Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am not sure where you go in Hobart with regard to those sort of expenses, Senator Bilyk. I guess it depends who is on the Australia Council and just what exactly the thoughts of those on the council are. But I certainly want to find out why they are not funding the Townsville Festival of Chamber Music. But I digress.

Fuel is used more in rural and regional Australia, and that does increase the cost of living. That is why I am very keen—as I certainly hope my government, in the white paper on Northern Australia that is due to come out very shortly, will be—to address the issue of the zone tax rebate

It has not been amended for a number of years, and it needs to be brought up to date. And why was that introduced, back in the years immediately post the war? It was introduced to try and in some way compensate for the recognised additional costs that are incurred by people who live remote from the capital cities. Unfortunately, the high ideals of that initiative, back in the immediate postwar years, have lessened over the years when there has been no indexation. If that were to come in, you could say, as I would say, that those additional costs for using your car all the time are in fact compensated for by an increased zone tax rebate. But until that happens I will be opposing legislation that taxes unfairly those who live outside the capital cities.

As I say, I do not blame Mr Hockey for this. I certainly do not blame our government for this. I blame the Labor Party because, I repeat, when Labor came to power, they had $60 billion in credit, and they had an annual surplus of some $20 billion. It did not take long for the Labor Party to squander what was in the bank and run up a debt which, if it is not addressed, will approach some $600 billion that future generations will have to pay. So I understand the dilemma that Mr Hockey is in, and I do not blame him for it. Had he asked me—and, regrettably, he did not—I could have perhaps suggested other ways that he might have been able to gain that money. I regret that it has gone to fuel, but I hope that, perhaps, with the northern Australia white paper, the government may seriously look at amending the zone tax allowance rebate to compensate for the cost not just of fuel and the impact of fuel but on all of the things that make living in areas remote from the capital cities more expensive.

This has been the passion of my life. This is why I came to this federal parliament a long number of years ago. I thought we had almost got around to doing something about it in 2004, and we were heading towards that goal of trying to bring some equity and justice to those who live remote from the capital cities. I was at the time the Minister for Regional Services. We had got so far. But, after the election in 2001, I was moved to another portfolio, and the initiatives which we had had at the starting blocks, if I might say, were never consummated to the extent that I had hoped that they might have been.

We are at that stage again. The Joint Select Committee on Northern Australia has been working. It has put forward a report. I know that the government is considering a white paper. The government did promise that it would have that out within 12 months of the election. Unfortunately, that has not happened yet, but I expect that that will happen in the very near future. I do not know what is going to be in the white paper, but I am hopeful that a lot of the submissions that have been made will be addressed. And a lot of those submissions deal with roads in northern Australia. They deal with water management and storage in northern Australia. They deal with health and education issues in northern Australia. I again repeat that education in non-capital-city areas does, of necessity, cost more. Most things that come into the North are transported from a southern capital, and you do not have to be an economic genius to work out that that costs more. So I think it is important, in equity and fairness—David?

Senator Bushby interjecting—

Mr Acting Deputy President, I ask the Senate's forgiveness; I just had to have a short chat to the whip, but the whip has indicated that others are prepared to forgo their position so that I can finish my speech.

Regrettably, Labor's petrol excise increase tax is with us. I am disappointed about that. I am opposed to it. I made it quite clear I would vote against it, had there been a vote. I will vote against it in 12 months time. I will be interested to see what the Labor Party does, in 12 months time—whether they are going to vote against it, when this excise tariff area has to be approved by parliament. It will be fascinating to see, after some of the speeches today, just where those senators who were so passionate about it today actually vote in 12 months time. It is going to be very interesting.

Again: my views are clear, but I do not blame Mr Hockey; as I say, I blame the Australian Labor Party. If they had not been so completely dysfunctional in their financial management, we would be reducing the cost of excise, we would be reducing income tax and we would be reducing company tax, but we cannot do that now because Labor ran up a debt of what would approach $600 billion if it were not arrested.

It is not just Labor that is at fault here. It was the Greens political party that supported Labor all the way in this reckless spending—this spending that took a bank account, if one might put it that way, of some $60 billion, which Labor inherited from the Howard government, from a $60 billion credit to a deficit approaching some $600 billion. Only the Labor Party and the Greens could do that. So, regrettably, I part company with my own party on this particular tax, but I blame the Labor Party. If it were not for the Labor Party, I would not be put in this position. And Labor should be eternally shamed.