Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Attorney-General (Senator Brandis) to a question without notice asked by Senator Di Natale today relating to the 2017-18 Budget.

I want to begin by saying that it is the responsibility of all of us—that is, parents, local communities and, indeed, government—to make sure that we hand down better living conditions to the generations who follow us. It is our responsibility to ensure that our children have a better quality of life than we enjoyed. That is in essence what it means to progress as a community and as a society. What we do know about this budget is that it will reverse that notion of progress. It will do that by waging a war on, and effectively screwing over, young people.

We know young people will be hit hard by this budget. We know that because there has been a torrent of budget leaks that demonstrate this government's priorities when it comes to young people. We know that uni students will be saddled with more debt and the threshold for the repayment of the debt will be lowered, effectively proposing an increased tax on some of the most vulnerable, lowest paid people in our community. We know that those young people are being locked out of an increasingly unaffordable housing market, fuelled by the presence of property speculators and investors, who are attracted to property through tax concessions like negative gearing and capital gains tax. We know that young people are now in an environment where wage growth has slowed and weekend pay rates have been cut. We also know that it is young people who will need to clean up the mess that this government are making of our planet. Their stubborn inaction when it comes to tackling dangerous global warming is a legacy they will hand down to future generations.

It is important to remember who is making these decisions. These decisions are from a generation of people who benefited from a society that understood that education, health care, affordable housing, employment and having a safe climate were all priorities that needed to be met. The decision to wage war on young people, the decision to do over young people, is being made by a generation of politicians who went to university when it was free and who could get health care without having to stump up for private health insurance. It is being made by a generation of people who could work hard for a few years in an average job and be able to afford a deposit on a home and be able to pay it off in a relatively short period of time. It is being made by a generation who benefited from strong wage growth, yet what we see now is wage stagnation. And it is being made by a generation who thought that this planet's capabilities were endless and polluted it to a time when the rent is due, and the rent will need to be paid by young people.

The government talked a lot about intergenerational theft. It talked about intergenerational theft in the sense of a budget deficit being forced to be paid back by the generations that follow. What it does not talk about is the intergenerational theft that is involved in slugging young people with high student fees, unaffordable housing and dangerous global warming. The PM's plan is to basically get parents to shell out for a home and for people to get a better-paying job, but we know that is no plan at all. We know that we need to start recognising that we have a responsibility to the generations that follow, and that is why the Greens are prepared to take the action that is required to deliver a safe climate. The Greens are prepared to take the action that is required to ensure we take the heat out of the housing market and make housing more affordable and, if you are getting an education, we recognise that comes as a benefit to all of us and we are not going to lumber you with debt for the rest of your life.

Question agreed to.