Melissa McIntosh (Lindsay, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The people in my electorate of Lindsay want to know what the budget means for them. This is one of the most significant budgets in our country's history, one that charts our course to emerge from the coronavirus pandemic and to secure our country's future. What matters for people in Lindsay is lower taxes and more jobs. When I go out and speak with local businesses, they say it is about securing more support so that they can create jobs in our electorate. Many that I have spoken to—and it is really encouraging—say that it is around creating traineeships, including in manufacturing and traineeships for young women. That is really exciting for our future. The Morrison government believe that people in the community of Lindsay should keep more of what they earn. For around 76,000 people, the budget means more hard-earned money back into their pockets. This builds on the Morrison government's plan, which has already seen over 82,000 people in Lindsay pay less tax. Delivering tax relief also supports more local jobs by enabling people to spend more money across our economy.

As we are celebrating Australian Made week, which I think is a wonderful thing—and ever since I've come into this place I've been really prosecuting the case for buying and supporting Aussie made—this is a great opportunity to encourage people to back our local businesses and to actually go out and buy Aussie made products. The small business community has been so resilient throughout the coronavirus pandemic, and they do want to know how the Morrison government is backing them. Over 200 of our local businesses heard it directly from the Treasurer just last week in my electorate—only days after handing down the budget. The Treasurer also joined us last year after the budget, and I was really pleased that it was the first stop for him. He knows—as the Prime Minister knows and as I know—just how important businesses in Western Sydney are in driving our economic recovery and creating more local jobs.

Our local businesses know exactly where the Morrison government stands, and that is right by their side. Over 5,000 businesses in Lindsay were supported by JobKeeper, keeping 26,000 employees connected to their businesses. We stood side by side with businesses supporting local jobs then, as we do now and as we always will. In this budget, we are expanding the instant asset write-off, allowing around 15,000 businesses in Lindsay to write off the full value of any eligible asset they purchase. Whether it's a new tractor or a new machine, 99 per cent of businesses will be able to take advantage of this incentive to scale up, to improve their efficiency and to ultimately and very importantly create more jobs. That is what this budget and our government are all about.

In my electorate of Lindsay, we are full of aspiration, hardworking people and caring families contributing to our community. They want to know that the essential services they rely on will be there for them when they need them most. For people in Lindsay, the budget means putting more life-changing treatments and medicines within reach. In the last year, there have been more than two million free or subsidised medicines delivered to people in Lindsay through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. We have committed to fund on the PBS every medicine recommended by the medical experts, and now in this budget we're listing more medicines to treat breast cancer, lung cancer, osteoporosis, severe migraines, eczema and asthma.

That's what this budget is about: supporting people in our community, whether it is supporting our local businesses, supporting our local apprentices or supporting our community when it comes to health issues. We are investing in our local communities. I am very proud that we are investing in Lindsay. This is a budget that does deliver, growing small businesses so they can produce across our community; a budget, as I said, for local families who want to have a safe way to school, through delivering on our road upgrades as well; and a budget for people who want more local jobs. (Time expired)