies about the rollout, botched quarantine and endless amounts of scapegoating. Mr Deputy Speaker, we had a young woman raped in this building, and the Prime Minister couldn't even go down to meet with the women of Australia. The standards have never been lower. So, again, I say to you: it is laughable that this Prime Minister without a shred of credibility is coming after me and my community. Bring it on, I say!

Anne Webster (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm delighted to talk about the 2021 budget as a COVID-recovery budget for regional Australia—our plan to secure the future of our regional communities. Our plan will help boost our economic recovery from COVID-19 by creating local jobs and keeping local communities safe. There are five elements that I have been campaigning on and will continue to campaign on in the electorate of Mallee: firstly, health; secondly, infrastructure; thirdly, small business; fourthly, workforce; and, fifthly, the environment, and this budget speaks to each one of those.

Our health should not be determined by our postcode, and this budget means, for Mallee, that there are rewards for regional doctors, better access to health care, improved aged-care services and support for mental health. In Mallee, we have thin markets; we have few in our workforce, and we need so many more healthcare professionals to meet the needs across Mallee that, regardless of the healthcare sector that we're talking about, Mallee experiences shortfalls in healthcare services. Mental health has become a concern for many since the pandemic, and this budget displays our government's commitment to regional and remote health care.

For rural health we have $65.8 million to increase the rural bulk-billing incentive for doctors to work in rural and remote towns. While this is not necessarily going to mean doctors flooding from urban centres to our regions, it will reward our regional and remote and rural doctors. We are providing $9.6 million to add 90 workplace training packages through the allied health rural generalist pathway and $1.8 million to expand the trial of collaborative primary-care models into other states and territories, and I've been campaigning with the regional health minister and the minister for health on this very issue—for Mallee to be one of those pilot centres.

I'm really pleased to say that the telehealth extension is going to be made permanent. It has meant a great deal to people across Mallee who were not able to see a doctor during the COVID pandemic when there were restrictions and lockdowns, but also to those in rural and regional communities who've not been able to access a doctor in their local town. Telehealth, while it is not the be-all and end-all and does not replace face-to-face health sessions, nonetheless does go a long way to meeting the need. There's $204.6 million to extend telehealth. That brings the total investment, to date, to $3.6 billion. In Mallee there have been 417,879 telehealth consults through Medicare since the start of the pandemic, and this extension means better access to health care across Mallee.

Our aged-care sector is so precious, and, in our thin markets across rural and regional Australia, it has been problematic—again, largely as to workforce but also in the way that it has been set up. We are committing, in response to the royal commission, $17.7 billion on top of our existing investment into aged care. Our five-year, five-pillar aged-care reform plan commits to major reform for home care: the release of 80,000 more home-care packages over the next two years, bringing the total to 275,000 home-care packages all up.

On the weekend, in my electorate, I had the privilege of meeting Jean Robinson, who is 100 years old, a very sprightly lady who is absolutely connected to her family and her community. It was a delight to meet Jean and to pass on the regards of this government, of the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister, and of course, I had a card to give her from me personally. Jean is one of the few who has not only aspired to reach 100 but has reached it with glowing health. There aren't many who are in her shoes.

Across Mallee we have aged-care facilities such as the Sunnyside Lutheran facility in Horsham, Jacaranda Aged Care in Red Cliffs, Chaffey Aged Care in Merbein, Princess Court Homes in Mildura and others who will be very happy about the extension of funding for our aged-care services and sustainability, to increase the amount of face-to-face time for each resident in our residential aged-care facilities; for residential aged-care quality and safety, to improve access to GP led care for senior Australians; $652.1 million in workforce funding, including additional training places for aged-care workers through JobTrainer; and of course governance.

Our mental ill health has been exacerbated through COVID. The measures that our government is putting in place to increase funding to $2.3 billion for the National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan for prevention, early intervention, treatment, support and workforce is welcomed in Mallee: $248.6 million for prevention and early intervention and $111.2 million for digital services, including the creation of a world-class single digital platform, under Head to Health, which will provide online counselling, peer support, clinical support and referrals. I think it is only when you are in a regional and rural setting where the workforce is so thin that you can really appreciate how this is such an important investment.

We will be providing $1.4 billion for treatment in the Head to Health adult mental health treatment centres and improved access to community-based mental health services, including through the initial establishment of eight new centres, 24 new satellite centres and ongoing funding for eight existing centres. We will also establish a dedicated phone service to support intake, assessment and referral, at a cost of $487 million. There is $202 million for strengthening our workforce and governance arrangements; $27.8 million to increase the number of nurses, psychologists and allied health practitioners in mental health settings through scholarships and clinical placements; and $11 million to grow the psychiatrist workforce, with more training places, supporting regional and remote training pathways and promoting it as a career pathway in itself. We are creating a landmark national network, including up to 57 additional mental health treatment centres and satellites for adults, as well as more centres for youth and children through the Head to Health and headspace programs.

I speak tonight about the budget recovery from COVID and from the economic shock that it brought. In Mallee we need better roads, infrastructure and connectivity, and I am pleased to say that our government is committing even more funding for these important measures. Every resident in Mallee deserves safe and efficient roads and rail and reliable telecommunications. The measures that we are implementing will mean safer roads, better infrastructure for our communities and more connectivity, making Mallee roads safer so people can get home to their families.

This government recognises that regional councils often do not have spare cash left over for important roadworks and infrastructure projects. This budget will improve regional communications and infrastructure. In the past couple of weeks I have announced that the Calder Highway will have a $15 million boost to its $60 million budget for upgrades to the Calder Highway—a major transit from Melbourne to Mildura. It is very welcomed in Mallee.

Under the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program, under the Deputy Prime Minister, Michael McCormack, we have a billion dollar extension. I have fought hard for this. The councils across Mallee have made it really clear to me that this untagged funding has made a world of difference for them to be able to choose the roads that they want to upgrade and to be able to choose which halls need refurbishment. Councils across Mallee will share in $37.7 million of the third round, more than round 1 and round 2 combined. Mallee has received $73.5 million through this program. Before the budget, I sent a list of projects to the Deputy Prime Minister and asked him to consider extending the program. Many of the projects can now be funded. Talking with the CEOs across Mallee, I found such a sense of support and encouragement. In fact, the LRCI funding has already delivered great projects across Mallee, including the Napier Street streetscape improvements in St Arnaud, a new clubroom for the Nhill tennis club and town hall improvements in Central Goldfields Shire, along with essential drainage works in Murrabit and several roadwork improvements across multiple councils.

The Building Better Regions Fund is now $250 million. It was $200 million. I have fought for it to be increased, and I am so pleased that the Deputy Prime Minister has increased the funding to $250 million. Last week in Mallee I had the pleasure of taking him, the Hon. Michael McCormack, to see just a handful of these projects. The Mildura South sports precinct is almost ready to open. In the Deputy Prime Minister's words, it's a world-class precinct. In fact, he knows that his electorate will be very jealous of what has been built through rounds 1 and 2 of BBRF. I took him to see the Horsham livestock exchange after a sale—we almost needed masks for other reasons—and the Woodbine Inc. disability accommodation, where we turned the sod last week. They are very exciting projects that have engaged the community and are built from the community's passion. Round 5 was incredibly oversubscribed, and many are anticipating further funding for Mallee as that is being announced.

There is an additional $1 billion for what is now our $3 billion Road Safety Program. This additional investment will deliver upgrades to thousands of kilometres of road in regional Australia and is expected to support around 4,500 jobs. The Regional Connectivity Program, which is so important, as the member for Berowra said, is providing $84.8 million for improved connectivity in the regions through round 2. Mallee received $5 million in the first round for projects to install new 4G base stations and to connect Hopetoun and Kaniva to fibre to the premises, the best technology NBN has to offer. There is so much more that this government has put in place for our regional communities to thrive following this budget.

There will be more apprentices for local businesses and more support for education and training. As the Minister for Housing, the Hon. Michael Sukkar, has stated, businesses are crying out for skilled workers. We are funding more apprentices and more traineeships. We need in Mallee the right people to fill those jobs to fulfil our potential and meet those ambitions. While 2,155 apprentices are already being supported in Mallee, this measure in the budget means there will be more apprentices for our businesses. There is $1.5 billion to further extend the boosting apprenticeships commencement wage subsidy for an additional six months, from 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022. This brings the government's investment in Australian apprentices to $2.7 billion. I recently visited businesses in Mallee. Bernie Casey at Casey's Truck and Tractor in St Arnaud, Anthony Dal Farra at the Mildura Truck Centre, Interlink Sprayers, Entegra Signature Structures, Polymaster, and Top Meats in Maryborough all desperately need apprentices. This measure will ensure that more young people, and even not-so-young people, will take up those apprenticeships and start a new career.

We're extending and expanding the JobTrainer fund as well. The government already has a successful $1 billion JobTrainer fund, but it will provide an additional $500 million in funding, matched by state and territory governments. This measure will deliver around 163,000 additional free or low-fee training places in areas of skills need, with around 33,000 of these places to support aged-care skills need and around 10,000 places for digital skills training.

There is so much more that this government has implemented in this budget to ensure that we recover from COVID and from the economic impact of COVID on Australia. I welcome this budget, and I know that many, many people across Mallee have commended it. We know that we will thrive following.

Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Defence Personnel) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This budget is a marketing exercise. It is an attempt by the Morrison government to spend its way back to power after eight years of failed rule by the federal LNP government. It's a shameless fix. There's no fair dinkum reform. They'll leave no legacy should they lose the next election. The galling inconsistency and hypocrisy of this government is rife and rank. It spends $100 billion of taxpayers' money, racks up close to $1 trillion of debt and has the gall to spend most of question time criticising the Labor Party.

Where is the debt truck the coalition rolled out across the countryside in the lead up to the 2013 election? I guarantee it's in some wreckers yard somewhere, where the government's economic policies also are. This government has racked up an enormous debt that will leave generations to pay it off. When they criticised Labor on debt and deficit year after year, shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey promised there would be a budget surplus in the first year of the Abbott government and every year thereafter. But we saw the result of the 2014 budget, where they were cutting, slashing, burning and breaking every promise they could possibly find. Now we have a government led by their third Prime Minister.

This is a government which treats taxpayers' money as Liberal and National Party money. There are rorts, advertising and executive bonuses. They're tough on pensioners, robodebt and the poor, even though robodebt was an unlawful scheme and the government has had to pay more than $1 billion back to the Australian public, yet they are weak as water when it comes to big corporate companies. Two-thirds of the top companies in this country don't pay any tax at all, but the government is weak on them. Many cheerfully received JobKeeper, made good profits and kept taxpayer money as executive bonuses or gave it out in shareholder dividends and director fees. The member for Fenner should be commended for the great work he's done in revealing the rorts and rip-offs of JobKeeper. This was, of course, a wage subsidy, which the government thought was dangerous when we asked them about it in the first place. But the government implemented a blunt instrument. Up to $20 billion has been overspent on JobKeeper for companies that didn't qualify and shouldn't have qualified.

The budget was an opportunity for this government to deliver for workers, for women and for the economy. It was a real opportunity to secure skilled jobs, having cut or lost 90,000 manufacturing jobs and 150,000 apprenticeships in this country since they came to power. This was a chance for them to invest in skills, training, TAFE and schools. Instead, what does the tertiary sector get? The loss of 70,000 jobs and $400 million in funding. It's not a budget for a real recovery from a pandemic, and it's not a budget for the long-term challenges this country faces. Of course, in the last budget, we had JobMaker—450,000 jobs promised, 1,100 jobs delivered. Australians really can't and shouldn't believe the promises in this budget.

The government can't even tell us when Australians will be vaccinated when we ask question after question. The government have not secured enough vaccines, they do not come clean on the costs and the risks of any delay in the vaccination program and they will not take any responsibility for quarantine whatsoever, even though it is a constitutional responsibility of the Commonwealth government. They presided over crises everywhere—aged care, energy, housing, skills, education, health and veterans, of course, as well.

This is a government that talks about wanting to invest in infrastructure. On the front pages of the major newspapers around the country we saw project after project announced, saying, 'This is what's going to happen in the budget. It is coming to you in a couple of days' time.' But on average, this government has underspent $1.2 billion a year and has given up on its commitments because tucked away on page 84 of budget paper No. 1 the real story is revealed. Tucked away there, not talked about by this government, it actually reveals a cut in infrastructure spending of $3.3 billion over four years to 2023-24. Most, more than half, nearly 55 per cent of its actual spending, is beyond the forward estimates, so you can't believe those stories in the major newspapers that the government rolls out.

When it comes to workers and wages, this government has failed as well. Workers lose $1.35 billion annually to wage theft and exploitation. What's this government done? A tantrum in the Senate, withdrawing the industrial relations legislation because they couldn't get everything they wanted. They withdrew the legislation and are doing nothing about wage theft now across this country. They can't support wage rises in any submission to the Fair Work Commission. They won't do anything to lift wages despite the fact that the Reserve Bank, Treasury and every respected economist in the country says you need to raise wages to get consumption going to stimulate demand to then get economic activity and growth. Most Australian wage earners haven't received a real wage increase in eight years of this government, and the budget papers project no real wage increase at all for Australian wage earners to 2024. Nearly two million Australians are either unemployed or under employed, losing 30,600 jobs in the last month, in April. But when you listen to them in question time and listen to their speeches, they laugh about it. They laugh about it in question time. It is not good enough.

This is a government that criticises us on our side for tax and expenditure. The government with the biggest taxing and expenditure tax-to-GDP ratio in the history of Australia was the Howard government. The second biggest is this government over here. They can't stop spending but they don't spend it right. They don't invest in infrastructure, jobs, skills and training; they spend it in other ways. They back corporate subsidies, jobs for their mates and help for big business. They don't get the balance right. They will leave no legacy should they get beaten at the next election.

This is a government that doesn't invest in infrastructure and, in my home area, hasn't invested at all virtually. None of the projects that we talked about or even Ipswich City Council wanted funded have been funded whatsoever. The government has given out $4 million as part of a $5 million scoping study for the Mount Crosby Road interchange on the Warrego Highway. This is a project that I have described as inadequate and friendless. No-one believes that project in its current iteration at $22 million will achieve anything because it won't touch the bridge—will leave one lane each way—and won't touch the off ramps off the Warrego Highway. My meeting with Main Roads Queensland indicates they're going back to thoughts. That's about it; that's all the money we got. We got a bit of money for a scoping study on the Mount Crosby Road interchange for people on the north side of Ipswich and Ipswich Central and for those around Karana Downs and Mount Crosby but no money for the last section of Ipswich Motorway, between Darra to Rocklea; the Oxley roundabout to the Centenary interchange, no money at all; no money for the Cunningham Highway, no discussions with the Queensland government about upgrading the Cunningham Highway between Yamanto and Ebenezer Creek. They have been spending a billion dollars on the RAAF base at Amberley in the last decade and a half to upgrade it, but they haven't fixed the road outside.

I actually met with the Deputy Prime Minister and infrastructure minister and asked him to back in Ipswich City Council when they asked for $1 million towards a business case for a rail link between Ipswich and Springfield. Seventy per cent of the growth in the Ipswich area is going to be on the south side, around Redbank Plains, Springfield and the Ripley Valley. This is so crucial. There will be nine new stations built. It's absolutely vital. Ipswich's population is about 230,000. It will be about 550,000 in the next few decades. The growth is enormous. But there was no money for the Ipswich City Council. It has even got to the point where the Mayor of Ipswich, Teresa Harding, who ran against me for the LNP in 2013 and 2016—and I beat her both times—has come out and said:

As Queensland's fastest growing city, it was disappointing to see a lack of investment in this year's Federal Budget for essential transport and community infrastructure to support the growth of Ipswich.

I say, 'Amen, Teresa. I agree with you 100 per cent on that.' So their former candidate, the current Mayor of Ipswich, in the Fassifern Guardian & Tribune dated today, also criticises the Morrison government for their lack of infrastructure in the Ipswich region. I agree with her. But, of course, this is a government that can't fund our area. It almost needs Google Maps to actually find our region.

This is a government that has failed in the area of veterans affairs as well—my shadow portfolio—with marketing, mismanagement and missed opportunities. They've put some additional money into the Department of Veterans' Affairs to fix up the mistakes they made in the first place. There's a crisis in veteran mental health and suicide. Our chronically under-resourced Department of Veterans' Affairs is failing veterans in this area. There's some funding in the budget for a royal commission. The government had to be dragged kicking and screaming to have a royal commission. It took resolutions in this House and in the Senate for them to eventually put aside their obstinacy, truculence and stubbornness and call the royal commission. Now we are concerned in relation to how that will look.

I want to touch briefly on the Department of Veterans' Affairs. I agree with the CPSU that the royal commission should have a look at the Department of Veterans' Affairs and its staffing profile, because this government is privatising, labour hiring and outsourcing the department. Fifty per cent of the people who deal with veterans at the coalface are labour hire people, from the 46 companies that the Department of Veterans' Affairs engages. It costs the taxpayers more money, but you haven't got experienced public servants who understand veterans affairs; you've got labour hire people. This is not good enough. This department is more privatised, labour hired and outsourced than any other Commonwealth department. We've got waiting times and processing times blowing out all the time. The department can't even achieve its own targets in relation to this. I've done forums from Townsville to Tweed Heads, from Adelaide to Ipswich and all over the place in the last few months, and what I get in feedback again and again is: focus on the department. So the Department of Defence, government agencies and Veterans' Affairs should be a focus of this royal commission. We should be having a close look at that.

Veteran suicide is a tragedy, a shame and a national disgrace. It's a personal and individual tragedy for those who commit suicide and their families. More people have died at their own hands than in operational service in the last two years, and the number is probably far higher than the 500 that we know about and think about. The government had to be dragged kicking and screaming to establish a royal commission, which they announced on 19 April. It was about time, but we think the government has not undertaken the necessary consultation. We are concerned about narrow terms of reference. We are concerned about the independence of the commissioners.

Labor has had productive meetings with various people—people from sub-branches, individual families, people who've lost loved ones, ex-service organisations, experts and stakeholders. We had a very productive meeting last week at parliament with Julie-Ann Finney, who lost her son David to suicide two years ago, and a committee that she chaired, involving people like Karen Bird, who lost her son Jesse; veteran and lawyer Glenn Kolomeitz; military researcher Deborah Morris; sub-branch president Bill Westhead; and many others. The feedback we've got from them and other people is there needs to be systemic analysis, and not just individualised—don't blame the veteran, don't blame the individual.

If you look at what the government talks about in their themes, we are very concerned about that issue. We think the role of institutions needs to be looked at, and the transition issues from veteran employment and homelessness, the role and impact of support on Defence and veteran families, the support for veterans' families, and the impact of ADF anti-malarial drugs and prescribed medications on serving ADF personnel and veterans. We think there should be an examination on the merits of alternative therapies like medicinal cannabis, assistance dogs, art therapy and so many others.

The key transition issue of veteran employment and homelessness—there was nothing in the budget on veteran homelessness. But, the Labor leader Anthony Albanese, in his response made the point that a Labor government would do that as part of our Housing Australia Future Fund.

This government has also said that they don't believe the royal commission should make findings of wrongdoing in civil and criminal matters. That is exactly the wrong approach—it should do so. Labor has put in a comprehensive submission to help shape the inquiry. We ask the government to get this right. We ask for bipartisanship. The system is broken, not fit for purpose. Do the royal commission properly.

George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is with pleasure that I rise to speak on the Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2021-2022 and others because a number of things that we have wanted to see in North Queensland have been delivered in this budget. Notably, the biggest win for North Queensland was the introduction of a northern Australian cyclone reinsurance pool, a $10 billion fund which will back our insurers to provide lower premium products to North Queenslanders—to North Queensland residents and North Queensland businesses. We've had the problem now for the better part of a decade of insurance premiums spiralling out of control in the north and, along with that, some insurers leaving the market so that residents and businesses alike are unable to get insurance. This measure will be something that restores the balance. It will drive down insurance premiums in North Queensland, and it will bring insurers back to the market in the north so that we can have what is essentially an essential service for homes and businesses in affordable insurance back in the north.

On top of that in my electorate was the welcome announcement of a $400 million extra investment in the Bruce Highway specifically earmarked to upgrades, including in the Mackay to Proserpine stretch of the Bruce. I have already said to the state government they should look at earmarking that funding to the dreaded Goorganga Plains flooding area, an area that floods very regularly and cuts off the Whitsunday Coast Airport from the Whitsundays, which is a really dumb thing to do with your highway, but we have this decrepit highway there that needs to be rebuilt. It needs to be built up, and hopefully with that $400 million in funding we can see that happen, but it's going to take the state government getting on board and ensuring that's where the money is spent.

The most significant in the budget though for the nation was the spend on our defence, and I'm reliably informed by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute that, when they wrap all of the spending for defence together, what they get is $44.6 billion—$44.6 billion being spent on our defence. That's a 4.1 per cent increase in defence spending in real terms. It follows the plan that we set in place with the defence white paper in 2016. It also is keeping the commitment to have our defence spending at least two per cent of our gross domestic product. We've maintained that for the past two budgets. We're going to maintain it again.

It's important for one reason. As has been said by others, the drums of war are beating. They're not being beaten by anyone here in Australia. The percussion section is all in the Chinese Communist Party. Unfortunately, their illegal interventions in the South China Sea, or West Philippine Sea, are there for all to see. They're militarising areas where they shouldn't even be. On top of that, there have been the cyberattacks on Australia.

We're increasingly seeing this very dangerous, threatening behaviour from the Chinese Communist Party towards our country, and it will put our nation in very good stead to have this extra money spent on our defence forces so that we are ready if those drums of war keep beating, because, as I say over and over and over and over again, war is coming. We must be prepared. War is coming. If people in this place don't think it is, I suggest they go and read the history books about what happened in the 1930s and compare that to what is happening in the Asia-Pacific right now. War is coming, and we must be prepared.

In preparing for that situation, I would say to this parliament and to the government that we must also pivot economically away from Communist China. I note that there are some measures in the budget to help do that, with more funding to go into our trade situation, to open up more markets for our businesses. But I would say to the Australian government: look carefully at the pivot report that the Joint Standing Committee on Trade and Investment Growth, which I chair, released earlier this year. The report contained a bunch of recommendations. One that got a lot of headlines was to scrutinise the 99-year Chinese lease over the port of Darwin and, if—or, I would say, when—it's found not to be in the national interest, to bring that port back under Australian ownership, along with other ports or strategic infrastructure in the hands of foreigners, particularly state owned or state linked enterprises that have something to do with the Communist Party of China. We have that, indeed, in the port of Newcastle, as has been exposed in recent days. It is quite concerning given that out of that port comes so much of our resources.

I have also said to the government in that report that we have to apply a clear and consistent national interest test to all future foreign investment and, if it's not in the national interest, that investment has to be vetoed with abandon. We have to focus on trade diversification by expanding our trade with nations other than Communist China. India, Vietnam and Indonesia all come to mind. They provide a brilliant opportunity for Australian industry.

We need to boost manufacturing. The establishment of a national development bank would be welcomed by many businesses. We can refocus and incentivise superannuation to actually get back into investing in Australian industry, particularly agribusiness, instead of having the investment dollars constantly come from overseas. We can work with industry, unions and universities to build up manufacturing in this country. We should be looking at our universities as well, to ensure, No. 1, that any foreign funding that goes into our universities is disclosed to the public and, No. 2, that we don't take that funding if it's not in the national interest. I have to tell you I don't think the funding for Confucius Institutes and the like out of Communist China is in the national interest. We should be making sure that we always have sufficient fuel and medical supplies, and we have to get smarter at identifying national security and national interest risks in industry, particularly in sensitive and critical areas. That is very important for our future, for our sovereignty and for our national security. So I ask at this point in time that the government look carefully at those recommendations out of the pivot report and adopt them as government policy.

Moving away from Communist China and the threat that that poses to us, I will talk about some threats at home, particularly a threat to freedom. This idea of COVID vaccine passports is one that is anathema to freedom. It is anathema to freedom because no Australian should have to carry around papers in their own country to go to places. I understand there is concern about state premiers shutting borders if someone sneezes on the other side, but the answer to that is not a domestic COVID vaccine passport. The answer to that is the Commonwealth taking state premiers to the High Court for breach of the Constitution, which actually says that there is to be free and unfettered movement between states. We are one nation, after all, not a conglomerate of nations. We are one nation.

It is disgraceful that in this country the Prime Minister was stopped from going to a particular Australian state. I cannot understand that. Many Australians cannot understand that. But the answer is not to bring in something that will be, 'Your papers, please,' if you want to get to a certain area—and it will be used and abused in other circumstances. I am sure that businesses will actually say, 'Show us your papers if you want to come and dine in our place or if you want our service.' We've even had airlines saying that they will need to see some form of proof of vaccination. I just think that this is something beyond the pale. I quote US statesman Benjamin Franklin, who said: 'Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.' In the long run, he is right, because we will probably get neither if we keep moving down that path. The Wuhan coronavirus is going to be with us forever, just like the flu is. The question is: are we going to keep on locking down, masking up and shutting out forever and have a situation where Australians are going to have to present to someone a document when they say, 'Your papers, please'? It just seems like we are heading down a path that is going to be bereft of the freedoms that we once enjoyed in this nation.

Along with that, I want to take this opportunity to talk about another particular freedom which must be seen to in the time that we have left in this term of parliament, and that is religious freedom. The government, going into the last election, promised that they would legislate for religious freedom. I am saying right here, right now, that it will be a broken promise unless the government actually steps up and passes legislation that is in accord with all of the faith groups who backed us on that policy. So I am calling on the new Attorney-General to actually present that legislation to the House in an amended form that conforms to what the churches and other faith groups actually want, so that they have true protection under the law from discrimination—so we don't see a repeat of the situation when the Archbishop of Tasmania was actually dragged before the antidiscrimination tribunal for sending out a booklet to Catholic school students on the Catholic Church's teaching on marriage. It is insane that we have that situation in this country, but we do have it. That is why this legislation is needed—so we don't have pastors, Christians, Jews or anyone of faith hauled up before some jumped-up kangaroo court to answer for what they believe in. That is wrong.

Finally, I go from those freedoms—the freedom of choice around vaccines, freedom of movement and the freedom of faith—to a fundamental freedom, and that is the right to life. I am putting up a private members bill to this place and I intend to pursue it with vigour. That private member's bill has been drafted. It is called the Human Rights (Children Born Alive) Protection Bill 2021. It says that children who are viable, who are born alive as a result of an abortion in this country, should be afforded medical treatment. That is in line with our international obligations under the International Covenant on the Rights of the Child, which says two things. At article 6, it says that every child shall have the right to life, and it goes on to say that all state parties must provide services to ensure that right to life. Article 24 talks about the provision of health services and actually states that no child shall be deprived of the provision of health services because of the circumstances of their birth.

I have to tell you that, from the data I have seen, around this country, hundreds of children are born alive as a result of abortions every year and are simply left to die. Not all of them are unviable. I have testimony to that fact. Children who are viable, born alive, prematurely, as a result of an abortion, are left to die. That is not in accordance with the international obligations that we as a nation have signed up to under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. So I will pursue that legislation with vigour in this House while I remain in this parliament. The right to life is a fundamental freedom. The right to liberty and the right to movement are fundamental freedoms.

In summing up, I will state that we must protect these freedoms in this place because, if we don't, what then is the point of all the spending on defence? What are we actually protecting? We're protecting ourselves against other nations that might do us harm and bring in totalitarianism here. We've got to protect freedom here as well. That's why I'm supportive of the budget and it's defence spending. But I am also supportive of protecting the freedoms that many of our diggers fought so hard for and sacrificed their lives for.

Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I stand before you today to deliver a simple truth, laid bare by this federal budget, and that is that Scott Morrison cannot be trusted to look after the best interests of Tasmanians.

An honourable member: Point of order!

The Prime Minister. Time and again this Prime Minister and this government have demonstrated their appalling lack of respect for Tasmanians. That trillion-dollar-debt nothing-burger of a budget was the final straw. Our country is facing multiple crises. Wages are flat or going backwards. Aged-care residents and workers are being left behind. Australians with disabilities are being cast aside. Key industries are desperate for skilled workers, who are not there because of eight long years of cuts to training. This country has 140,000 fewer apprentices and trainees now than it had eight years ago when the Liberals came to power. Three billion dollars of cuts to training will do that. We are playing catch-up with the vaccine rollout.

These are issues that affect all Australians. But, when it comes to Tasmania, we are even further behind. Let's start off with housing. The public housing waiting list in Tasmania has increased by 75 per cent since the Liberals took government in Tasmania in 2014. It has gone up by 75 per cent. Over 2019-20, just five homes were added to social housing, and despite promising 80 new houses a year as a result of the Commonwealth housing debt waiver, we haven't seen a single one built this year—this when housing is less affordable than ever for many Tasmanians.

We know the Prime Minister cannot be trusted to look after the best interests of anyone except himself. This Prime Minister is only interested in one person, and that's the person in the mirror. Let's talk about infrastructure. Not less than a fortnight ago, the Prime Minister and the Treasurer got up to trumpet a $322 million investment in Tasmanian roads. Huge amounts of money for the Bass and Midland highways; a multimillion boost for the state—these were the headlines. They were effusive, and based on prebudget leaks. But, as we all know, with this government and this Prime Minister the devil is always in the detail. Just $4 million of the supposed $322 million package will be spent in the 2021-22 financial year. In the following year it will be $17 million and in the year after that it will be $20 million. In fact, just $96 million of the $322 million is budgeted to be spent over the next four years. Most of the headline amount is off in the never-never. It's yet another case of the Prime Minister's self-centred quest to feature on every news channel and in every paper in the country without ever having real news to share. It is all announcement, no delivery.

We've seen this Prime Minister demonstrate his inability to look after this country time and time again. This is a prime minister who is unwilling to take responsibility for his actions, and for his inaction. This is a prime minister whose instincts are always wrong. Every step of his error-riddled reign has been flat-footed, reactive and focused on one thing: getting his face in the news. Even then, he can't get it right. He was wrong to trumpet a successful vaccine rollout and set targets for positive press. We've seen over the year just how wrong he was.

Debate interrupted.