Michelle Landry (Capricornia, National Party, Assistant Minister for Children and Families) | Link to this | Hansard source

The coalition government has handed down a plan for a stronger future and a long-term economic plan in this year's budget. People in my electorate of Capricornia will be happy with the level of support and investment in their area. The coalition government is delivering temporary and targeted cost-of-living relief for households; tax relief for small businesses; more jobs; record investments in health, education and other essential services—roads, rail and dams; and further investment in stronger defence, borders and security. That's what we need for our future.

We are addressing key cost-of-living pressures with economic relief to Australian households. For the next six months, Australians will save 22c a litre every time they fill up their cars. This temporary reduction in fuel excise will not come at a cost to road funding, which will see more than $12 billion spent in the coming year. This will help the owners of around 82,000 passenger vehicles in Capricornia. We are delivering a new one-off $420 cost-of-living tax offset for more than 10 million low- and middle-income earners. Individuals already receiving the low- and middle-income tax offset will now receive up to $1,500, and couples up to $3,000, from 1 July this year. Our tax plan has already helped over 69,000 people in Capricornia. We are helping pensioners, carers, veterans, jobseekers, eligible self-funded retirees and concession card holders with a new, one-off $250 cost-of-living payment. Together with existing indexation arrangements, this will see a single pensioner receive more than $500 in additional support over the next six months, just when they need it most. This is expected to help over 14,000 pensioners in Capricornia.

In Capricornia, federal funding will be flowing to many vital local projects, including $483 million towards the construction of Urannah Dam in the north of my electorate; $6 million to Beef Australia 2024; $14.4 million to Phillips Creek Bridge on Saraji Road near Moranbah; an extra $100,000 to support the construction of a new CWA hall in Collinsville, on top of the $325,000 already provided; over $6 million to upgrade Artillery Road and Greenlake Road; over $1 million to upgrade Dysart-Clermont Road; and over $1 million to upgrade Eaglefield Road.

There are many more positive measures in the budget—helping more Australians to own their own home, investing in apprentices and skills, boosting manufacturing, investing more in women's safety and guaranteeing essential health services. This is not a time to change course and risk our economic recovery with Labor. People are rightly petrified of a Labor-Greens alliance in Capricornia, where the Labor candidate has said he's happy to do a backroom deal with the Greens to get their support. The 2022-23 budget delivers for Capricornia, and I will continue to fight for my electorate now and well into the future.

Milton Dick (Oxley, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

The federal government has made one thing very clear this week with their budget PR exercise: they couldn't care less about Queenslanders. We have seen, time and time again, the Prime Minister's willingness to let the political plans of his government outweigh the very real needs of everyday Queenslanders. First, we saw the people in my electorate and across Queensland who have been impacted by flooding receive a mere third of the support that many in New South Wales were given. This was a transparently political move. And now, with the budget, they have once again short-changed Queenslanders and laid bare their political cynicism, for all to see.

This is a budget for the next six weeks, not the next four years, and it's designed to launch a re-election campaign that will make voters forget about the arrogance and incompetence of the past nine years. The budget papers reveal Prime Minister Morrison will cut $21 million from Queensland public hospitals next financial year. Prime Minister Morrison is also cutting $176 million from Queensland hospitals in 2023-24 and 2024-25, compared to funding promised just four months ago. Queensland hospitals losing federal funding will mean people in my electorate of Oxley will have to wait longer for the health treatment they deserve.

There are also key discrepancies between what Queenslanders were promised and what is now being delivered. The Prime Minister says this budget contains $3.3 billion for road and rail in Queensland. But, when you check the figures, there's only $446.5 million across the four years of this budget and not one dollar for the SEQ so-called city deal. Queenslanders have been robbed of a whopping 86 per cent of the money announced by the Prime Minister. It's in the budget in black-and-white detail: the Morrison government does not care about Queenslanders.

For almost a decade, my constituents have struggled with stagnant wage growth and the rising cost of living. I've had families in my electorate telling me they can no longer afford their grocery bills or filling up their car. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has left Queenslanders behind in the floods, and now he has left them behind in the budget. It's time to leave the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, and his incompetent government behind and move forward with an Albanese Labor government that has a real plan for a better future for all Queenslanders.

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

I note the member for Oxley's contribution. So exercised is he about this budget, he couldn't even reach three minutes talking about it! That's because there's obviously a lot in here for families and for Queensland families, particularly for families in the Ryan electorate. Around 62,700 taxpayers in Ryan will benefit from tax relief of up to $1,500 this year, made up of the $1,080 low- and middle-income tax offset and a $420 cost-of-living tax offset. The government's tax plan, lowering taxes over the last couple of years, has already benefited over 77,800 taxpayers in our electorate of Ryan.

We're also helping out with the cost of living because we know that this is the issue families sitting around the kitchen table are talking about, not the scare campaigns that Labor is coming up with that we've just heard from the member for Oxley. They are talking about the choices that they need to make for their families. So, to help with the cost of living, we have, in addition, implemented through this budget a one-off cost-of-living tax offset of $250 for Australians most in need. In Ryan, that includes 8,921 pensioners, 2,073 disability support recipients, 463 carers, 5,695 jobseekers and 12,609 eligible self-funded retirees. So both self-funded retirees and pensioners are being supported through the one-off cost-of-living supplement. Together with the recent pension increases, this will see the 8,921 pensioners in our electorate of Ryan receive more than $500 in additional support over the next six months alone.

In addition, we're helping families with the cost of fuel. Australians will save 22c a litre every time they fill up for the next six months, because we know that global pressures and particularly the war in Ukraine have seen those fuel prices rise. This will help the owners of the around 94,000 passenger vehicles that we have in Ryan. The average family who are filling up their two cars once a week will save $30 a week or $700 over the next six months. This is tangible relief for families.

Then, of course, there is what I personally think is one of the best budget measures, which is the record $58 million that will be invested to establish specialised endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics in every state and territory, to improve diagnosis, care and treatment. This is something that's close to my and my wife's hearts. Again, it's an incredible initiative to support the families of the Ryan electorate and all Australians.