The SPEAKER ( Hon. Tony Smith ) took the chair at 12:00, made an acknowledgement of country and read prayers.
MOTIONS
Member for Bowman
Ms TEMPLEMAN (Macquarie) (12:01): I move:
That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent the Member for Macquarie from moving the following motion immediately—
That this House:
(1) notes:
(a) the Member for Bowman continues to defend actions like stalking and abusing his own constituents online, and the Prime Minister has failed to take appropriate action;
(b) the Member for Bowman stated on March 27 he would "step down from all parliamentary roles effective immediately", but has failed to relinquished his chairmanship of the Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training which gives him extra salary;
(c) coalition members have now voted nine times to keep the Member for Bowman as Chair of the committee, including the coalition members of that committee, the Members for;
(i) Moncrieff
(ii) Groom
(iii) Curtin
(iv) New England; and
(v) Longman; and
(d) by voting to keep the Member for Bowman as Chair of the committee, the Prime Minister and everyone who sits behind him in this House is endorsing the Member for Bowman's behaviour; and
(2) therefore, calls on the Prime Minister to discharge the Member for Bowman from the Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training immediately.
How dare this man think he has the right to sit in this chamber and chair this committee with decent members of parliament who respect their constituents? This member does not deserve to have a place here.
The SPEAKER: The member will resume her seat. There is a procedural element I would like to check about this in terms of the decorum of the House. I'm just considering some of the language of the motion. I'll hear from the Deputy Leader of the House. It's very predictable what you're about to do. I will let you have the call, because the motion is not yet seconded.
Mr CHESTER (Gippsland—Deputy Leader of the House, Minister for Defence Personnel and Minister for Veterans' Affairs) (12:03): I move:
That the Member be no longer heard.
The SPEAKER (12:07): The question is that the member be no longer heard.
The SPEAKER: Just before I call for a seconder, while I have everyone's attention I just want to caution members in the conduct of the debate that it's highly disorderly to accuse a member of the House of criminality and to watch their language, because I will come down very hard indeed. As it happens, this motion doesn't do that, but there certainly have been instances I have heard in the 90-second statements and elsewhere that have been out of order. I should also mention that it is a matter I have discussed with the Deputy Speaker as we've watched the conduct of debate. I hope that benefits the seconder. I call the member for Cooper.
The House divided. [12:07]
(The Speaker—Hon. Tony Smith)
Ms KEARNEY (Cooper) (12:12): I second the motion. The Prime Minister pretends that he cares about the safety of women and yet he allows Laming to stay on an important committee—
Mr CHESTER (Gippsland—Deputy Leader of the House, Minister for Defence Personnel and Minister for Veterans' Affairs) (12:12): I move:
That the member be no longer heard.
The SPEAKER: The question is that the member be no further heard.
The House divided. [12:13]
(The Speaker—Hon. Tony Smith)
Mr CHESTER (Gippsland—Deputy Leader of the House, Minister for Defence Personnel and Minister for Veterans' Affairs) (12:15): I move:
That the question be now put.
The SPEAKER: The question is that the question be now put.
The House divided. [12:17]
(The Speaker—Hon. Tony Smith)
The SPEAKER (12:17): The question now is that the motion moved by the member for Macquarie be disagreed to. There being more than one voice calling for a division, in accordance with standing order 133 the division is deferred until after the discussion on the matter of public importance.
Debate adjourned.
COMMITTEES
Agriculture and Water Resources Committee
Report
Mr RICK WILSON (O'Connor) (12:20): On behalf of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Water Resources, I present a corrigendum to the committee's report entitled: Aussie logs for Aussie jobs: Inquiry into timber supply chain constraints in the Australian plantation sector.
BILLS
Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (Charges) Bill 2021
Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Amendment (Cost Recovery) Bill 2021
Second Reading
Cognate debate.
Consideration resumed of the motion:
That this bill be now read a second time.
Ms PLIBERSEK (Sydney) (12:20): I move:
That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:
"whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House notes that the bill places a further impost on universities as they continue to face an unprecedented crisis as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which the Government has failed Australian university students and staff by:
(1) excluding universities from COVID support; and
(2) making it more expensive for thousands of Australian students to get a university education".
The SPEAKER: Is the motion seconded?
Mr Hill: I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.
Ms PLIBERSEK: Labor opposes this attempt to add another cost to Australian universities. After the year that our universities have just experienced with huge losses of revenue, thousands of jobs cut across the country and shamefully little support from the government, now is the very worst time to be adding greater costs to higher education, particularly through legislation like this, with all of the detail in regulations still to be released and with little transparency or legislative accountability.
These bills would establish a new charge to recover costs associated with the monitoring and oversight of higher education providers. The Tertiary Education Quality Standards Authority, TEQSA, is Australia's quality assurance and regulatory body for higher education providers. They do important work. They make sure providers meet the very high standards we expect from them. They make sure that we offer an education that all students, local or international, can trust.
This legislation would give TEQSA the capacity to collect a new provider charge. It would move its operations from a partial to an almost full cost-recovery model with a new annual levy for higher education providers, as well as increased application charges. Importantly, the key details of this change will be established in regulations, including the charging guidelines. As such, this will be a new cost of universities and higher education providers with little transparency about what will be involved in practice.
Labor opposes this legislation because, frankly, universities have copped enough over the last 18 months. Every time this government has a chance to chip away at universities, it seems to cherish that opportunity—another levy here, doubling of student fees there, cutting the government's share of the cost of educating students. When the sector needed support in the middle of a recession—a deafening silence. You can see why people in our universities feel abandoned—that is, the students and the staff. The government is spraying money around to fix the political problems of its own making but can't bring itself to give universities a scrap of help; instead, this Prime Minister wants to burden them with new costs. The legislation would make things harder for operators in every corner of the country. For big public universities, the annual levy system would mean that the lowest risk providers would still carry the greatest cost burden. This goes against the regulator's existing principle of variable risk based charging. For private providers, the increased application fees, which in some case are estimated to rise by 700 per cent, could threaten their financial viability entirely. For smaller organisations, this could be ruinous.
The decision to make these changes now, when the challenges facing universities are well known, symbolises this government's attitude towards higher education. Whenever there's a choice between helping universities and making life harder, they put they boot in. Look at the record over recent years. In last year's recession, no other industry of this size was treated with the contempt that universities were shown by the Prime Minister. This is an industry that employs 260,000 people, and it has been left for to fend for itself. When the government was stepping in to help other industries keep workers in their jobs, it deliberately excluded higher education. Public universities were carved out of JobKeeper subsidies, and just to make it clear this wasn't an accident—
Mr Tudge interjecting—
The SPEAKER: The minister will cease interjecting.
Ms PLIBERSEK: the rules were changed three times to make it impossible for universities to access the scheme. The Prime Minister sat by and watched—
Mr Tudge interjecting—
The SPEAKER: The member for Sydney will just pause for a second. I will say to the minister: there's no need for interjections. He's actually the only person in this place who has a right to sum up the bill and make whatever criticisms he wishes to make then. The member for Sydney may proceed.
Ms PLIBERSEK: Maybe instead of trolling, he could actually fix the problems. Just to make clear that it wasn't an accident, the rules were changed three times to exclude our public universities from JobKeeper. The Prime Minister sat by and watched as thousands of Australians lost their jobs without raising a finger to help. He sat by and watched while hundreds of jobs were lost in cities like Armidale, Rockhampton and Geelong—jobs that those regional towns depend on—and he did nothing. We are talking about our fourth-largest export industry. It doesn't make any sense.
Why would you stand by while academics and tutors and admin staff and librarians and groundskeepers and maintenance crews lose their jobs in our cities and in our regional towns? It doesn't make any sense until you realise that this government has an ideological crusade against universities. They actually want a weaker university system. It's part of their crusade against universities, and collateral damage, those jobs lost in regional towns, apparently doesn't matter. Higher education is obviously important for those people who are working in our universities. It's obviously important for the students who are depending on a strong university system to get them the skills and qualifications they need to do the jobs that will provide them an income for the rest of their working lives. But it's also important for all of us, for our national prosperity, to have a strong university system. All of the evidence tells us the same thing, that the more skilled and educated our workforce is, the more prosperous we will be as a nation.
We've seen just how vital our universities are, particularly over the last year: epidemiologists, public health officials, nurses and doctors, not to mention the scientists and the vaccine researchers, who've made our return to normal possible. We've relied on trained Australians to get us through COVID-19, and we will rely on them to drive our economic recovery, and not just our recovery—not a snapback to how things were before—but a push to build back better.
Before the pandemic, we know that productivity was stagnant. We know that wages growth was stagnant. We know that as a nation we were struggling with business investment and economic growth. Worse still, labour productivity was going backwards for the first time in 25 years. We didn't have a thriving economy before COVID-19. It wasn't a country putting our best resources to use.
We know that one of the most effective ways of improving productivity is investing in education, and that's from early childhood education through to schools and TAFE and university. Investing in education is critically linked with improving our productivity as a nation. In 2015, research by the Deloitte Access Economics group placed the value of universities to Australia's productive capacity at $140 billion. At that time, Deloitte also estimated that we would need an extra 3.8 million university graduates by 2025.
We need those graduates across academic disciplines: science, education, engineering, medicine, the humanities and law, just like we need more highly skilled TAFE graduates. This government tries to pretend that we've got to make a choice between a strong, great, well-funded university system and a strong, great, well-funded TAFE system. We don't. This country needs both. If we're building a bridge, we need the engineer to design it and we need the concrete form worker and all of the other trades to build it. Our education system needs to see both technical and vocational education and university education working hand in hand for our national prosperity.
But that is not the government's agenda. In fact, the government decided in the middle of a recession to make it harder and more expensive for Australians to go to university. That's what their so-called job-ready graduates bill did. It's another typical 'name it and they will come' approach to legislation from this government—a typical exercise in marketing and spin. In this job-ready graduates bill that the government's trying to sell as somehow encouraging people to go into particular disciplines, what you find is, in fact, 40 per cent of students will have their fees increased to $14,500 a year—40 per cent of students. I particularly feel for those kids who were in lockdown trying to finish their school education by remote learning, with their hearts set on studying something at university. They'd been talking to their careers adviser since year 9 about what they wanted to study at university to help them get their dream jobs. Can you imagine what a kick in the guts it was for these young people—and their parents and everybody who loves them and supported them through that difficult year of COVID-19 when they were doing their final exams—to be told that the cost of the degree that they had their heart set on has more than doubled? That is what this government—
Dr Aly: They should call it 'dream taker'!
Ms PLIBERSEK: As the member for Cowan says, that legislation should be called dream taker, because this is what, in effect, this government is delivering for young people: American sized university debts hung around the necks of Australian students. These are debts that will continue to hang around their necks, making it so much harder to save a deposit for a home. Think about these young people with close to $60,000 worth of debt for, say, a three-year arts degree with a year of honours. They are graduating with $60,000 worth of debt at the same time that housing is becoming increasingly unaffordable, and at the same time they are trying to start a family and childcare costs are through the roof. On top of that, they're going into a labour market that is less certain and less secure. Wages have been flatlining, so university costs keep going up. Their debt goes up but their wages continue to flatline. It really is such a tough start to adult life for so many young Australians.
When the Prime Minister announced those so-called 'job-ready' changes, he said that they would promote the study of engineering and science—in fact, that was the stated intent of these changes. The entire purpose of the bill, apparently, was to channel people into studying engineering, maths and other selected areas. But, as you often get with this Prime Minister, you only need to scratch the surface, dig a little bit deeper, and you see a very different story. When you look at the detail of the fee changes from this government, you find that, in the academic areas the government says that it wants to encourage young Australians to pursue, universities actually receive less money to teach students in those disciplines. In the areas that the government says that it wants to discourage students from going into—and, for a start, just think about the government saying, 'We want you to study this and we don't want you to study that'—the universities will actually receive more money to teach students in those areas.
Who could actually spend all this time and energy designing a package that puts those kinds of perverse incentives into the funding arrangements? Because of this government, universities will receive 32 per cent less to teach medical students. They will receive 17 per cent less to teach maths students. They will receive 16 per cent less to teach engineers. They will receive 15 per cent less to teach clinical psychology. They will receive 10 per cent less to teach agricultural students. They will receive eight per cent less to teach nurses. How do you come up with a mess like that, if you say you want to encourage people into these disciplines? When you cut the money that supports engineering and science courses, either you're actually going to get lower-quality courses or you're going to have universities changing their offering to students. You'll get fewer scientists and you'll get fewer engineers from a failure to support these departments.
This legislation really shows such a shockingly bad contrast between what the government says it wants and what it does in practice. The government says: 'We want more young Australians studying STEM subject. We want more people going into science as a career.' So do I. I think we all think that's a great idea. So why, if you want more young people choosing a career in science, would you cut research funding? We have thousands of researchers, including brilliant scientists, hanging up their lab coats and walking out of their laboratories for the last time because their grant funding has dried up. The funding has dried up because the international student revenue that used to fund research in universities is drying up; it has gone. On what planet do you say, 'We want more young people studying to be scientists' and, in practice, make it impossible for them to continue their research careers here in Australia? If we're worried about a brain drain—and we should be—we should stop sending these mixed messages to our brilliant young researchers. We should stop saying, 'We want more of you to dedicate your lives to discovery and innovation and invention' when, in fact, we're making it impossible for them to put a roof over their heads and bread on the table for their families.
That's the background to these bills, a government that has spent eight long years systematically undermining our university system. They started by trying to introduce those $100,000 degrees. We stopped them the first time because of overwhelming community opposition. They have just continued down this line of making it harder and more expensive for young Australians to get an education. They've tried to cut overall funding, Commonwealth funding, to universities three times. They've spent the pandemic watching on, sitting on their hands as thousands of university workers lost their jobs, without giving any meaningful support. They've doubled the cost of degrees for thousands of Australians. And, now, just as universities are struggling to make it through the worst of the downturn in their budgets, the government are trying to claw revenue back through this new charging regime.
There is very clearly a pattern here. It is a malicious pattern. Labor opposes this bill. It is not the time to be adding further cost to universities—not after universities have just spent a year trying to survive with no support from their government.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Mr Rob Mitchell ): I thank the member for Sydney. The original question was that this bill be now read a second time. To this, the honourable member for Sydney has moved as an amendment that all words after 'That' be omitted with a view to substituting other words. If it suits the House, I will state the question in the form that the words proposed to be omitted stand part of the question.
Mr VAN MANEN (Forde—Chief Government Whip) (12:40): It's a pleasure to rise today and speak on the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (Charges) Bill 2021 and the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Amendment (Cost Recovery) Bill 2021. I've heard all of what the member for Sydney had to say in her contribution, and I would say that the notion of cost recovery by various government agencies in the areas that they regulate is something that has been done many times elsewhere. I think it is more than a fair reflection that this government first announced these changes in the 2018-19 budget, but deferred putting those changes in place in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. But, at some point, we need to proceed with what we proposed in the 2018-19 budget.
The important role of TEQSA, as the nation's independent national quality assurance and regulatory agency, is to ensure that they protect student interests and the reputation of Australia's higher education sector—and all organisations that offer higher education qualifications in or from Australia, as we know, must be registered. As I said, this delayed introduction of the increased cost has been for several reasons but is particularly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Importantly, when I look at other industries that I have an interest in—financial advice being one of those—I look at the very significant increases in cost recovery that ASIC has recently levied on financial planner across the industry, in what has been a difficult time for them as well, which has put significant pressure on them. So the argument that we shouldn't pursue the recovery of costs for the agency, in my view, doesn't hold water when we see that it has been done in other sectors.
Currently TEQSA's cost-recovery levels are probably around 15 per cent of total costs, and the taxpayer currently bears the burden of funding for the vast majority of it regulatory activities. The increased cost recovery will involve increasing the application base fees to recover the true cost of these activities. The increase to the application based fees will be enabled by a new fees determination to be issued. The introduction of a new annual charge on higher education providers to recover the cost of the risk-monitoring and regulatory oversight activities and the new annual charges are the subject of these bills.
As I outlined, TEQSA's role is important. There are some 1.5 million students studying in Australia's higher education institutes, and in 2017 the sector had a revenue of almost $38 billion. We're fortunate in this country to have a world-class tertiary education system and, by extension, vocational education sector. We have a large number of our universities who appear in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings and six of them feature in the prestigious top 100. The University of Queensland ranks at No. 62 on that list and at No. 4 in the top Australian universities. I am pleased to say that, more locally to me and also to the member for Rankin, the Griffith University's Logan campus does a tremendous job and is located just outside of my patch in the member for Rankin's electorate. But many of those who live in my electorate—in the Logan area but also in the southern part of my electorate, in Upper Coomera, on the northern Gold Coast—would go to the Griffith University campus on the Gold Coast. I regularly have conversations with the leadership of both campuses about the terrific work that they do in helping their students, across our community, to realise their dreams of getting a degree and pursuing a career, whether it's in health, medicine, business, education or even politics. Griffith University is one of the great examples of the higher education facilities provided across this country.
This commitment to excellence is why this bill is important. We need our Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency to be well funded, and it is appropriate that the sector themselves have a higher stake in contributing towards these costs. As I've outlined a couple of times, there are a number of other industries in which we do exactly this. These changes will enable a new annual charge to be collected from registered higher education providers to recover the costs of their risk-monitoring and compliance-monitoring investigations, compliance management, stakeholder engagement and other regulatory activities. These costs are currently not recovered and are borne by the taxpayers. They will be phased in over three years to moderate the impact. The amendments in this bill will require higher education providers to pay the annual charge as and when it falls due, including any penalties for late payment. Failure by a higher education provider to pay the charge will constitute a breach of its conditions of registration.
Despite what the member for Sydney had to say—and what I suspect some of those opposite who are going to contribute later in this debate will say—this government does care about education. We've delivered record funding for education in our schools sector since we've come to government. Recently I was speaking with one of our local Indigenous groups, the Beenleigh Housing & Development Company. Several years ago we provided them with a $750,000 grant to ensure that they can provide the backbone support needed for families in our Indigenous community, for their jarjums, or kids, to be engaged at school and to allow them to take further studies at university. We do recognise and understand the value of education and we know how important it is to have a high-quality tertiary sector.
Our budget commits $9.4 million in 2021-22 to provide grants of up to $150,000 for eligible higher education and English-language providers to support innovative online and offshore education delivery models. We're extending the existing FEE-HELP loan exemption by six months to reduce the financial burden for eligible students. We are lowering the eligible fees and charges for smaller education providers registered with TEQSA from 1 January 2022, as part of the revised cost-recovery arrangements. We're also providing $1.1 million over two years from 2020-21 to create new employment pathways for students and boost financial incentives for universities to enrol students in industry PhDs.
That is something that I find particularly pleasing, because I think—from when I go out and talk to the business community and to people at our local university campuses—that it is one area where we can do a much, much better job. That is the intersection of academic education with practical, on-the-ground work experience in the businesses that students are studying their degree for. I've had a number of discussions with businesses and the universities about exactly these sorts of models, because one of the things that we see is that, despite the quality of the academic education that our students are receiving at our universities, at times and in certain courses it lacks the practical application on a day-to-day basis, and employers find that, when they get graduates, there is still a lot of work to do with those graduates to bring them up to speed on the practical application of what they've learnt academically.
I am going to continue to work with industry and our local university campuses to ensure that we can continue to develop those relationships and build those bridges between the academic work students are doing at university and the practical skills they need in the industry. I think that will benefit the students greatly. I think it will benefit the universities, and I also think it will benefit business. A lot of people in business maybe haven't had a lot of recent interaction with our universities and what they're teaching. Equally, there are times when what is being taught at universities is maybe not up to pace with what's happening in industry. I think this is one of the areas where we can do an awful lot more work to make that much more effective.
I'll give a local example. I recently met with the owner of SDI Plastics in Beenleigh. SDI are incredible innovators, supplying moulded plastic products through a process of design, tooling and injection moulding. They are looking at engaging a PhD student to work on a project with the University of Queensland that involves plastic waste and recycling and the use of home-compostable plastic made from biologically based and sourced bacteria. This is an exciting project that could be completely transformational for the plastics sector, and it is a terrific example of what I've just spoken about—the tertiary sector partnering with the business sector to jointly innovate. I commend this bill in its original form to the House.
Dr ALY (Cowan) (12:51): I rise to defend the sector that I spent much of my working life in, starting out as a research assistant on a project to remove landmines and unexploded ordnance in Afghanistan and moving on to become a senior lecturer, then a course coordinator and eventually a researcher and professor. I've pretty much done it all at universities, including writing new units and courses, getting accreditation for new courses, and dealing with the processes for accreditation and quality assurance at universities. I stand here to reiterate the stance of the member for Sydney and shadow minister on this: Labor does not support this bill.
This bill, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (Charges) Bill 2021, seeks to establish a new charge to recover the cost of TEQSA's regulatory activities. The previous member really encapsulated what those opposite think about this bill. They see it only as a cost-recovery exercise. What they don't see is the other impacts this so-called cost-recovery exercise would have, after the horror year for high school students who want to go to university, after the horror year for universities, after the horror budget for universities—as the vice-chancellor of the ANU described it—and after a long and protracted campaign by this government to decimate the higher education sector and bring it to its knees.
We oppose this bill not because of its cost-recovery element but because now is not an appropriate time to recover costs and hit a sector that is already suffering and hurting—not just from COVID but from this government's ideological battle against higher education. The sector has experienced job losses of 17,000, and there was nothing in JobKeeper or JobSeeker for those who worked at universities as casual lecturers. I know those people. They were my colleagues. I had to watch them lose their jobs and have nothing. The budget that was handed down last week means that real funding for higher education will fall by 10 per cent over the next three years. We've got cuts to fundamental research.
The government like to talk about innovation and commercialisation. What they need to understand is that commercialisation and innovation doesn't happen without applied research. Applied research doesn't happen without fundamental research, and what's happened to fundamental research lately at universities? You've got people walking out of the science labs, hanging up their lab coats—as the member for Sydney, the shadow minister, said—and walking out, because there are no jobs. Australia is suffering a brain drain. It will continue to suffer a brain drain.
I have witnessed researchers with years of experience and some really fantastic cutting-edge research who just cannot get a break here in Australia. The research settings and the lack of research funding here in Australia has meant that they have gone overseas to commercialise their research and to continue their research in partnership with universities overseas where they do have a significant amount of funding, because their governments recognise the value of research funding and recognise the value of higher education. They know that innovation starts with the fundamental research that's being undertaken in universities.
But with all of that—perhaps the biggest thing—is that you've got young people who have a dream. We all had dreams when we were young. Now they're looking at $60,000 of debt by the time they leave university, all given to them by a government whose members benefited from a free education. I don't know what you'd say about that, Deputy Speaker Mitchell, but I think that's just deplorable.
We've got a government here that's just racked up $1 trillion of debt in a big spending budget. They threw around the chocolate and the candy. But it's not that they're not giving anything to higher education; it's not even that the budget didn't even include anything for higher education and research. It's now that they want to take away from them, that they want to start cost recovery at a time where they have brought universities, higher education institutions, to their knees.
Now is not the time to talk about cost recovery. If you only see this measure in terms of economics—in terms of cost recovery—without putting it in the context of a decimated university sector with lower student numbers, with students who can't afford to go to university because the fees are higher, with fewer resources, with less funding for research, with fewer staff and with huge job losses then you are looking at the wrong place; you are looking at this through the wrong lens. So I along with the shadow minister and Labor do not support this bill. Now is not the time. This government needs to demonstrate to the university sector, to young people, to researchers and to innovators out there that they care about what they do and that they want real reform to the sector, not just a cost-recovery exercise.
Mr BROADBENT (Monash) (12:58): Firstly, I direct my remarks to the former speaker's remarks. I'll go backwards through what she said. The historic changes to tertiary education were brought in by a Labor government, under John Dawkins as minister, to allow many more students to participate in the university sector. This was a massive change for Australia at the time. It was supported by both sides of the House at the time. So we can't historically stand here today into this broader future and say that this government brought this change in, because this government didn't bring this change in. That's incorrect.
Mr Hill interjecting—
Mr BROADBENT: That's not the point. The whole theme of what we're talking about today is about this sector. Remember: these changes were brought in by a Labor government, under John Dawkins at the time, and heralded as a breakthrough for tertiary education for ordinary students across the board in Australia. That's how it was argued.
Mr Hill interjecting—
Mr BROADBENT: Yes, for the lowest percentile also, because they also received scholarships. Those opposite would well know the history of all of this, because both of the members in parliament today have been through the process and know the history. Let's just leave it at that, for a start.
Then the criticism was that this is just a cost-recovery exercise. No. You would all admit that these are difficult times. So, what are the opportunities around this adversity that we face? The opportunities are to deliver the best tertiary education that we can in the circumstances we find ourselves in. I think the intention of government, and I believe the intention of the opposition, would be to do exactly that: given the circumstances that we find ourselves in, how do we progress this sector? The shadow minister made the point, saying that we need to train these people for our future recovery. Education is one of the major keys to that future recovery—a key for the thousands and thousands of people we're going to need to be trained to fill the jobs and to fill the expectations for new innovations. We need people who are smart, proactive and perceptive of what's going to be needed into the future. It's not about what we're doing now; we probably have no perception of the type of education that they're going to need to deliver future outcomes for this nation.
And it has to be our own people, because, right now, we're not getting the influx of skilled immigration that can fill those positions, and we don't have our own people trained to do particular jobs. COVID has been catastrophic. It has had catastrophic consequences for the tertiary education sector, and there was nothing in the power of government to do any more than that which we have done. Each sector has to take responsibility for where it finds itself.
There are no increased costs for students here. If you then say, 'No, that's wrong,' well, that means the private providers and the public providers would then be transferring a charge levied on them to recover these costs—at $1 per student, it would work out. That would look like it was a pretty ordinary thing to do to a student, at $1 a student. I think that's not on, and I don't think that the tertiary education sector would do that. So there are no increases in costs for students.
What has to be our focus all the way through this, as I have just mentioned a few minutes ago, is that those students are our future creative opportunity. If that is the case, and we believe that to be the case, we have to provide the best student outcomes possible. Since these opportunities have been taken outside the public sector into the private sector, have there been problems for the last 15 years? Absolutely there have been problems for the last 15 years. Have there been 'difficult operators'—is that a nice way of putting it?—in this sector? There sure have been. Did some people see it as a quick opportunity to make money and exploit students to the detriment of our community overall? Absolutely they did. So, therefore, these regulatory regimes are crucially important to good public governance in tertiary education—if we're going to be responsible in government and if we're going to choose to have the best outcomes. And that is what our public generally expect. They believe that if their children or grandchildren are going into these tertiary education centres that the focus is going to be on them—on the delivery and the outcomes that benefit the students and, therefore, the broader society. That's the expectation. But how can we guarantee it when we're handing it over to other people to deliver? It's a bit like housing. We don't get the opportunity as a government to go and build the homes. We supply to the states. Even now in Indigenous affairs we supply the money to the states who deliver the outcomes of the programs. Are we always happy with their delivery? Obviously not. Do we have a lot of control over that? No, not enough. But, remember the states are sovereign entities in themselves; therefore, state regulations also come across this part of the tertiary sector.
Where do we land now? We land in a place where there has to be decent cost recovery back to government from the regulatory controls, when, at the moment, we're only receiving 15 per cent of the moneys outlaid back into government outlays and the government picks up the rest of the regulatory program. That's unacceptable, and I think these institutions will come to see that this is a reasonable part to play for government. That is, one: to give us some ability as elected members to say, 'No, we have control over this area so your student will get the best outcome.' Two: we can direct when anybody is way out of order, and there are penalties for those people who are out of order—that's important. Three: it's not just wanting the best outcomes; it's getting really good people, but sometimes the only opportunity that they get is through tertiary education by getting themselves through secondary education, but then their outcome to lift themselves out of poverty is through education. There are hundreds of thousands of examples of that in this nation. Education is the gift.
I'm probably one of the very few members in this House who is not tertiary educated. My education came through business, and actually I think I learnt more after I left school than I did when I was there. I had a few other things that concentrated my mind at that age. I should have had a good talking to—it never happened. So, in that place, I still come with my expectation that the systems that we have in place in this nation are actually delivering the outcomes that we want as a parliament, we want as a government and we want the parents of these students to feel.
Why is it that prior to COVID parents from all over the world wanted to send their children for an education in Australia? It was a safe place for their children to be, and though there are those that claim racism, that wasn't the case. These students also provided vital labour for much of our entertainment industry, for nearly all of our restaurants and cafes and baristas and all of those people. They are the ones suffering the COVID crisis now. Especially in my tourist areas in my electorate you see businesses not open, and you wonder why they're not open. You ask the owner, and they say, 'There is no staff.'
We have other problems too that are COVID-related, including people moving out of the city into regional areas and taking rental properties. Therefore, the labour was once supplied by these students where they had somewhere to live when they were down there. Now they have nowhere to live. So, even if there is an availability of that backpacker market or that student market, there's no accommodation for them left in these tourist areas, so they're not going there. They'll stay and work in the cities or around their education facilities, whereas previously they'd move out.
I'd like to commend the government on the way they have gone about these changes. There have been three years of consultation. Legislation was first moved in 2018. They have worked through it slowly and, on top of that, these charges come in over three years, so there won't be an impost next week on all of these institutions. Hopefully, they will have time to get in a much stronger position in three years time than they are in today. Many students will have received the benefit that this nation provides through government support of education and they will go on to do great things, both nationally and internationally. In fact, we expect our students of today to be the national and international leaders of the future in whatever field they choose, so the investment by government in tertiary education in this country is crucial for our national wellbeing and our international wellbeing. They are going to be the innovators that start the start-up companies and the small businesses that are going to employ all of the other people around them. These are the people that are coming in to the innovation centre in Warragul and putting up their hand to say, 'I've got an idea.' Actually, they don't judge the people on their idea; they judge them on their talent in having an idea and putting it in place because they're the sorts of people that we want to grow this nation into the future.
I don't want to labour any further, but I don't see the opposition to this as real. I think it was a statement on education more broadly and I think the shadow minister's address was a general statement on the state of education. Most of it is out of our hands. They're accusing this government of an ideological attack on tertiary education. I have been a member of this government for all of its life and I've been around Labor governments and Liberal coalition governments before that. There has never been an ideological attack on universities that I have seen. There has been critical cost cutting at different times by different governments and new directions in where they might go. But one thing that we did find—and it doesn't matter in which area of public policy—was that just throwing more money at it without designed and properly managed outcomes is not the way to go. We have to get a benefit from the dollars that we put in. We need a nation that's growing and growing strongly. Part of that growth, part of that recovery, part of where we are heading in the future, has to be these very students that we're training today, including those that are still in this country to finish their courses and have stayed here to do their education. These are important issues for the nation and they should be taken seriously.
Mr WILKIE (Clark) (13:13): I don't support this legislation in essence because it will add significantly to the cost pressures already being faced by our tertiary institutions. Let's not forget that every extra dollar that universities have to contribute to the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency will be $1 fewer that they will have to spend on research, on facilities, on teaching staff and on the other costs that they have. Ultimately, as costs go up for our universities, the fees go up, so I don't support this legislation and I'll be voting against it. Regrettably, this move by the government to increase the cost for universities is just another sign, another piece of evidence, that governments don't value our tertiary sector. They don't understand the practical and inherent value of knowledge, research and education, despite all of the evidence showing absolutely clearly that the better educated we are as a country and the better educated the community is then the smarter, richer, happier and healthier the members of the community are. So it's not a saving at all to be cutting funding to our tertiary sector or to be adding to the costs of their existing budgets. It's a false economy because we would actually be better off—and, in fact, the country would be richer and the government coffers would be fuller—if we had as many tertiary educated people as possible, who are, as I say, smarter, richer, happier and healthier.
I'm obviously a big fan of the tertiary sector and I'm very proud to say I align myself tightly with the National Tertiary Education Union. I believe they are a very powerful voice for the tertiary sector and we should be paying attention to what they have to say. To that end, I'm going to do something a little unorthodox for me; I'm going to spend a few minutes reading into the Hansard record the NTEU's response to the recent federal budget, written by Terri MacDonald, the director of policy and research at the NTEU, and published just five days ago in their online Sentry magazine:
With over 17,000 job losses and a $1.8 billion revenue fall, higher education was one of the worst hit sectors in the Australian economy by the pandemic. The sector had optimistically hoped that the Government would finally acknowledge the crisis and at least partly offer emergency assistance. But the 2021-22 Budget is a major disappointment.
NTEU's Budget submission called for public funding to be increased to 1% of GDP (in line with the OECD average) which would boost government funding of the sector and allow the abolishment of tuition fees for domestic student (alleviating the problem of compounding unpaid HELP debt) as well as improving research funding. We also put forward a proposal for regulatory reform which would mean that universities could work to individualised goals and objectives that include workforce planning and resourcing guarantees.
Federally, the reforms would also create independent body determined university funding, which would operate at arms-length from government thus depoliticising higher education funding. None of this is impossible; indeed, many other countries already have higher education that is fee-free for students and with far better government funding.
It goes on:
The Morrison Government's response to the COVID-19 crisis has not been to reimagine what a world leading tertiary sector could look like; indeed, they haven't even acknowledged the vital role that our public universities and TAFEs could play in revitalising our economy, leading innovation and in rebuilding our communities as we move beyond the pandemic.
The 2020-21 Budget—
that should be the 2021-22 budget—
is a major disappointment, but not only because the outlook is short term and new funding primarily targeted at for profit, private providers. Nor is it because it fails to assist Australia's 4th largest export industry during a time of unprecedented revenue and job losses. The greatest disappointment is that this is a Budget that has no vision for the sector, and instead sets our public universities and TAFEs up for even greater financial stress which could threaten the future of quality education and research.
Under the Budget, universities will see a decline of 8.3% in real terms between this financial year and next year, and a decrease of 9.3% in real terms from 2021-22 to 2024-25. Vocational education will also take a hit, with total funding to drop 10.8% next year and another 24.2% between 2021-22 and 2024-25. In fact, almost every line item under higher education investment in the Budget fails to keep pace with inflation—the exception being the increases in unpaid student HELP debts.
I'm almost finished. It goes on:
The Budget's forward estimates show how deep the cuts from last year's JobReady Graduates package changes are, with Commonwealth Grant Scheme (CGS) funding (used to support teaching of domestic student places) falling from $7.34 billion this year to $7.31 billion next year, before plummeting in 2022-23 and 2023-24 to $7.12 billion and $7.14 billion respectively. It starts to recover in 2024-25 with just under $7.3 billion in CGS funding—but this is almost 4% less than what it is for the current financial year. Worst of all, the reductions in higher education funding—especially in relation to the CGS funding—will coincide with the sudden increase in the university entry age population as a result of the Costello 'baby boom', with around 14% more Australian-born people expected by 2024-25.
In a sector with already reduced funding per student, this will see providers teaching even more students for less.
Instead of taking the opportunity to put in place a higher education system that will meet our future innovation, workforce and research (the $1 billion additional 'emergency COVID funding' for research last year has not been continued) needs, the Government has stuck with the same structural system that was in place in 2019 (and was showing cracks then) but with even less funding per student.
Even worse, the financial crash in the higher education sector will now be exacerbated by a future shortfall in domestic funding, at a time when student enrolments are likely to surge.
In reality, this Budget sets our public universities and TAFEs up for even more financial stress, and their reliance on other avenues of funding—primarily through international student fee income—will only be driven further.
This is assuming that the borders reopen and the students can get here. It goes on:
This is despite the Government building into the Budget the assumption that it will be at least another year or two before they even consider opening our international borders.
I'll leave out the last paragraph of that opinion piece by the NTEU. I laboured through reading that document because I think it's a very significant summary of the challenges being faced by the tertiary sector as a result of the 2021-22 budget, in the shadow of COVID, and, in particular, the reduction of student numbers—obviously, now, but also for the foreseeable future.
I come back to my opening point. We shouldn't be adding to the pressures the tertiary sector is under. In fact, what the government should be doing is looking at how it can increase gross funding for the tertiary sector, not adding to the cost of them doing business, so to speak. That would demonstrate a clear understanding by government that the tertiary sector matters and that education and knowledge have very significant practical and inherent value. We should be investing in it and we can afford to invest in it.
I'll make this point for probably the hundredth or even thousandth time in this place: we are one of the richest, most fortunate countries in the world. If there is one country that can afford to fund tertiary education properly then it's this country. The only reason we are not funding the tertiary sector properly is because of the priorities of this government—and of previous governments, I would add, because there have been cuts over the whole 10 years I've been a member of this place. We can afford to do so much better, and it's a false economy to be cutting funding or adding to the cost pressures and diminishing our tertiary sector. The country is all the poorer for it. If we want to set ourselves up for a bright future, we need to be investing in education—at all levels, from early childhood education to primary and high school and college, and at tertiary level, including vocational training. That's what we should be doing. That's what a clever government would do. But, regrettably, we are doing the opposite.
I will echo the comment made by a number of speakers a number of times over the years. Too many people in this place got a free university degree—I got a free university degree—yet we are so quick to take a different approach to our children and their children. What was good enough for us is good enough for them. As a country, we can actually afford to have fee-free first degrees for Australian citizens. We did it before. We can afford to do it again. That's the sort of future we should be talking about, not adding to the cost to universities by making them pay more for the quality and standards agency.
This is a misguided bill. I hope the opposition will vote against it; I certainly will.
Mr HAMILTON (Groom) (13:24): These Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency bills are about maintaining the high quality of higher education that Australia is renowned for while ensuring the sustainability of the sector now and into the future. I will speak on this using two different lenses. One is my having come most recently out of being a research coordinator in a CRC based in Brisbane looking at the mining industry and efficiencies that could be found in energy and water consumption in that area. What astounded us constantly in this role of pulling together research bodies from around Australia, from around our universities, was how well we competed against international universities and how high was the standard of education here. Referring to the comments of the member for Clark, the practical value of our tertiary education was felt very firmly in that role. I speak, secondly, as someone who is very, very fortunate to have received a tertiary education in Australia and has been able take that education and apply it in situations around the world. What is still a very good truism, I think, certainly for engineers, is how sought-after around the world is an Australian engineering degree. That is very much because the Australian tertiary education industry produces at a very high standard, and that is recognised around the world.
Toowoomba, in my electorate of Groom, is a significant education hub not only for western Queensland and northern New South Wales but growing into south-eastern Queensland. While we have long been renowned as a hub for secondary education, the opportunity for us to continue to grow into the tertiary education space continues, particularly with the University of Southern Queensland, which is seeing great expansion in emerging fields such as aviation and aerospace. Just last week I had Minister Karen Andrews come and visit the campus at Kearneys Spring to hear about some of the exciting innovations there. With continued growth, USQ can achieve its ambitions of becoming a global leader in applied technologies through the convergence of end users with researchers really pulling out the practical value that the previous speaker, the member for Clark, talked about.
More broadly, this is a sector that the government believes in. The government has implemented a $53.6 million package of measures to support international education providers through fee regulatory relief and targeted support. This very much fits the government's 'technology and not taxes' approach to addressing the challenges that the future will bring us. We need on our team people who have got the critical thinking skills that higher education provides. We need them to do everything they can to ensure the education provided is of that high standard. That's exactly what we're talking about here, ensuring that we can maintain the high quality of tertiary education that Australia has such a great reputation for providing.
These bills give effect to the government's decision to implement increased cost-recovery for the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency, announced in the 2018-19 budget. The government delayed the introduction of increased cost-recovery on several occasions because of external factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic. It's quite a simple approach and a very simple history for us to revisit, but it is very much now time for us to revisit those original cost-recovery plans. Australia is opening up. We are on the path to a much brighter future, and these bills need to be viewed within the context of the time. That's exactly the place we find ourselves with our universities—I speak from my recent trip out to USQ—and the optimism they hold for the future and the very stable foundations they have built. I note USQ's insistence on building its foundations on a very small percentage of international students, speaking when Minister Taylor came out to the university recently to look at what that has done for them and how well it has set them up. My understanding is that around eight per cent of their intake is international students. This gives it a very broad platform to continue and to overcome the challenges that perhaps could not have been foreseen, but the foresight of USQ really gave it an advantage coming into this.
I return to the point that our economy is opening up. There are brighter days ahead. In 2017 our university sector revenue was almost $38 billion. I think this addresses some of the concerns raised by the previous speaker. While COVID-19 has challenged the usual modes of operation for many institutions, I'm confident we will see them return to a level that meets or even beats the prepandemic benchmarks. At present, TEQSA's cost-recovery levels are very low, at around 15 per cent of total costs.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Mr Llew O'Brien ): Order! The debate is interrupted in accordance with standing order 43. The debate may be resumed at a later hour. The member will have leave to continue speaking when the debate is resumed.
STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS
Middle East
Mr HILL (Bruce) (13:30): Numerous constituents have voiced their concern and distress to me about the situation in Palestine and Israel in the last month. In 10 days, 257 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza were killed by Israeli forces, and 12 Israelis were killed by Palestinian militants. When violence erupts, the world's attention is drawn back to this conflict. I've visited the region and seen firsthand the complexity and diversity of views. I support the Palestinians' right to statehood, as I support Israel's right to exist, though I have no love for the leadership of each nation. After the latest violence, though, it's important not to lose focus on the barriers to peace. Chief amongst them are Israel's settlement policies, explicitly stated as being to expand Jewish settlements across Jerusalem and the whole West Bank. The footprint of settlements is much larger than the buildings. They bring a network of exclusive roads, closed military zones, checkpoints and soldiers encircling Palestinian communities. Insidious, creeping annexation is killing hope for Palestinians to enjoy self-determination in a normal state. In 2016 the UN Security Council identified the settlements as a violation of international law and demanded that they cease, but five years later their growth has accelerated. If we want to see an end to these horrific cycles of violence then Israel must cease its settlement expansions. Of course, this alone will not bring peace, but settlements make a sustainable peace far less likely.
Willoughby United Netball Club
Mr ZIMMERMAN (North Sydney) (13:31): Netball plays a big part in the life of our local community, and my region of Sydney is home to the largest netball association in Australia—in fact, probably in the world. This year, 2021, marks the 50th anniversary of one of our oldest clubs, Willoughby United, which began playing in the Northern Suburbs Netball Association competition in 1971. Willoughby United was the brainchild of former Willoughby council employee Gaie Speight. Gaie was concerned that there was not enough sport offered to girls in the local area, and she was motivated to advertise for a netball team for women in 1969. Sixteen girls arrived at the first training session at Willoughby Park, and thus the early stages of the club began. Since then the club has gone from strength to strength and has become an integral part of the Northern Suburbs Netball Association competition. Its history has been marked by the longevity and extraordinary contribution of its volunteers, some of whom have been there from the very beginning. Others are now third-generation players, like the netball dynasty started by Shirley Rutter. I want to acknowledge the role of June Haynes, who was a member of the original Willoughby United team and is still there today supporting the club, alongside her daughters, Nikki and Carly. I also acknowledge Dorothy Gore OAM, who was president for 20 years and involved across the club's history. More recently, Cath Stokes has been an outstanding president, retiring just earlier this year. To the current president, Shannon Bryant, and her team, I wish you and the club many more years of great netball and success.
COVID-19
Mr ROB MITCHELL (McEwen—Second Deputy Speaker) (13:33): Australians during this COVID pandemic expected two things from this Prime Minister and this government: quarantine and vaccinations. On both of those counts, there has been an abject failure by this government to deliver on the most important thing, which is fixing the health crisis that has created this economic crisis. Day after day we've seen the mendacious claims by the government about what they're doing. Four million people were to be vaccinated by March. It didn't even get to 12 per cent. They couldn't even get that right. We're getting 1.4 million doses of vaccine a week, but they're only distributing 450,000. You have to ask: why is this government failing in the most fundamental thing, which is protecting Australians? In Sunbury, Victoria, in one of our aged-care facilities, 20 people lost their lives and 170 people went through COVID. It was horrific to go down there and see what the staff were putting up with, what they were doing—to walk in that room and see a roomful of personal belongings of people who had passed away, belongings that couldn't be given out. And what has this incompetent, useless government done? It's knocked back the aged-care workers—the people who were in there for 60 days, putting their lives on the line—from vaccines. The government's response? 'Just go and get a vaccine at your local doctor.' It is an absolute disgrace that the Prime Minister and the health minister come here and spout for their photo opportunities, while meanwhile real Australians, real Australian businesses and real Australian healthcare workers are being punished because of the incompetence of these two.
World Lupus Day
Mr ALEXANDER (Bennelong) (13:34): Monday 10 May was World Lupus Day, a day to raise awareness of this under-recognised but debilitating condition. While most people have heard the term 'lupus', few know what the condition entails. Lupus is an autoimmune disease where an overactive immune system begins to attack otherwise healthy parts of the body. While this can be visible as a skin condition, it is just as likely to be invisible and affecting joints and internal organs. And, just like other unseen conditions, it is easy to overlook. This year, World Lupus Day carries the slogan 'Make Lupus Visible', recognising that, despite the fact that more than five million people around the world struggle with lupus every day, the condition remains unseen and covered from most people's eyes. There is no cure for lupus, only treatment to manage some symptoms. As with other incurable invisible conditions, the links to self-image and mental health can be just as debilitating as the condition itself. So support is essential.
I'm delighted that the Lupus Association of New South Wales is based in my electorate. They do great work under the leadership of the inimitable Barbara Ward. They support people struggling with the condition, manning phone lines to answer their questions and provide advice and reassurance. They do incredible work with limited resources and deserve all the support and praise we can give them.
Centenary of Rotary Australia
Mrs PHILLIPS (Gilmore) (13:36): This year marks 100 years of Rotary in Australia. I want to send a shout-out to all the Rotary clubs in the electorate of Gilmore and Rotary members who go above and beyond for their communities every day. I see local Rotary members out often, whether selling raffle tickets at the local markets or fundraising for the many projects on the go to benefit the community, like Kiama Rotary, fundraising to provide free mental health first-aid training; Gerringong Rotary, fundraising to enable social dancing for people with dementia; or Batemans Bay Rotary, running the Rotary Corrigan's Market at Batehaven, fundraising for local projects like supporting local students through the Batemans Bay Youth Foundation Awards.
Berry Rotary held the 2020-21 Berry Celtic Festival on Saturday, and it was magnificent—with drummers, clans, knights, jousting and singing. Berry Rotary are fundraising for the Berry Nature Play Park. I also want to thank Berry Rotary for their wonderful centenary project, where 100 trees were planted to mark the occasion, with 100 Berry Public School students and children from Berry Preschool adopting a tree and giving the tree a watering.
On Saturday I had the honour of going back to the roaring 1920s, with Batemans Bay, Moruya and Narooma Rotary clubs, where members, family friends and supporters came together for a wonderful dinner event at the Moruya Golf Club to mark the 100th birthday. Happy 100th birthday, Rotary, and thank you to all members for all you do.
Liberal Pride: Midsumma Pride March
Dr ALLEN (Higgins) (13:37): I'm proud of what Liberals have achieved for our LGTBI community in Victoria and Australia. Many of the most significant pieces of legislation to improve the lives of the LGBTI community were delivered by Liberal governments. That is why I was delighted to join the Liberal Pride Branch last weekend for the 2020-21 Midsumma Pride March through the streets of St Kilda.
The Pride March this year marks 40 years since the former Hamer Liberal government decriminalised homosexuality in Victoria. Hamer's reforms were then backed up in 1995 by former Victorian Liberal Premier Jeff Kennett, who legislated the first antidiscrimination protection laws for LGBTI Victorians. And, of course, thousands of rainbow families have celebrated marriage since the Turnbull coalition government legislated same-sex marriage in 2017—something we should all celebrate. This year, the Morrison government provided $6.2 million towards the ongoing battle against HIV, with expanded access to Dovato on the PBS.
This year 8,000 fabulous people participated in the Pride March, representing 240 diverse groups, pride organisations and allies—all donning their best attire; all standing for love, diversity, solidarity and pride. I'm proud to be a member of the Victorian Liberal Pride Branch, ably led by President Heath Wilson. I'm proud to be a member and I'm proud of what Liberal governments have achieved for the LGBTI community in Australia.
COVID-19: Quarantine
COVID-19: Vaccination
Mr WATTS (Gellibrand) (13:39): The Morrison government had two jobs during this pandemic: quarantine and vaccinations. They bungled both, and today Victorians are paying the price. The new cases and the new restrictions announced in Victoria today are the latest consequences of the Morrison government's failure to do its job.
Australia will continue to be vulnerable to outbreaks like this until the Morrison government fixes quarantine and the vaccine rollout. There have been 17 leaks from hotel quarantine during this pandemic, and it's no surprise—hotels are designed for travellers, not for quarantine. The national cabinet's Halton review recognised this six months ago. The states have recognised this and have been putting forward options for specialised quarantine facilities themselves. But this Prime Minister isn't interested if he's not doing the announcing.
The government's quarantine failures are compounded by their vaccination bungles. Last year, when it mattered, the Morrison government was complacent and failed to get the quantity and diversity of vaccine supply we need. The Victorian government would love to be doing a crash vaccination push in the wake of this outbreak, but it can't because there's not the supply.
The government should have fixed these issues last year. The next best time to fix them is now, but we still see no urgency from the Morrison government. The Prime Minister might as well be in Hawaii again for all the use he has been during this crisis. In these times, Australians need leadership from the Commonwealth, but this Prime Minister is incapable of providing it. He thinks the job is done when he's done the announcement. He thinks being Prime Minister is about playing dress-ups for the cameras and making ridiculous poses for the TV news. It's not good enough. Australians need a Prime Minister that delivers for them. (Time expired)
World Health Assembly
Mr ANDREWS (Menzies) (13:41): This week the World Health Assembly is meeting for its 74th annual session. This week for the fifth year running one nation, namely the Republic of China-Taiwan, has not been invited. This is the result of the continued belligerent bullying by the Communist Party regime in Beijing.
The subject matter of this week's World Health Assembly is how global nations respond to the pandemic. Yet, we have the irony that the nation that gave us the pandemic from Wuhan, possibly from a biological laboratory in that city, is participating yet refusing the participation of a country which has provided one of the best most-comprehensive results in terms of the way in which it's coped with the virus. This is something—
An opposition member interjecting—
The SPEAKER: Members on my left!
Mr ANDREWS: I presume the member opposite—I'll take his interjection—is in favour of the exclusion of Taiwan from the World Health Assembly? Is that the case? Is it the case that a country which has been successful in dealing with this is being excluded from it? As the G7 said, 'Taiwan should be there.' As Australia has said, 'Taiwan should be there.' As Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, said, 'There is no reasonable justification' for Taiwan not being there. The only reason it's not there is because of the bullying of China.
COVID-19: Vaccination
Ms STEGGALL (Warringah) (13:42): At the current rate of COVID-19 vaccination, it will be the end of 2022 before 85 per cent of adult Australians are vaccinated. That's simply not good enough. Communication about the vaccination has been messy and uninspiring, and the process has been disorganised—and that is the opinion of experts and general practitioners.
In Warringah, I conducted a survey of medical practices to see what their experience of the rollout has been. Seventy per cent said the number of doses allocated to them does not meet their patient demand. When vaccine deliveries are delayed or cancelled, 70 per cent of respondents said they were given less than 24-hours notice. One-third said they were receiving a high number of cancellations, and 80 per cent of patients were concerned about severe side effects. Ninety-four per cent said becoming a vaccine provider had come at a financial cost to their practice with increased staffing costs, purchases of new fridges and infrastructure. These GPs have given the government and this process four out of 10.
Doctors have numerous suggestions for the government on how the rollout can be improved: by increasing the number of vaccines available, guaranteeing reliable supply, setting up mass vaccination hubs and improving communication to the public. I thank the GPs of Warringah for taking part in this survey, and I urge the government to listen to them.
Bass Electorate: Boots on the Ground
Mrs ARCHER (Bass) (13:44): I had the pleasure of supporting a great event on the weekend raising funds and awareness for mental wellbeing in rural and regional areas. It was raising funds for the Boots on the Ground initiative and was hosted by the team at Cataract on Paterson. Those in attendance shared a generous lunch in great company, highlighting the value of community connectedness. Well done to Jo Palmer and Karen Burbury and your organising committee.
Boots on the Ground is about raising awareness and practical on-the-ground support for rural Tasmanians to improve their wellbeing. A partnership between Rotary Tasmania Community Care, Tasmanian Women in Agriculture and Rural Alive and Well, the program is aimed at saving lives and improving mental health. It was a powerful reminder of the importance of being vigilant—to recognise when our friends and loved ones may not be okay. We can see a physical wound, but, as so many of us now know, it's the private battle going on behind the scenes that can be kept so well hidden until sometimes it is too late.
The event highlighted how Boots on the Ground is supporting our community. RAW's work is so vital in isolated communities, and reach-out coordinators are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, offering a friendly ear in a difficult time. They can provide information, support and strategies to help, as well as linking you with other services. RAW's service is free and confidential and can be contacted by calling 1300HELPMATE.
Lundy, Mr George (Geordie)
Mr THISTLETHWAITE (Kingsford Smith) (13:45): On 15 May, I was fortunate to join members of the Pagewood Botany Football Club family to pay tribute to a legend of football in the eastern suburbs, George Lundy, who passed away last year. George was the heart and soul of the Pagewood Botany Football Club. Instrumental in the club's establishment in 1976, he was an inaugural player who went on to be a coach of junior teams for many years, a long-term president of the club and a life member.
George loved football and was passionate about getting kids of all abilities involved in community sport. Under George's leadership, the Pagewood Botany Football Club formed a close relationship with the Windgap Foundation, supporting people with disabilities in our community. George was a mentor to the Windgap Warriors football team and helped organise the annual game between the Warriors and the Pagewood old boys. He fundraised to establish the Bayside Women's Shelter and many other charities in our community.
George was at the home ground at Jellicoe Park every weekend and, with a boisterous Belfast accent, could be heard from the other side of the park. He would get around and speak to every player, coach and parent, always with his lovely wife, Kathleen, by his side. In a fitting tribute, the fields at Jellicoe Park have been named George Lundy Sporting Fields in honour of this great man and his contribution to football in our community. May he rest in peace. I offer my condolences to Kathleen, Gerard, Stephen and Nicele and their families.
National Volunteer Week
Ms BELL (Moncrieff) (13:46): Last week was National Volunteer Week, and in Moncrieff we celebrated our volunteers following the 'Recognise. Reconnect. Reimagine' theme. It was an honour to open The Venue at Volunteering Gold Coast at Miami in my electorate. It's a unique space for the Gold Coast community to connect with others, host meetings, run workshops, hold board meetings and use as a workspace—a great asset for Moncrieff indeed. I commend CEO Brad Cooper and founder Peter Mark for all they've done to bring this project to life.
Congratulations to all recipients of the 2020 Central Gold Coast Volunteer Awards. The awards seek to publicly thank and celebrate volunteers for their selfless service. We held small ceremonies for the awards this year, due to pandemic restrictions, but I'd like to publicly acknowledge all of the recipients now: Bill Wakefield, the Mermaid Beach Surf Club management team, Elizabeth Massey, John and Beryl Turner, Brenda Godfrey, Diane Miller, Bob Jordan, Graeme Kay, Jules Smibert, Francis Wood, Brian McAllan, Pamela Lowry, Mark Turpin, the Gold Coast Little Theatre booking office team, Kaj Wolf, Rob Dennett, Linda Newton, Timothy Burgess, the Friends of the Gold Coast Regional Botanic Gardens, Duncan Sims, Beris McKavanagh, Elizabeth King and Dr Robyn Cameron. Nominations are opening for the 2021 awards right now.
Many thanks are also due to the volunteers who help our democratic process. Thank you to the members of the LNP Moncrieff FDC for everything that you do to support me and our community.
Eden-Monaro Electorate
Ms McBAIN (Eden-Monaro) (13:48): Meeting the immediate needs of our community feeds my daily work, as do the longer term opportunities that come from the many compounding challenges that we face together. While drought, bushfires, floods and border closures have drained our community, the experience has also mobilised people and their ideas.
Labor's COVID-19 recovery task force recently toured the far South Coast to hear not only firsthand accounts of our region's experience but also the local ideas that will best support our recovery and renewal. The task force had rich conversations with residents, charities and business groups across the region, including about mountain bike tourism, better mobile and internet service to enable our businesses to expand and grow, better housing options for our community that suit their needs, transport links that withstand floods and rain, cultural institutions that would bring new tourists to the area and things as simple as CBD upgrades. The findings from the visit will define a strong set of policies that will secure the future of regional communities. While it was great to hear from so many people and organisations, I know that there are so many stories and suggestions that still need to be heard. I encourage people to submit their thoughts through my website: www.kristymcbain.com.au. I'm determined to make sure that the work ahead reflects the insights of people that I represent. Regional communities understand the challenges, but, more than that, they are invested in our solutions, and I will back them.
Mason, Mr Donald Walter
Mr BROADBENT (Monash) (13:50): Donald Walter Mason died on 7 May this year. He was my scout leader. He was a husband to Gwenda, lover, father, grandfather and mentor to many. In fact, he invested his life in others. He was strongly connected to the Methodist Church. His work was as a farmer. The first thing that happened in the days before he began was that he would go from horses to a tractor, and then he'd milk the cows. He'd milk in the morning, work for Ron Townley's transport company all day, go home and milk at night and then go out to community functions each night. He built his own home from scratch. One of his proudest moments, of course, was at his send-off. His first Queen's Scout, Warren Wealands, was there. Can I also say that he would have been very proud of all the boys that he had mentored through his scouting years and the benefits they brought to the Koo Wee Rup community and surrounds. One of his boys entered the Australian parliament. He was very proud of that too.
Housing Affordability
Ms MURPHY (Dunkley) (13:51): Elizabeth from Seaford has a granddaughter. Her granddaughter is a single mother with three children, aged nine, seven and five. Elizabeth's granddaughter had to flee a relationship which was violent and financially abusive. She lost her home. She wanted to keep her kids where they go to school and where they play their sport. For 15 months she's been renting. She used all the money she had left to be able to pay upfront to be able to secure a house. It's now being sold. She's looked at 40 houses in my electorate to try to find somewhere to live near the school that her kids go to. She can't find anywhere—$430 a week is not enough to find a rental property. The landlords have told her, 'Maybe just offer some more.'
There is a housing crisis for people who are decent hardworking mothers and fathers who have gone through hell and just want to bring their children up in a good and secure neighbourhood. There is not enough affordable housing. If it's happening in my electorate, it's happening everywhere. The Morrison government is ignoring these people, but I won't ignore Elizabeth's granddaughter and Labor won't ignore people that need secure affordable housing. (Time expired)
Dalrymple, Mrs Irie
Mr CHRISTENSEN (Dawson) (13:53): Today I want to acknowledge the passing of a highly respected and extremely generous member of the Mackay region, Mrs Irie Dalrymple, who passed away on 11 May at the age of 93. Irie, affectionately known as Mrs Dal, lived with her husband David at Landsborough Station at Nebo, west of Mackay, for more than 50 years before moving to town, where the couple continued to show the generosity they were so well known for in every aspect of their lives.
My connection with the Dalrymples in recent times was in relation to the establishment of a respite home for people with disability, only made possible by the generous donation of the Dalrymples and named in their honour: the David and Irie Dalrymple Home, which sits alongside another facility, the John E Smith Respite Home. The Dalrymples were good friends of the recognised mouth-and-foot painter John Smith, who was left a quadriplegic after a fall from a horse when he was just 25. His experience sparked their considerable contribution to respite services.
Another beneficiary of the generosity of Irie was the Whitsunday Anglican School. I note a number of contributions to the school but in particular the David and Irie Dalrymple Boarding Scholarship, which the school has stated 'allowed rural students to access an education and experiences they may otherwise have never known'. The Mackay Tiger Moth Museum was another beneficiary. The museum's two aircraft took to the skies on the day of Irie's funeral to bid their great friend a farewell. What a fitting tribute to a woman who has enriched the lives of many in our region.
Consent
Ms PLIBERSEK (Sydney) (13:54): I want to acknowledge the changes to consent laws announced today in New South Wales and congratulate New South Wales Attorney-General Mark Speakman on these legislative changes. New South Wales will now be adopting an affirmative-consent model in its legal system. This means that juries will no longer be able to find that an alleged perpetrator of sexual assault had reasonable grounds to believe the victim was consenting, unless they said or did something to obtain that consent. This is a very important step forward to keeping more people safe. Silence isn't consent. Freezing because you're terrified is not consent. It's not consent if someone promises to wear a condom and then slips it off during sex. Consent is an ongoing conversation, and it needs to continue throughout a sexual experience.
I want to mention the work of Saxon Mullins in particular, among many others, in advocating for and achieving this incredible legislative reform. She has worked tirelessly campaigning for this change. Saxon, you are a remarkable young woman who has turned a painful experience into meaningful change for many, many others. We need to continue this progress, from law reform through to education. When children are old enough to have such conversations, they should be learning about issues like consent in an age-appropriate manner. Parents and schools share this important responsibility.
Defence Industry
Mr CONNELLY (Stirling) (13:56): The Morrison government's investment in defence industry is paying dividends right around the country, including in my own electorate of Stirling. Last week, I was joined by the Minister for Defence Industry, Melissa Price, on a tour of Orbital UAV, which is in Balcatta, in my electorate. Orbital UAV is a world leader in the design, development and manufacture of propulsion systems and flight-critical components of military drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs. These are used for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.
UAV export market demand is soaring, and Orbital is capitalising on this demand through contracts with defence primes like Boeing and Textron, the latter being a large supplier of drones to the United States. In March, Orbital received a $223,000 grant under the Defence Global Competitiveness Grant program, which is boosting quality control and production. Orbital has 70 employees in Australia and three in the United States, and this support will enable them to expand even further.
Through the Morrison government's 2020 Defence strategic update and 2020 Force structure plan, we're committing $700 million towards UAVs. This investment in businesses like Orbital will ensure we have the sovereign defence industry capability that we need in Australia to meet the challenges of an uncertain world.
COVID 19: Vaccination
Mr MARLES (Corio—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (13:58): Last Tuesday, I had my first AstraZeneca jab at Barwon Health's mass vaccination centre. It was professional and swift, and now it's done. It feels great. But the problem is I am one person among the only 18 per cent of adult Australians who have had their first shot, compared to 61 per cent of adult Americans and 72 per cent of adult Brits. This government is completely stuffing up the vaccine rollout in this country. Last year, they were complacent in their failure to place Australian in the various queues of the vaccine project around the world. They have not embraced mass vaccination centres—it's been nothing like the public campaign that we've seen in the UK—and their messaging has been appalling.
Last week, the health minister may as well have stood up and said to over-50s in this country, 'If you're a bit worried about AstraZeneca, just wait till the end of the year.' That is dangerous. The Indian variant, which is making its way around the world right now, is much more contagious than what we were dealing with last year. You only need to look at Victoria today to see the ever-present danger. The only way we can be protected from that and get to the other side of COVID-19 is by being vaccinated, and quickly. There is a race going on here; it's a race against the virus. If this government has one job this year, it's to vaccinate Australia. Prime Minister, it's time to start doing it. (Time expired)
Dungowan Dam
Mr JOYCE (New England) (13:59): Mr Speaker, I want to thank you very much for the opportunity to give you a progress update on the Dungowan Dam. It's an incredibly important piece of infrastructure which has brought about a further capital investment of half a billion dollars from Baiada. We're waiting for Baiada to start. Just the first part will result in 700 new, permanent jobs. This is the sort of underpinning of an economy that comes from an announcement by the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Premier of New South Wales. We're looking forward to it being completed.
QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
Members of Parliament: Staff
Mr ALBANESE (Grayndler—Leader of the Opposition) (14:00): My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to the inquiry by his secretary about who knew what and when in the Prime Minister's Office about the reported sexual assault of Brittany Higgins. Can the Prime Minister confirm today his secretary told Senate estimates he has not spoken to Ms Higgins, refused to say if taxpayers were paying for lawyers for the Prime Minister's staff, refused to say when his report will finish and refused to say if his report would be released? Doesn't Ms Higgins deserve much better than this?
Mr MORRISON (Cook—Prime Minister and Minister for the Public Service) (14:00): I thank the member for his question. I refer the member to the Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet's evidence today, where those matters are set out that he's referred to. I look forward to receiving that report as soon as it has concluded and taking the necessary action.
COVID-19: Economy
Ms LIU (Chisholm) (14:01): My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister please outline to the House how the Morrison government's plan to secure Australia's recovery from COVID-19 pandemic is backing Australian jobs across our economy, from our suburbs to our regions?
Mr MORRISON (Cook—Prime Minister and Minister for the Public Service) (14:01): I thank the member for Chisholm for her question. She, like so many on this side of the House, welcomed the fact that, since we hit the pit of the recession caused by COVID-19, 900,000 jobs have come back into the Australian economy. She welcomes the fact that Australians are getting back into jobs.
I thank her for the role that she has played working with her local community, with her local small businesses, encouraging them to ensure they were able to be in a position to take so many Australians back into work. And she will be particularly pleased that not only more than 500,000 women have found their way back into jobs—of those more than 900,000 job—but more than 300,000 young people have also returned to employment as we have come through the worst times of the COVID-19 recession.
Australians getting back into jobs: that is what Australians have been looking to this government for, to ensure that we are backing those Australians in. Whether in the suburbs of our major cities or in our regional towns and centres all around the country, we are providing the support to ensure that Australians can take the decisions that enabled them with their family and their businesses to get through the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic. They know there are still many challenges ahead but they know these things will help as they take the decisions that get them through this pandemic. They know the best way to fuel aspiration and to get ahead in this country is to lower taxes, to ensure that Australians can keep more of what they earn, that businesses can keep more of what they have earned, particularly through measures such as the instant asset write-off, which planted innovation in the member's electorate and has been used to invest in more equipment and to put more people into work. Those lower taxes are driving the investment, they are driving the jobs and, for individuals, it is a major change.
I refer those opposite to the budget documents: Securing Australia's recovery: Creating jobs and rebuilding our economy. You find it isn't just recently that the government has been delivering tax relief. If you have been on $40,000 between 2018-19 and 2021 you have payed $3,080 less in taxes. That is a 15 per cent cut in your taxes delivered by this government. It goes on because they are just not getting into jobs; they are getting into first homes. We have seen Australians getting into their first home at the best levels in about 11 years. This government is backing the aspiration and actions of Australians to see them, their families, their businesses and their communities through the pandemic and we are doing it by keeping taxes low and by backing their investments. (Time expired)
Members of Parliament: Staff
Ms PLIBERSEK (Sydney) (14:04): My question is to the Prime Minister. This morning the Prime Minister issued a media release stating that he had received the report he commissioned from his departmental deputy secretary about the response to sexual assault and other serious incidents in this building more than three months ago. When will the Prime Minister release that report? Why is he keeping it a secret?
Mr MORRISON (Cook—Prime Minister and Minister for the Public Service) (14:05): I thank the member for her question. The deputy secretary of my department, Stephanie Foster, has done an outstanding job over those months in compiling her report and providing advice to government—
Opposition members interjecting—
The SPEAKER: Members on my left.
Mr MORRISON: and how we should be able to proceed not just as a government but in partnership with the parliament as a whole. As I said yesterday, that report has been received. That report will be taken to cabinet and then it will be taken to the government members party room to be discussed. The report will be provided to all members of this parliament at the earliest opportunity, and I suspect that will happen next week. That is when I expect the full report will be made available to the Leader of the Opposition, to the members of the crossbench, to the members of the crossbench in the Senate, to the leader of the Greens and to all of the members of this place. We will make that report available, and I'll tell you why. It contains very useful recommendations about how our parliament can work together to support our staff and ensure that the right mechanisms are in place, and, in particular, her recommendation to establish an independent complaints mechanism, which is urgently needed in this place. I have no intention of waiting until the outcome of the report of the Sex Discrimination Commissioner's inquiry before we introduce that. I think we can get on with it now. The deputy secretary, I think, has given us a very good model. We will work through the normal government processes to bring that proposal to this parliament and to the Leader of the Opposition. I look forward to them engaging in good faith with that process, rather than seeking to score political points.
Infrastructure
Dr GILLESPIE (Lyne) (14:07): My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister. Will the Deputy Prime Minister inform the House how the Morrison-McCormack government's plan for economic recovery through the additional investment in local infrastructure is driving jobs and economic activity across regional Australia, and is the Deputy Prime Minister aware of any alternative approaches?
Opposition members interjecting—
The SPEAKER: Members on my left.
Mr McCORMACK (Riverina—Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development and Leader of the Nationals) (14:07): I thank the member for Lyne for his very well asked question. He knows full well the benefits of our $110 billion decade-long pipeline of investment in infrastructure, particularly for the regions, supporting 100,000 workers right across our great country, a country that we on this side talk up regularly, often, always, because that's what we do and it's a great country. In the member for Lyne's electorate, the four councils under the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program are benefitting through $27.4 million of worthwhile investment. Also in Lyne, $60 million is committed with the New South Wales government for the construction of a full-grade separated interchange for the Harrington Road and Pacific Road intersection upgrade at Coopernook. I know that that's an important project that has been fought for and advocated for by the member for Lyne, and is now being delivered. It's creating jobs and it's creating opportunities.
Newcastle Airport services communities in the member for Lyne's electorate and the electorates of other members, and it is the beneficiary of a $66.1 million upgrade. It's an important infrastructure upgrade: it's important for tourism and it's important for Defence, as the Minister for Defence well knows. The upgrade to the Newcastle Airport is going to widen the runway to allow longer-range domestic and international aircraft, such as Boeing 777s and Airbus 330s, to operate. It is estimated these improvements could create around 4,400 full-time jobs, deliver an additional 850,000 visitors to the region and add $12.7 billion to the local economy over the next two decades. Newcastle lord mayor Nuatali Nelmes said:
… the airport would play a key role in the city's transformation.
… … …
This breakthrough redevelopment of Newcastle Airport's runway will bring the rest of the world closer to Newcastle, which means more jobs, more economic growth and more opportunities to showcase our region on an international stage.
The chief executive of the Newcastle Airport, Dr Peter Cock, said:
… the upgrade was a game changer …
… … …
From local tourism operators and hospitality owners to agricultural producers and freight and logistics providers, this project will drive significant jobs and economic return for generations to come.
I'm asked whether there are any alternative approaches. I'm happy to say there are not. Another local from Newcastle—to be precise, the member for Newcastle—said:
This upgrade is good news for jobs and it will deliver huge economic benefits to our region through international airfreight, expansion of industry and increased tourism traffic over the next two decades.
The member for Paterson, commenting in the Port Stephens Examiner, said:
The announcement ensures the future of the visitor economy, it will generate considerable freight activity …
She went on and on. Those members both know it happened under a Liberal-National government. (Time expired)
Members of Parliament: Staff
Ms CATHERINE KING (Ballarat) (14:10): My question is to the Prime Minister. A short time ago, Simon Birmingham told Senate estimates the Prime Minister's chief of staff has briefed the Prime Minister on his findings about whether the Prime Minister's office briefed against Brittany Higgins's loved ones. Can the Prime Minister now finally tell us: did his office seek to undermine Brittany Higgins's loved ones?
The SPEAKER: Before I give the Prime Minister the call, just a caution now for future questions. Members need to be referred to by their correct titles and so do senators.
An opposition member interjecting—
The SPEAKER: I just follow the rules.
Mr MORRISON (Cook—Prime Minister and Minister for the Public Service) (14:11): My chief of staff found in the negative, and I tabled the report.
Opposition members interjecting—
The SPEAKER: Members on my left: I'm trying to give the call to the member for Warringah.
Opposition members interjecting—
The SPEAKER: Members on my left: I will start ejecting members. The member for Warringah has a right to ask a question.
Climate Change
Ms STEGGALL (Warringah) (14:12): My question is to the Prime Minister. Your government is insisting on wasting $600 million of public money on a gas power plant that doesn't stack up at a time of record debt and that has been rejected by the market. Yesterday the government quietly tabled an instrument to drill for oil and gas in the Beetaloo basin, despite the International Energy Agency stating no new oil and gas projects can occur if we are to keep global warming to below 1.5 degrees. Is your government having a bet each way and gaslighting the international community and the Australian public by saying it wants to get to net zero as soon as possible? (Time expired)
Mr MORRISON (Cook—Prime Minister and Minister for the Public Service) (14:12): The government have made it very clear that we see gas as an important transition fuel as we go along on our path to get to net zero as soon as possible and preferably by 2050. The path we're on is not going to sacrifice the jobs and the livings of Australians all around this country. We believe it can be achieved in concert. That's why the plans we've put in place to secure energy resources that are reliable and affordable to support industry and support households have been put in place, and they include ensuring that when the Liddell power station comes to its conclusion, as will many other plants over time, we can ensure that the heavy industries that rely on those, in particular the Tomago Aluminium smelter, will be able to keep people in work and that we can continue to ensure the electricity and the power that we provide around this country, whether it's up in Gladstone or down in Portland or up in the Hunter or in any of these places. We will not allow our path to net zero to take their jobs and rob this country of heavy industry.
Those opposite don't agree with us, and I respect the fact that the member for Warringah also doesn't agree with us, but there is one member opposite who does agree with us, and that's the member for Hunter. He says it's a gas plant that will keep Tomago Aluminium—
The SPEAKER: The member for Warringah on a point of order.
Ms Steggall: On relevance, Mr Speaker: I didn't ask for alternatives or other people's view—just the government's.
The SPEAKER: Yes, I know that that is the case, and I've been listening very carefully; of course, it was a long and detailed question. In this case, the Prime Minister actually isn't talking about alternatives; he's talking about statements that are aligned to the government's policy. The Prime Minister has the call.
Mr MORRISON: And that is true, Mr Speaker—the member for Hunter's views are aligned with the government's policies. Sadly, though, those who sit around him are not aligned with the member for Hunter; they're not aligned with the member for Hunter at all, and the one who is most unaligned is the member for Shortland. What we're seeing here is that the Labor Party, not content with wanting to fight us while we fight the virus, are fighting each other.
Taxation
Dr ALLEN (Higgins) (14:15): My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer remind the House of the Morrison government's proud and extensive record of continually cutting taxes to help Australian families to stay ahead? And is the Treasurer aware of any alternative policies?
Mr FRYDENBERG (Kooyong—Treasurer) (14:16): I thank the honourable member for her question and acknowledge her experience as a professor of paediatrics who has provided care to thousands of children over her professional life, and she does support lower taxes. Indeed, more than 60,000 members of her electorate will receive a tax cut as a result of policies supported by those on this side of the House.
I had the opportunity to meet with Amy and Darren in the member's electorate recently—a young couple; one's a kindergarten teacher, the other runs a small business—and they will benefit from the extension for another year of the low- and middle-income tax offset. With their first child on the way, they're looking forward to that extra tax relief.
In the budget, we had our economic plan to create another 250,000 jobs, and we were focusing on rewarding and encouraging aspiration. That will see an extension to the low- and middle-income tax offset, with up to $1,080 at the end of next financial year for hardworking Australian families. We saw an extension of the immediate expensing provision, which will support over $300 billion of investment in machinery, equipment and other important infrastructure. We also extended the loss carry-back measure, and we introduced a patent box to encourage the commercialisation, through our tax system, of new innovation in biotech and medical technology. Of course we are also cutting the company tax rate for businesses with a turnover of less than $50 million, down to 25 per cent from 1 July, and we have legislated stage 3 of our tax cuts, which will abolish a whole tax bracket.
I'm asked: are there any alternative approaches? When it comes to tax policy, they're a confused lot, those opposite. We know of at least a half a dozen separate positions. The member for Corio says, 'We don't want to stand between anyone and a tax cut,' but the member for Rankin has said he's not a big fan of stage 3 of the tax cuts. The member for Hunter, who's been drinking the truth serum by the litre, has been saying, 'You can't deny the punters a tax cut from opposition.' We would tend to agree with that. But then the Leader of the Opposition has a bet each way. He says: 'We'll wait until we see the state of the budget in May.' Well, we've seen the state of the budget, and we're still waiting.
But the member for Shortland, just yesterday, renewing his membership of the Otis group, said the following: 'The key issue that led to my margin being halved at the last election was that we were taking too many big taxing policies to the Australian people'! That's the member for Shortland. Those opposite are always in favour of— (Time expired)
Members of Parliament: Staff
Ms PLIBERSEK (Sydney) (14:19): My question is to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister says he learned of Brittany Higgins's reported sexual assault on 15 February, but staff in his office knew about it two years earlier. The defence minister says he learned of Ms Higgins's reported sexual assault on 11 February, but it has been revealed his office knew about it for 15 months. Does the Prime Minister really expect Australians to believe that both the Prime Minister's office and the now defence minister's office knew about the alleged sexual assault for years and didn't tell their bosses?
Mr MORRISON (Cook—Prime Minister and Minister for the Public Service) (14:19): I can only say to the House what I have said on numerous occasions when these matters have been raised. I became aware on 15 February—and I've made that very plain—and my office became aware of it on 12 February. As the now Minister for Defence and then Minister for Home Affairs has made very clear, he became aware of it on 11 February. They are the facts.
Energy
Dr WEBSTER (Mallee) (14:20): My question is to the Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction. Will the minister outline to the House how the Morrison-McCormack government's economic recovery plan is backing Australian jobs and taking action to boost self-sufficiency by securing our sovereign fuel refining capability? Is the minister aware of any alternative policies?
Mr TAYLOR (Hume—Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction) (14:20): Thank you to the member for Mallee for her strong focus on the fuel security required for the truckies, the tradies, the farmers and the commuters in her electorate and right across Australia.
Ms Madeleine King interjecting—
Mr TAYLOR: We know how important liquid fuel security is, and that is why we have locked in our liquid fuel security in this country with a package which was recently announced.
Ms Madeleine King interjecting—
The SPEAKER: The member for Brand is warned!
Mr TAYLOR: That package will not only secure fuel supplies but also raise the quality of our fuels and put downward pressure on prices. That is what it will do. It has also secured the 1,250 jobs of the workers at the refineries both in Brisbane and in Geelong. I know the member for Bonner is strongly supportive of that. In return for the commitment that the refineries are making to stay in the market, they will receive a variable production payment, but only when they need it. It will ensure that we have access to those vital fuel supplies to keep Australia moving, even in the worst-case scenarios.
The ATA, the Australian Trucking Association, has come out strongly in favour of this—in fact, the ATA said, 'This is a big win for road users'—as has the FCAI and the Australian Automobile Association. The AWU's national secretary, Dan Walton, said that our package will 'save thousands of jobs both directly at the refineries and indirectly through jobs supported in the community'. We on this side are united in our focus on affordable and reliable energy for all Australians.
But I was asked about alternatives—and we're seeing those alternatives on the front pages of the papers today. The member for Shortland has led an extraordinary attack on one of his colleagues. He seems more interested in fighting his own colleagues than fighting for the blue-collar workers in his electorate. Rather than deal with the rot spreading inside his party, the Leader of the Opposition is sending out his bullies to heavy and intimidate his own members of parliament. It seems that, under his leadership, members on the other side of this place can't stand up for workers. Well, it is obvious why: we have unions who represent blue-collar workers lining up to support government policies.
Parliament House: Staff
Mr ALBANESE (Grayndler—Leader of the Opposition) (14:23): My question is to the Prime Minister: I refer to the finding of the Prime Minister's chief of staff in his review that 'members of the PMO media team recalled that Mr Shiraz's work history was raised by certain journalists'. Is it really the Prime Minister's position that the undermining of Ms Higgins's loved ones is the media's fault? Why is it that, under this Prime Minister, someone else is always responsible, even when it's his own office?
Mr MORRISON (Cook—Prime Minister and Minister for the Public Service) (14:24): I believe the Leader of the Opposition has misrepresented the report provided by my chief of staff. That is why the full text of the report has been provided for all members.
Women: Job Opportunities
Mrs ARCHER (Bass) (14:24): My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Women. Will the minister update the House on how the Morrison government is continuing to boost job opportunities for women across the country, including through the Women's Leadership and Development Program?
Ms LEY (Farrer—Minister for the Environment) (14:24): I thank the member for Bass for her question. As a mother, a farmer, a mayor, her diverse lived experience makes her an ideal representative for her community, and she knows that women are helping the Australian economy come back like never before. The Morrison government is determined to help women every step of the way. As part of our 2020 Women's Economic Security Statement, we significantly expanded the Women's Leadership and Development Program. In the member's hometown of Launceston, Brave Foundation is one of 60 organisations around the country receiving grants amounting to nearly $40 million as part of this program. Of that, the Brave Foundation will receive $6 million. This grant will help support the wonderful work of Brave. They help young mothers—and, in some cases, young fathers—navigate their way through school during pregnancy and after the birth of their child, and navigate their way onto pathways after school: getting a job, getting a drivers licence and building financial literacy. This is all vital to ensuring that women in all different walks of life can fulfil their potential, be the best they can be in whatever they endeavour to do, while also being incredible young mothers. As a result of this funding, Bernadette Black and the team at Brave can now increase their work to support 1,000 women. The member for Bass is a champion for organisations like Brave.
Of course, it's not just in Tasmania that we're backing Australian women; it's right across the country. I know the member for Lindsay is a strong supporter of Western Sydney Women, an organisation that promotes STEM career participation by women of all ages. Women have also received funding just across the river from my own electorate. We're supporting a Wangaratta organisation, The Skill Engineer, to help encourage women into apprenticeships and trades such as boilermaking and welding, through education, work experience and work trial opportunities. And I know the member for Durack greatly welcomes the support we're giving to a project focusing on improving the leadership capabilities and financial security of Martu women in remote communities in Western Australia. We are committed to empowering women all across the country, not just for the benefit of the individual but because we know that a stronger, more empowered Australia is a result.
COVID-19: International Travel
Mr BUTLER (Hindmarsh—Deputy Manager of Opposition Business) (14:27): My question is to the Prime Minister. Melbourne is today facing the 17th outbreak nationwide linked to hotel quarantine in just the past six months. How many more outbreaks do Australians have to endure before this Prime Minister steps up to his constitutional responsibility and creates a safe national quarantine system?
Mr MORRISON (Cook—Prime Minister and Minister for the Public Service) (14:27): The government responded to the Halton review, which recommended the establishment of the national resilience facility in the Northern Territory. We did that and we've invested some half a billion dollars in the operation of that facility, which to this point in time has a 100 per cent success rate in preventing outbreaks from that facility. But I must say that the many other facilities, run by states and territories around the country, have a 99.99 per cent success rate in the conduct of hotel quarantine. As all of the states and territories and the Commonwealth know, the way we protect from outbreaks of COVID is not just by what happens in hotel quarantine but of course by the contact tracing that has been so effectively put in place by states and territories all around the country.
I commend the states and territories for the great job that they've been doing in concert with the federal government. We will continue to work each and every day with the states and territories, whether it's on the rollout of the vaccination program—we're working right now with a very recent proposal received from the Victorian state government which I think is a very comprehensive and well-thought-through proposal, and we're in the midst of quite detailed discussions with the Victorian government to bring that proposal forward. As a government, we will continue to fight the virus. That's what we have been doing these last 18 months, and we have been doing that together with Australians, with great success.
Mr Hill interjecting—
The SPEAKER: The member for Bruce will leave, under standing order 94(a).
The member for Bruce then left the chamber.
Mr MORRISON: While we continue to fight the virus, the Labor Party continues to fight the government. But now they start to fight amongst themselves. That is an indictment of the Labor Party and its leadership.
Economic Recovery Plan
Mr ALEXANDER (Bennelong) (14:29): My question is to the Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction. Will the minister outline to the House how the Morrison government's Economic Recovery Plan is protecting jobs and ensuring families and businesses have access to the affordable, reliable energy they rely on, and is the minister aware of any alternative approaches?
Mr TAYLOR (Hume—Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction) (14:30): I thank the member for Bennelong for his very good question and his steadfast focus on affordable, reliable energy. Businesses in his electorate, like Formula Chemicals that we visited not so long ago, are reliant on that affordable, reliable energy to invest and to employ, as are so many businesses around Australia—900,000 workers working in manufacturing across this country. Of course, our plan is working. We're seeing wholesale prices substantially lower than they were when we came into government, when we saw Labour's carbon tax and we had to abolish it. We've seen an 11.2 per cent reduction in retail energy prices just in the last year alone, and we need to keep putting downward pressure on those prices, and that means more supply into the market place. Particularly as we lose coal fired generators, as we're going to do with Liddell in April 2023, there'll be 660 megawatts of new capacity at Kurri Kurri in the Hunter Valley. No-one understands this better than the customers; it's always the customers. Matt Howell, the CEO of Tomago Aluminium, the biggest customer for electricity in Australia—960 megawatts—has said that this extra supply is absolutely essential.
We saw exactly why last week. We saw an unexpected outage at one of the four units at Liddell—only one of the four—and solar and wind came off in the evening, and Tomago had to stop manufacturing to keep the lights on. Matt Howell, himself, said the lights and heaters stayed on in Sydney because Tomago Aluminium came off. If it comes off for more than three hours, it never goes on again and the thousand workers there will lose their jobs, so the case for this is clear. The member for Hunter understands this. The member for Paterson understands this. Sadly, the member for Shortland doesn't. The AWU understands this.
I was asked about alternatives, and the alternative is the Leader of the Opposition and the member for McMahon. The two of them are dragging Labor away from the workers they used to represent, and the CFMMEU has said that their position on the Hunter power project is absolutely disgraceful. It's not often I agree with the CFMMEU. It's not often, but I do on this one, because the Left-Right power deal, which was supposed to happen when the member for Hindmarsh was sacked and the member for McMahon took over, is gone, and we now have what his colleagues call him, 'Mark Butler 2.0', over there. What an insult! No wonder the blue collar workers are walking away from him! (Time expired)
The SPEAKER: The minister will refer to members by their correct title.
Energy
Mr BOWEN (McMahon) (14:33): My question is to the Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction. The New South Wales energy minister has said of the government's spending on a gas power plant: 'the government—
should be upfront with the Australian public. Someone's got to pay for it. So why would they be exposing taxpayer dollars … for infrastructure that's not needed?
If the government won't listen to its own energy experts who universally oppose this spending, won't he at least listen to his New South Wales colleague?
Opposition members interjecting—
The SPEAKER: Members on my left.
Mr TAYLOR (Hume—Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction) (14:33): I thank the member for his question, because I think my colleagues in New South Wales are delighted about this project going ahead. In fact, those members who were up there on the weekend saw what the people of the upper Hunter had to say about the Labor Party. They saw that in person.
We are going to lose 1,600 megawatts of capacity when Liddell leaves the market in April 2023, and it needs to be replaced. The good news is we're seeing a major new investment from Energy Australia—a commercial investment, a private-sector investment, from Energy Australia—that will be on in time in 2023 to fill part of that gap in the Illawarra, and I know those members in the Illawarra welcome that project. But that's not enough, because we're losing 1,600 megawatts.
The SPEAKER: The Leader of the Opposition on a point of order?
Mr Albanese: It was a very specific question. It went to the comments of the New South Wales energy minister, Matt Kean. Why is it that this minister won't listen to his New South Wales energy minister colleague in the Liberal Party?
The SPEAKER: The minister has the call. I concur that he needs to be relevant to the question that's asked.
Ms Burney interjecting—
The SPEAKER: The member for Barton is now warned. I've asked her to stop interjecting a number of times. All interjections are unruly, but interjecting on me is a particularly bad offence! The minister has certainly laid out some context, but he needs to address the question or wind up his answer.
Mr TAYLOR: I know that the New South Wales energy minister, as with all members of the New South Wales parliament on our side of politics, strongly supports jobs in the Hunter Valley, including those 1,000 jobs at the Tomago smelter that will not stay if the Hunter Power Project does not proceed. Matt Howell, the CEO of that business, has made it absolutely clear that this is essential for the future of those jobs in the Hunter Valley. Those opposite should support it.
Economy
Heavy Industry
Mr SIMMONDS (Ryan) (14:36): My question is to the Minister for Industry, Science and Technology. Will the minister please update the House on how the Morrison government's economic recovery plan is backing Australia's heavy industry to create jobs, especially in our regions. Is the minister aware of any alternative approaches?
Mr PORTER (Pearce—Minister for Industry, Science and Technology) (14:36): I think the member for his support and for his continued support of heavy industry in Australia. We are, as a government, incredibly proud of our great heavy industries, and particularly those heavy industries in our regional areas—BlueScope Steel, InfraBuild, Capral Aluminium, Paper Australia, Bisley and many others—and this government has been absolutely committed to supporting those industries. In fact, earlier this year the CEO of BlueScope in Australia said:
I've not had the sort of feedback and positive context that we've had out of Canberra on sovereign capability ever in my lifetime of managing these tough businesses like steel businesses.
He told The Australian that support for Australian industry was the strongest he had seen in decades in the manufacturing business.
That sort of support is critically important. Looking at aluminium and steel alone, they contribute $4.7 billion and $11 billion respectively to the Australian economy, and they're directly and indirectly responsible for the employment of 125,000 Australians. Many of those sectors were affected by COVID, of course, but we have been supporting those heavy industries through COVID with JobKeeper. In this recent budget, we've reconfigured the antidumping system, which is critically important to these industries—65 per cent of the current antidumping measures relate to steel and aluminium products. We announced a $2.6 million package to assist Australian manufacturers to improve their capability when applying for Commonwealth government procurement. We have also put forward the $1.5 billion Modern Manufacturing Strategy, which is getting money out the door to important industry, including heavy industry.
When you look across the board, all the levers are heading in the same direction to support heavy industry. There is the instant asset write-off, the JobTrainer skills reform and even HomeBuilder had an impact on demand for aluminium domestically in Australia. So that great program has not just put money into people's pockets to help them buy and build homes; it has increased demand for a critical heavy industry product in Australia. The outcome of all this is that these industries have come out of COVID as strong as ever. Blue Scope, for instance, has announced that it will expand its Port Kembla smelter after recording a 78 per cent lift in its first-half profits. What a remarkable change, after the challenge of COVID.
I was asked about alternative policies. There are alternative policies, and those policies are, basically, to view these as carbon-intensive industries and give them no support. That's what you get from members opposite. Indeed, the member from Hunter summed Labor up when he said:
We need to demonstrate a new policy pathway and dramatically change the narrative. We can’t have working people believing our policies place their jobs under threat.
COVID-19: Quarantine
Mr ALBANESE (Grayndler—Leader of the Opposition) (14:39): My question is addressed to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister acknowledge this simple fact: quarantine is a Commonwealth responsibility?
Mr MORRISON (Cook—Prime Minister and Minister for the Public Service) (14:39): Quarantine is a Commonwealth responsibility and it is a responsibility shared with the states and territories.
Opposition members interjecting—
The SPEAKER: Members on my left.
Mr MORRISON: It is a simple fact. It may come as a surprise to the Leader of the Opposition. I have never known a member of this place to be here so long and learn so little.
Opposition members interjecting—
The SPEAKER: The Prime Minister will pause for a second. Members will contain themselves or I will start ejecting members, including the Leader of the Opposition, the member Ballarat and others. I won't be able to eject everyone who's interjecting, but I'll give it a good go, I promise you.
Mr MORRISON: I have never known a member of this place to rise to an office like the Leader of the Opposition, to be here so long and to know so little. When it comes to these matters, the public health orders that are issued by states and territories are administered and enforced by the states and territories. When the combined public health orders were put in place in March last year, following a resolution of the national cabinet, that is what was put in place to deal with hotel quarantine.
Mr Brian Mitchell interjecting—
The SPEAKER: The member for Lyons will excuse himself from the House under the provisions of standing order 94(a).
The member for Lyons then left the chamber.
Mr MORRISON: That arrangement that was worked up together with the states and territories has seen 99.99 per cent effectiveness around this country, which has enabled this country to have one of the most effective responses in protecting the Australian people from the impacts of COVID-19.
Mr Gosling interjecting—
The SPEAKER: The member for Solomon will excuse himself from the House under the provisions of standing order 94(a).
The member for Solomon then left the chamber.
Mr MORRISON: Were it not for the combined efforts and coordination of all levels of government in this country, we would have seen some 30,000 additional Australians, if you take the average of the fatality rate across OECD countries, fall victim to this pandemic. So, as I said before, we will keep fighting this virus. Labor will keep fighting us and, when they're done with that, they'll keep fighting with each other.
Agriculture
Mr PASIN (Barker) (14:42): My question is to the Minister for Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management. Will the minister outline to the House how the Morrison government's economic recovery plan is backing regional Australia through Ag2030 and giving industry the confidence it needs to aim for $100 billion by 2030? Is the minister aware of any alternative approaches?
Mr LITTLEPROUD (Maranoa—Minister for Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management and Deputy Leader of the National Party) (14:42): I thank the member for his question. Despite drought, fire, floods and now COVID-19, Australian agriculture has stood tall. We've gone from a $60 billion industry to a $66 billion despite facing all that adversity, all within 12 months. That's why this government is backing agriculture's ambitious goal of $100 billion by 2030 and we're doing that with our Ag2030 planning. We're doing that with cold, hard cash, $850 million in this year's budget to support agriculture in reaching that goal. That's on top of the $400 million that was put aside in the October budget. We're doing that through seven pillars. The first one is trade, making sure that can diversity our markets. We're doing that with agriculture counsellors in high commissions and embassies around the world—22 of them. In fact, we've had immediate results. We've been able to send barley to Mexico and India, and yesterday we got better access for our grains going to Sri Lanka and longer access for our beef on the shelves of Saudi Arabian supermarkets. We're also investing in our brand.
Our second pillar is biosecurity, and this year's budget invested a further $400 million not just in boots on the ground or paws on the ground but for new technology in the evolving threats that we are facing in protecting our borders. We're making sure that we're looking at 3D X-ray machines to protect us, our brand and our agricultural production systems well into the future. Under our third pillar, our soil stewardship strategy, we're rewarding farmers for the stewardship of their land, with over $120 million set aside for our National Soil Strategy. We are looking at our supply chains through our modern manufacturing program of over $1.5 billion and also at infrastructure through our next pillar of over $3½ billion to go to water infrastructure. We're also connecting our product from the paddock to the plate, whether it be here in Australia or around the world, with roads and rail making sure that we can get it there quicker. We are investing in our innovations systems, making sure we give our farmers the modern tools, science and technology to continue to produce the best food and fibre in the world.
We are also investing in our most important asset. While it might be our final pillar, it is the most important one—that is, our people. We've reduced university agricultural courses by 59 per cent. We have already seen in Queensland a 121 per cent increase in enrolments; in Victoria, 60 per cent; and in Tasmania, 50 per cent.
I'm asked: are there alternatives? There are none, because those opposite, in the budget reply speech, in the 30-minute speech, there was not one word about agricultural production systems, not about regional Australia. Sadly, there are no alternatives. There is this Australian government standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Australian agriculture helping them reach $100 billion.
COVID 19: Vaccination
Mr PERRETT (Moreton) (14:45): My question is to the Prime Minister. Christopher from Annerley has multiple sclerosis and lives in residential disability care. He was supposed to be vaccinated by Easter but has still not received his first dose and he is not being allowed out into the community as a result. Residents in his centre have been told they need to find their own vaccination. Does the government continue to argue that most priority populations have been vaccinated, as assumed in the budget papers?
Mr HUNT (Flinders—Minister for Health and Aged Care) (14:46): I'm pleased to be able to take this question in terms of both aged care and disability—priority populations—and I will run through both. We begin with the fact that quarantine—overwhelmingly done around the country, a priority population. The front-line healthcare workers—overwhelmingly done around the country. And then in terms of aged care, the figures that I have before me are that, so far, there have been 4,194 facilities which have been dosed in terms of the priority population of which 95 per cent, 2,443 of Commonwealth facilities, have received them. Interestingly, in the northern suburbs of Melbourne in particular, in the Whittlesea area, which is undergoing restrictions, there are 15 residential aged-care facilities. Every one of them has had not just one but two doses.
In relation to disability, the advice that I have is there have been so far 245 facilities with first doses, 36 facilities with second doses; that's an increase of 41 in the last 24 hours. The total figures of those within that priority population which have followed and were always intended to follow the in-reach of aged-care facilities is there are 8,440 residents that have had vaccinations in one way, shape or form. That means 5,855 individuals, 8,440 vaccinations all up.
There are four ways, four channels, for vaccinating people within disability. One is in-reach, where it is done by Commonwealth providers, and those numbers are increasing as we have seen with over 40 done just yesterday—different facilities. The second is general practice in-reach—that is, the providers themselves seeking the opportunity to be able to facilitate the support for the population at their request. If the member has a different view to the providers then he is perfectly entitled to have that view, but I respectfully disagree. The third option that's available is that facilities are able to visit general practices for the over-50s for their AstraZeneca vaccine. The fourth option that's available is that facilities with their residents are able to visit either state Pfizer clinics or Commonwealth Pfizer clinics. So what we see is that the priority populations that you ask about are overwhelmingly complete: firstly for the quarantine, overwhelmingly complete; secondly, for the frontline health and medical workers, overwhelmingly complete; thirdly, overwhelmingly complete for the aged-care workers; and fourthly, in relation to disability, accelerating at a rapid pace.
Employment
Mr PEARCE (Braddon) (14:49): My question is to the Minister for Employment, Workforce, Skills, Small and Family Business. Will the minister inform the House how the Morrison government's plan for upskilling Australians and training apprentices is working to secure new and better paying jobs as part of our economic recovery. Minister, are you aware of any alternative approaches?
Mr ROBERT (Fadden—Minister for Employment, Workforce, Skills, Small and Family Business) (14:49): I thank the member for his question and all the hard work he does to support 2,300 apprentices in his electorate who are having a crack, learning a trade and securing their future. Last week I had the privilege of visiting the Hunter to see firsthand how the Morrison government's plan is skilling Australians and getting Australians into work in regional Australia, and what I saw was a plan that is working well.
There are businesses like Kari Armitage's Quarry Mining at Beresfield, employing locals and giving the next generation a crack. She employs 80 people, eight of them apprentices—apprentices like Isla and Clancy, young people from the Hunter who are getting on with what's available to them. In fact, Kari has put on three new apprentices because of the federal government's plan in the budget—in the last three weeks alone, three apprentices. I caught up with Mick, a retired coalminer, who's now running shut-downs, keeping people safe and plants running. I visited Glencore's Glendell mine, looking at the Young Indigenous Pathways Program and chatting to Patricia, who wants to be a shotfirer—she wants to blow things up—which I think is fabulous.
We recognise that across all of these areas, all of these young Australians, all those apprentices, all of these pathways and all of these options, all of them have been put in place because of the Morrison government's budget and approach. They've allowed the Hunter to keep growing through COVID and they've allowed countless other regions across Australia to do likewise.
Last week we saw unemployment coming down to 5.5 per cent. We see more people in work now than before COVID—the only advanced economy in the world to be able to claim that. We saw youth unemployment at the lowest level in 12 years. In fact, since JobKeeper came off at the end of last month, we have seen a 15 per cent reduction in young people in Australia aged 16 to 21 on youth allowance (other) in the last 7½ weeks. That's a two per cent reduction a week in young Australians on that payment because of what the Morrison government is doing from a recovery point of view. From the $2.7 billion into apprenticeships, there are another 170,000 apprentices on top of the 143,000 we had previously. That's 310,000 apprentices. And what did Labor announce in its budget reply? Ten thousand. The Morrison government's plan is 310,000 apprentices. And what's Labor got? Three per cent—that's it. That's Labor's plan for apprenticeships—just three per cent. Well, we're backing in 100 per cent of Australians, not just Labor's three per cent.
COVID-19: Vaccination
Ms TEMPLEMAN (Macquarie) (14:52): My question is to the Prime Minister. New Haven Farm Home in my electorate has 39 residents with a disability. They were told to get ready in February for the COVID vaccination rollout. It's 25 May and they still have not been vaccinated. Does the government continue to argue that most priority populations have been vaccinated, as assumed in the budget?
Mr MORRISON (Cook—Prime Minister and Minister for the Public Service) (14:52): I will ask the Minister for Health and Aged Care to add to the answer. As he referred to in his last answer—he's updated the progress on the majority of those priority populations. In relation to the disability populations, more progress has been made than was being reported a week ago. And there is a lot more to do. One of the opportunities, as we were reviewing these matters again yesterday with the minister, was the in-reach capacity being able to be transferred from what we've been doing in aged-care facilities. This will greatly support the work that the minister is doing with the in-reach into the disability care sector in those residences, and I expect to see more of those being reached through those services. We do need to get more people in those facilities vaccinated and we believe that, with the progress we've made, particularly in the aged-care sector, we'll be able to deploy those resources to support that program.
Mr HUNT (Flinders—Minister for Health and Aged Care) (14:54): To add to the Prime Minister's answer and to address the question raised by the member, there are a series of priority populations, as I said. Firstly, let me reaffirm the point in relation to quarantine, which was the initial focus because that was the greatest source of potential ingress into Australia. Overwhelmingly, around Australia, the quarantine and border worker population has been vaccinated. That is our first line of defence. That is why—when you look around the world, with 580,000 cases a day on average over the last seven days—Australia has been overwhelmingly protected, with 94 days this year with zero cases of community transmission. It is the first ring of containment, the first priority. Secondly, what that does is it protects every element of the population in Australia. But, as well as that, the other frontline areas, of course, included those workers who are in our hospitals. It was overwhelmingly done for those in the frontline groups. Then, in terms of aged care, it has been done for 95 per cent of facilities around Australia. This is the highest vulnerability group on all of the medical advice. What we see, as I mentioned before, not just in the Whittlesea area—15 out of 15—but in the surrounding suburbs is that 66 out of 67 aged-care facilities have already received at least a first dose, with the remaining facility due in the coming days. In relation to disability, that is now where we begin to transfer the in-reach resources as we move to ensure that those who cannot visit a doctor are able to be provided with that support. The critical point about people with disability is that they have often missed out on vaccinations historically. So what we are doing is making sure that every person in disability care has the chance to be vaccinated, with— (Time expired)
National Security
Mr YOUNG (Longman) (14:56): My question is to the Minister for Home Affairs. Will the minister update the House on how the Morrison government is backing our economic recovery and creating a stronger Australia by taking action to keep our border secure and our community safe? Is the minister aware of any alternative approaches?
Mrs ANDREWS (McPherson—Minister for Home Affairs) (14:56): I thank the member for his question. The security of our borders and the safety of our families and our businesses is absolutely critical to Australia's continued economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. It's very clear that our international border arrangements have played a major role in our success in managing and containing the virus. As the Prime Minister has said, international borders will only open when it is safe to do so. But we are focused on continuing the COVID suppression strategy with testing, with tracing, with restricted international travel, with quarantine arrangements and, of course, with the rollout of our vaccination program. Our vaccination program is, in fact, well underway, and those opposite would be much better served if they proactively got out there and encouraged Australians to take the opportunity to get vaccinated at the first possible opportunity. So perhaps those opposite may spend just a little bit of time pondering how they can actually assist in a vaccine rollout other than doing everything that they can to undermine what is in the best interests of this nation.
Opposition members interjecting—
Government members interjecting—
The SPEAKER: The minister will pause. Members on both sides! The minister has the call.
Mrs ANDREWS: Thank you, Mr Speaker. Let me speak further about what we are doing to keep Australians safe and secure. In terms of our border reopening, we are absolutely committed that we will do that in a very controlled and a very safe way, because we understand how important it is that we manage the opening of our borders in a very safe and secure way. I am very happy to spend the last 50 seconds that I have here talking about the vaccination strategy, because it is so important for Australia.
Mr Dreyfus interjecting—
Ms Templeman interjecting—
The SPEAKER: The member Isaacs! The member for Macquarie! The minister has the call.
Mrs ANDREWS: Yes, absolutely. I'm very happy now to pick up that point, Mr Speaker. We are doing all that we possibly can in conjunction with the states and territories to proactively get out there and encourage every single Australian to take the opportunity to be vaccinated at the earliest opportunity, and, as I said before, it would be a much better strategy for those opposite to assist in promoting the need to get vaccinated, because that is what will help Australia— (Time expired)
Budget
Mr NEUMANN (Blair) (14:59): My question is to the Prime Minister. The government's own budget papers forecast a cut to real wages over the next four years. For a construction worker, that amounts to a cut in real wages of around $8,300. How do you rack up a trillion dollars of debt yet still cut workers' wages?
Mr MORRISON (Cook—Prime Minister and Minister for the Public Service) (15:00): The only cuts this government is engaged in is cutting people's taxes. That's what we're engaged in. As I said before, if you're on $40,000, since 2018-19 you would have saved $3,080 in tax. That's putting more—
The SPEAKER: The Prime Minister will resume his seat. The Manager of Opposition Business, on a point of order?
Mr Burke: On direct relevance. The question goes to the cut in wages that is forecast in the budget. The Prime Minister is not being relevant to that. He should explain, or defend in whatever way he wants, the cut to workers' wages that's in the budget.
A government member interjecting—
The SPEAKER: Members on my right! I hear the interjection about net wages. The question wasn't about net wages. So it can't be about tax policy for the rest of the answer. It was a very specific question. The Prime Minister needs to be relevant to the question. The Prime Minister has the call.
Mr MORRISON: As the budget papers reveal, what we can see is that nominal wages increase out over the forward estimates. What I know is that, as those wages do increase, Australians will be paying less tax on those wages, because our government is keeping taxes low. Those opposite want to repeal the tax cuts that we legislated after the last election.
The SPEAKER: I'd just say to the Prime Minister that the answer can't be about tax policy. You've had a compare and contrast. The Prime Minister needs to be relevant to the question. The Treasurer.
Opposition members interjecting—
Mr Morrison: I made my point.
Mr FRYDENBERG (Kooyong—Treasurer) (15:01): Mr Speaker, as I said to the House yesterday, CPI is higher in 2021 because it was coming off negative inflation the year prior because of particular initiatives that we undertook during COVID to cushion the blow for Australian households, including free child care, and there were lower rents and cheaper petrol. That saw the steepest quarterly fall in the consumer price index in the previous year. That therefore means that the CPI is higher than the wages price index is.
Real wages are higher today than in Labor's last year in office, underemployment is the lowest in seven years, and we've also seen youth unemployment the lowest in 12 years. The Prime Minister is absolutely right: if you want Australians to keep more of their hard-earned money, you need to support our tax cuts which we have legislated through the parliament.
Defence
Ms FLINT (Boothby—Government Whip) (15:02): My question is to the Minister for Defence. Will the minister please update the House on how the Morrison government is backing our economic recovery and creating a stronger Australia by investing in our Defence Force capability and people? Is the minister aware of any alternative approaches?
Mr DUTTON (Dickson—Minister for Defence and Leader of the House) (15:03): I thank the honourable member for her question—a great champion of the defence industry in South Australia. We are creating literally thousands of jobs in South Australia and, indeed, right around the country. We are supporting the creation of a megadefence industry. We're investing $270 billion in this decade alone to build defence's capability and to make sure that they are well and truly ahead of any adversaries. We're investing about $24 billion in the Navy guided weapons project to acquire more capable maritime, air and missile defence maritime-strike, anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare weapons systems to provide a strong, credible deterrent that will ensure stability and security in our region. In addition to that, we're investing some $55 billion to modernise our land capability. We will deliver over 200 boxer combat reconnaissance vehicles, creating an estimated 1,450 jobs.
Mr Conroy interjecting—
Mr DUTTON: I take the interjection. They were never built on your watch because you cut money out of defence.
Mr Conroy interjecting—
Mr DUTTON: You cut $18 billion out of defence, you dummy. Interject more.
The SPEAKER: No; actually, no, he won't interject more!
Mr DUTTON: I withdraw, Mr Speaker.
The SPEAKER: The member for Shortland will cease interjecting. The minister will address the question.
Mr DUTTON: Yes, and you knew who I was talking about, Mr Speaker, didn't you! The reality is that the Labor Party cut defence spending to the lowest level since 1938. It was an outrage. They lost control of our borders. They spent $16 billion on cleaning that mess up. And they took money from our defence personnel. That's the reality.
Now, this government is building for our Defence Force. We are putting money into projects that will employ Australians in regional areas, in South Australia. We're employing people in the Hunter, as the member for Hunter knows, as a former defence minister—and a good defence minister, but not a great defence minister. You can't be a great defence minister if $18 billion is taken from your budget. You can't invest in our personnel, you can't invest in their capability and you cannot hope to keep Australia safe and secure if you pull $18 billion out of the Defence Force. That's the reality.
This government is investing in our country's future. We are investing in the capacity to keep us safe in our region, and we will take whatever decision is necessary to invest in the men and women of the Australian Defence Force. We will make sure that we invest in their present and in their future, because we want to keep our country safe and secure.
Budget
Dr MULINO (Fraser) (15:06): My question is to the Prime Minister. The government's own budget papers forecast a cut to real wages over the next four years. For a retail worker, that amounts to a cut in real wages of around $4,900. How do you rack up a trillion dollars in debt, yet still cut workers' wages?
Mr MORRISON (Cook—Prime Minister and Minister for the Public Service) (15:06): I thank the member for the question, because, in this year's budget, we set out the plan for Australia's recovery, and that plan was to support workers' wages around this country in the toughest pandemic that this world has seen in a hundred years. We've set out our plan. Our plan means lower taxes. It means investment incentives for businesses, for small and medium-sized businesses. It means investing in the skills and apprenticeship places that this country needs; in manufacturing support, through the modern manufacturing initiative; in supporting innovation through research and development, to ensure the breakthroughs are achieved, whether they're in the clean energy technologies that are needed or in the medical marvels that are going to be required; in medical instrument manufacturing; in the workforce requirements that are going to be needed; in the participation of our workforce, which we're seeing achieved through the women's economic security strategy; in the Digital Transformation Strategy of some $1.2 billion—
The SPEAKER: The Manager of Opposition Business?
Mr Burke: On a point of order on direct relevance: this question deals with retail workers, so, even if, in previous questions going across all policy areas, he might have tried to link it in some way to the workers who we were questioning about, these workers get a tax hike under the budget; these workers don't get a tax cut. The things that you're referring to don't happen for retail workers.
The SPEAKER: The Manager of Opposition—
Mr Burke: It's about their wages. It's about a wage cut of $4,900—$4,900 for people who don't earn a lot of money—
The SPEAKER: No, the Manager of Opposition Business will resume his seat. The Leader of the House will resume his seat. The point of order is not an opportunity to restate the question. I'm ready to rule on this. I was, certainly—when the Prime Minister, in a previous answer on a specific question about wages, started talking about tax, I very quickly pulled him up. This question certainly is about wages, but it's also got another element to it, about: how do you rack up debt? And the Prime Minister is talking about spending in the budget. So that's why I've allowed him to go on. The Prime Minister has the call.
Mr MORRISON: More specifically, I'm asked about how workers can earn more in this country, and they get that in an economy that is growing. We have a plan to grow the economy. I was speaking about the digital transformation, of some $1.2 billion, on top of $800 million. It may be a mystery to those opposite that people who work in the retail sector are able to be supported in jobs because of Australians going out and spending money every day and consumption rising in the economy, and that is done when you're driving an economy that is growing, year on year on year, and recovering from the worst recession we have seen since the Great Depression, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
So whether it's the infrastructure spending, the HomeBuilder spending, the support we're putting in through our innovation and research and development supporting heavy industries in this country, keeping electricity prices low through our investments or whether it's in gas-fired power in the Hunter and elsewhere, that's our plan. That's what we're doing. We've got the runs on the board when it comes to getting Australians back into jobs, whether it's women or young people, getting apprentices into apprenticeships, trainees into traineeships.
What we heard from the Leader of the Opposition is simply a plan to increase taxes and spend money that the states should be spending. There's no plan to grow the economy from those opposite, no plan whatsoever to grow the economy. They want to put up taxes like their mates down in Victoria, whose first response—
The SPEAKER: I would say to the Prime Minister there was no issue about alternative policies.
Budget
Mr ENTSCH (Leichhardt) (15:10): My question is to the Minister for Indigenous Australians. Will the minister please update the House on how the Morrison government's investment in the budget is supporting the mental health of Indigenous Australians?
Mr WYATT (Hasluck—Minister for Indigenous Australians) (15:11): I thank the member for Leichhardt for his ongoing work with Indigenous communities across this nation. Suicide rates from the mid-eighties have doubled in Indigenous communities. What we did during the Darwin and Kimberley roundtables was look at solutions that were community-led and Aboriginal influenced. I involved Christine Morgan in two of those meetings so she had a sense of what Indigenous Australians were saying about the continuity of life and the those suicides happening at a rate that was far too frequent. During the budget process, where we announced $2.3 billion to restructure mental health and tackle suicide, there were some very tangible outcomes for Indigenous programs that would make a difference on the ground. On top of that was the $500 million for the COVID response given what people experienced. Many Indigenous people will access this program as well.
But the specific ones that are important out of the $79 million include: $27.3 million to implement culturally sensitive co-designed after care—it is important that we address the events and provide the interventions for that impact on families; $23.38 million to support the establishment of regional suicide prevention networks, with the appointment of a commissioning officer in each of those regions to work very closely with Indigenous people, government agencies and NGOs; $16.6 million to Gayaa Dhuwi and Lifeline to establish and evaluate a culturally appropriate 24/7 lifeline, which is absolutely critical in ensuring that people have a lifeline they can ring in which they get the right information; $6.1 million to secure a national Indigenous leadership program so that our people are equipped with the skills to reduce those impacts and to reduce suicides; $1.5 million to support a review of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health sector delivering mental health services to look at where we can make substantial changes and improvements and engage better to reduce the loss of life; and then $1.1 million to the Black Dog Institute to work very closely with our people to provide avenues in other areas as well. The combination of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous organisations and Commonwealth and state government agencies has been an exemplary process in both those suicide roundtables, where people have come together, have shared knowledge, data, information and resources, and redesigned the way in which they provide support to those contemplating or affected by suicide.
Mr Morrison: I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.
STATEMENTS ON INDULGENCE
Callide Power Station
Mr TAYLOR (Hume—Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction) (15:14): A short time ago a generation outage of the CS energy generator at Biloela in Queensland left many customers in Queensland without power. The cause of the incident is under investigation by the Australian Energy Market Operator. We're working to investigate the impact on customers in regional Queensland. Emergency events like these are matters we take very seriously. We're working with the market operator to determine the impact and the cause of this event and to restore power as quickly as possible to customers. Our thoughts at this time, first and foremost, are on the safety of the 260 workers at the Callide Power Station and the customers who rely on that power for their livelihoods.
Mr BOWEN (McMahon) (15:15): I'm sure the thoughts of all honourable members are with the workers at the Callide Power Station and the people of Biloela. Callide Power Station is a very important part of Queensland. I was there a few weeks ago, speaking with the workers. As all honourable members would agree, they are fine Australians. We very much welcome the preliminary news that all people have been accounted for, and we wish the people of Biloela and the workers at the Callide Power Station all the very best. I'm sure all the necessary investigations will occur. But the most important thing is that these Australians are in our thoughts.
MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE
Manufacturing Industry
The SPEAKER (15:16): I'm going to move straight to the matter of public important, as there are no papers today. I have received a letter from the honourable member for Chifley proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the House for discussion, namely:
The Government's failure to prioritise rebuilding jobs and wages in Australian manufacturing.
I call upon those members who approve of the proposed discussion to rise in their places.
More than the number of members required by the standing orders having risen in their places—
Mr HUSIC (Chifley) (15:16): Remember back in January last year when, if you were on the eastern seaboard, you couldn't leave your house? Three states were affected by a thick blanket of smoke. Fires ripped through roughly 20 million hectares of land. Three thousand homes were destroyed. There was international attention on the terrible impact. The country turned to its Prime Minister, who had been out of the country. In a radio interview, when the Prime Minister was asked for help—'Give us assistance'—what did he say? 'I don't hold a hose, mate.' When people needed their leaders, when they needed their Prime Minister, we just got abrogation and giving up: 'I don't hold a hose, mate. It's not my responsibility.' You might think, 'That was just a throwaway line; maybe don't be too hard on him,' but the reality is that this reflects, at its core, the philosophy of that side.
Those opposite have worked for decades to undermine the value and role of government so that, when we get to a point where we need it, they say, 'It's not our job.' They have degraded the role of government for years, for decades, saying it's all too hard to do anything. Mind you, they don't mind leaching off government. They don't mind getting into government. They don't mind getting into the plum jobs and appointing all their mates to the plum jobs—13 this year, by the way. They put them in there and they think there's a role for government there, but government should never be there. It's always about getting them out of the way.
We built a national university. We built the CSIRO. We built Snowy Hydro. Mind you, it was Labor pushing a lot of that. That was government in action, creating jobs. We also had car makers. Remember that thing—car manufacturing? That's what we used to have. That's what we put in place. But those opposite are never there for industry. They're never there to back manufacturing. Remember—and a lot of us do—at that dispatch box you had a federal Liberal Treasurer goading auto manufacturers out of the country, devastating different parts of the nation, including the deputy leader's own electorate, and I know there were a lot of other electorates that lost auto manufacturing workers and lost those small businesses that depended on the sector. They were all gone, goaded out by those opposite.
Remember that it's their philosophy that governments shouldn't do anything. What did Tony Abbott do when they first came in? He cut our manufacturing support. What we'd had in as funds the Liberals cut—first thing. So is it any surprise that when we got to a pandemic and everyone turned to get stuff that they think could be manufactured here there was nothing? You couldn't get what you needed. It was then that we realised that we were dependent wholly and solely on global supply chains and that we didn't have local manufacturing. We didn't have the ability to do that locally. And what did we see after they'd pushed out the auto manufacturers and after we saw them rip money out of support for manufacturing? Ninety thousand manufacturing jobs before the pandemic and 50,000 during the pandemic. Even their department of industry, people would not be aware—50,000 manufacturing jobs gone in the last 12 months. That is their track record.
After ripping out all that funding, what happened? There was a resurrection. They suddenly decided that they'd bring back manufacturing, and they're now all big champions of this modern manufacturing initiative that is pretty much a restoration of what we had in the first place. But, as is always the way, it's about the announcement, and then you look at the delivery. They announced this $1.5 billion fund, and their then industry minister said, 'We'll get round to spending three per cent in this financial year. They announced it in the last budget—not this one but the one back in October—and said three per cent would be spent in this financial year. The sum total of their commitment to manufacturing was that they would do that.
You would think that with that big fund they would have an industry minister who would basically throw themselves into making sure that with that money they'd work hard to get those manufacturing jobs back, they'd work hard to make sure those were full-time jobs, they'd work hard to make sure that wages grew and they'd fully commit and dedicate themselves to this. What happened? The minister who announced the program has gone. That's no surprise, because you should be aware that the shelf life of an industry minister in a coalition government is 330 days on average. That's 330 days to leave a mark. Less than a year and they're gone. When you go through all their industry ministers, they don't hang around for too long. Bearing in mind that track record, who did they appoint to be the industry minister? Christian Porter. More place card than minister is this bloke. He will not be around at all. His day job is not to be industry minister. His day job is to do the preparation for a legal defence. His mind is not in it. Is it any surprise he's not here? Who's representing the industry minister here today? It will be interesting to see, because he won't be here himself. The industry minister is a great barrister. He's across his brief. He will be able to rattle off all those facts, but his heart isn't in it, just like the rest of those opposite. Their hearts are not in it for manufacturing. It's so bad that even their own side are commenting on it. On 16 May in the Sydney Morning Herald:
'It's not optional for a minister': Growing disquiet among Liberal MPs over Christian Porter's media silence.
His own side are saying that they couldn't see him. They couldn't find him anywhere. Here we are trying to rebuild manufacturing, to create jobs that have been lost and to support people's wages, and he's not around. In fact, one MP said to the papers:
Backbenchers can get away with not doing media but it’s not optional for a minister — they have to do media.
That was on 16 May. He hadn't done a press conference, and guess what happened. That article appeared on 16 May, and when did Christian Porter do his media conference? On 21 May. It's pure coincidence. The minister did his press conference—
The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Mr Llew O'Brien ): Order! The member for Chifley will use the member's correct title.
Mr HUSIC: Sure. The minister did his press conference, the first one, on 21 May, but you won't see much else.
He'll do his set plays here. He won't even be here for an MPI. He's collecting the pay and not doing the job. Do you know what will get me, and what will be really offensive? He's not around doing his job as industry minister, he's not doing his press conferences, he's not visiting out in the industry and he's not championing new jobs; he's doing his legal defence, I'll be interested to see. He could win or he could lose the defamation case. We'll see. But you know what will be really offensive? If this guy wins his defamation case and then pockets the money. After not doing the job as an industry minister, he pockets the money. And maybe then he will pocket the money for defamation wins. He may or may not get those. But it's just wrong. His heart isn't in it. He's not doing the job. He's not there defending people. He's there merely because they had to find a convenient place to put an embattled minister. It is not right at all—taking the money for the day job and not being there for people when they need them most. It is utterly offensive.
The other thing is, too, he challenges us about, for example, creating a start-up year, and says, 'Well, we've done it in the past.' The problem is that the problems that have been present under the coalition in times past have re-emerged today. Isn't it surprising: here we are, a Labor party, championing entrepreneurism and being bagged out by the Liberal Party! This is how far they've fallen. They're now big believers in debt and deficit, and they no longer believe in entrepreneurialism. They go out and they bag entrepreneurism. It is wrong. We don't need a part-time industry minister whose biggest goal for the job is to get out of the job.
What we need is someone who truly believes in manufacturing, someone who will truly champion the re-creation of those jobs. New firms, new jobs, new growth—that's what we need. We don't need a minister who has checked out and is not prepared to champion manufacturing jobs in this country. From our point of view, the only time he'll be around a manufacturing worker is to use them as a prop. They're not props. They're people who we should be supporting, and we should be ensuring that they have good jobs.
Mr PITT (Hinkler—Minister for Resources, Water and Northern Australia) (15:26): I say to the member for Chifley: there's a lot talk about who's not here. I'm here, Huckleberry! No problems at all. I'm very pleased to be here talking about manufacturing. As someone who actually worked in manufacturing, did a trade in manufacturing—
Mr Husic interjecting—
The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Mr Llew O'Brien ): The minister will pause. The member for Chifley used the wrong term numerous times before I called him up. I gave you that opportunity. I think I'm pretty fair. The member for Hinkler.
Mr PITT: Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. It's a term of endearment! I'm sure the member for Chifley is not offended. We've had 10 minutes from those opposite, and what have we heard? Not a single alternative policy—a lot of complaints about how much media a particular minister might do, but not a single alternative policy from those who purport to be the next alternative government.
These things are pretty straightforward. Let's stick with the facts, and the facts are very straightforward indeed. Consumer sentiment is at the highest level it's been in 11 years for business conditions. Mr Deputy Speaker, as someone who comes from small business, from farming and a range of other employment, I can tell you that the fundamentals remain the same. That is, for manufacturing to be successful they need to have affordable and reliable electricity and affordable and reliable gas. They need red and green tape out of their way and they need a skilled workforce that is out there and available for their use.
I was in the west last week, over in Karratha, where they have two very large LNG plants. We visited both of those. One of the individuals in Karratha made a comment which I have picked up. It's a great term. It's a great way to think about these skills needs for manufacturing. It is: we have to grow our own timber. For every Australian kid out there looking for an opportunity, your time is now. We have put significant money on the table and there are over 300,000 apprentice and trainee opportunities. There is a 50 per cent wage subsidy, which has been warmly welcomed by industry. If we want to be successful in the future, the available workforce is the Australian workforce, and we need to grow our own timber. It's our kids that are looking for those chances, and it's this side of House that wants to ensure those opportunities are provided for them.
In Karratha one of the challenges is available people. They're looking to expand and are looking for new opportunities. We were at the Pluto LNG facility. It's set, ready for a new train once it gets more gas. That means more construction work. That means more people, fly-in fly-out and residential. But it also means more opportunities for shuts. They need literally hundreds of individuals on a shut. They've had to delay some of their maintenance due to COVID. That means we now have a shortfall in some of these areas which needs to be addressed.
To come back to the fundamentals: manufacturing remains Australia's sixth-largest industry, currently employing 902,000 people, nearly a million. That is up 54,900 since the COVID-induced low, and that indicates that nearly all of those losses have been recovered. I think that's a good thing. I think that is a positive for our country, a positive for manufacturing, a positive for opportunity. You only have to look at confidence in the sector. There was recently an announcement by Santos up in Darwin that they will extend the life of Darwin LNG and they will invest over A$5 billion into the Barossa oil and gas field to see that those opportunities continue for at least another two decades.
Those opposite have got plenty to say about the Minister for Industry, Science and Technology. They've got plenty to say about media opportunities. We don't hear alternative policies. But what we do hear, from industry, is confidence, and that confidence is resulting in investment. That investment is important so that we have a pipeline into the future, not only in the resources sector, in terms of my portfolio, but right across the Australian economy. One of the things that we are doing is implementing strategic basin plans for gas. The Beetaloo was our first announcement. We've committed over $200 million to the Beetaloo. That is around roads infrastructure, for example. It is remote work. It's hard, it's hot, it's difficult. But there are individuals out there now who are bringing forward their exploration plans, bringing forward drilling in those areas to firm up that resource, because, quite simply, business will do the rest. If the resource is firmed up, then business will do the rest. I think that is a wonderful opportunity for the north, particularly around Darwin. They can build into existing infrastructure and expand into the future. We think the Beetaloo has got a big part to play in terms of manufacturing in Australia's future. We want to see that work brought forward, and the expectation is that that work will come forward by at least two years. We're pushing very hard to make sure that happens, and we are committing the funds into the Beetaloo to ensure that that activity occurs in this dry season and the next.
Once again, what we hear from those opposite is a long litany of complaints, not a single positive policy about what they would do as the alternative government, about what they would do to ensure further manufacturing. Right across the country, everywhere I go, I am talking to people who are looking to bring their manufacturing operations back on shore. We've seen a renaissance in the regions in terms of people who are shifting, who want to live in regional Australia. As I know you know, Mr Deputy Speaker, there is no better place to be than regional Australia. You can have your own house, a big yard and dogs and cats and horses and whatever you may want. But the main thing that you want in regional Australia is a job, and a lot of those jobs are driven through the resources sector in the regions and by agriculture. We want to make sure they're successful, so we're putting forward a plan to build agriculture to $100 billion. The resources sector has done a phenomenal job over the last 12 months. The Office of the Chief Economist is forecasting that the resources and energy exports from this country will break all records this financial year. In the midst of a worldwide pandemic, we have seen an increase in employment in the resources sector, an increase in exports, an increase in confidence and an increase in investment of some $35 billion, I'm advised. That is a significant investment right across the country. We want to ensure that that investment continues.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I am sure that, as a local member, you're not surprised that I want to identify some of those success stories in my own patch. We've got Superior Pak at Bundaberg. They've gone on to be a manufacturing powerhouse. They are Australia's leading manufacturer of world-class waste collection and compaction equipment. If you see a rubbish truck come past, it's most likely got a Superior Pak back on it, built at Bundaberg. Enmach—Jon Bowder and his team there—are renowned leaders in the design and manufacture of quality engineered poly moulded and steel fabricated products, another good operational business and manufacturer in my patch. You may not have heard of Knauf plasterboard, Mr Deputy Speaker, but they have plasterboard facilities in Australia. They built one in Bundaberg off the back of commitments made by the former Premier Campbell Newman to deliver gas infrastructure to the Bundaberg port, which was essential for this plant to go ahead. Plasterboard is being delivered right around Australia out of this facility in Bundaberg. They get on with their work quietly and they get it done. But would you believe that, when Queensland Labor won government in Queensland, they wanted to cancel this project? They didn't want to follow through on those commitments, the gas pipeline that was essential, and it turned into a full-blown barney to get that work done. As a result, this facility is there and it's delivering dozens of jobs for our local economy. It's a new string to the bow of the regional economy and it's a great part of manufacturing that's based at the Bundaberg port.
In the last couple of weeks we've seen announcements that Pacific Tug Group will finally be getting on with their project, for which the Commonwealth has committed $6 million through the BBRF. Once again, this project was held up by the Queensland Labor government that simply wouldn't give approvals to build what was necessary. This has been a long and arduous process, but I have to say I'm very pleased to see the announcement that this project is finally getting on with the job, delivering jobs in our local region and helping out manufacturing. It's an important part of what will happen in my local electorate. Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank you for giving me the opportunity to indulge in talking about my own patch. I don't get the opportunity very often as a minister, but I'm really pleased to talk about it.
We are committed to manufacturing. We are committed to ensuring that Australian kids get an opportunity through apprenticeships and traineeships. We are putting money on the table to make that happen. We've got over $1½ billion committed to expand that manufacturing activity. I know the minister for industry has announcements to make about round 1, with the first $50 million out of the Modern Manufacturing Strategy. We've also got $2 billion in R & D tax incentives and we will continue to deliver what's needed for this country to be a manufacturing powerhouse. There are alternatives out there. We are growing in the critical mineral space. We're looking to build additional sections inside our economy, and that will continue into the future. We've also got a significant investment in the digital economy and we know that that will continue. In the north, as the minister for northern Australia, we will connect the north to the world. We will provide the communications necessary for the north to be successful. I look forward to seeing that come to fruition and those jobs driven into the Australian economy.
Mr PERRETT (Moreton) (15:36): I'm happy to talk on this MPI brought forward by the member of Chifley. I should say upfront that I'm a proud member of the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union. Why am I part of the AMWU? Because I can imagine how great Australia could be if we made more things. Let's look at some facts, which were touched on by the member for Chifley, but avoided by the minister in his contribution. Since the coalition took office, there are 90,000 fewer jobs in Australian manufacturing. Let's just strip that down. We heard fine words flying from that side of the chamber. The minister took us on a tour of Hinkler and the surrounds, but there are 90,000 fewer jobs in Australian manufacturing since those geniuses opposite came to power. Let's look at some of the things they actually did—not their words, but what they did. They dared car manufacturers to leave, and the manufacturers did leave.
A government member interjecting—
Mr PERRETT: Yes, a Victorian member interjecting about the car manufacturers leaving. It took a pandemic for them to actually wake up to how important Australian core capabilities are. As a member of the AMWU, as a member of the Labor Party that cares about jobs, we can imagine what Australia would be like without manufacturing. We can think big, like the big Australian; remember BHP thinking big in terms of being a bold and successful manufacturing sector? We believed that before the pandemic. We believed in producing, marketing and value-adding—value-adding to our food and fibre, value-adding to the things we dig out of the ground, value-adding before we send it overseas. But what do we have from those opposite, the 'I don't hold a hose' gang? They're happy to put out a brochure with a picture of a hose. They're happy to send that out to people and happy to get some consultants to take a photo of a hose, so they can test the market with a few people and then send out a brochure.
I want to be part of a party with a leader that will hold the hose, will go towards the flame and will say: 'We believe in manufacturing. We believe in an Australia that makes things.' Our leader believed that before the pandemic hit. We know from the minister's own figures that the department of industry's own estimates indicate 50,000 Australian manufacturing jobs were lost last year. What else is there? That extra little cherry on that rancid cake is the idea that there will be a cut to real wages for Australian manufacturing workers of $7,800. So they talk about the great brochures that they've got with hoses, but, when it actually comes to helping Australian manufacturers, they're missing.
I know that this Prime Minister is the king of the photo opportunity. He will do anything to get in to a photo op to look like he's doing something. I even remember him turning up at a manufacturing plant in 2019. Unfortunately, it was a manufacturing plant in the United States!
Mr Husic: Whoops!
Mr PERRETT: Whoops! In fact, it was during an election campaign. A serving Australian Prime Minister stood beside a campaigning presidential candidate Donald Trump, where the former President told 1,500 Trump supporters that he was bringing manufacturing jobs back to the United States. Our Prime Minister standing next to a campaigning US presidential candidate! It was unbelievable in terms of diplomatic nous, especially when that guy turned out to be a loser and the democratic candidate is now President Biden! I don't think that's ever happened before. I assume that the advancer was sacked on the spot for putting an Australian Prime Minister in the middle of a US presidential campaign—unbelievable!
Let's look at what manufacturing really can deliver in terms of sovereign capability. We know that the Morrison government has spent $5.9 million more on consultant fees than the actual mRNA vaccine manufacture. Can you believe that?
Mr Husic: With them I can!
Mr PERRETT: During a pandemic, they start up: 'We'll do some manufacturing. Let's get some brochures out. Let's get the consultants out there.' The Morrison government has used manufacturing to do what it's best at, to announce and re-announce and then announce again the same money! What else did they do? They picked a fight with our No. 1 trading partner where we actually can sell some products. This government is a disaster for manufacturing jobs.
Mrs McINTOSH (Lindsay) (15:41): I have to thank my neighbour the member for Chifley for giving me, yet again, another opportunity to talk about manufacturing, because he knows how much I back Aussie manufacturing in my electorate of Lindsay. I love promoting the incredible work that Australian manufacturers, including the 600 manufacturers in my community, are doing each and every day. I'm passionate about enabling our manufacturers to grow, expand, scale up and take on apprentices. They're all telling me how many apprentices they're now taking on, including Baker and Provan who took on two female apprentices, young women who are wanting to work in the manufacturing industry, and that is absolutely wonderful to see. Most importantly, they're creating more local jobs.
It's particularly important to be highlighting manufacturing because it is 'Aussie Made Week', and there is nothing I support more than getting behind Australian-made. While I'm delighted, I'm also a bit surprised that the Labor Party wanted to bring up their record on manufacturing, because those opposite haven't manufactured a decent policy in years. In fact, at the last election they manufactured $387 billion of new, increased taxes, burdening Australian families and businesses. They manufactured one energy policy in Queensland and another in inner-city Melbourne. They manufactured plenty, but Australia wasn't buying. They are still on the production line. The cogs are turning and the engines are whirring, but they're coming up empty yet again.
Unlike those opposite, the Morrison government is backing manufacturers to do what they do best, and I can tell you what they're achieving and what we're achieving. We have expanded tax relief for hardworking businesses. We're encouraging manufacturers to take on new apprentices with 50 per cent wage subsidies. We're removing unnecessary red tape. We're delivering a record infrastructure investment pipeline. We're opening new export markets, which will benefit businesses in Western Sydney, with the incoming Western Sydney international airport. We're encouraging them to buy the equipment they need to scale up by extending the instant asset write-off. The list goes on. We're locking in affordable and reliable energy that manufacturers can count on.
Aussie manufacturers in Western Sydney know that we have their back. I established the Advancing Manufacturing Taskforce to identify the challenges facing Aussie manufacturers and to explore the great opportunities that we can be front and centre on in Western Sydney. In the last year alone, the taskforce and I met with the Prime Minister and the minister for industry, and, last week, the minister for small business, because we care about creating an environment in Western Sydney where manufacturers can thrive. The Morrison government is supporting manufacturers like Visy in Penrith, which is really exciting to see, with the extension of the accelerated depreciation program. Whether you are Pandrol, SpanSet, Plustec, Grant Engineered, Custom Denning or another one of the 600 manufacturers in Lindsay, you know that the Morrison government wants you to succeed.
The opposition also want to talk about creating jobs in manufacturing, and this is an area that I am also passionate about. Manufacturing remains Australia's sixth-largest industry, currently employing 902,000 people. Since the COVID-induced low, over 54,000 manufacturing jobs have been recovered. The Australian Industry Group's Performance of Manufacturing Index is also increasing—in fact, all six manufacturing sectors expanded in April, as did all seven of the activity indicators. Across the economy, there are more Australians in work now than before the coronavirus pandemic, and April's job numbers showed the strength of Australia's economic recovery, with unemployment falling to 5.5 per cent, and that's over the seventh consecutive month.
In my electorate of Lindsay, as I said, there are 600 manufacturers, employing over 6,000 people, and I want to see this number grow. A key part of this is delivering affordable, reliable energy, so that our manufacturers can compete on the global stage. Our investments in energy, in gas and in fuel security will not only deliver energy that manufacturers and heavy industry can rely on but also create thousands and thousands of jobs across our country.
The Morrison government won't stand in the way of manufacturers. We're backing them. We're clearing the roadblocks to enable them to do what they do best, with tax relief, support to take on apprentices, incentives to invest more in their business, affordable and reliable energy and more opportunity to grow and create jobs. Our plan is working, and our local manufacturers— (Time expired)
Ms COKER (Corangamite) (15:47): I rise in support of this motion put by the member for Chifley and thank him for it, because manufacturing matters. Nowhere do we see a better example of the coalition's lack of support for manufacturing than in the demise of our automotive industry. Ford was synonymous with Geelong. Now the iconic building that once housed the massive production line and employed thousands of local workers is an empty shell. The coalition government hounded Ford from Australia and, with it, the manufacturing jobs and skills. One former worker described visiting the site as being like 'visiting a cemetery'. Across Ford's two sites, in Broadmeadows and Geelong, 1,800 jobs were lost and, with them, the skills and expertise that are vital to Australia's future prosperity. It was this government that dared the car manufacturers to leave. And guess what? They did. They pushed legions of blue-collar workers in my region out of secure work. Twelve months after the closure in 2017, it was estimated that one in five laid-off employees who wanted to continue working were jobless. We lost our most complex, high-tech manufacturing and the thousands of jobs that went with it.
We know it's not just my region that's been hard hit by this government's failure to support manufacturing in this country. The department of industry's own estimates indicate 50,000 Australian manufacturing jobs were lost just last year, and since the election of the coalition government in 2013 we have lost 90,000 jobs in the manufacturing sector. Why is it that the Morrison government only seems to care about manufacturing when it comes to a photo op and a hard hat?
If the pandemic taught us anything, it was the need for Australia to be independent—to be self-sustaining. We want to be a place where we make things. We need to build things here, and, to prove we have the building capacity, we need to have the manufacturing capacity. This is the way that we ensure we keep people in work. As it stands, the opportunity for us to become a world leader in manufacturing of renewable energy components is closing, swiftly. For example, we mine and produce every element needed to build a lithium battery yet we send them off to be manufactured overseas. What about waste and recycling? Instead of putting waste into landfill, we could be manufacturing products here to be used in roads, in pathways, in clothing, in componentry, just to name a few. And with greater investment in research and development, we could be helping our university sector in its ground-breaking work supporting startups and innovative product development. For example, in my electorate, Deakin University has supported and expanded the development of carbon-fibre technology and now it is being exported to the world. Research and development must be funded, but this government just continues to waiver on R&D, which is one reason why we see a woeful decline in the number of manufacturing jobs across Australia.
It is abundantly clear that only Labor is on the side of Australian manufacturers. Labor values the role manufacturing plays in our economy and recognises the need to develop and implement policies to foster its growth. That's why we've developed the plan for a future made in Australia. It includes our national rail manufacturing plan, which will boost local jobs and industry. We'll also invest in an Australian skills guarantee to give apprentices, trainees and cadets a foot in the door. We will do the work necessary to establish these facilities so we can produce mRNA vaccines here on shore.
Today, the former Ford site plays host to the Barwon Health's vaccine hub. It has the potential to vaccinate 10,000 people a week but, realistically, it may never reach this figure due to the inability of the Morrison government to manufacture mRNA vaccines in Australia. The Morrison government has failed to invest in manufacturing in Australia again. What we need is a government that has vision, a government that invests in manufacturing and has a plan that will ensure we make things here, lock in jobs growth in smart technologies and back in entrepreneurship. The Morrison government is failing to do so. It is time for a change of government.
Mr HAMILTON (Groom) (15:52): Listening to the MPI today read out by the member for Chifley, I thought it was a classic case of playing the man and not the ball. There was plenty of advice for the minister for industry offered up but very little in the way of actual plans to drive manufacturing. It is very easy to understand because Labor have abandoned the field when it comes to manufacturing and they did so a long time ago. But this government is bringing Australian manufacturing back. We're rebuilding jobs and we are investing in growth in this industry.
The Toowoomba region has been a manufacturing hub for quite some time. We take advantage of the opportunities around us there. We take advantage of the agricultural industry around us, and Defence. When we had mining we were providing the manufacturing to support that as well as a strong transport industry. We're doing that with the support of this government going from strength to strength. Our region is manufacturing exports worth more than $1 billion. That is an impressive number and it is largely driven by our specialisation in food manufacturing. We have a lot of wonderful feedlots in our area. I went out to Grassdale recently, looking out over 79,000 head of cattle. Processors like Oaky Beef are great employers for local people coming through. Manufacturing brings export dollars in and provides great jobs to local people. There are more than 6,000 people employed in the manufacturing sector, 7.5 per cent of our region's workforce, and that number is continuing to grow. In fact, we have an urgent need now to support our manufacturing industry with upward of 50 boilermakers needed. A recent news story said: 'Come to Toowoomba. We have work here. Our manufacturing is growing and thriving. we need more people to come to Toowoomba and keep us growing.'
This government is encouraging innovation through programs like the $1.3 billion Manufacturing Modernisation Fund, which has seen an incredible take up, particularly in my region. It is something I talk to a lot of businesses about on a regular basis. The Accelerating Commercialisation program is another fantastic program that was taken up in my region by a group called Obadare. They have used this grant to turn themselves into Australia's only API licensed drill rig producer. Toowoomba has now become a hub not just for design and construction but for the commercialisation of these drill rigs that previously were only built overseas.
Toowoomba now competes against international producers of this machinery because this government invests in manufacturing. Obadare are now continuing to grow. It was fantastic to take Minister Angus Taylor out there to see the work that's going on in the workshop out there, walking through a full workshop where work was happening all around, welding sparks flying here and there. The activity that is generated by our support of this manufacturing industry is there to see. The evidence is right there in front of us.
This creates new job opportunities—so much so that operations manager Stephen Lucht has called out for interested workers, with several positions to fill, and he continues to grow and pull people in. If we're failing to prioritise Australian manufacturing jobs, why are so many being created? Why are the opportunities there? I think the evidence stands in stark contrast to today's MPI.
On top of this, the government's tax relief program and instant asset write-off incentives are bringing positivity to our manufacturing sector. I went out earlier this year to Homestyle Bake. There is an incredible new bread line that they're installing in their factory, again supported by this government. A local Toowoomba business that now provides bread across Queensland has grown and continues to bring in new workers. This is exactly the sort of growth that we would expect to see from such as well-orchestrated plan as this government has put together to ensure our economic recovery.
I went out to see an organisation called N-Drip. They're an Israeli micro-irrigation company who are looking to expand their operation to Australia, with the Toowoomba region set to become the manufacturing hub. We went out to a cotton crop. We looked at the amazing difference that was made by the new technology they brought to the sector. We were surrounded by farmers from all across the region and from quite a way out west, coming out to see what this new technology can do. The opportunities that manufacturing in Toowoomba will bring will ensure that this product can be produced and can be distributed locally at a good cost.
I think the evidence in front of us shows this government is supporting manufacturing and the manufacturing industry is responding.
Mr KHALIL (Wills) (15:57): Are they serious? I'm astounded. The member for Lindsay, with her pathetic jokes about manufacturing, the member for Groom with his talking points and spin—since your mob took office way back eight years ago, when Tony Abbott was Prime Minister, do you know how many jobs have been lost in Australian manufacturing? Ninety thousand. That's a fact. So all the spin, obfuscation and distortion will not hide that fact.
More than that: as the member for Chifley pointed out, you dared manufacturing to leave this country, and they did. Last year, during COVID-19, at the height of the pandemic, your own department of industry also showed that 50,000 jobs were lost in Australian manufacturing. That is 50,000 just last year. And there's more. For Australian manufacturing workers the budget papers forecast a cut to real wages of $7,800. That's the record of this coalition government on jobs and manufacturing. You can't hide from that record. As the member for Chifley has pointed out correctly, it's a record of neglect.
You know why it's neglect? Because they really don't care. They don't care about local manufacturing. They don't care about manufacturing jobs. They don't care about manufacturing workers and their families. You know what they do care about? Themselves and their own jobs.
In my own electorate of Wills the impact has been severe. Hundreds of manufacturing workers lost their jobs in the north of my electorate when the Broadmeadows Ford factory closed in 2016 in the member for Calwell's electorate. This was after the coalition and the former Treasurer arrogantly goaded and encouraged the death of auto manufacturing in this country. We all saw it. Whatever spin you put out in this MPI, we all saw it. It's there for posterity, for history to see. Many of the workers lost their jobs after a career dedicated to the industry. They were forced into early retirement and they weren't easily able to retrain for something else after so many years in the industry. For many people it was their last job, and the factory closing meant that early retirement.
It also meant relying on government support when they never had to before. It meant financial uncertainty for them and their families. It meant the loss of technical skills, built up over decades, and know-how in our country. And it also meant the loss of small and medium-sized enterprises, many in my electorate of Wills, that supplied the auto industry with parts and different bits and pieces. All that was shut down and lost; those people and those skills were lost. We have a proud manufacturing history in my electorate. But now, all too often, I drive past old and disused factories—a block of apartments going up where the factory was—and it's a reminder of what has changed and of the jobs and skills that we have lost because of this government.
With COVID-19 impacting global supply chains, making things here in Australia is more than just a talking point. It has never been more critical, to our jobs and to our national interest. That includes manufacturing that can help us out during this pandemic, like local manufacturing of mRNA vaccines such as Pfizer and so on. The Minister for Industry, Science and Technology—I think it was the member for McPherson at the time—said in October 2020 that it would take nine to 12 months for us to be able to manufacture that kind of vaccine here in Australia. That was in October, eight months ago. What have they been doing? Have they been preparing the talking points for this MPI and the spin? Eight months of work on that hasn't yielded much of a result, not from what I've heard from the last few speeches.
This government doesn't make long-term plans. It has no vision. When it comes to investing in what our country needs, when it comes to local manufacture for things like COVID-19 vaccines, the Morrison government has spent $5.9 million more on consultant fees than on mRNA vaccine manufacture. That's where their priorities lie. Unlike this government, federal Labor has a vision. We care about manufacturing workers. We care about making things in this country. That's why we're going to actually invest in it and not just talk about it. A future Labor government will implement policies that will retrain and retool workers, provide vocational education, establish job creation programs and revive Australian manufacturing. (Time expired)
Mr VAN MANEN (Forde—Chief Government Whip) (16:02): It's with great interest that I've been listening to this debate. I like the member for Chifley. He's part of the class of 2010, so I'll give him a bit of credit for that. It was very interesting to listen to the contribution of the member for Wills. He spoke about the Labor Party having these policies and plans. Well, he didn't articulate one of those in his presentation, and the member for Chifley, in the 10 minutes he had for his remarks, didn't articulate a single plan or policy either.
Mr Khalil interjecting—
The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Mr Llew O'Brien ): Member for Wills.
Mr VAN MANEN: To paraphrase an oft-quoted phrase, 'The reports of my death are exaggerated,' I'm here to say that the reports of the death of manufacturing in this country are greatly exaggerated. Whenever I go around my electorate of Forde and talk to the manufacturing businesses in my electorate, I only hear stories of success and growth. Their biggest struggle at this point in time is actually getting staff, to grow their businesses further.
This government has a tremendous story to tell on manufacturing right across this country. What I find interesting is that those opposite, when they were in government, had no qualms about applying a hammer blow to manufacturing in this country by instituting a carbon tax. All they did was introduce a carbon tax and seek to make the cost of manufacturing higher and more difficult. It's no wonder that, under their tenure, manufacturers looked to leave this country.
Over the eight years that we've been in government, manufacturers have taken advantage of any number of the incentives that this government has put in place over that time, including the more recent incentives such as the JobTrainer Fund. Nearly 2½ thousand apprentices in Forde took advantage of those measures. We've seen 18½ thousand businesses in Forde write off the full value of eligible assets that they purchased, and an additional 5,900 businesses in Forde have been able to use to extended loss carry-back measures to support cash flow and confidence.
Importantly—and those opposite never reference it in their contributions because they wouldn't want to acknowledge it—the JobKeeper payment supported nearly 7½ thousand businesses and 27½ thousand employees across the electorate of Ford, helping them through the pandemic and keeping them connected to their workplace, setting the groundwork for the recovery we're now seeing today. In addition, the cash flow boost helped around 4,800 small to medium businesses, providing some $217 million in payments to help businesses across Ford. We've also provided support through the Modern Manufacturing Initiative, we've provided support through the R&D tax incentive and, importantly, we continue to provide support through JobTrainer. There are some 13½ thousand people employed in Ford in construction and manufacturing.
I'd like to just talk about some of the manufacturing businesses in my electorate of Ford, in the time left for my speech, and the support they have received from this government. Holmwood Highgate received over a million dollars in the Sovereign Industrial Capability Priority Grants funding round to buy a new laser cutter, to continue to build the high-quality manufactured bulk-liquid transport equipment that services the commercial, aviation and—now, importantly—defence industries, as they were successful in obtaining a $30 million deal with Rheinmetall in the defence materiel space.
There are other great manufacturing businesses across my electorate of Ford. There is Beenleigh rum distillery, who during the pandemic changed their business model to also produce hand sanitiser. Recently, two of their rums won gold awards on the international stage. It's the oldest operating rum distillery in Australia. There are businesses like Poppy's Chocolate; Lithium Battery Systems; and Teys Australia, the largest employer in my electorate, who provides quality meats not only to the Australian domestic market but also overseas. BlockTexx have recently moved to the electorate, and they do fabric and textile recycling. There's GCI; Holmwood Highgate, as I mentioned; Frosty Boy; ATP Science; and Struddys, who make sporting apparel, who very clearly said to the PM that, if it wasn't for JobKeeper, they wouldn't have survived. There's Trailers Down Under, SPI Plastics, A1 Rubber, Molectra and many, many more. These are the businesses that are delivering for Australians each and every day, and they're who our government support. (Time expired)
Ms WELLS (Lilley) (16:07): It's Australian Made Week this week, which should be a time when we celebrate Australian made products and the Australian businesses that support them, produce them and give locals jobs here in our communities, like mine on the north side of Brisbane. But, instead, we are here in Australian Made Week to talk about the government's failure to prioritise rebuilding jobs and wages in the Australian manufacturing sector, and I am on my feet, ropeable about this.
Last week the Prime Minister came to Geebung in my electorate of Lilley and he did a photo-op with a hammer and a nail on a construction site. The hammer and the nail had nothing to do with the actual construction site, but there he was, banging away, talking about his HomeBuilder program and how good it was—how many local jobs it was going to produce, how ridgy-didge it was, how bona fide his commitment was to Aussie values and Aussie jobs. He was about one jingle off a cork hat. That was him promoting his commitment to Aussie jobs.
But it was all fake because, at the same time—at the exact same time—that the Prime Minister was doing that photo opportunity in Geebung, his Liberal mate the Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Adrian Schrinner, was announcing that he had taken the decision to give a contract worth millions of dollars to a Chinese company to produce buses for Brisbane City Council. That's not a new thing for Brisbane, because Brisbane buses have been made in Eagle Farm in my electorate of Lilley since 2013. Volgren do it, and they used to have 130 workers at Eagle Farm who made buses, and it was part of the pride and joy of north-side manufacturing—just like we used to make the electric trams, back in the day, on Melton Road in Northgate, before that got shut down; just like we used to make and service trains before Campbell Newman's state government, back in 2014, made the decision to outsource that to India.
Year after year, we have Liberals waltz in here and praise themselves for their commitment to Aussie jobs, while, actually, on the ground and in the streets, they are the first ones to sell the businesses in our communities out the door—sell them to China, sell them to India—and it happened again last week. I cannot believe that I've have had to listen to—what is it now?—60 minutes of self-praise by the government, while their Liberal mates are selling a contract worth millions of dollars to the Chinese to make buses that actually should be being made on the north side, in Eagle Farm, by Volgren workers, who take pride in their job. Sorry I'm so worked up, because I am so sick of hearing about the announcements without any delivery: announcement, announcement, announcement; reannouncment of the announcement; 'How good is the announcement'; 'So great to be here reannouncing the announcement'; absolutely no delivery; absolutely no follow-through; and jobs walking out the door to China and to India again and again and again.
When we talk about the manufacturing industry in Australia as a whole, we need to consider that we lost 50,000 jobs in manufacturing alone last year. That's more than 1,000 manufacturing jobs a week. Each week last year, 1,000 Australians lost their manufacturing job under this Liberal Morrison government. Those who clung onto those jobs, those who still have a job to call their own, this week learnt in the federal budget that they would receive a real cut to their wages next year, and not just a small cut—a $7,800 real cut to their wages. That is just part and parcel of this Liberal government's ongoing commitment to slashing trades and vocational education, the place where we build skills, the place where we train apprentices and the place where Australian kids can get a foot on the ground and carve out a dream for themselves—a career for themselves—in their communities.
We have lost 150,000 apprentices under this eight-year-old government. There are 150,000 fewer apprentices than there were back in 2013. That's because this Liberal government, which is eight years old, has cut $3 billion from vocational education and training. That's a pre-pandemic figure; we don't have the new figure yet. Imagine how much worse it is now.
If COVID has taught us anything, it's that we must put Australian jobs and Australian manufacturing first. We've got to do it. It's been eight long years of despair and disrepair in this industry, and it's got to stop. Using the power of government—why we are all here and why we all sweat blood to get to this place—we should be transforming our economy and we should be powering up manufacturing in our industrial neighbourhoods like in Virginia, like in Geebung and like on the north side of Brisbane.
An Albanese Labor government would deliver national reconstruction and would be fairly, squarely focused on good, secure jobs. We will establish a $15 billion fund to invest in local industry and put Australian jobs first. We will rebuild the manufacturing industry. We will develop sovereign industrial and research capability. It is time Australia had a federal government that is actually on their side and not on the side of the Liberal's mates.
Mr DRUM (Nicholls—Chief Nationals Whip) (16:12): It is great to have the opportunity to talk about modern manufacturing and how Australia has bounced back well from the COVID induced recession that we had, but nobody in Australia would look around and say that we've got this thing covered. We are a nation that has built its wealth out of what we can grow and what we can dig out of the ground, and there are enormous opportunities in Australia for us to value-add to so many of our different products in a whole range of sectors. We can improve on that, and getting that process in manufacturing industries up and running is why the modern manufacturing program that is in place at the moment is calling for companies that have the opportunity to take their primary produce to a second and third level to do so. It's matching funding from $1 million up to $20 million. This is a billion-dollar fund that is going to inject billions of dollars into modern manufacturing.
There are a whole range of options we have here. This country produces 95 per cent of the world's fine wool, but we send 95 per cent of that to China in a raw state. Surely there's an opportunity for us to co-invest with industries that can actually value-add to all of that fine wool rather than simply buy back Italian suits and ridiculously high prices. That's just one example where I'd love to think that the federal government and the private sector in this country could partner up to co-invest in the production of so many fantastic products that we have, because we have an incredible capacity to develop and grow so many high-quality products.
I'm very, very proud of what happens in my patch in the Goulburn Valley in the seat of Nicholls. We have SPC. The Shepparton Preserving Company has been one of Australia's iconic businesses for close on 100 years. It has gone from being a co-op to being privately owned. It was run by Coca-Cola and they sold it and now there is another group that is doing amazing things in taking SPC to another level. We have the Campbell's Soups. That has been in the area for years. It has really diversified and is making thousands of tonnes of stock each and every year for all of those budding chefs that have actually learnt how to cook in the last 12 months. Unilever have a large plant at Tatura and there's Fonterra and all of the milk processes—Bega, ACM, Freedom Foods, Parmalat and Saputo. There is an enormous number of milk processors.
What we have to understand is that, when we support the processors, they will go out and spend money in the engineering sector. The amount of stainless steel that exists in the Goulburn Valley on the back of what we do with milk processing is quite phenomenal. So our engineering industries are tied implicitly to our agricultural sector and our agricultural sector is tied to our food processors. So it is important that we invest in them and support them with policy. This is where the Labor Party have got to be very, very careful, because this is all wrapped up in water policy also. If you have horrendously damaging water policy, you are going to put agriculture on the back foot. If you put agriculture on the back foot, you put food processing on the back foot and then you put engineering on the back foot. Representing these areas, you learn very quickly how it is all tied together.
The federal government's investment in the fruit industry in my area is helping some of these farms with netting programs. It is also helping them to take their packing and sorting processes to a world-class level. It's about making sure that every piece of fruit is photographed thousands and thousands of times to ensure that that piece of fruit finds its way to its optimum value, whether it is to be sold as a piece of fresh fruit, whether it needs to be processed and put into a jar or a can or whether it needs to be juiced or pulped. These are the decisions that can be made now with modern technology that can look at these pieces tens of thousands of times. This type of technology is available because we've got a federal government that is prepared to co-invest with our industries.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Mr Llew O'Brien ): The discussion has concluded.
MOTIONS
Member for Bowman
Consideration resumed of the motion:
That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent the Member for Macquarie from moving the following motion immediately—
That this House:
(1) notes:
(a) the Member for Bowman continues to defend actions like stalking and abusing his own constituents online, and the Prime Minister has failed to take appropriate action;
(b) the Member for Bowman stated on March 27 he would "step down from all parliamentary roles effective immediately", but has failed to relinquished his chairmanship of the Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training which gives him extra salary;
(c) coalition members have now voted nine times to keep the Member for Bowman as Chair of the committee, including the coalition members of that committee, the Members for;
(i) Moncrieff
(ii) Groom
(iii) Curtin
(iv) New England; and
(v) Longman; and
(d) by voting to keep the Member for Bowman as Chair of the committee, the Prime Minister and everyone who sits behind him in this House is endorsing the Member for Bowman's behaviour; and
(2) therefore, calls on the Prime Minister to discharge the Member for Bowman from the Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training immediately.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Mr Llew O'Brien ) (16:17): In accordance with standing order 133, I shall now proceed to put the question on the motion to suspend standing orders moved earlier today by the honourable member for Macquarie on which a division was called for and deferred in accordance with the standing order. No further debate is allowed.
The SPEAKER: The matter before the House is the matter moved by the member for Macquarie earlier in the day. The question is that the motion moved by the honourable member for Macquarie be disagreed to.
The House divided. [16:22]
(The Speaker—Hon. Tony Smith)
BILLS
Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (Charges) Bill 2021
Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Amendment (Cost Recovery) Bill 2021
Second Reading
Cognate debate.
Consideration resumed of the motion:
That this bill be now read a second time.
to which the following amendment was moved:
That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:
"whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House notes that the bill places a further impost on universities as they continue to face an unprecedented crisis as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which the Government has failed Australian university students and staff by:
(1) excluding universities from COVID support; and
(2) making it more expensive for thousands of Australian students to get a university education".
Mr HAMILTON (Groom) (16:28): These bills are about maintaining the high quality of higher education that Australia is renowned for, while ensuring the sustainability of the sector now and into the future. At present the TEQSA's cost-recovery levels are quite low, at around 15 per cent of total costs. The taxpayer currently bears the burden of funding the vast majority of the regulatory activities. Moving towards an industry funded model is not without precedence. In the financial services sector businesses pay a levy to fund their independent watchdog and the same applies in a number of other industries with a great deal of success. In every case having this independent oversight ensures the quality of services being provided and gives assurance to those using those services that they are getting exactly what they pay for. My comments come from my time running research within a CRC. What was very important to us was to make sure that we were getting the high quality of research from these educational institutions that we were asking for. It's something that Australia has a very good standing in for it higher education facility. This is an important step towards making sure that we maintain these high standards.
The increased cost recovery for the TEQSA will involve increasing the application base fees to recover the true costs of these activities. The increase to application base fees will be enabled by a new fees determination to be issued by the TEQSA and introducing a new annual charge on higher education providers to recover the costs of the risk monitoring and regulatory oversight activities, and the new annual charge is the subject of these bills.
These activities are crucial to protect students from unscrupulous providers and to protect the reputation of our higher education sector, allowing targeted and timely responses to issues such as academic integrity, admission standards and information, student safety, fraud and corruption. At a time when many people are looking to upskill and retrain, taking advantage of the flexibility of online education, it's even more vital that this agency exists. It ensures that students can feel secure, knowing that their qualifications will be accredited and recognised.
TEQSA registration means that, from anywhere in Australia, students can sign up to online courses at the University of Southern Queensland, based in my electorate of Groom, and receive a world-class education with full confidence. In fact, we saw many people do this and benefit from USQ's implementation of discounted short courses during the peak of the pandemic. Backed by this government's COVID-19 relief package, community members were able to enrol in 20 undergraduate and graduate certificate programs across priority areas such as health, IT, engineering, education and agriculture—a very big one for our region. The university saw a remarkable uptake, and this government is providing and extra $26.1 million in the budget to fund an extra 5,000 short course places, further proof that there is strong demand for high-quality education delivered by Australian universities. I would add that a learning from USQ's good performance is its minimal reliance on international students to fund its operation. This was a point raised by the vice-chancellor, Geraldine Mackenzie, in a meeting with Minister Tudge recently. I know the government agrees with me that this foresight has positioned USQ very well to handle the challenges faced during the pandemic.
I also want to assure the House that this cost-recovery strategy isn't being implemented blindly. TEQSA will seek stakeholder feedback on a draft cost recovery implementation statement, consistent with the Australian government's cost recovery guidelines. The clear intention is for the government to work with the higher education sector to create a sustainable model. We know that such cooperation will be have the best possible outcomes. We look forward to working with the sector and receiving feedback. This is a clear example of the government working with industry to create a plan that will bring in meaningful change with the least possible disruption. Our economy is reopening. This is the government doing everything it can to ensure that this continues to happen, through planned and coordinated efforts with industry.
While higher education providers might have some criticism of the charges the government is listing, they will be phased in over three years to moderate the immediate financial impact. It will commence on 1 January 2022, and 20 per cent of the costs will be recovered in 2022, 50 per cent in 2023 and 100 per cent in 2024.
In summary, these bills are essential to sustaining this independent service and protecting the integrity of Australia's higher education sector, which I hope will encourage more students to feel confident in taking advantage of the myriad courses available to them, and being part of the next phase of Australia's recovery from COVID-19,
Mr HILL (Bruce) (16:32): I'll say at the outset that I don't support this bill, Labor doesn't support this bill and this House should not support this bill. It doesn't matter how much fancy language the government dresses it up with, it's a bill that will whack higher education providers with new charges at the very worst possible time. There is no detail in the legislation about how much people are going to pay. There's no transparency or scrutiny. We heard from the previous speakers: 'Trust us; we're the government. We'll go and consult. We'll do a bit of stakeholder feedback.' Well, Labor has heard from stakeholders. The universities say that now is the worst time, and the independent higher education providers also say that now is the worst time, to whack the sector with higher fees and charges.
I'm not in principle opposed, I must say, to the idea of moving sectors, over time, to cost recovery—but not now. University budgets are being smashed. We've heard a lot from the government speakers throughout the debate about their job-ready graduates program—a three-word slogan. Well, this job-ready graduates program will see real funding for higher education fall by 10 per cent over the next three years. That's what Senate estimates was told. That's what the budget papers show. Under the government's program for universities, real funding will fall by 10 per cent over the next three years.
Student debts are rising. We've got tens of thousands of Australian students now facing fee hikes. Again, the answers they finally gave to the last round of Senate estimates admitted the truth. What they'd said when they introduced the bill was, 'Oh well, fees might rise for students by seven per cent over three years.' The truth is that on the government's own figures fees for university students will rise by 16 per cent over three years under their so-called reform program.
Now is the very worst time to be whacking universities with higher fees. They've already faced losses of $3 billion just in the last period because of international students and the borders being closed. The economy has lost $9 billion from international education already, with more to come. But the government is not helping universities; they have implemented this real cut to their funding and more charges. It is like the minister over there is a little bit jealous of member for Hume: 'the member for Hume has got a big stick. I will get out my slightly smaller stick and whack the sector'. We have seen from the government that 17,000 jobs have been lost already and they are just the jobs that show up in organisation charts that you can put a position next to; it is not the other thousands and thousands of casuals, sessional teachers, casual researchers and other support staff. There have been 17,000 jobs lost because the government refused to extend JobKeeper. In fact, they changed the rules three times to make sure that public universities in this country were one of the few sectors not eligible for JobKeeper—teachers, researchers, cleaners, support staff, administration staff, people with families, just like all other Australians except they happen to work for a public university, and the government was out to get universities.
The most immediate impact of the international student loss of revenue has been on research. We've had a weird funding model for too long in this country, where universities make a profit off teaching students to fund research. The government, I think, three years ago cut $2.2 billion, another little sneaky cut, in the mid-year financial update—another $2.2 billion the Prime Minister hacked out of universities. At that time, he and the Treasurer said, 'Don't whinge. Go and recruit more international students.' Well, they did that and now the government is saying, 'Well, you're a bit dependent on international students, aren't you?' The practical impact of this is that our research budgets across the nation have been slashed. We hear the government say, 'We gave them a billion dollars.' We didn't actually give them a billion dollars. What the government did was bring forward money that they were going to give them in later years and now its cutting that money. So at the very worst time, we've got the government cutting university funding, effectively cutting research funding, because they've already brought it forward in a national emergency when we need research to commit to the economic recovery, seeing international education fall over—our fourth-biggest export sector—and they are thinking: 'Here is another good idea; we could whack them with fees and charges.' You could wait a couple of years if you want to move to cost recovery, until the cash flows for the universities have recovered.
There is a lot of focus in this debate on universities and very little or none on independent higher education providers. It is no exaggeration to say many independent higher education providers are facing oblivion. They are looking a fiscal cliff in six or 12 months as the student pipeline dries up. If anyone understands the nature of these businesses and this sector, they go on a pipeline. As current students leave, there are no students coming to replace them. It is a myth that gets perpetuated and rolled out—sometimes from people on my side, sometimes from the government—that all higher education providers and non-university providers are somehow dodgy. They're not. Many of them are good reputable businesses giving quality courses often in niche markets or skills.
An honourable member interjecting—
Mr HAMILTON: I mean it; I'm puncturing the stereotype. Well, if the minister actually cared about them, he wouldn't be whacking them with higher charges at this time. Their international student numbers have plummeted. They are not all dodgy. The government did little to nothing to help them. We have already seen many of them go out of business. Many of them were not actually eligible for JobKeeper because they weren't going to suffer the cash flow hit in the short-term; they were facing a fiscal cliff now. Many of these businesses have been around for decades. At the very time when they are fighting for their survival, the government comes along and goes, 'Here is a good idea; we'll whack them with higher fees and charges and push them off the cliff.' If you go and talk to these businesses, that's what they say. They already have many legitimate criticisms of TEQSA's performance and behaviour as a regulator and about the one-size-fits-all approach that regulates all the animals in the sector as if they were an elephant. Well, the universities are the elephants in the sector and there are a lot of other types of providers—small, medium and large ones—but they get university-level regulation basically foisted on them. There is a sector bias within TEQSA, which is a different conversation. If you listen to previous speakers and listen to the government's rhetoric, it is 'We are on about lower taxes, lower charges, less burden on business.' It is peak irony. I mean, if it wasn't actually serious, you could say that this was just trolling the sector. At the very time higher education providers—universities and private ones—need more support from the government, at the very time that their cash flows are being hit, the government comes along and proposes with this bill to whack them with more fees and charges. We heard a government speaker say, 'Well, currently they only pay 15 per cent of the cost-recovery for the regulator, so we're going to jack that up to 100 per cent,' at the very worst time.
The final thing I'll say, just on the international education sector, which TEQSA has a huge role in regulating, is that it's more than just dollars. Students are human. They're usually young people. There have often been huge sacrifices from them and their families to come and study in our country in some of their formative years. We should welcome that. We should show care and consideration for these young people who have chosen to spend this time in our country—in our cities, towns and regions. Instead, we had the Prime Minister showing an appalling lack of empathy, getting up last year and saying, 'If you don't like it, go home.' That ricocheted through the sector.
Mr Tudge interjecting—
Mr HILL: That's exactly what he said, Minister. It's exactly what he said. The minister is over there denying that the Prime Minister told students to go home. I talked a few weeks later with the CEO of one of the large accommodation providers in Sydney. I won't mention the name, but I'm in touch with the sector. I used to be a senior bureaucrat. I chaired the Commonwealth-state officials group for this sector. I ran the sector in Victoria. I actually do know something about this, Minister, perhaps unlike you, who had all your submissions bounced at cabinet last year. So this CEO of the accommodation provider, in relation to the international education sector—
Mr Tudge interjecting—
Mr HILL: That's what they tell us. They said that the minister—you were the immigration minister. That's what the sector believes, that the Prime Minister and the Treasurer were personally hostile to this sector, and any minister who took anything to cabinet to try and do something got thrown out: 'No, we're not interested. We're hostile to this sector.' The CEO of this accommodation provider told me very clearly that the day after the Prime Minister said, 'If you don't like it, go home,' he had students lining up at the front desk taking that literally, saying, 'I have to check out. The Prime Minister told me to go home.' Many of these students fall in love with Australia and Australians. We should show more compassion and a bit of care and empathy. TEQSA has a role in this, but there are also whole-of-government considerations.
I've spoken in other forums and other places about the students stranded offshore, the billions of dollars lost and the lives destroyed, but I want also to place on the record that there's another group of students, not the current or prospective students but the students who've already made that investment in Australia and who, frankly, were sold a promise by the government that if they studied here for three years or four years or whatever the period was, they'd get a graduate 485 visa and be allowed to stay and work in Australia for one year or two years as the case might be. The government should do the right thing by these students and actually commit that it will extend, renew or allow students to enter when the borders are open and it's safe to do so. We've got tens of thousands of students around the world trashing Australia's reputation. They feel misled. They feel abandoned by the government, which can't even extend them an olive branch and say, 'We know you've invested in Australia. We know we made you a promise. We will honour that promise. We may not be able to do it now, but we will honour it.' It's not a difficult thing to do, and it would help to restore some of our international reputation. This is a sector that relies on word of mouth. I'm sure the minister would agree with that. This is a sector which relies overwhelmingly on word of mouth from former students who've studied here and from current students saying to their mates and their families back home: 'Australia's a good place to come and study. You should come here.' That's what marketing of international education is fundamentally about. But the word of mouth right now for Australia is being trashed. A very small thing that the government could do is extend that olive branch to students who have a 485 visa or have post-study work rights and say that they will be allowed to come back.
Mr GOODENOUGH (Moore) (16:43): Maintaining high standards for Australia's educational institutions is a key priority for the government to protect our international reputation for quality in higher education. In order to do this, we must ensure that our regulatory agencies are adequately resourced to perform their governance and supervisory functions. I support the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (Charges) Bill 2021 and the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Amendment (Cost Recovery) Bill 2021. These bills give effect to the 2018-19 budget measures to implement increased cost recovery for the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency.
The government has delayed the introduction of increased cost-recovery for TEQSA on several occasions due to external factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic. At present, cost-recovery levels are relatively low, currently representing around 15 per cent of total costs. Clearly this is not a sustainable financial model. Currently the burden of funding the vast majority of the regulatory activities is borne by the taxpayer. Increased cost-recovery for TEQSA will involve increasing the agency's application based fees to recover the true cost of these activities. The increase to application based fees will be enabled by a new fees determination to be issued by the agency and introducing a new annual charge on higher education providers to recover the costs of TEQSA's risk-monitoring and regulatory oversight activities, including compliance monitoring and investigations, complaint management and stakeholder engagement.
The new annual charge is the subject of these bills. Consistent with the Australian government's Cost Recovery Guidelines, stakeholder feedback will be sought on a draft cost-recovery implementation statement. While higher education providers are likely to oppose this new annual charge, it will be phased in over three years to moderate the immediate financial impact. From 1 January 2022 the charge will be set to recover 20 per cent of the total costs of these activities. From 1 January 2023 the charge will be increased to recover 50 per cent of the total costs. Finally, from 1 January 2024 and ongoing, the charge will be set to recover the full costs of these regulatory activities. The amount of the annual charge will be prescribed by regulations setting out the formula for the charge, to be made by the Governor-General through the Executive Council. The amendments will require a higher education provider to pay the annual charge as and when it falls due, including any penalties for late payment. Failure by a higher education provider to pay the charge will constitute a breach of its conditions of registration.
The 2018-19 budget included a measure providing additional resources and revised cost-recovery arrangements for TEQSA. It provided additional resources of $24.3 million over four years to strengthen TEQSA's regulatory oversight of the higher education sector, meet a significant increase in applications for registration from prospective providers and protect Australia's reputation for high-quality higher education. It also included a shift to increased cost-recovery for regulatory activities. The fees for application based activities are determined by legislative instrument made by the agency under section 158 of the TEQSA Act. Those fees will increase from 1 January, to reflect the Australian government's decision to implement increased cost-recovery for regulatory activities.
The increased resources for the agency's other regulatory functions will be cost-recovered through the new charge developed in line with the Australian Government Charging Framework and imposed by the charges bill. The new charge will be set at a level sufficient to recover the cost of regulatory activities that are not the subject of its application based fees. The estimated total cost of these activities is around $5.7 million annually. The actual amount of the charge for each provider will be determined each year, based on the anticipated costs of TEQSA's regulatory activity for that year. The charge will be imposed on all providers on the agency's national register at the start of that year. The amount of the charge payable by each registered provider will be determined in accordance with a formula set out in the regulations made under proposed section 9 of the charges bill.
The bill also authorises regulations to be made that prescribe the amount or the method for working out the amount of the registered higher education provider charge and, in doing so, may provide for the indexation of the charge and exempt a registered higher education provider, including a class of registered higher education provider, from paying the charge.
Edith Cowan University, based in my electorate, has built up an international reputation for delivering quality in tertiary education and, in particular, excellence in research and development. The university has been allocated $245 million in federal funding as part of the recent budget to establish a new campus specialising in creative industries, business and technology courses. The satellite campus, which will be based at Perth's central business district and house the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, is scheduled to open in 2025 at a total cost of $695 million, with the university contributing $300 million and the WA state government providing land worth $150 million.
Public awareness of the significance of this funding commitment to the higher education sector in Perth is only beginning to be realised, with many residents still relatively unaware of the scale of the tertiary education project. For residents in my electorate, it means a wider range of courses and subjects to choose from and access to a broader selection of learning facilities and educational resources to equip them for future careers in the workforce. This investment by the federal government transcends electoral boundaries. It does not matter where the students live, they will have access to world-class educational facilities, literally on their doorstep, within the Perth metropolitan area.
The Perth campus will complement the courses offered at ECU's main Joondalup campus, based in the Moore electorate, and is expected to accommodate more than 8,000 students and 1,200 staff. The new campus should not be viewed as competing with the Joondalup campus; to the contrary, having a campus based in Western Australia's capital city will function as a gateway to channel international and interstate academics, students and researchers to ECU, putting it on the map. The modern state-of-the-art facilities will boost the reputation of the university, which already ranks among the world's top 100 universities under 50 years old, enhancing the status of the alumni and prestige of its degrees.
I acknowledge the futuristic vision of Vice-Chancellor Professor Steve Chapman, who has led the ECU team to institute what is a transformational education asset for the benefit of future generations. Professor Chapman first briefed me on his visionary plans to establish a capital city campus more than three years ago—a massive undertaking for both government and the university. The contribution of the Minister for Cities, Urban Infrastructure and Population, the Hon. Alan Tudge MP, must be recognised. Minister Tudge visited the electorate on two occasions to discuss the federal government's City Deals program more broadly. We met with the City of Joondalup mayor, Albert Jacob, to discuss our regional infrastructure needs for a growing population. I also thank former Senator Mathias Cormann, who was instrumental in turning this ambitious project proposal to expand our local university into a reality.
During the construction phase, the project is expected to deliver $1.5 billion of economic activity and create more than 3,100 local jobs, adding to the government's economic stimulus program. The campus site is located at the central Perth City Link, adjoining Perth railway station. Interestingly, the northern suburbs railway passes adjacent to ECU's Joondalup campus, effectively directly connecting both campuses with public transport. It is envisaged that the creative and performing arts talent being nurtured at the city campus will add to the entertainment offering for visitors to the city of Perth, particularly during the evenings, supporting the local hospitality industry and adding vibrancy. If the city of Perth succeeds then all of us as Western Australians collectively share in that success as our capital city prospers. This $245 million investment by the Morrison government will expand our local university, which is good for our capital city and a positive for Western Australia, as it expands the higher education opportunities for the younger generation across Perth and the metropolitan area seeking to enter the workforce.
I am pleased that the federal budget included a $1.2 billion investment promoting Australia's digital future, providing the framework to ensure that we develop a world-class digital economy by 2030. Last week I attended the opening of Sapien Cyber, based on the ground floor of the new science building at the Joondalup Campus at Edith Cowan University. The facility was opened by the Governor of Western Australia, His Excellency the Honourable Kim Beazley AC, a former member of this House. I also acknowledge the presence of the chairman, the Honourable Stephen Smith, a former Defence minister and member of this House. May I also acknowledge the exemplary contributions of ECU Vice-Chancellor, Steven Chapman CBE; Chief Executive Officer, Glenn Murray; and the Chief Operating Officer of Sapien Cyber, Rochelle Fleming, in establishing the state-of-the-art facility, which is a collaboration of academic and industry experienced practitioners building upon Edith Cowan University's 20 years of world-leading research in cybersecurity in the form of a new commercial entity model. It will enable local businesses to effectively prepare, defend and respond against cyberincursions and protect against losses to business continuity, safeguarding against reputational and financial loss.
The Joondalup Learning Precinct will develop into a centre of excellence for innovation, technology and research and development. Our educational institutions, such as Edith Cowan University, will continue to collaborate with industry to promote the commercialisation of intellectual property. Our city has the potential to evolve into a digital hub supporting software development, cybersecurity and advanced information technology. We have the highly educated and skilled workforce necessary to attract advanced industries into the heart of Joondalup. The information technology sector in Joondalup has been supported by the federal budget as part of our Digital Economy Strategy. I look forward to supporting the work of Sapien Cyber in the digital sphere, safeguarding our IT infrastructure which the economy of the future will be built upon.
In conclusion, these bills give effect to the 2018-19 budget measures to implement increased cost recovery for the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency. This will ensure adequate resourcing of the agency, strengthening the regulatory oversight of the higher education sector in light of the projected significant increase in applications for registration from prospective providers, protecting Australia's reputation for high quality, tertiary education. I commend the bills to the House.
Mr TUDGE (Aston—Minister for Education and Youth) (16:57): I rise to sum up to on these bills, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (Charges) Bill 2021 and the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Amendment (Cost Recovery) Bill 2021. One of the reasons that we have a highly regarded tertiary education system in Australia is because we have very good regulators. With that regulation though, comes some costs. These bills are aimed at recovering those costs in the now becoming-normal arrangements that we are putting in place across the Commonwealth.
I should stress that these had been mooted, and in fact it was a budget decision, as previous speakers have said, going way back to 2018-19, and we're legislating now for it to come into effect next year. Then, when it does, there will be a transition period over three years. It's in keeping with our general principles of cost recovery. There's a transition period starting from next year. We obviously have consulted in relation to this, and the sector has known it has been a long time coming.
I would say in relation to this—and in doing so address some of the points which particularly those opposite have raised, which I note are opposing this bill which is disappointing—that at the moment all of our regulatory costs have been deferred. They have not just been deferred actually; they were not charged during last year. Indeed, a budget decision was to extend that all the way through the remainder of this calendar year, and obviously we'll keep a very close eye on it.
Why did we do that? We did that because of the impact of COVID on the higher education sector—on our universities and our private higher education providers. This provided them some relief during that period, particularly, as many have noted, when international students—who are a significant source of revenue for more of them—weren't arriving into the country.
I did want to also address a couple of other points, particularly those which the shadow minister, the member for Sydney, raised and which others from the opposition benches also raised. The main point which they were making was twofold, the first being that this is not the right time to be doing this and the second being that we have not supported the higher education industry. Let me address each of those.
They say, 'This is not the right time to do it.' Well, I've been through that. It was raised in 2018-19. It comes into play in 2022. And there will be a staggered introduction. We've waived the fees up until that particular point in time, and obviously we keep a close eye on what's going on.
Have we actually supported the sector throughout the COVID pandemic period? The answer is yes. Obviously, the tertiary sector has been impacted by the fact that international students have not been able to arrive into the country since our borders were closed early in calendar year 2020. For our public universities, international students are a significant source of their revenue—about 25 per cent—and, for some of the private higher education providers, it can be as high as 90 per cent of their revenue. So we're aware of that and have actually put in place many measures already to support them. We provided, for example, the public universities an extra billion dollars in research revenue in last year's budget and an extra half a billion dollars in additional Commonwealth supported places for domestic students, in full-time courses as well as short courses. So, all up, that's an additional $1.5 billion that the Commonwealth placed into the public universities.
In the most recent budget, we also had a particular package for the private higher education providers, noting that some of them are particularly reliant upon international students and international students for shorter courses—six-month courses, rather than necessarily two-, three- or four-year courses. That's a $53 million package provided for them, to help them deal with the pandemic. That will be rolled out over the next six months or so. It includes 5,000 additional short-course placements for the private higher education providers.
Again, we'll implement these measures and will be keeping a close eye on the private higher education providers, with the ambition, obviously, that international students will be able to return at some stage next year. As people would understand, we've made an assumption in the budget that that will be in the second half of next year.
A key point that the shadow minister raised—and she has raised this repeatedly, and I want to address it squarely—is that we should have provided JobSeeker to the public universities. That's been a key point of attack on the government from the member for Sydney and those opposite. I simply want to point out to the member for Sydney some basic maths. I know she's not very good at maths. She's not very good at geography—she confuses Africa as being a country rather than a continent. But she should know that, to be eligible for JobSeeker, you had to have at least a 30 per cent decline in your revenue, and, if you're a larger organisation with a billion dollars of revenue or more, you had to have a 50 per cent decline in your revenue. Not a single public university—many of whom were above a billion dollars worth of revenue—would have got anywhere close to that figure. So this point that the member for Sydney continuously raises is a false point, and surely she should be aware of it. In fact, if anything, I look at the figures and I know that international student numbers are down, but, for the public universities, they're down about 13 per cent at the moment. Now, international students make up 25 per cent of public universities' revenue, so 13 per cent down on the 25 per cent. That does not get you anywhere near a 30 per cent decline in revenue, let alone a 50 per cent decline in revenue. Surely that basic mathematics should be understood by those opposite, particularly the shadow education minister. So it is just a false argument which she has continuously made to make out that we are not supporting the public universities.
I will also point out—and maybe the member for Sydney is not aware of this—that many of the universities continue to report budget surpluses; not all of them, and I understand that. For example: Monash University reported its biggest-ever budget surplus in 2020 of $267 million; Melbourne University, $178 million; Flinders, $35 million; University of Southern Queensland, $12 million; Western Sydney University, $13 million. I appreciate that some have reported deficits in 2020 and I understand that, but that is on top of aggregated budget surpluses of $16 billion over the last nine years from our public universities.
I know that some of them are feeling the squeeze. We understand that. We have provided that additional assistance to those public universities. As I have publicly said and say so continuously, we keep a close eye on their finances. We are working closely with them. We are doing so in terms of potentially getting some pilots up of international students later this year and there is certainly an assumption made in the budget that we will have larger scale numbers of international students back next year.
Getting back to this particular bill, it is a reasonable bill. It has been talked about for many years. We are passing the legislation now knowing it will be implemented from next year. It will be phased in and, in the meantime, all of those charges and fees have actually been waived during this pandemic period. I commend the bill.
The SPEAKER: The original question was that this bill now be read a second time. To this, the honourable member for Sydney has moved as an amendment that all words after 'that' be omitted with a view to substituting other words. So the immediate question is that the words proposed to be omitted stand part of the question.
The House divided. [17:11]
(The Speaker—Hon. Tony Smith)
The SPEAKER (17:16): The question now is that this bill be read a second time.
The House divided. [17:16]
(The Speaker—Hon. Tony Smith)
Third Reading
Mr DUTTON (Dickson—Minister for Defence and Leader of the House) (17:18): by leave—I move:
That this bill be now read a third time.
Question agreed to.
Bill read a third time.
Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Amendment (Cost Recovery) Bill 2021
Second Reading
Consideration resumed of the motion:
That this bill be now read a second time.
The SPEAKER (17:19): The question is that this bill be now read a second time.
The House divided. [17:23]
(The Speaker—Hon. Tony Smith)
Third Reading
Mr TUDGE (Aston—Minister for Education and Youth) (17:26): by leave—I move:
That this bill be now read a third time.
Question agreed to.
Bill read a third time.
Higher Education Support Amendment (Extending the Student Loan Fee Exemption) Bill 2021
Second Reading
Consideration resumed of the motion:
That this bill be now read a second time.
Mr PERRETT (Moreton) (17:27): I speak today on the Higher Education Support Amendment (Extending the Student Loan Fee Exemption) Bill 2021, and I move:
That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:
"whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House notes that the bill does nothing to address the crisis Australia's world-class universities are facing after the Government abandoned universities during the pandemic, resulting in:
(1) thousands of jobs lost;
(2) hundreds of courses cut; and
(3) Australian students being loaded up with a lifetime of debt".
Labor supports this legislation before the House. This legislation extends the FEE-HELP loan fee exemption that was announced as part of the Higher Education Relief Package in April 2020. Students studying full-fee degrees at table A public universities and private higher education providers are currently able to access FEE-HELP loans to pay all or part of their tuition fees, but these loans come at a cost to students. Until recently, if you took out a FEE-HELP loan to pay for your undergraduate course, you had to pay a 25 per cent loan fee. The Job-Ready Graduates Package reduced the loan fee from 25 per cent to 20 per cent from 1 July this year. The Higher Education Relief Package included an exemption from the loan fee for units of study, with the census date between 1 April and 30 September. In September 2020 the loan fee exemption was extended through to 30 June this year. The legislation before the House extends the exemption again by a further six months, to New Year's Eve this year. Domestic undergraduate students studying at non-university higher education providers will benefit from this exemption by it reducing their financial burden. It is intended that this exemption will provide an incentive for those students who have been financially affected by COVID-19 to continue or commence studies in 2021, in turn supporting higher education providers. It is appropriate to continue exempting students from having to pay the 20 per cent loan fee to access a FEE-HELP loan at this time.
Labor supports this bill because it will reduce student debt levels. Of course it's good to reduce the amount of debt that students are accumulating. That will encourage more people to improve their skills through study and hence boost productivity—which, as we saw from the budget, has some serious issues—and more students studying will also assist higher education providers, who are struggling as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this is just another in the laundry list of examples where this government has given private higher education providers much needed support throughout the pandemic while abandoning our wonderful public universities. This bill only reduces the debt for students studying with a private provider, while tens of thousands of students starting university this semester had their fees hiked. Many students have had to take on fees and debt at double the level they would have taken on prior to the government's job-ready graduates legislation.
This is a familiar pattern when it comes to the Morrison government. At the peak of the COVID pandemic, when universities were crying out for assistance, the Morrison government gave JobKeeper to private providers but changed the rules, three times, to exclude public universities. This has led to more than 17,000 jobs being lost and hundreds of courses being cut. We're talking about academics, tutors, admin staff, scientific assistants, lab assistants—everybody who keeps a university up and running. Seventeen thousand are now without jobs, all with families and bills to pay. Why is the Prime Minister not concerned that thousands of livelihoods have been destroyed and households bludgeoned because of his decisions, when he could have prevented this? If the Prime Minister really cared about jobs, he would be helping universities, not hurting them. If the Prime Minister really cared about families, he would have supported those families who were relying on universities to earn a living, instead of systematically targeting them—his very own culture-wars whipping boy.
Australian universities have really struggled during this pandemic. Last year they lost an estimated $3 billion, yet the budget had nothing meaningful for public universities. In fact, there was a 10 per cent real funding cut over the coming years, and emergency funding to keep researchers in their jobs was cut off, even though, as we all know, this health crisis is far from over. Instead, the Morrison government announced another $53 million for private providers for fee relief and short courses. We've had eight long years of this cruel, out-of-touch government—those opposite think a university education is good enough for their own kids but not for most Australians, and they're happy to sign students in every electorate across the country up to a lifetime of debt.
During the last parliamentary sitting period, the budget papers confirmed for the first time what the Morrison government has refused to admit—that the Liberals are saving money by jacking up uni fees. I don't want Australia to become like the United States of America, where kids have to take on a lifetime of debt merely to obtain an education. We're talking about our kids graduating from university with debts of around $60,000 for a basic degree, at the same time as they're trying to find work, maybe saving for a deposit for a house or thinking about starting a family. Late last year, I took the shadow education minister, the member for Sydney, to meet some graduating year 12 students in my electorate. We caught up with these students and had a good yarn. These students were very aware of the costs associated with their courses and what the increases would mean. Many of them were anxious. One of the students we met with talked about the fact that she had dreamed of pursuing a particular career but, sadly, had to change to a different course because she was worried about paying the increased fees. Her dreams were crushed by the Morrison government's policy.
People should never forget that government decisions have real-life consequences. I'm sure the aim of the coalition's policy was not to crush any student's dreams, but in this case that is exactly what was achieved and what I saw. The Morrison government's huge uni fees and huge uni debts will rob more Australian kids of the job of their dreams. The Morrison government is not setting Australian kids up for success. Instead, they're being loaded down with a lifetime of debt.
Labor will support this legislation before the chamber because it will reduce the amount of debt being accumulated for some students. But it is time for the Morrison government to stop the harm they're inflicting on people's lives and on our economy by abandoning the universities and research during this time of crisis and making it harder and more expensive for many students to go to university.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Mr Zimmerman ): Is the amendment seconded?
Dr Aly: I second the amendment and reserve my right to speak.
Dr WEBSTER (Mallee) (17:35): With the Higher Education Support Amendment (Extending the Student Loan Fee Exemption) Bill 2021, the government is extending the FEE-HELP loan fee exemption already in place by a further six months. The extension to the FEE-HELP loan fee exemption provides an incentive to students to commence and continue their study throughout 2021. The Australian government originally introduced a temporary exemption from the FEE-HELP loan fee due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This extension continues the government's support of students in higher education.
Higher education leads to increased skills, greater job opportunities, economic output and growth and a better quality of life. Higher education is something I engaged in later in life—actually beginning two degrees and a PhD when I turned 49.
A government member interjecting—
Dr WEBSTER: Thank you so much. I'm very proud of those achievements. In fact, I think mature-age students make wonderful students.
The future growth of Mallee depends on equitable access to higher education for students in our regions. Our businesses and industries need the right people with the right training to prosper and grow. As our industries advance and change, there is an increased need for highly-skilled workers. We need students in agriculture, manufacturing, energy and information technology, just to name a few areas. Higher education options in Mallee consist of two, fundamentally. There's La Trobe in Mildura—and I've spoken many times with Vice-Chancellor Professor John Dewar about what is being offered in Mildura, and have said that I'd dearly love to see that expanded—and Federation University in Horsham. Professor Geoffrey Lord is the head of Federation University's Wimmera campus in Horsham. That campus is under threat to diminish its courses, not expand them. I will continue to campaign and prosecute a greater expansion of courses down there.
La Trobe Mildura has been operating in Mildura for 20 years. It is led by Head of Campus Deb Neal. It is integral to our community and our economy. Eighty-seven per cent of students stay and work locally in Mildura. More than 1,800 La Trobe alumni are living and working in the Mildura region. It is an outstanding achievement. I believe, and this government believes, that your health shouldn't depend on your postcode, and we know that students who study in the regions are more likely to stay in the regions and work. That's why we need more students studying health in Mallee.
That is why we established the rural medical pathway program. This great program is rolled out in regional Australia through the Murray-Darling Medical School. I want to see that come to Mildura. I have been working closely with the vice-chancellor of La Trobe, Professor John Dewar, to bring the program to Mallee. This was the first program under Murray-Darling Medical School's network initiative. At the moment, students at La Trobe currently complete under-grads in Bendigo or Albury-Wodonga, meaning they leave Mildura. Students then complete post-grad medicine in Shepparton through the University of Melbourne—none of which takes place in Mallee. Monash Medical School does exist in Mildura and post-grad students do come here for periods of time. We have had an increasing interest in the program. In our first in-take in 2019 there were 230 applications, in the second in-take in 2020 there were 390 applications and in the third in-take in 2021 there were 540 applications to study medicine in a rural setting.
I've had the privilege to meet some of these students from Mallee, including Xavier and Jake. Xavier Kendall is from Ouyen in my electorate. He says:
I believe that with a rural medical degree I will be able to have the biggest impact, rural physicians are in demand, and working in a rural area will enable me to serve the community in a way that will truly make a difference.
I hope to work in regional areas as a doctor for a start, then I hope to specialise in radiology and utilise my skills in a regional community.
I wish Xavier all the very best. Jake is from Mildura. He says:
When you see large communities like Mildura struggle to find doctors and provide care, it becomes really obvious something needs to be done to protect people and inspire future doctors to look into rural health. I want to be a part of that.
I want to provide care for the most remote people in the world, including a 3 month stint in Antarctica and hopefully the chance to work with the rural flying doctors. But most of all I want to return to the community that raised me.
We want you back too, Jake.
I, along with La Trobe, want to see this program come to Mildura so students like Jake and Xavier don't have to move away. La Trobe are seeking funding of $6.25 million over four years to establish the program. That includes a $2.2 million one-off capital cost for a new wet lab. I've walked into the facility where that wet lab, hopefully, will be built. We also need an allocation of Commonwealth supported places. The minister for regional health, Mark Coulton, has visited La Trobe. I've also met with the minister for education, Alan Tudge, to discuss the proposal. There are obvious benefits in bringing the rural medical pathway program to Mallee—to attract more tertiary health students to Mildura, to support higher education delivery in Mildura, to train more doctors of rural origin in our regions and to make us more likely to retain doctors in regional areas. If we train local, we stay local.
This government is also supporting students in regional universities through the Destination Australia scholarship program. The Australian government funds scholarships for students to study in regional Australia under this program, with scholarship funding of $15,000 per student. This is about giving students in regional areas valuable exposure. La Trobe currently is hosting nine Destination Australia students locally in Mallee. In a few weeks I'll be meeting some of these students, but I wanted to share with the House what these students have said about studying in the regions. Brianna O'Connor-Byrne, who is training in a Bachelor of Education (Primary), says:
Being in a regional area for study has been extremely helpful for my studies. I am in in classes where everyone knows each other and the tutors and lecturers know students and are greatly invested in our studies. Living in a regional area provides many opportunities for growth and career development, even before graduation; with a number of people being able to volunteer in their field or apply for placement opportunities available only in the regional areas.
Once I graduate, I hope to stay in the regional areas of Victoria giving back to the smaller communities in the regional areas.
Alexandra Littore is studying a Bachelor of Business. She says:
The scholarship has provided me with support, which has given me confidence to know that I do have the potential to complete my studies. It has given myself an opportunity to further become a leader and know in myself that I have the potential to do what I put my mind to it. It has also increased my drive to further want to succeed in my studies. It has allowed me the support to know I have options and peace of mind, as my knowledge of accounting and what I want to pursue further has broaden.
Studying at La Trobe Mildura has been great, the smaller campus means being able to see so many friendly faces around, especially the staff. In the classes on campus, the number of students is smaller, meaning it feels more 1 on 1 with the teacher, I feel more likely to want to ask questions and want to learn more. Actually, studying regionally, I believe has made me enjoy my course more. Living regionally is great, I'm able to really enjoy the little things and have so many opportunities to really succeed.
Eilidh Noblet is studying for a bachelor of nursing. She says:
I have learnt and loved being on a smaller campus and forming personal relationships with my lecturers as well as my peers. I feel like I can always ask and receive help when I need it. Within my nursing group, majority of us go out to local cafes and restaurants for lunch between classes to reflect on classwork and just be social. I started off the year not knowing anyone in my classes, however it did not take long to get to know one another and start up some friendships. I have made many great friends through Uni so far and believe these new friends of mine will be hanging around for the rest of my lifetime. I have spoken with many of my school friends who are studying in Melbourne and they all say how they are jealous of my Uni experience and friendships made as their experience is a lot different, and they don’t get the opportunity to make new friendships with the other students in their classes like I do in Mildura.
There is so much to be said for studying in regional campuses, and we as a government are committed to seeing those experiences enhanced and multiplied.
Mr THISTLETHWAITE (Kingsford Smith) (17:45): I'm speaking in support of this bill. In doing so, I think that, with this bill, the government is implicitly recognising what pressure our public universities are under because the bill does extend the FEE-HELP loan exemption, which was first announced in April last year to deal with COVID because we all knew that people studying at our universities were going to be under pressure and needed that exemption from tuition fees for students studying at our public universities and private education providers. Prior to COVID, if you took out a FEE-HELP loan to pay for your undergraduate course, you also had to pay a 25 per cent loan fee. In the Higher Education Relief Package the government announced an exemption from the loan fee for units of study with a census date from 1 April to 30 September. This bill, of course, extends that loan exemption for the fee. But in doing so, the government is really admitting that our public universities are under enormous pressure. This government hasn't done much at all to support public education in Australia, particularly at that tertiary level.
We all know that the government's recent budget has built into it $150 billion worth of debt, the largest budget deficit that our nation has ever seen. A trillion dollars of debt will hit over the course of the forward estimates period, so the Australian people are saying: 'We've got a large debt, a very large budget deficit. What is this government's plan to make sure that our economy recovers from COVID in better shape than when we entered it?' I have to say that, in this bill and in everything that this government has been doing, there is no plan. If you look at the government's budget papers, they actually admit that out of this large deficit, this huge debt that future generations are going to inherit, not much occurs that will grow the Australian economy. In fact, the level of growth at the end of the forward estimates is the same as it is at the moment. Wages don't grow, so people's incomes aren't going to be increasing, and there's certainly no hope that we're going to get an improvement in labour productivity or efficiency in our economy. The key to doing that and in particular the key to improving labour productivity, which has been a handbrake on growth in our economy and will continue to be so under this government, is education, is ensuring that more Australians have better educational attainment and are more productive in the work that they do to produce incomes that contribute to GDP for this economy.
Everyone knows that the key to improving our economic performance into the future is education, getting more people into better skilled jobs. We are seeing a lack of support from this government for not only the university sector but also for the trades. In Australia, over the course of the last eight years under this government, there were 140,000 fewer apprentices than in 2013. Think of the opportunities and the productivity improvement that have been lost with that. They've smashed the TAFE system. There's been $2 billion in cuts to TAFE funding from this government. That's seen state governments push up the cost of a TAFE education and getting a trade. That's meant that many young Australians simply can't afford to anymore. And they're not; they're not taking up trades. And what is the result of that? All you need to do is walk down any main street of Australia, in any town, regional centre or city, and ask an employer how they're going with employing staff, and they'll all tell you the one thing: 'I cannot get skilled staff at the moment. I want to grow my business. The customers are there. The demand is there. I could grow my business, but I can simply cannot get skilled staff at the moment.' What is the reason for that? It's because this government has not invested in trades education and training in this country, and, as a result, we've got skill shortages.
Pre COVID, the government's solution to that was simply to import foreign labour: 'It doesn't matter; we won't invest in trades training and education. We'll be able to just import foreign labour on temporary visas so that we'll fill the gaps.' And that's what was occurring. Many of those small businesses were having to go through the rigmarole of sponsoring people and getting people in on temporary visas. Then, of course, COVID hit and the borders had to close. That stream and that wave of temporary migrants, that labour supply, has now dried up, and all of these Australian businesses, including small businesses, now have skill shortages. They have skill shortages because of the Morrison government. It's the Morrison government that's put a handbrake on the growth of small businesses and jobs in this country, and they ought to be ashamed.
It extends to the higher education sector as well. It says everything about this government's approach to higher education that it gave JobKeeper to Australian casinos, yet it refused to give JobKeeper to Australia's public universities. That says everything about this government's priorities when it comes to education: 'We won't invest in education. We won't invest in ensuring that we've got a better-skilled workforce on the back of COVID so that we can reduce some of the skill shortages that we've got and so that we can improve labour productivity and therefore get economic growth. No, we're not going to do that. It's against all of our philosophical views about education. We're not going to invest in it.' What's the result? Look at the budget papers. They tell us the result: no growth over the forward estimates, in terms of economic growth, and no growth in incomes for Australians. We're going to be stuck in this rut for many years to come because of this government and its lack of support for higher education in this country.
I'm very fortunate to have the University of New South Wales in my electorate. This is a university that is a world-leading facility when it comes to solar, PV solar and photovoltaic research; medical research, particularly at the Children's Cancer Institute, which is connected to the university; technological advancements in tackling climate change; and in space research—all of the new, modern industries that Australia has enormous opportunities in. And what's this government's approach? 'We're going to deny them JobKeeper.' As a result, what happens? Five hundred jobs are lost at the University of New South Wales, with academics, tutors, admin staff, library staff, catering staff, grounds staff, cleaners and many others trying to make ends meet.
The irony is that, when COVID hit, who did we turn to and say, 'Help us get of this; help us open up our economy again. What should we do to make sure that we can eventually live with this virus and open up our economy again'? We turned to those researchers. We turned to those epidemiologists, the medical professionals, the virologists and of course the people who put together the vaccines. Where were they working? They were working in our universities. That's the thanks that they get from this government: 'We want you to come up with the vaccine for COVID, but we're not going to give you any support to make sure that you can do it.' It says everything about this government's approach to their treatment of COVID, their development of a vaccine and their lack of support for higher education. It's 17,000 people and 17,000 jobs that have been lost in our university sector as a result of this government's lack of support for Australian universities. Not only do hundreds of thousands of Australians rely on universities for their jobs but also the universities are the home of those brilliant researchers that have been developing the new treatments and equipment to combat COVID—17,000 jobs have been lost. What a shameful record from this government about approaching higher education in this country. I don't think there'd be any nation in the developed world that would have a poorer record when it comes to supporting industries that are vitally important to combatting COVID. That's the great shame about this government's recent budget—that, once again, there's this distinctive lack of support for the university sector in Australia.
We all know that education is an important contributor to the Australian economy. It was the third-largest export contributor to Australia's GDP pre-COVID. But many of those universities, of course, had to close their doors to foreign students because of the closure of the borders, so many of them have seen their incomes diminish and the number of students doing courses at their universities diminish. They classically fit the need for JobKeeper and the need for government support, but they haven't been given that support at all. Despite spending $100 billion and racking up a trillion dollars worth of debt, this government has nothing to show for it when it comes to the university sector. They've left our universities stranded.
Private, not-for-profit colleges get a lifeline. They're being given a $53 billion lifeline, but do our public universities? No, because those opposite are philosophically opposed to public universities. They see them as a hotbed of radical thought. How dare people go to university and get an education where they may be exposed to other theories that are anti to their philosophical way of life! How dare they be hotbeds of thought and philosophical views about the future of the country! No, that's not the sort of thing that they would like to support because of their philosophical objection to the notion of people thinking and thinking about the future of our country—so, 'We're simply not going to support them.' What a petty approach! What a spiteful approach to education that will see less kids, particularly those from working-class backgrounds—they say all the time that they are all about supporting workers. What rubbish! How is this about supporting workers and their kids getting into education, particularly when, last year, they amended all the fee structures so that a kid that comes from a working-class family that's got a dream of studying the humanities, economics, business or something like that, can't afford it anymore, because the costs of those courses have increased by factors of 100 per cent.
It shows you everything about this government's approach to universities. Unfortunately, the country will pay for it down the track, because we all know that we've got a deep problem in this country with labour productivity. For the first time in the history of the records that we've been keeping around labour productivity, under this government labour productivity fell. In other words, there was no growth. There has usually been a little bit of growth, and we argued about the level of growth. But, no, under this government it fell. It went backwards, and it's not going to come back any time soon because there's a distinct lack of commitment to education, be it in the trades, dealing with some of the skill shortages that we're facing in the country, or in the higher education sector, dealing with those issues around technology and doing things smarter and the jobs of the future. This government simply is not committed to that way of life and ensuring that our universities are there to grow the economy into the future, ensuring that we do have labour productivity growth once again in Australia and ensuring that we do grow our economy over the forward estimates instead of the pathetic result that we're going to get of flatlining for the rest of the forward estimates.
Mr CONNELLY (Stirling) (17:59): Well, I relish this opportunity on two fronts. Firstly, it is a good opportunity to correct the record on a number of matters raised just now by the member for Kingsford Smith, principally that assertion that was just made that this government is somehow under investing in education. Secondly, there was a spurious and incorrect claim made that this government does not have a plan. I will pick up those two points under this address. I'd also like to make the observation that when we talk about education, we should acknowledge that there are many different paths that people take and, indeed, some of those paths change over time.
I was impressed as I am sure those of us who were here in the chamber at the time were as well, when the wonderful member of Mallee pointed out she was in fact 49 years of age when she began her two degrees and her PhD—what a wonderful story—and now she's here in this place adding massive value every single day. My own path was slightly different again. I went straight out of high school into the Australian Defence Force Academy down here in Canberra, which has a structure where students obtain a university degree through the University of New South Wales at the same time as undertaking military studies that lead to, obviously, a military career. So in my case, I was paying for my education through service to our nation for quite a number of years thereafter, which suited me quite well. Then my own eldest daughter, Tiggy, is in her first year at the University of WA undertaking a degree in psychology and criminology and comes home every day bounding with enthusiasm and energy, so they must be doing something right out there.
I would also take a moment to remind all of us that, unlike in previous generations, everybody who can go to university doesn't have to go to university. Certainly when I was leaving school, the approach was different. If you had the academic aptitude to go to university, that was the path you must take. I am very pleased to see there is an acceptance much more across our society now in having manual skills, having skills in technological fields, including IT, that may not require a university degree. Indeed the Deputy Speaker himself, I am well informed, hasn't been to university and now is a high-performing member of parliament. So I do take that moment to note that our kids growing up, and I am sure everyone would agree, should assess their options for what suits them, not what others say they must do.
This year's budget opens wonderful opportunities for education in areas needed to add value here in Australia. This budget has flagged significant investment in areas which include aged care, with an additional $17.7 billion allocated, so it is a great opportunity for those who want to work in both technical and non-technical means within aged care to get on board, as we rightly expand those products and services in the aged-care field. For the NDIS, an additional $13.2 billion has been allocated for that very important program, so there are some more great opportunities for those who want to apply their skills in an area that absolutely matters in helping out their fellow Australians—what a great opportunity. For mental health, there is a further $2.3 billion. Again, we need so many workers into the future in that mental health space. Sitting as I do on the Select Committee for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, one of the key things identified is that need for an enhanced workforce. So again, there are some great education opportunities in the pipeline. The last one I will finish on, as we talk broadly before I move more specifically to the structure of the bill and the purpose behind it, is around defence capability, something else that is near and dear to my and many other hearts in this place.
Defence capability will be boosted to the tune of $270 billion over the next 10 years. It's an appropriate and necessary investment and one that certainly comes with a great deal of opportunity for people to work in defence industry, building the ships and building the engines for our unmanned aerial vehicles, like I saw happening in my own electorate of Stirling, to be exported to the world. There are some wonderful opportunities right across that supply chain. For some of them, university education requirements will apply and for others they will not. So a very, very exciting future is ahead for our nation.
I'll turn now to some more of the specific detail in this bill. Of course, this bill is focused on extending the student loan fee exemption at a time when that just makes sense. Obviously we want to help our next generation of students who do choose to undertake university degrees to get there sooner and with greater ease. That's why we're seeking to extend this FEE-HELP loan fee exemption, which is already in place for a further six months until the end of this calendar year.
FEE-HELP first came into effect in 2005. It allowed people who were paying full course fees to access a loan similar to HECS-HELP. This provided choice to those who wanted to study at private higher education providers without having to borrow money, which some had previously had to do in the past. Undergraduate students accessing the FEE-HELP loan would normally accrue a 20 per cent loan fee, which would be on top of their amount, while HECS-HELP loans do not incur this fee. So what we want to see is the extension of this level playing field until at least the end of this year, which will be a boost for around 30,000 students at more than 100 private education providers across Australia. It's an incentive for students who wish to continue or commence study this upcoming semester and will bolster student enrolments. It's vital that we continue to support our higher education providers to deliver the high-quality education that is required for our nation's future workforce.
Yes, this will benefit Aussie students, but it will also be essential to our nation's economic recovery as we move forward through this recovery phase associated with the COVID-19 global pandemic. We are continuing to support our students—our future workforce—including apprentices and trainees. In this budget, the Morrison government is providing a record $20 billion investment in the higher education sector. That funding is a whopping 37 per cent up since we came to government. We're also committing more than $903 million over the next four years towards more places in the higher education sector and towards supporting more students. This year alone our government's Job-Ready Graduates Package is creating an additional 30,000 places, with the aim of creating 100,000 spots by 2030. But it doesn't stop there. The cost of degrees in key areas is going down: the cost of an agriculture degree has been slashed by more than half, 59 per cent down, to be exact; the cost of a maths degree is also down 59 per cent; the cost of a teaching or nursing degree has decreased 42 per cent; and the cost of a science, engineering or IT degree has gone down by 18 per cent.
It was only seven months ago, in October, when the government handed down our last budget, providing $1 billion to the sector for research and development due to COVID-19. This cash injection also helped ease the burden that was faced because of the inability of foreign students to study in Australia in the numbers that they had been and, of course, because of the associated loss of their tuition fees. Last year's budget also included an additional $298 million in funding for undergraduate places and $252 million for up to 50,000 additional short course places. These are just some of the initiatives that relate to the financial relief our government is offering to Australian students.
Extending the loan fee exemption will be a another step in the right direction by this Morrison government when it comes to supporting Australian students and reducing the financial burdens they face. As I said earlier, the exemption came into place in April last year before being extended to 30 June 2021. We want to see it continue until at least the end of this calendar year so that we can help undergraduate students with their learning as they seek to get out there and make a difference to the future of our great nation.
It is critical that this bill be passed as soon as possible, because the 30 June deadline is fast approaching, as is semester 2, 2021. Prospective students need certainty. They cannot be left in the dark when it comes to receiving accurate information from providers about their fees.
We are backing Australian students. We are investing in our future. I commend this bill to the House.
Dr ALY (Cowan) (18:10): The Morrison government giveth and the Morrison government taketh away. We've just voted on the TEQSA bills, which would see this government slam higher education institutions with a new fee structure at a time when they are already suffering huge job losses, are unable to cater to international students and are already brought to their knees. I spoke on those bills, and I will speak on this bill, the Higher Education Support Amendment (Extending the Student Loan Fee Exemption) Bill 2021, because I will always speak about the sector of which I was part for many years of my life and because I will always stand up to hold this government to account on its record on higher education.
Labor supports this bill because it is good legislation. It's about extending the FEE-HELP loan exemption that was first announced in April 2020, which Labor supported. The bill will extend the exemption until at least the end of this calendar year, as the previous speaker, the member for Cowan, said. Hopefully, when we revisit it, if it's needed, the government will continue to respond in appropriate ways.
As I said, the government giveth and the government taketh away. I will talk about the government's record on higher education, but I want to start by telling you a story that, to me, really illustrates the importance of education and the kinds of changes that it can make to an individual's life. A couple of years ago I was out door-knocking in my electorate. I knocked on a door, and this young fellow answered. I said to him: 'Hi, I'm Anne Aly. I'm the member for Cowan. I represent you in federal parliament. Are your parents home?' He said, 'No, my parents aren't home. I'm here alone.' I said, 'Okay, what do you do?' He said, 'I'm in year 12.' I said, 'What are you going to do when you finish?' He said, 'I've got no idea what I want to do with my life.' I looked at him and said, 'Have you ever thought of studying a degree in counterterrorism, intelligence and security?' He looked at me like I had three heads and was this crazy, mad woman who'd just rocked up on his door and said, 'No. I didn't even know you could do a degree in counterterrorism, intelligence and security.' I said, 'Well, you can, because I wrote the degree.' So I left him with a bit of information about the degree and where he could go, and I gave him my number, in case he ever wanted to call me an have a chat about it. About six months ago I got an email from his mum. She said in her email: 'You came knocking on my door. I wasn't home, but you spoke to my son. You left some information for him and you convinced him to do a degree in counterterrorism, intelligence and security.' She said, 'I'm pleased to say that his older brother, who had left school and had been going from job to job to job, not really knowing what he wanted to do, joined him. They are both now in their second year of that degree and are loving it, and they would love to come and meet you.' Of course I said, 'Yes, I would love to meet them!' So they came over, and we had a little meeting in my office over a cup of coffee. I was like: 'What assignment are you working on now? Who's your lecturer here and who's your lecturer there? What are you thinking of doing as a minor? Which area are you thinking you might go into?' It was such a heartening thing to see that a chance encounter with a young person who had absolutely what they were going to do, who could see a pathway forward in his life, both he and his brother could see a pathway forward in their lives, to something that they could do, to something meaningful that they could do that gave them meaning, gave them opportunity and gave them optimism for the future. That is the power of education, and that is why we are so lucky to be in a country where our higher education sector is one of the best in the world. Our universities are some of the best in the world. Our university lecturers, our professors, our tutors and our admin staff are some of the best in the world—some of the most hardworking in the world and some of the most dedicated in the world. Sadly, many of them have been forced out of their jobs because this government was too slow and didn't do enough in supporting higher education institutions through the COVID pandemic. Education is Australia's fourth largest export; imagine that, a country where our education is one of our largest exports. Higher education institutions and universities rely on international students and rely on being in face-to-face situations for their interaction with our young people. Jobs were lost.
Let's take a look at some of the key facts of this government's record on higher education, because I believe it would be completely remiss of me to talk about this bill without putting it in the context of a protracted campaign from this government and a history from this government of what can only be described as attacks on the higher education sector. You do not need to take my word for it. Go and talk to the universities. Talk to the university vice-chancellors, talk to the lecturers, talk to the professors and talk to the students. They will tell you just what the impact of this government's consistent cuts and attacks on higher education has been. Talk to the researchers. The researchers are just beside themselves that they have a minister—the previous minister—who intervenes in the ARC process to veto, at his whim, research projects that have been through a very vigorous ARC process, as if he is the one who is an expert on the research project. He's not the expert on the research projects; the college of experts who are appointed to assess Australian Research Council grants are the experts, not the minister.
This government talks about innovation, but at the same time they're talking up innovation and talking about commercialisation and talking about research, they're attacking the humanities. Let many tell you what the future is for the humanities. It's not what this government thinks. People aren't going to be studying sociology so they can navel gaze. They're not going to be studying anthropology so they can watch videos of cats on YouTube.
The future of the humanities can be encapsulated in two words: artificial intelligence. The artificial part is going to come from sciences and technology—from the technical aspects—but the intelligence part of it is going to come from the humanities, because the intelligence part of it is about understanding human behaviour. That's sociology. That's anthropology. That's social psychology. That's media and culture. That's behavioural studies. That's all of those things—all of those humanities subjects about which the government has said to young people, 'If you what to study them, you are going to have to pay more.' That is what this government has said to them: 'We're going to incentivise the sciences by making you pay more for a humanities degree, if that's your passion and that's what you want to pursue.' There is no foresight, no vision and no thinking that, actually, the humanities play a huge roll in the future of technology and innovation, because it puts the intelligence in artificial intelligence. That's what that part of artificial intelligence is.
Before the COVID pandemic, international education was our fourth-largest export industry. It contributed $37.9 billion in export earnings to the economy. So can put aside all of those things that you might think are 'touchy-feely' about the value of education—the things about opportunity and aspiration and giving people hope and giving people a pathway into their lives. If you want to put that all aside you can, but the economic facts are that it is a $37.9 billion export industry with 250,000 jobs across the Australian economy.
Before COVID, universities employed 130,000 full-time-equivalent workers in academic and professional roles. Let me tell you about those academic roles. You can't teach without having research. You can't. You cannot impart knowledge about a subject without having a good body of knowledge from which to draw, and that body of knowledge only develops with good, high-quality research. If you cut research funding, you immediately impact on the quality of teaching. It's a simple equation. You need research in order to be able to teach. You absolutely need it, whether it's research in pedagogy and teaching and learning or whether it's content research. When I was a professor and I used to lecture to my students, I would use my research findings to give them new insights into the topic that we were talking about. Whether that topic was international security, terrorism, the history of terrorism, or terrorist profiling, I used my research in order to ensure that my students, when they graduated, had the best knowledge and could apply it in different work settings. Without research, you don't have quality teaching. That is an absolute fact. If you cut research, you compromise the quality of education.
Universities were really hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. There were at least 17,300 job losses in 2020 because they weren't able to get JobKeeper, and I know many people who lost their jobs. Some of those who do tutorials or are casual lecturers at university are only on rolling contracts. I myself was on a one-year rolling contract for many years before I was made permanent and had some tenure at a university. That's just what you face when you enter into an academic career. Many of them lost their jobs. The sector is set to lose $3.8 million in revenue across 2020 and 2021, and the economy has lost $9 billion because of decreased international student revenue.
This government abandoned our universities during the pandemic. There is no other word for it. There is no other way to describe it. While we welcome measures like the higher education support amendment and the extension of the student loan fee exemption, we will stand up to measures like the TEQSA measure that was voted on earlier today, which wants to hit universities and higher education institutions with a new fee at a time when they are hurting most. The job-ready graduate reforms, which the member for Stirling spoke about, will mean that the government pays less to cover the cost of many university courses, and that will effectively result in a hiking up of fees. I've had people in my electorate contact me. They're matured-age students who decided to go back to university during COVID. They'd never had the opportunity earlier. They enrolled in a university degree and are now facing double the cost that they initially enrolled with and have had to withdraw from their courses. Universities will receive less money to teach some courses, including science, engineering and teaching.
The 2021 budget, put forward last week, has nothing for our universities, and it's not just me saying that. Our university vice-chancellors, including the vice-chancellor of the ANU, have said that this budget is absolutely bleak for universities. It offers them nothing at all. Instead, the government comes in here and votes for a bill that is going to hit them with another fee. The very least that we on this side can do is support this bill, which will at least give some students the FEE-HELP loan fee exemption, which might get them through to the end of this year.
So, while we support this bill, I think it's really appropriate that we look at it in the context of a range of other measures—or the lack of measures, so to speak, on this government's record in higher education. The universities are hurting. You only have to listen to them to know that. This bill will go some way to helping relieve some students with their loan fee exemptions, but there's so much more that can be done. If this government truly believed in the value of higher education, they would do more.
Mr ALEXANDER (Bennelong) (18:25): Universities and students have been through a pretty grim year. Universities had all the challenges of COVID that we all shared, combined with closed classrooms, closed borders and uncertain futures. Students, meanwhile, had to move online, adjust their schedules and lose the face-to-face learning and socialising that make university life such a special time and which are an important component of education. But students had an additional burden over the last year. University schedules suit part-time and casual work, and huge numbers of students are employed in less stable workplaces like hospitality and entertainment—exactly the sorts of jobs that were hit hardest in the COVID recession and have been the slowest to return. Higher education students didn't just have their education interrupted by COVID; many also had their financial world upended too.
So, in response to the continuing financial impacts of COVID-19 on the higher education sector, the government is extending the FEE-HELP loan fee exemption, which was initially introduced as part of the Higher Education Relief Package in response to COVID-19. The decision to extend the exemption to the end of 2021 was announced on 30 April, as part of the $53.6 million support package for international education providers, and detailed in the recent budget.
Now the exemption will apply for units of study with a census date between 1 July 2021 and 31 December 2021. While most of Australia's undergraduate students are eligible for a subsidised Commonwealth support place and can access the federal HECS-HELP loan scheme, in 2019, 4.6 per cent of all domestic bachelor students were full-fee-paying. In most cases, these students were studying at specialist non-university and higher education providers such as NIDA. Because such institutions do not usually receive funding for CSPs, they can charge undergraduate students full fees. While many of these students are eligible to access the government's FEE-HELP loan scheme, they would ordinarily see a 20 per cent fee applied in addition to their loan amount. For students enrolled in a standard three-year bachelor's degree, the financial burden of this fee can be in the region of $5,000 to $10,000, in addition to the cost of their degree. This fee is an unbearable strain on the students.
I regularly speak about the innovation sector of my electorate in Macquarie Park and Macquarie University, but higher education is not solely isolated to the halls of Macquarie uni. We are blessed with other providers, including two TAFEs, hundreds of apprentices and countless independent education providers offering courses specific to their industry—like the incredible specialists who come out of the Royal Rehab's trauma wards.
This amendment will affect private universities most of all. In Bennelong, we are fortunate to be the home of one excellent private university, Excelsia College. Excelsia is a Christian college, but one of the few Anglican ones in Australia. They were based in Drummoyne for decades, but, in 2016, they realised that the future was in Bennelong. Anyone who wants to be connected to Australia's most innovative companies simply has to move to Bennelong. Like many growing universities, Excelsia is prioritising its offerings to students and providing specialised learning in a few selective subjects, predominantly in the areas of business and the performing arts. Specialising allows this university to use its limited space to benefit its courses. They even have a full theatre, equipped for acting, music and performance. The size, capacity and complexity are most impressive, considering the space they have to work with. Back in 2016, I was delighted to open the university's new campus and, before COVID, was always happy to see their performers and students at their annual open day. They have a very talented student body who always put on excellent shows. They are a testament to the hard work of the teachers and to the facilities on offer. I can't wait to visit again and watch them grow as we, hopefully, leave this pandemic behind us.
We know 2020 has been tough for universities, and border closures hit those that relied on international students hard. One day these borders will reopen, and I'm confident students will rush back. Australia will be even more desirable, as we complement our existing high standards with the confidence that we were able to keep our students safe and our job markets flourishing while the rest of the world struggled with the pandemic and recession. But, until that time, it is imperative that we encourage as many students as possible to attend uni so that universities keep their doors open until the borders reopen. This amendment will do that by making it cost less to attend uni now.
The Morrison government has provided record investments in higher education, with total funding up more than 37 per cent since we came to government. In the 2020 budget, we announced more than $290 million in additional funding for undergraduate places and $252 million for up to 50,000 additional short-course places. We also injected $1 billion to back university research during the pandemic. Our Job-Ready Graduates Package is greatly reducing the cost of degrees in key areas such as nursing, teaching and STEM.
The extension of the FEE-HELP loan for exemption proposed by this bill provides an incentive for students to commence or continue their studies in 2021. During COVID-19, it has become even more critical to remove the financial disincentive to higher education and support the reskilling and upskilling required for the nation's economic recovery. Encouraging as many people from as many different backgrounds as possible to invest in their higher education is essential to bringing in the different viewpoints which make our institutions more dynamic and to creating the outside-of-the-box thinking that initiates the next great breakthrough.
This bill reveals this government's commitment to supporting higher education providers to retain their student base and to continue delivering the high-quality education and training in which Australia has earned such a desirable reputation, of which we are justifiably proud.
Mr KHALIL (Wills) (18:32): I also rise to speak on the Higher Education Support Amendment (Extending the Student Loan Fee Exemption) Bill 2021. As previous speakers have highlighted, this extends the FEE-HELP loan and reduces student debt levels. That's always a good move, certainly, and that's why Labor support this bill, but we should not let this distract us from the coalition's long list of failures with respect to universities and the tertiary sector and their long list of failures with respect to students which have occurred time and time again during their period in government.
The COVID crisis, of course, has impacted all Australian universities. In my own electorate of Wills, the impact has been quite severe. There are thousands of university students who live in my electorate. There are hundreds of academics and university workers from various university campuses, like RMIT and the University of Melbourne, who live in my electorate. This past year, they've told me about their struggles—the job losses, the redundancies, the casual contracts not renewed. Students have told me they can't study what they want to study, because they don't want to be stuck with a lifetime of debt.
But in many senses these stories, as important as they are, have been white noise to this coalition government. They just don't care. If they did, then they wouldn't have abandoned universities during the global pandemic; they wouldn't have abandoned students during the global pandemic. Instead of investing in our universities at this most critical time, instead of investing in our young people and their education, the coalition government cut university funding by around $1 billion a year. They just don't care. It is pretty obvious they don't care.
The university sector was the first hit when international borders closed in March last year. The university sector was crying out for help, and what did the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, do? He deliberately excluded public universities from JobKeeper. It was deliberate; he knew what he was doing. In fact, he changed the rules three times to exclude them. The result: 17,000 university jobs lost on this government's watch and hundreds of courses cut on this government's watch. Every course cut is lost knowledge and lost opportunity. And the pain isn't over: we expect another 21,000 job losses in the coming years. We're talking about academics, tutors, administrative staff, library staff, catering staff, grounds staff, cleaners and security.
I touched on this a bit earlier, but what makes this so bad and what makes it worse is that these decisions in fact are ideological. Let me explain. For degrees that this government doesn't like students studying, such as the arts, law, accounting, commerce, communications and the humanities, this government's policies and decisions have actually made it more expensive to study those degrees. This is despite the majority of the government members actually graduating with degrees in humanities. It is good enough for them to get their degree when those educational opportunities are provided—largely by Labor governments over the decades—but, when they are here in this place making the decisions, they shut it down and make it more difficult for young Australians to get the same degrees.
Fees will more than double for people studying humanities, jumping from $27,216 to $58,000 for a four-year degree. That's a massive jump, especially when you consider that, when HECS was first introduced in 1989, students paid $1,800 a year. Even with inflation over the last 30 years, this doesn't even come close to what they will have to pay now. The average student is now graduating with between $20,000 and $30,000 in debt—a number that just keeps going up and up and up. This keeps students from wanting to or being able to go to university. It is a disincentive. Yet the government just don't care. They don't care. They do nothing about this. There is nothing in the budget for universities, no plan and no vision—just cuts. We are talking about cuts in a place where they actually should be investing. All of the economic evidence tells us that investment in education, particularly in higher education, actually leads to growth of the economy. You create a base of knowledge for workers—innovative workers, educated workers—who can actually contribute with those educational outcomes to business and entrepreneurship and in all sectors of the economy. It grows the economy. That's investment in the economy, not just spending.
Last time Labor were in government, we had the vision and we did the work. After years of neglect by the previous Howard government, Labor, when it won power, boosted investment in universities from $8 billion in 2007 to $14 billion by 2013. Under Labor, 220,000 more Australians got the opportunity for a university education. This included many who had had to overcome disadvantage. During that period, financially disadvantaged student enrolments increased by 66 per cent, Indigenous undergraduate student enrolments increased by 105 per cent, enrolments of undergraduate students with a disability were up by 123 per cent and enrolments of students from regional and remote areas were up by 50 per cent because of our policies.
We are ready to do the work again to invest in our universities and our education systems because valuing education is actually about that quintessential value, the fair go, giving everyone the equality of opportunity to get a good education. When you value education, it's about preparing people for the jobs of the future, for the emerging industries, for advanced manufacturing and for other sectors of the economy as we go forward hopefully into this post-COVID economic reconstruction. Valuing education actually makes us a stronger, smarter country. One of the great Labor traditions is giving everyone possible that fair go—a fair go for all—and that's very much part of our commitment to investment in education for all the reasons that I've described—the economic reasons, yes, but also the importance to society of people getting that opportunity to get an education. Whether it's a liberal arts degree, a law degree, accounting, commerce or science, you value-add when people get that education and they can make a contribution when, because of their education, they bring their ideas to life.
There is untapped human potential residing within all members of our society, and education opens up the door to opportunity. It gives people the opportunity to succeed in life based on their merit, based on their hard work. It opens up that door to opportunity, and making that ideal of equality of opportunity a reality is what we're about. I just don't see any of that commitment on the other side. I see lots of talking points and I hear lots of spin and obfuscation about what they actually do, which is to cut funding for education. They oppose the fundamental idea of giving people that fair go. They can't claim otherwise when they're cutting university funding by $1 billion a year. How else can you explain this government's ideological position on giving people a fair go by giving them the opportunity for a good education?
More important than that, no matter who you are, whatever your background—whether you're an Australian in remote or regional parts of this country, whether you're disadvantaged, whether you have a disability, whether you come from a new and emerging migrant background, whatever your gender, whatever your ethnicity, whatever your faith, whatever your cultural background—you should be given these opportunities like every other Australian should be given these opportunities. You should be able to get a good education in Australia. It's of critical importance. That's what I got. I got it as a migrant kid growing up in public housing because of Labor governments and their policies. I got an opportunity to get a good education and to go to university because of Labor governments, because of our commitment to that equality of opportunity.
Bob Hawke, one of the great Prime Ministers of this country, was also the member for Wills. I'm very proud and privileged to also represent the people of Wills, as Bob did for all of those years. I used to catch up with him, mainly after I got elected although I also saw him a couple of times before I was elected. I asked him once, 'Bob, what is the policy area that you are most proud of, but is probably not talked about much in discussions about the legacy of your government or in your biographies?' He said, 'Peter, when I started as Prime Minister in 1983, about a third of students finished high school.' They used to call it matriculation. He said, 'Because of the policies that my government put in place, by the end of my time as Prime Minister, it was almost 80 per cent.' I said: 'Bob, I was one of those kids. I did year 12 in 1990. If it wasn't for you and your government, I wouldn't have had those opportunities to go to university. Given my socioeconomic circumstances, my migrant background, I still got a chance to do something with a good education.' That's what to invest in education means to us because it gives people that chance, the opportunity for them to shine based on their potential and to actually reach their full potential. But if it is too expensive, if it's out of the reach of people because they can't afford to take on that debt then we are failing our citizens before we even begin.
Mr JOYCE (New England) (18:45): I was just having a very intriguing conversation about higher education with the member for Boothby. We talked about all the things that make us so attracted, that give something so much pizzazz, colour and wonderment. You see that when you give someone the capacity for their advancement, for the advancement of that wonderful part of their body which resides between their ears. It allows people to challenge themselves and stay informed. When we talk about FEE-HELP, it is to take people with that vast experience out of their normal environs and place them in a situation where they are challenged to talk to new people, to hear new ideas, to mix with people they probably otherwise wouldn't mix with. FEE-HELP allows people to continue on to university. University should not just be to tick a box, to go there because you haven't got much else to do—although, I have to admit, a lot of us did precisely that; it should actually have a purpose and it should drive people to a more—not so much enlightened—informed position and, by their experience in university, have their minds opened and challenged by views from both sides of the political sphere.
One of the big issues in regards to university is the cost of fees. Fees are affected by basically the cost of running things and one of the major things that run things is the price of power. It is amazing tonight that, after Callide Power Station went down, the spot price of power in a 30-minute block went up to $15,000 a megawatt in Queensland and in excess of $13,000 in New South Wales. It remained in excess of $15,000 for quite a period of time. The people who paid for that are not only the students but everybody. This is the result of not having an open mind, of being rutted in a certain view and of being carted along by a philosophical zeal and a quasi-religious view which is completely removed from the logic that you believed university would teach you about.
What we have with the successes of this so-called climate socialism, the so-called renewable debate, is no debate at all about what happened to the price of power tonight. The people who have to pay that are the same people who have to pay the taxes for people to go to university and the same people who ultimately pay for fee support. Tonight we're so lucky and blessed that nobody was hurt or killed in the Callide Power Station. We must make sure that we understand that it created a test for an electricity grid and it overwhelmingly failed. Tonight, they have to do load shedding in Queensland. Load shedding means they have to start shutting things off because, if they don't shut things off, the grid collapses.
What are we going to do about this? The same people who are paying the fees should be the same people encouraging Queensland to build a new coal-fired power station in Central Queensland to avoid these sorts of circumstances again, to build a new coal-fired power station in the Hunter Valley as insurance against these circumstances happening again. This is a process that should be driven by the form of an open-minded analytical assessment of the pricing facts, the grid facts, that we have had to deal with tonight.
In response to COVID-19 and the higher education system, the government is extending FEE-HELP. Loan fee exemption is already in place for another six months, so the exemption will apply for units of study with a census date between 1 July 2021 and 31 December 2021. Ordinarily, an undergraduate student accessing a FEE-HELP loan and providers other than Table B providers, mostly private providers, would incur a 20 per cent loan fee on top of their loan amount. Students accessing HECS-HELP loans do not incur this fee. This is an assistance for those at the private providers and for the students who are in that space. And, of course, being people who believe in the private sector, it's a logical position for us to hold. Ultimately, though, any support that comes from government doesn't come from government; it comes from taxpayers. And if it can't come from taxpayers, it's borrowed from people overseas to be repaid by taxpayers at a later date.
Ms HAMMOND (Curtin) (18:51): I'm delighted to speak in support of this bill, the Higher Education Support Amendment (Extending the Student Loan Fee Exemption) Bill. The higher education sector is a sector that I am very familiar with. I was a university student when HECS was first introduced. I was a university student when the two first private universities in Australia opened, Bond University and Notre Dame university. I was working in universities and in the sector all throughout the late 1990s and into the early 2000s, and I am familiar with all of the changes which have occurred in this sector over that time period.
There's a lot of similarity between those on our side of the chamber and those on the other side of the chamber as to valuing education and the importance that education provides in giving people an opportunity to learn new things, to actually be able to go out into the world with more knowledge and to change their lives. There is a difference, and I do absolutely refute all of the arguments that this side does not support higher education. This side does support higher education, and this side actually supports there being real choice and real opportunity for students to study.
FEE-HELP, when it was first introduced in 2003, becoming effective in 2005, was introduced to allow domestic students undertaking studies in a full-fee-paying course to access a loan scheme which was very similar, albeit not identical, to the HECS-HELP scheme. It is currently utilised by approximately 30,000 domestic students studying in Australia, and the majority of these are studying at small, private higher education providers. FEE-HELP, when it was first introduced—and I do remember it being introduced—was an innovative and welcome introduction into the higher education sector in Australia as it opened up choice to all of those students who wanted to study at private higher education providers.
Prior to the introduction of FEE-HELP, there were very limited opportunities for those students who wanted to study in these sorts of organisations to obtain government loans. There were a couple of government loans which were available for post-graduate courses, but these were limited. It meant that those students who were seeking to undertake their studies outside of a public university—that is, exercise their choice and go against the grain of going to a public university—were often required to borrow money, frequently at commercial rates, from retail lenders. Needless to say, the fact that these students, in choosing to go a provider of their choice, having to borrow at commercial rates from commercial lenders, acted as a real dampening effect on choice for many students. It also provided a handbrake on the growth and development of private higher education providers. As I said before, the majority of these aim to be small, niche and focused providers, catering to identified areas of study.
FEE-HELP has changed over time—for example, the limits on how much can be borrowed under FEE-HELP have changed—but one thing which has been consistent throughout all of that time is the imposition of a loan fee on students who access FEE-HELP to pay for their studies. This was originally set at 20 per cent. It was increased to 25 per cent in 2011, and this loan fee which is placed on FEE-HELP is the chief differentiator between FEE-HELP and HECS-HELP. With HECS-HELP, there is no loan fee; with FEE-HELP, there is a loan fee.
This particular bill does two things. The first thing it does is extend one of the COVID-19 measures put in place by this government last year. Under the previous changes, an exemption from the FEE-HELP loan fee was provided for domestic undergraduate fee-paying students for units of study with census dates from 1 April 2020 to 30 September 2020. This was later extended by another bill to 30 January 2021, and this particular bill tonight now extends the exemption for units of study with census dates from 1 April 2020 to 1 December 2021. This bill also changes the FEE-HELP loan fee back to 20 per cent for units with a census date on or after 1 January 2022. This measure provides domestic higher education undergraduate students seeking FEE-HELP loans with an exemption from the requirement to pay the 20 per cent loan fee for units of study with census dates within the eligible period, thereby reducing the overall financial burden on these particular students. This provides an incentive for those students who have been financially affected during COVID-19 to continue or to commence their studies in 2021, and this in turn supports those higher education providers to continue to deliver the high-quality education which will be essential to Australia's economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
There are currently over 100 private providers who meet the strict requirements to offer FEE-HELP to their students. These providers are found across Australia and include the wonderful Engineering Institute of Technology on the border of my electorate, in Western Australia. As noted at the outset, most of these providers are not huge. The majority of them are actually not-for-profit providers, and the number of total students enrolled in them is small: 30,000 students compared with the approximately one million domestic students studying at Australian universities. But these 30,000 students and these private providers are a vital part of the higher education landscape in Australia, and they offer considerable choice. On the whole, they offer an outstanding quality of education to those who choose to study at them. The results of student surveys from students who undertake their studies that these providers provide are often greatly higher than students studying at other institutions.
I would note here that, in voicing my support for the temporary exemption and reduction of the FEE-HELP to 20 per cent beyond 1 January 2022, I do believe that we should go further and we should get rid of the loan fee on FEE-HELP all together. We should make these loans subject to the same indexation increases as apply to HECS-HELP, and that should be the cost of both FEE-HELP and HECS-HELP.
As I understand it, the loan fee was originally introduced to act as a risk premium against the debt not expected to be repaid. The FEE-HELP loan fee was implemented to assist in managing the cost of extending the HELP program to students studying at private providers and to ensure that the program would be sustainable into the future. It was considered that the government's exposure to a higher level of 'do not expect it to be repaid' was going to be greater with FEE-HELP loans and that the sum that was going to be needed to be repaid was going to be higher. However, since its introduction in 2003 and in light of changes to the higher education help scheme since it was first introduced, we now have 15 years of data. I'm firmly of the view that this original justification for putting a loan fee on FEE-HELP now needs to be re-examined to determine, in the first case, whether the level of debt incurred under FEE-HELP continues to be significantly larger—if, indeed, it ever was—and, secondly, to determine whether or not the 'do not expect to repay' is in fact any higher. It is now time that we could analyse this data to see if that original justification for putting the loan fee onto FEE-HELP is actually warranted.
This is not about private providers. This is not about lining the pockets of some people who are running expensive private higher education facilities. As I said, the majority of higher education providers are in fact not-for-profits. This is about providing real choice to students. I know from my experience working in the university sector that, when students are faced with two options—one of which is to go down a standard path and take out a HECS HELP loan without a loan fee or to go to another institution which they might actually be more attracted to and which might suit their mode of studying more and which might be smaller or might have the course which is specifically relevant and interesting to them—if they're faced with the possibility of an additional 20 per cent impost on what they're paying, that acts as a real disincentive. I know this. I've seen it. It happens.
I believe this bill is excellent. I know I am a member of the government, but I do urge this government to actually commission the research that is necessary to determine whether the imposition of that loan fee is still justified, because we do want higher education to be open to students and we do want to create those pathways. But we also want there to be real choice and differentiation in the higher education world, because that is the way that our students of the future will be able to find a place which suits them best, which actually helps them to learn in the best way that is applicable to them. Not every person fits the standard model of institution. Not everybody suits being taught in a particular way. People learn in different ways. People thrive in different environments. We want to make sure that we have a higher education landscape in this country that has a range of providers, so that our students of the future have real choice, that they can go somewhere where they will flourish, where they will learn and where they can go out and the world will be open to them because of how and where they have studied. So I am very happy to speak in support of this bill.
Mr EVANS (Brisbane—Assistant Minister for Waste Reduction and Environmental Management) (19:02): I thank honourable members who have contributed to this debate on the Higher Education Support Amendment (Extending the Student Loan Fee Exemption) Bill 2021. This bill amends the Higher Education Support Act 2003 to extend the current FEE-HELP loan fee exemption for a further six months to 31 December 2021. The original loan fee exemption, as part of this government's support for the higher education sector, in direct response to the COVID-19 pandemic, commenced on 1 April last year. This loan fee exemption has already been extended once for nine months until 30 June 2021.
This bill will ensure continuity of support for the higher education sector and will assist around 30,000 undergraduate students that are currently studying or planning to study and accessing FEE-HELP loans. This bill will provide continuity and additional support for the mostly private higher education providers with whom they have chosen to study. By extending the loan fee exemption, this bill will encourage more people to enrol in higher education and support higher education providers to continue to deliver high-quality education opportunities for Australians. In the long term, this will help the Australian workforce to upskill and retrain, which will be vital for Australia's economic recovery and for our long-term growth and prosperity.
So I thank members for their contributions to this key debate on extending the government's support for domestic undergraduate students and higher education providers, and I commend this bill to the House.
The SPEAKER: The original question was that this bill be now read a second time. To this the honourable member for Moreton has moved that all words after 'that' be omitted with a view to substituting other words. The immediate question is that the words proposed to be omitted stand part of the question.
A division having been called and the bells having been rung—
The SPEAKER: Whilst I've got everybody here, can I just remind the ministers—in particular the Minister for Health and Aged Care and the Minister for Education and Youth—that, as I said at the start of the week and in budget week, we have everyone back in the chamber, but you need to be sitting in your own seats. Don't move now. Frankly, that's the health advice, and that's the advice on which we're back here.
Honourable members interjecting—
The SPEAKER: I'm actually not sorry to do this. I spelt this out at the start. Can the tellers pause for a second? The Minister for Health and Aged Care can come back to his seat. The spacing is based on there being two people per seat, not three. The Minister for Education and Youth can go to his seat. If everyone just sits in their own seat, it'll be okay. The tellers may proceed.
Honourable members interjecting —
The SPEAKER: Quite a good point has been pointed out. Member for Kennedy, there is a special allotted seat for you, up with the crossbench. It's okay where you're sitting.
An honourable member interjecting —
The SPEAKER: It is on our side. That's why it's there.
An honourable member interjecting —
The SPEAKER: My main issue is the spacing. The minister for health has come back to his seat and the minister for education has vacated the minister for health's seat.
The House divided. [19:14]
(The Speaker—Hon. Tony Smith)
Third Reading
Mr EVANS (Brisbane—Assistant Minister for Waste Reduction and Environmental Management) (19:14): by leave—I move:
That this bill be now read a third time.
Question agreed to.
Bill read a third time.
Financial Regulator Assessment Authority Bill 2021
Financial Regulator Assessment Authority (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2021
Cognate debate.
Consideration resumed of the motion:
That this bill be now read a second time.
Mr STEPHEN JONES (Whitlam) (19:16): I am pleased to be speaking on the motion and on the second reading amendment which has been circulated in my name. This bill establishes the Financial Regulator Assessment Authority, and as such, implements two recommendations of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry: recommendation 6.13 and recommendation 6.14. It will mean that the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, hereafter ASIC, and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, hereafter APRA, are subject to quadrennial capability reviews, which the new authority will conduct.
The government has taken a minimalist approach to the establishment of the body and therefore to the implementation of the recommendations of the royal commission. I make no comment about that. The body established will consist of three part-time members to be appointed by the government, with the Treasury secretary to be an ex officio member. The authority will provide biennial assessments of ASIC's and APRA's performance as financial regulators, with those reports to be tabled here in parliament. It will prepare ad hoc reports at the minister's request, but there is no requirement that these particular reports be tabled. It will also have the authority to make directions in relation to the regulators or to advise them on how they might undertake actions in respect of individual cases within their remit. The authority will add yet another layer of accountability on top of existing mechanisms such as the committees of parliament, direct ministerial oversight, audits from the Australian National Audit Office, public government frameworks and the IMF's financial sector assessment programs to name just a few.
Let's be clear what this bill represents. It's a culmination of eight years of pressure upon the government, and it highlights eight years of inaction by the government on implementing the recommendations that have previously been put to the government by the Murray review. It's a result of the evidence from the banking royal commission, which I might note that the government and every government member in this place voted against 26 times. It is worth going back to some of the examples that were cited by the royal commission in its final report, in order to put the bill before the House in some context. I have with me in the House volume 2 of the final report of the Hayne royal commission. I'll be referring to specific case studies that were cited by Commissioner Hayne in that report.
It is by now part of the folklore of regulation within the financial services industry and now in this place that there were operators within the superannuation sector that were for many, many years charging fees for services they simply did not provide.
Mr Tim Wilson interjecting—
Mr STEPHEN JONES: I'll come to the member for Goldstein's role in all of this in a moment. If he could with every fibre of his being resist and remain silent until I come to him, we will all be the more educated for the experience.
I want to take you, Deputy Speaker Goodenough, to volume 2 and the specific findings of the royal commission in relation to the fees-for-no-service exercise because they actually shine a light on why there is a need for provisions such as this. At page 281 of the report, Commissioner Hayne cites the changes that occurred within the superannuation industry as of January 2014. To summarise, from January 2014, superannuation funds had to pay any new default contributions into a MySuper account unless a member made a specific election for them to go into what is called a choice account. The obligations are set out in the SI(S) Act, and APRA had a responsibility under its act to ensure compliance with these provisions.
It cites the example of Colonial First State super. From February 2014, Colonial First State super, then a subsidiary of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, informed APRA that it may have breached section 29WA of its obligations under the act to make these transfers. This was because, it said, some members of its FirstChoice Personal Super product had received contributions into a non-MySuper product. APRA told the fund, the regulated entity, that it needed to fix the problem in the short term or else APRA might take enforcement action. It's is worth noting that this breach of a specific provision was a breach which affected 13,000 members of the CFS product. According to the evidence presented by Ms Rowell before the Hayne royal commission, there were many interactions between Commonwealth First State super and the regulator, so the actions—or should I say inaction—of the regulated entity in dealing with this acknowledged breach were well known. After some time, the regulated entity provided a proposal to APRA on how it would deal with its acknowledged breach. APRA—and I quote from the royal commission report—said:
After receiving the proposal, APRA asked for some further information but otherwise told CFS that it—
its proposal for dealing with the acknowledged breach—
was acceptable.
What was subsequently revealed was that the proposal for dealing with the breach was in itself deceptive and misleading conduct, and the offending conduct continued on for many, many years. In fact, it continued up until September 2017. So, from 2014 to 2017, an acknowledged breach of the obligations that the trustees had to their members to convert them to a MySuper product was known to the regulated entity and to the regulator. The breach was going on, but for in excess of three years no corrective action was put in place. You might say, 'What's the harm done in this?' The harm done was immense because, for that entire period, Colonial First State super was charging more fees to its members than otherwise would have been charged had it been compliant with the law. What the commissioner observes in his report was that 'APRA did not take any formal enforcement action'—no formal enforcement action. And we can assume that, had the royal commission not shone a spotlight on this issue, that action would have continued on indefinitely.
It is one of two examples that are cited by the royal commission in volume 2 of it final report which shine a spotlight on the culture of the regulators—the regulators which saw the regulated entities more as partners or perhaps stakeholders and where the enforcement action was weak or non-existent. It was not that the laws weren't strong enough; it was the fact that the culture within the regulator was to either ignore or take a very passive approach to addressing the breaches of the law, even when the breaches of the law were admitted to by the fund and brought to their attention. There are many other examples of behaviour such as this. I have cited the behaviour of the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority, and there are examples within volume 2 of the report where a similar approach was taken by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission—what could only be described as a very light touch or indeed a no-touch approach to regulating and enforcing the law in the interests of consumers.
It is against this background that the commission, in its final report, recommended a series of changes to the regulators. In relation to APRA, it recommended a completely different disposition, which can best be summarised in the words of Commissioner Hayne himself; that is, that the regulator should be asking himself or herself when appraised of a breach of the law, 'Why not litigate?'—a revolution in the approach that APRA had taken hitherto, as so scandalously exposed by the royal commission. So here we have a situation where both ASIC and APRA, the twin peaks of regulation within the financial services industry, had a culture which had grown up over many, many years of asking the very opposite of themselves. Instead of 'Why not litigate?', it was 'Why not accept some other form of enforceable undertaking?'—a very passive approach to regulation indeed. So it is against that background that the commission took up that recommendation, previously provided to the government some eight years earlier by David Murray, to put in place an oversight body to regularly review the performance of the regulators and provide that report to both government and the parliament.
It is also possible to look at this recommendation of the commission as a failure of the existing parliamentary provisions for oversight of the regulators over the last eight years. You can form only that conclusion if you look at the considerable responsibilities that are given to parliamentary committees, whether it's the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services, which has a statutory role to oversee the performance of the regulator, or the House Economics Committee, which has a statutory role to oversee the performance of the regulators, amongst other bodies. It is with great regret that I have to inform the House that it is completely abrogated that responsibility under this government. There are members of this place, including the member for Goldstein, who is in the House at the moment, who have seen their role as chairs of this committee to completely hijack the role of the committee away from its statutory role of overseeing the performance of the regulators and have taken them on a wild goose chase—
Mr Tim Wilson interjecting—
Mr STEPHEN JONES: Deputy Speaker, you will note that the member for Goldstein has a place on the speaking list. Maybe he might like to wait his turn. They have been abusing the roles and responsibilities of the committee and refusing to shine a spotlight on where a spotlight needs to be shone. They have been taking the committee on wild goose chases, conspiratorial theories and paper chases that end up in dead ends, while refusing to allow the committee to perform its responsibility, under statutes of this place, to properly oversee the performance of the regulators.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Mr Goodenough ): Order! It being 7.30 pm, I propose the question:
That the House do now adjourn.
Housing Affordability
Ms RISHWORTH (Kingston) (19:30): Housing is a basic human right. Having a roof over your head at night is something that all Australians deserve, whether it's those in need of social housing, women fleeing domestic and family violence, a young person moving out of home or a family wanting to buy their first home. For eight long years, this Liberal government has sat by and watched housing affordability in this country get worse and worse and worse, and the demand for affordable and social housing has just increased. We are facing a housing crisis in Australia right now. We've seen housing affordability continue to get worse, locking many people out of the housing market. We've also seen rental prices soar across capital cities, with a recent Anglicare study on rental affordability showing that only 17 properties available for rent in Adelaide were affordable and appropriate for people on income support payments.
These increasing housing costs are resulting in some Australians looking to social housing to keep them off the streets. Almost every week, my office receives a call from someone who can't find an affordable private rental property and has been left sitting on a waiting list for public housing, the list growing longer and longer by the day. They are worried that, without help, they will become homeless. One resident from Morphett Vale has contacted my office seeking help. She is a mother of two and has worked as a hairdresser for over 12 years. After sustaining a bad arm injury, she found herself unable to work as a hairdresser anymore and went onto a Centrelink pension. This has left her unable to afford a private rental property for herself and her two children. She has been left sitting on the waiting list for social housing, being told it could be years before she gets a property.
Data from the Everybody's Home campaign shows that this is not an isolated case. In my electorate of Kingston, in the southern suburbs of Adelaide, there are over 3,300 people in need of social housing. It's just not good enough for this Liberal government to sit on its hands and say there's nothing to see here. That's why I'm pleased that, if elected, Labor has committed to establishing a $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund to build social and affordable housing. Over the first five years, the investment returned from the Housing Australia Future Fund would build around 20,000 social housing properties and 10,000 affordable housing properties for frontline workers.
Of the 20,000 social housing properties built in the first five years, at least 4,000 would be allocated to women and children fleeing domestic and family violence and to older women on low incomes who are at risk of becoming homeless. Over the last year, 10,000 women and children trying to escape domestic violence were turned away from refuges because they were full. This leaves women and children with the terrible options of sleeping rough, sleeping in a car, if they have one, or going back to a house where they will again face the violence they are trying to flee. For those who are lucky enough to get a bed, it's likely to be a long stay, with many reporting long waiting times for social housing. The last report by the Council to Homeless Persons found that 40 per cent of women were experiencing homelessness due to escaping family and domestic violence. Women leaving dangerous situations should not be left with no option but homelessness.
We also have an emergency facing older Australian women. Women over 55 are the fastest-growing demographic facing homelessness in Australia. It is just not good enough that, in a country like ours, we accept that we have these groups of people, particularly women, who cannot find a home. That is why Labour's plan to invest in social and affordable housing is critically important.
I also want to point out the additional $100 million that, as part of this policy, will be given to crisis and transitional housing options for women and children who are fleeing domestic and family violence and for older women on low incomes who are at risk of being homeless. If we are serious in this country about addressing the issues of family violence and ensuring that women are kept safe, then we must act now. It is not good enough to just put up a political fix in a budget. It has to be long term, it has to be sustained and it has to be with real national effort. I urge the government to put more effort into this and back Labor's plan for more affordable housing. (Time expired)
Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme
Mr LAMING (Bowman) (19:35): As many of us look back, decades from now, at what we worked on in this place, we'll often look at one or two achievements of which we're most proud. For me, of course, that moment was 15 years ago this month, when I advanced the proposal for cycles of competitive price referencing to bring the prices of generic drugs down—a policy that was adopted by then health minister Tony Abbott, and then, subsequently, by the Rudd administration and the health minister at the time. And it continues today.
The initial planning for price referencing and generic drug reform saw that there was potentially $1 billion a year to save out of the PBS. At the time, 15 years ago, I wrote that the PBS was designed to deliver drugs affordably. We secured new patent drugs by locking them into an agreed price, globally competitively, and, in return, overseas drug firms gained access to the Australian market four times faster than to many other countries.
But now we see the PBS growing out of control. Fifteen years ago, I noted that $6 billion a year was an outrageous amount, that most of this money was going to foreign drug companies and also that, being uncapped, the PBS was growing four times faster than our GDP. Modelling at the time showed that what the nation spent on drugs would, within a generation, consume one out of every $28 of GDP.
Our PBS was designed back in the 1950s. Though we all adore our PBS, it was out of control 15 years ago. For a common depression medicine, for instance, at the time, in New Zealand, $1.45 was what the government paid; in the UK, it was $4.97 for the same drug. At the time, in Australia, we were paying $33 for a month's supply of that drug, and that was simply because prices, generically, were upwards-sticky, and so, when a patent expired at the end of a 20-year period, you could swamp the market with generics that, effectively, could claim the same clinical impact and, therefore, the same price—potentially, dropping a dollar. There would be very little competition between generics, because many of them were manufactured by the company that had actually made the innovative drug. These big profit margins swirling around in the system allowed cuts for wholesalers and for pharmacies on the way through. You didn't need to be a genius to say that Australia could not afford that to go on forever, but there was significant opposition to the proposal. And I put it to good people at the time. The response was: 'Why is this op-ed coming out now? Why is it being done if, pragmatically, it has been too hard to do up until now?' But it's credit to the then health minister Tony Abbott, who agreed to see me. I took down the Melbourne Ageopinion piece that had come in April 2005. It eventually did run. It provoked a very strong reaction from both the Pharmacy Guild and Medicines Australia, who were concerned that any money taken out of the system may not return. But pharmacists wrote to me personally. 'All the best,' one said, 'for negotiating the guild-government agreement. If everything in your article is plausible, this could well work. It's ultimately a free market. There is too much collusion at the moment.' This was coming from a pharmacist in my own electorate.
As I further refined the PBS model, by the end of 2005 I was approaching key departmental figures and wanting to run it by Medicines Australia, who expressed concern about the elements in the proposal but could also see that there was a compelling argument for it. I noted at the time that GMiA had a proposal that obviously wouldn't be painful for them, but their offers of a one per cent discount for every 10 per cent market share I described as not computing. In addition, we had Health riveted to price referencing, but it didn't appear to work, as they decided. Price referencing needs to be there for innovative new products, but I argued that it couldn't be applied to those that were not. A co-payment discount was the model that I thought would most attract a patient to go and buy a generic drug, which, at the time, was only 19 per cent of the pharmaceutical market. My goal was that generic drugs should be closer to 50, as we see in parts of northern Europe, and that, by saving money on generic expenditure, we could re-divert that back to the innovatives.
Within the government, at the time, of course, industry advisers said to me: 'I think your proposal of saving $850 million a year is too high.' I put it back in the range of $300 million. But I kept at it. My proposal was to save a billion and the Department of Health said—off the record—the savings since 2006 have amounted to $1 billion a year for the public purse and additional hundreds of millions of dollars in out-of-pockets for patients, who can buy generics at the competitive prices that are available in the rest of the world. It was pretty clear that, if we wanted to have more money for innovators, we needed to get generics cheaper the way the rest of the world did. It took a lot of large and special interests but eventually the guild relented, Medicines Australia could see the way forward and, I am proud to say, this is probably one of the biggest social innovation savings from a MP since Federation.
Environment
Mr KATTER (Kennedy) (19:40): It was Sea Turtle Week last week in North Queensland. We have a great affection for our turtles. The figure for pigs in North Queensland is four million. I, like all of north Queenslanders, have a great love of nature; that's why we live in North Queensland. If you have four million pigs and each female pig has a three-month gestation period, that's two litters a year of—let's be conservative—six. It could be as many as 10 but we'll say six. That's one million female pigs having 12 pigs each a year, which is 12 million pigs. I don't know why they're not exploding more than they are but the figure of four million is probably very conservative. Where I live, we love our cassowaries. In fact, the name of our council is the Cassowary Coast Regional Council. The dunnart is a cute little kangaroo about that high; he's doomed. The turtles are doomed, the cassowaries are doomed as are numerous species; they cannot possibly survive in the face of the pig explosion.
There are three ways of dealing with pigs that we know of. There may be others, but I never heard of them. There is baiting, trapping and shooting. Baiting: 40 per cent of our bird life in Australia, including cassowaries, are carnivores, so I have always strongly opposed baiting of pigs because of the threat that it poses to bird life. Trapping: well, I mean, seriously, are we going to trap 10 million pigs? I don't think so. Which brings me back to shooting. Instead of the louts and the hoons—like most young blokes in the bush, I was one of them once upon a time—playing up and causing trouble as all young people do, we could do what we did since time immemorial in this country. We could take our rifles and go pig shooting on the weekend. If we took a carton with us, well, that was good too. It was a lot of fun and it had a great social value to our country, pig shooting. Without a semi-automatic-rifle, it is a bit of a joke.
In Queensland, we had no restrictions on firearms at all. There were no laws against firearms. I was with a gentleman today and he said, 'I just walked in off the street and bought an AK-47 and 500 rounds of ammunition and walked out.' I said, 'I did exactly the same thing. I saw it in the window and bought it and took it away.' There was no, 'Oh geez, what would happen if we had no restrictions on firearms?' Queensland had eight deaths with guns. New South Wales with 50 per cent higher population and stringent gun laws didn't have 16, didn't have 26, didn't have 36; they had 38 deaths with guns. Victoria with Draconian laws—we had no laws at all and eight deaths—have 50 per cent more population than us, so as we had eight deaths, they should have had 12. They didn't have 12, didn't have 24, didn't have 36, didn't have 48; they had 54 deaths with guns. And similarly those countries like Finland and Switzerland and Sweden, where everyone has a gun, it might be an idea. With the imperialist totalitarian government in China, we might think again. As a kid of 12, I joined the cadets, as every other kid in Australia did when they were 12 years old. This was 12 years after the Second World War. We took our 303 rifles home with us! All of us had a 303 rifle, and we took them home with us. But the pigs are going to destroy our wildlife. Unless something is done, it is going to happen as sure as the sun rises. We love our wildlife and our nature. That's why live in North Queensland, nature's wonderland.
Middle East
Mr LEESER (Berowra) (19:45): I welcome the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and I mourn the loss of innocent lives, both Israeli and Palestinian. Israelis and Palestinians need to be able to live in peace and security and fulfil the words of the prophet Micah: 'Every man shall sit under his own vine, under his own fig tree, and no-one shall make them afraid.'
In recent years Israel has normalised its relations with an increasing number of its Arab neighbours: the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan. The events of the last 10 days indicate how much further there is to go. Sadly, thousands of kilometres away a private property dispute that is before the independent Israeli judicial system was weaponised both in Jerusalem and by Hamas in Gaza. Hamas is a terrorist organisation listed here in Australia, known for indiscriminate rocket attacks, suicide bombings and kidnappings, with the ultimate objective of the destruction of Israel. Given the thousands of rockets which rained down on Israel, democratic Israel has every right to defend its citizens, prevent attacks and destroy the source of such violence. If this situation occurred here, we would expect our government to protect our citizens in this way too. Unfortunately much of the commentary has painted Israel as the villain, because it had fewer casualties. Many of the Palestinian casualties were, tragically, human shields used in a Hamas propaganda war. The only reason why there weren't more Israeli casualties was the Iron Dome which protects Israeli civilians, both Jewish and Arab, from rocket attacks.
No matter what view one takes about the recent tensions in Jerusalem, nothing can justify Hamas terrorists initiating another armed conflict by firing rockets at Israeli cities while shielding themselves behind Palestinian civilians, including children, in Gaza. Hamas's armed escalation caused the death and suffering on both sides. Unfortunately the press coverage and one-sided debate has provoked a series of anti-Semitic attacks all around the world. In New York, pro-Palestinian protesters threw an explosive device into a crowd of Jews. In California, a group of men wearing keffiyehs bashed Jewish diners in a restaurant. Synagogues were vandalised in three American cities. In the UK, a rabbi was hospitalised after being attacked by two teenagers outside a synagogue. Cars draped with Palestinian flags drove through Jewish neighbourhoods in North London, with people shouting: 'F… the Jews. Rape their daughters.' In Germany, Jewish communal facilities and synagogues were attacked in four cities, and Israeli flags were burned. In Vienna, demonstrators shouted: 'Shove your Holocaust up your a…' In Turkey, President Erdogan echoed the blood libels, accusing Israelis of sucking the blood of non-Jewish children.
The World Jewish Congress also found a surge of virulently anti-Semitic hate speech across social media. Here in Australia, a comment by an employee of the New South Wales Department of Education, appeared on the Australasian Union of Jewish Students Facebook page, under a photo of Hitler. It said: 'It's a shame he didn't finish the job.' This sort of person has no place transmitting her hate to the next generation, and I call on the New South Wales minister for education to sack her.
The late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks wrote about the new anti-Semitism in 2016. Anti-Semitism means denying the right of Jews to exist collectively as Jews with the same rights as everyone else. In the Middle Ages, Jews were hated because of their religion. In the 19th and early 20th century, they were hated because of their race. Today, they're hated because of their nation-state, the state of Israel. Sacks writes:
The ultimate weapon of the new antisemitism is dazzling in its simplicity. It goes like this. The Holocaust must never happen again. But Israelis are the new Nazis; the Palestinians are the new Jews; all Jews are Zionists. Therefore the real anti-Semites of our time are none other than the Jews themselves. And these are not marginal views. They are … slowly infecting the far left, the far right, academic circles, unions, and even some churches.
Sadly, we're now seeing the new anti-Semitism in political circles here. I was disturbed to see the member for Cooper campaigning with members of the University of Melbourne Labor Club, which called for Palestine's boundaries to be 'from the river to the sea'. This is effectively calling for the destruction of the state of Israel. I was also disturbed to see the member for Moreton calling Israel a 'semi-apartheid state' in this chamber last night. But it indicates a trajectory of thought on the political Left, the product of which is increasingly one-sided resolutions being moved by increasingly senior members of the opposition at ALP national conferences. The latest resolution, moved by the alternative foreign minister, Senator Wong, without debate and without conditions, says that a Labor government would recognise a Palestinian state. The more countries that recognise a Palestinian state without Palestinian recognition of Israel and a cessation of terror, the less pressure there is on organisations like Hamas to lay down their arms and come to the table to make peace. Such a posture ultimately is no recipe for a lasting peace in the Middle East.
Women in the Workforce
Ms ROWLAND (Greenway) (19:50): I rise to address a matter of great import in my community and, no doubt, right around Australia, and that is women's workforce participation. The pandemic has changed the very way Australians live and work. We've seen significant social and economic disruptions. We've adapted to meeting via collaborative tools in telehealth consults and socially distanced grandparents visits, and yet there remain lingering concerns about Australia's economic stability, especially given consumer confidence remains low. Some aspects of life are beginning to return to normal. In my local area I see commuter car parks once again filling up before seven o'clock in the morning and roads becoming increasingly congested earlier in the morning. The school pick-ups and drop-offs, at least for me, now allow parents to be at the school grounds, but again the traffic has become terrible at peak times.
There's something far more insidious at play that's not being addressed or recognised by this government, and that is the collapse in jobs satisfaction for women in the workforce. Deloitte recently conducted an important survey on women's economic participation and job satisfaction before and during the COVID-19 pandemic entitled Women @ Work: A global outlook. The report evinces some startling insights into the disproportionate way in which women are being affected by the pandemic. When I read the report one word immediately came to mind, 'depressing'. According to those surveyed, seven in 10 Australian women ranked their job satisfaction as good or extremely good during COVID-19. Today, only five in 10 have positive job satisfaction. But it gets worse: 73 per cent of women rated their productivity as good or extremely good pre-COVID, but now it is only 50 per cent. Mental wellbeing attracted a similar 70 per cent positive response leading up to the pandemic, but that's now crashed to 35 per cent, with 46 per cent of women rating their mental wellbeing as poor or extremely poor.
Physical health and wellbeing also crashed from 66 per cent to 41 per cent, with the ability to switch off reflecting similar figures. I want to focus particularly on this final concept, the right to switch off. As a consequence of COVID, it will need to be addressed by bold forward-thinking policy. Working from home or just remote working has become a staple for many, but it brings its own inherent risks. The pressure to be on the ball from the moment you wake up, before a usual start time, and to be contactable after hours, less you be labelled as 'slacking off', is not a new concept. It was something I grappled with when I worked as a lawyer in the corporate sector, but the pressure has certainly ratcheted up a notch. There's a perception that, if you're not commuting, you automatically enjoy more productive time in the day and, therefore, you should be putting in more hours. The figures I cited earlier demonstrate this pressure is obviously having an adverse impact on the mental health of women in the workforce, who remain disproportionately more likely to hold primary caring and domestic responsibilities. What is the culmination of these statistics? Fifty-eight per cent of women surveyed by Deloitte plan to remain with their current employer for two years, citing a lack of work-life balance as the primary reason for wanting to leave. The productivity disruption of women leaving the workforce is significant for our economic recovery. These are complex problems, and they're by no means novel, but we need to be forward-thinking. We need to have innovative ideas to help address these issues and keep more women in the workforce.
Unlike this tired eight-year-old government without a plan and with only media strategy to get through each day, Labor has actually been examining these issues, including a real plan to support women in the workforce when it comes to childcare. Labor's childcare reforms will alleviate at least some of the burden being placed on working mothers by addressing the Liberals' skyrocketing childcare fees. We'll scrap the $10,560 childcare subsidy cap—which often sees women losing money from an extra day's work—lift the maximum childcare subsidy rate to 90 per cent and increase the childcare subsidy rate for 98 per cent of families. Women will no longer need to choose between more work and care, juggling conflicting responsibilities and feeling like both a bad mother and a bad worker for prioritising one over the other—and I know how that feels.
Our childcare package will give women options. It will make it easier for mothers and working families to get ahead, and no family will be worse off under Labor. That's because Labor is on the side of working women. These, as I said, are issues that require forward thinking and that require strategies that have examined the precise issues that I've outlined here, recognising that these are not novel concepts. But they have certainly changed in terms of their dimension. They will continue to change. There are many things that will not go back to normal, and technology will not solve everything; it will only be solved by being forward thinking, being strategic and having the Australian people front of mind.
Domestic and Family Violence
Ms LIU (Chisholm) (19:55): Last week I had the honour and the privilege of speaking at a women's empowerment workshop on family violence in my electorate of Chisholm. For me, it was truly an honour to be asked to deliver an address, but what was more humbling was listening to the strong men and women delivering their stories and experiences.
Family violence and the devastating ripple effect it has on our communities has always struck a chord with me. As an Australian woman who has worked with permanent residents from a diverse array of backgrounds for many years, I have witnessed the impact of domestic violence on women and children. These experiences and stories motivated me to go on and become the founder and president of the SHERO Association. SHERO stands for she is a hero. It is an organisation for victims of domestic violence. I fought for the right for women to feel safe, and I continue to champion those beliefs. This is why I cannot express my adoration more for the 2021-22 budget and the clear consideration it has for women in more vulnerable positions.
This budget reaffirms why I chose the Liberal Party as the best fit for me. We are the party who believe that we are all aspirational Australians but that some of us just need a hand up. As someone who has seen the horrifying results of a woman's fundamental right to feel safe being violated, I cannot emphasise enough how important the Morrison government's commitment to women's safety in this budget is. This budget has assured Australians that ending violence against women is a national priority. All women from all different backgrounds have the right to be safe at home, at work and in our community. This isn't some meaningless gesture or words with no action; this is a Morrison government commitment of $1.1 billion for women's safety measures, meticulously designed to compliment and build on the government's previous commitments. This is a comprehensive funding plan which includes measures that focus on preventing violence before it starts, delivering frontline and response services, providing financial support for women leaving a violent relationship, understanding the issues through data collection and monitoring, and expanding responses through the justice system. On top of that, our government has committed increased support to marginalised communities of women and children, including those with an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander background. This draws from a commitment to support all women from all backgrounds.
I've spent years supporting women during and after horrific times of domestic abuse and violence. I've seen the bruises, the cuts and the tears that come with it. This is a matter that should not be taken lightly by any Australian. As someone with experience in this area listening to the stories of brave women who have made it through, I can comprehensively say that this budget means something. This budget will change the landscape forever. Make no mistakes: this isn't a battle that will be won in a night. This will take a long time and will require support from all of society. But we owe it our mothers, our daughters, our friends and our family. We can do better, and we will do better.
House adjourned at 20 : 00
NOTICES
The following notice(s) were given:
Mr Taylor to present a Bill for an Act to make arrangements in relation to fuel security, and for related purposes. (Fuel Security Bill 2021)
Mr Taylor to present a Bill for an Act to deal with consequential and transitional matters arising from the enactment of the Fuel Security Act 2021, and for related purposes. (Fuel Security (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2021)
Mr Pitt to present a Bill for an Act to amend the Water Act 2007 and the Basin Plan 2012, and for related purposes. (Water Legislation Amendment (Inspector-General of Water Compliance and Other Measures) Bill 2021)
Mr Pitt to present a Bill for an Act to amend the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006, and for related purposes. (Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Amendment (Titles Administration and Other Measures) Bill 2021)
Ms Steggall to move:
That the Industry Research and Development (Beetaloo Cooperative Drilling Program) Instrument 2021 made under the Industry Research and Development Act 1986 on 13 May 2021 and presented to the House on 24 May 2021, be disallowed.
Mr Georganas to move:
That this House:
(1) recognises that:
(a) between 1914 and 1923, the then Ottoman Empire undertook a brutal cleansing campaign to rid the region of people of Christian faith;
(b) as a result, millions of Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks from the Pontus region and other parts of modern-day Turkey, were deported, massacred, or marched to their deaths, and millions more were displaced; and
(c) historians unanimously define these events as the first example of systematic genocide in the 20th Century;
(2) notes and pays tribute to our ANZAC troops who were among the first to witness the atrocities committed against the Greek, Armenian and Assyrian populations, and even assisting in the rescue of the refugees fleeing to safety; and
(3) calls on this Parliament to:
(a) join the many EU member states, Latin American nations and, recently, the United States in officially recognising and condemning the atrocious acts committed against Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians between 1914 and 1923 as genocide; and
(b) reaffirm our shared commitment to prevent such atrocities from ever happening again.
Ms Owens to move:
That this House:
(1) acknowledges the bicentenary of Catholic education in Australia;
(2) notes that:
(a) the first official Catholic school was founded by Fr John Therry in Parramatta in 1820;
(b) Catholic schools have educated millions of Australians over the past 200 years; and
(c) today, Catholic schools are the largest provider of schooling in Australia (outside of government) educating one in five Australian school-age children; and
(3) congratulates Catholic schools and their teachers, staff and students on this incredible achievement.
Ms Vamvakinou to move:
That this House:
(1) notes that:
(a) recent violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories has resulted in the deaths of at least 222 Palestinians in Gaza, including 63 children, and 12 Israelis, including two children;
(b) a ceasefire was declared on 20 May 2021; and
(c) according to the United Nations, more than 74,000 Palestinians in Gaza were displaced from their homes during the conflict;
(2) recognises that the impact of this violence is far-reaching, and that many in the Australian community are hurting at this difficult time; and
(3) calls on the Government to ensure Australia is working constructively to support security and human rights in advance of a just and enduring two-state solution in the Middle East.
Ms Owens to move:
That this House:
(1) acknowledges the almost 6 million Australian volunteers who contribute 600 million hours each year to help others through secular and faith-based volunteering organisations;
(2) notes that:
(a) in early 2020, two out of every three volunteers cut back their hours, including many older volunteers who had to self-isolate, leaving charities short by an estimated 12.2 million hours per week; and
(b) only around one in four volunteer organisations managed to get volunteer participation back to pre-pandemic levels of activity by the start of 2021;
(3) recognises that while volunteering organisations have been supporting much greater numbers of people in need with fewer resources during the coronavirus pandemic, there was nothing in the Government's latest budget for volunteers; and
(4) Calls on the Government to get behind our volunteer organisations and make sure they have the resources they need to continue their important work.
Dr Freelander to move:
That this House:
(1) notes:
(a) the profound impacts that COVID-19 is having upon our communities, families and businesses; and
(b) that a successful roll-out of respective COVID-19 vaccines is paramount to our nation's recovery; and
(2) calls on the Government to:
(a) immediately begin a targeted and clear advertising campaign, to promote the effectiveness of vaccines and to dispel misinformation in multiple forums and for all targeted groups so that our vaccine roll-out gets back on track; and
(b) establish built-for-purpose quarantine facilities in all major states to minimise the risks of COVID-19 outbreaks in hotel quarantine.
Ms Vamvakinou to move:
That this House:
(1) notes that:
(a) this year marks the 75th anniversary of the Philippines-Australia diplomatic relations;
(b) the enduring friendship between Australia and the Philippines is based on shared interests and values, supported by strong people-to-people links; and
(c) 9 June 2021 marks the 123rd Philippines' Independence Day; and
(2) recognises the contribution of:
(a) Filipino-Australians to enriching Australia's multicultural society; and
(b) the Filipino-Australian community to Australia's social and economic success.
Mr Thompson to move:
That this House:
(1) recognises the service and sacrifice of those who have served in the Australian Defence Force, along with that of their families;
(2) notes:
(a) the Government's 2019 election commitment to establish a network of Veteran Wellbeing Centres in Townsville, Perth, Wodonga, Darwin, Adelaide and Nowra;
(b) that these centres, which are being developed in partnership with the ex-service community and state governments, will bring together a range of critical services relied upon by veterans and their families, including the health treatment, mental health support, employment and transition assistance and advocacy support; and
(c) that the Government committed an additional $10.7 million in the 2021-22 Budget towards expansion of the wellbeing centre network into south-east Queensland and Tasmania; and
(3) acknowledges the critical importance of such partnerships between governments and the ex-service community in supporting the health and wellbeing of Australia's veterans and their families.
Ms Steggall to move:
That this House:
(1) notes:
(a) Australia's borders have been closed for over a year to both inbound and outbound travel as an emergency measure;
(b) the Government has not disclosed or provided any credible timeline or roadmap to reopen the borders;
(c) many Australian citizens are struggling with disconnection from family members, partners and loved ones overseas and unable to see one another;
(d) there has been no extension of travel exemptions to family members or visa holders despite repeated calls;
(e) many Australian business sectors, like tourism, entertainment, agriculture, universities and industry are pleading for a roadmap to safely reopen the borders; and
(f) communities and businesses are continually exposed to quarantine leakages and pay the price with lockdowns;
(2) calls on the Government to:
(a) double the capacity of national quarantine facilities using best practice purpose-built facilities such as Howard Springs;
(b) prioritise expenditure to accelerate the rollout of the vaccine with a goal of achieving vaccination of at least 80 per cent of the population before the end of the year; and
(c) establish a clear roadmap for safely reopening Australian borders and clearly communicate goals and timeframes by reporting back to this Parliament and the Australian people without delay.
Ms Templeman to move:
That this House:
(1) notes with dismay that suicide is the leading cause of death among Australians aged 15 to 24 years;
(2) recognises that young people's decision to access mental health care is fragile, and if they do not have a positive experience they may not make another attempt to seek help;
(3) further notes that youth-friendly mental health services are not available uniformly to young people; and
(4) calls on the Government to:
(a) increase access to effective mental health services and supports for young people across all stages of mental ill-health; and
(b) build a youth mental health workforce to meet the current and future needs.
Ms Coker to move:
That this House:
(1) recognise that under this Government, Australia has experienced near stagnant wage growth;
(2) notes that:
(a) low wages are a deliberate design feature of this Government's economic policy;
(b) the budget showed real wages for Australian workers are expected to fall under this Government;
(c) budget figures show that Australia is wealthier than we expected but there will be no meaningful benefit of that higher wealth to the wages and salaries of Australians; and
(d) while all Australians deserve a pay rise, women, especially suffer under this Government's wage-failure due to the enormous 13.4 per cent gender wage gap; and
(3) calls on the Government to put the Australian people at the centre of their economic decision making and get wages moving again, starting with an increase to the minimum wage.
Mr Bandt to move:
That the Australian Renewable Energy Agency Amendment (2020-21 Budget Programs) Regulations 2021 made under the Australian Renewable Energy Agency Act 2011 on 18 May 2021 and presented to the House on 24 May 2021, be disallowed.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER (Ms Vamvakinou) took the chair at 12:21, a division having been called in the House of Representatives.
BILLS
Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2021-2022
Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2021-2022
Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2021-2022
Second Reading
Cognate debate.
Consideration resumed of the motion:
That this bill be now read a second time.
to which the following amendment was moved:
That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:
"whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House notes:
(1) the 2021 Budget includes nearly $100 billion in new spending and racks up one trillion dollars in debt, but still delivers a real wage cut for Australian workers;
(2) after eight long years of cuts to key services, increasing job insecurity, stagnant wages growth, weak business investment, weak productivity, waste and rorts, this Budget was designed to get through an election rather than outline a vision for Australia; and
(3) that the 2021 Budget is a missed opportunity to shape a better, stronger post-pandemic Australia where no one is held back and no one is left behind".
to which the following amendment was moved:
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
(6) 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:
(a) made increased profits; or
(b) paid increased executive bonuses; or
(c) 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".
Mr BRIAN MITCHELL (Lyons) (12:22): The Prime Minister had two jobs this year: get quarantine right and get the vaccine rollout right, and this budget fails to do either. Our press-hungry Prime Minister is continuing to bumble his ways through a botched vaccine rollout, which is doing the country no favours. On 7 January this year, the Prime Minister said, 'We hope by the end of March to have reached some 4 million population.' He later revised that comment on 25 January, when he said, 'That four million position will be something that is going to be achieved in early April.' We are now in late May, almost June, and we still have not hit that four million milestone.
You just cannot trust this Prime Minister. It's all announcement, no delivery. It's all headline, no headway. And he is being found out. His bad calls are coming thick and fast and his poor decision-making as Prime Minister is out in the open. He was wrong to leave Australian citizens behind in India, which is ravaged by COVID. That's not who we are. We have each other's backs. That's our history and our culture as a nation. Australians look after their mates and look after each other. We did that in Gallipoli, in Kokoda, in Saigon and on the Korean Peninsula. That's who we are—that's who Australians are. But that's not the style of this Prime Minister.
This Prime Minister thinks Australians will simply forget. It is his government that has systematically gutted the aged-care and disability sectors and failed to ensure that workers are paid properly for the incredibly important work they do. Aged-care workers are being paid less than somebody stacking shelves at the local supermarket. He thinks that Australians will forget that a young woman was allegedly raped in this parliament and that, months later, nothing of substance has been done. And his hand-picked so-called investigator is, this very day in the Senate, frustrating inquiries to get to the bottom of the matter. This Prime Minister thinks Australian women will forget that there are members of his cabinet and his party under intense scrutiny for their alleged treatment of women, and he thinks Australian women will forget that those MPs involved were not publicly disciplined but, instead, given paid leave—something those opposite have for so long denied to victims of family violence. And he is so wrong to assume he can simply wash his hands of all this responsibility and of this complete failure of moral leadership. He is the Prime Minister; the buck stops with him. His incompetence is on display.
The Liberals say that they are better economic managers. They say they are the ones who can be trusted with money; it's hardwired into their DNA. How, then, do we explain more than $1 billion—$1,000 million—being given over four years to a company to guard a few hundred asylum seekers on Nauru? How do we explain, if the Liberals are the better economic managers, that, in January 2021 alone, the Morrison government paid this company $37 million in one month to provide services for fewer than 150 asylum seekers on Nauru? That's more than $250,000 per person. We all know that those asylum seekers didn't get that money. How is that an efficient use of taxpayer money? What about this government's disastrous deal with Applus Wokman, the company handed a $121 million contract to support asylum seekers in PNG? They were boosting their profits by billing the Department of Home Affairs $75 an hour for local workers who they paid just $8 an hour. Imagine that! They tell the department it's $75 an hour for the workers, and they give the workers $8. What an outrage! It's embarrassing. It's making the Sydney airport fiasco, where they paid $30 million to a Liberal Party donor for a $3 million block of land, look like small beer. Our trillion-dollar Treasurer shouldn't even be allowed near a piggy bank, let alone a budget.
We all know that the Prime Minister is big on announcements but small on delivery. He boasted about strong unemployment figures released last week. What on earth is he talking about? New ABS figures show that Tasmania now has the highest unemployment rate in the nation: 6.2 per cent for the month of April. These figures also reveal that there are 2½ thousand fewer Tasmanians employed since the Morrison government cut JobKeeper at the end of the March. We warned them not to do it. We warned them that unemployment would rise in Tasmania, and it has. Tasmania's underemployment remains the highest in the nation at 9.1 per cent. We in the Labor Party know the awful toll that unemployment can take on workers and their families. It's why we advocated for a wage subsidy in the first place when the coronavirus reared its head—a wage subsidy this Prime Minister argued against as a dangerous idea and a wage subsidy this Prime Minister had to be talked into enacting. It was Labor and the unions and big business that brought this Prime Minister to the table on a wage subsidy to evade high unemployment, and he has cut it too early. As a result, my state now has the highest unemployment in the country. To this government and to this Prime Minister, workers are just business unit costs, to be kept as low as possible. In fact, the Treasurer went so far as to talk up the numbers to the Hobart press during his 'building better margins' tour last week in Tasmania. Just when we thought the Morrison government could not be more out of touch, it finds a way to sink even further. What breathtaking arrogance! What unfettered entitlement and self-congratulatory rot!
May I remind the House that last week's disability royal commission report revealed that just eight Tasmanians in disability residential care have received their COVID-19 vaccine—eight in the whole state. To that I say: shame! Shame on this government for letting down our community's most vulnerable citizens. It becomes clearer and clearer every day that the Prime Minister cannot be trusted to look after the best interests of Tasmanians. He always leaves Tasmania behind. It was five months between visits when the Prime Minister flew down to Tasmania last week, and what did he do and where did he go? He snapped a few pics—a photo opportunity at the Hillwood Berries farm—before hopping aboard the government jet to fly to Burnie and back. Any guesses as to the nature of the electorate listed? Marginal Liberal seats—Bass and Braddon. It's all about him and his government. We're facing 6.2 per cent unemployment in Tasmania, and the only jobs he cares about in Tasmania are those of the member for Bass and the member for Braddon. He did not come to Tasmania with a plan for jobs, infrastructure or a vision for a better future. It's all smirk and mirrors with this Prime Minister. The only rollout he's interested is a red carpet for himself. Let's get a photo at the footy. Let's get a photo in fancy dress. He hasn't worked a day on site in his entire life but somehow he is always in high-vis. Let's get a photo building a chicken coop. Let's get a close-up of me hammering in that imaginary nail. Let's get a photo pushing trolleys at the berry farm. Tasmanians will like that one. They will be fooled by that. The ultimate fake tradie. He can pose and posture all he likes, but Tasmania is always left behind by the Liberal government.
Last week this Liberal government announced a $600 million taxpayer funded, ill-conceived gas-fired power plant in New South Wales. Industry experts are scratching their heads. No private investors will touch it. The International Energy Agency is calling time on the construction of fossil fuel projects. What's worse is this government intervention now threatens the viability of Tasmania's Battery of the Nation project. According to John Devereaux from goanna energy, 'The power plant at Kurri Kurri'—I should say the announced power plant, as we're yet to see it happen—'makes the case for a second Marinus Link less compelling'. There he is giving $600 million of taxpayer funds for a gas-fired plant in New South Wales and it directly threatens a Battery of the Nation power generation and storage project in Tasmania. Well done. What an economic mastermind.
Just a few short months ago this Prime Minister was spruiking the benefits of Battery of the Nation in the Tasmania. I quote:
Tasmania has the potential to be Australia's battery to keep the lights on and running costs down and we'll be there backing them to get there.
That's what he announced. But he certainly has not delivered. And now he's put the whole project at risk by this ridiculous intervention in the New South Wales market.
The government says the new plant will: 'Maintain reliable power across the network', which is exactly what the Marinus Link interconnector is designed to do. Tasmania has a renewable, dispatchable generation storage project ready to go. Let me ask the question: what is in this budget for Tasmanians? We've had two weeks now to sift through the spin and the slush funds. Infrastructure is a massive con job. There's nothing for housing, nothing for health. There's money for aged-care providers but not for workers. We know this Liberal government is focused solely on building bigger margins, not better roads. Where is the support for people with disabilities just trying to get their vaccines? Where's the support for increasing wages? The Liberal government says it supports workers but the budget flags a real wages cut and no plan to raise them. ABS data last week confirmed growth of just 1.5 per cent over the year to March 2021. With the cost of living set to grow quicker than wages working families are being left behind. If the Morrison government cared about workers why did the Minister for Industrial Relations vote down a proposal to introduce model industrial manslaughter laws? The Labor states voted in favour; the Liberal states voted against. This government hasn't even bothered to respond to the 34 recommendations of the Boland review to improve workplace safety. This government, this Prime Minister, are uncaring, and worse they are incompetent. They can't be trusted with the budget, they can't be trusted with the national finances and they certainly can't be trusted workers' wages into the future.
Mr TIM WILSON (Goldstein) (12:33): It's a privilege to follow the member for Lyons, because some people regard when you're being criticised by the opposition as ineffectual. It's like being hit with a wet lettuce. I prefer to compare it more to being hit with soggy Glad Wrap. It's kind just of annoying, it has no real purpose and it ends up backfiring as you get splattered along the way. The member for Lyons will understand that he is heading to the next election where I've no doubt his incompetence and incapability to be able to deliver for the good people of that state, and of course his electorate, will backfire to the point that he will be defeated but that is his cross to bear.
I'm incredibly proud to support the budget and the passage of this legislation. It's incredibly important because at the heart of it is what we need to do to build and harden the resilience of Australia to get through the ongoing nature of the COVID-19 pandemic.
If you go back to a little over 12 months ago, we all looked at the global circumstances that Australia faced. There were factors that were outside of our control; a virus that had its origins in Wuhan, China, was spreading across the globe. This government, at every point, have taken strong, effective decisions to make sure we can secure our borders, which is the biggest public health measure this country has taken. By doing so, and by introducing a system of quarantine, we have largely been able to keep the virus out. There have been—what should we call them?—burps or situations where there have been blowouts, particularly in the great state of Victoria, which took on an enormous burden because of our state government's mismanagement of hotel quarantine and its incompetence in keeping the virus contained within Victoria so that the rest of the nation was not infected. We have now contained that. Of course, other states have had to take prudent and responsible measures at different times as well.
We have seen further cases, yesterday and today, in Victoria, which is a reminder to every Australian that this pandemic is not over. I say that in the context that this pandemic continues to pose a very serious health risk. If you are eligible to get vaccinated, please do. Luxuries or risks associated with not being vaccinated are far outweighed by the risk of being infected with COVID-19, particularly for the elderly and immunosuppressed. We cannot lose sight of that in the comfort that we have secured just because we have kept the virus out. Victoria has shown that can end in an instant, and you'll be back in exactly the same risk profile that the rest of the world experiences.
That's the health side. There's also the economic flowthrough as a consequence of COVID-19 should we have a significant outbreak. That is why the focus of this budget is looking at what we need to do to harden and secure families, individuals, communities and businesses to continue to survive this pandemic, but also to be the foundation of our prosperity as we come out of it. The success of our country is not driven from Canberra down. It is not driven by corporates down. It is not driven by unions down. And it most certainly is not driven by the three of those collaborating to impose situations on the Australian people. Prosperity doesn't come from the few; it comes from the many. It comes through innovation. It comes through drive. It comes through work. It comes through prosperity. It is driven by people taking risks, because you cannot have reward without risk and responsibility. The success of this country comes from the citizen, the family, the community and the enterprise up, and we should never lose sight of that—and that is who the Morrison government are backing every step of the way.
In so many of the programs we have implemented throughout this COVID-19 pandemic, our focus has been on how to back you, the people, not you, the corporates, the big businesses, the unions or this city of Canberra. And we've done so through measures like the JobKeeper plan, which has delivered 8,700 businesses and 30,300 employees in the Goldstein electorate support throughout the period of COVID-19. Now, when JobKeeper was coming up to its deadline in March, Labor went on this long tirade about how the wage subsidy had to continue to operate into the future. The hard data shows that we now have a lower unemployment level than we had before the pandemic. So to embrace the continued support of JobKeeper, firstly, is economic delinquency, negligence and irresponsibility and, secondly, the adjustment would only have been greater had we continued to go on. But that does not mean Labor have changed their talking points, because leopards cannot change their spots.
We, as a government, have made sure we have provided tax relief of up to $2,745 this year through the low- and middle-income tax offset for 56,300 taxpayers in the wonderful Goldstein electorate. We provided tax incentives that allowed 24,600 local businesses to fully write-off the value of eligible assets they purchased against their tax liabilities, and 8,300 local businesses will be able to use the extended loss carry-back measure to support cashflow and confidence. We know that, at this critical time, cash flow is the basis upon which businesses succeed. More to the point, it is their lifeblood and, if it is cut off, they will fail.
Everywhere I go I hear of a consistent trend, which is: we need skills and we need labour because we have plenty of jobs; if only there were people to fill them. The very clear focus from this government is to make sure that those who are unemployed have pathways back to secure employment and to a position where they are able to stand on their own two feet, support their families, own their homes and be the foundation of this country's success. But in many cases there is a need to bridge the divide that occurs. That's why we've extended and expanded the JobTrainer fund, which will support 450,000 new places that will upskill jobseekers and young Australians seeking to achieve work.
This budget invests in major roads and rail projects and in road safety and community infrastructure programs that are supporting additional jobs. There's $3.4 billion committed in the great state of Victoria alone. If you drive around the Goldstein electorate at the moment, in many places you'll see signs of major investments, from upgrades to roads to lighting projects, making sure that our community is in as strong a position as it can be to support people.
But we know that people face different barriers and challenges throughout their working lives. Many families, particularly when they have young children, balance the tension between raising children in a family and, in some cases, needing a dual income to pay for things like their mortgage and their lifestyle. That's why there has been significant investment in this budget to improve access to affordable child care, particularly for families with multiple children. There are 960 families in the Goldstein electorate that will take advantage of that.
This budget delivers a record investment in aged care. Goldstein is proud—and I say that very specifically—to be the home of many of the private aged-care providers in this country, because, unlike the ideological madness that's put out by the Victorian state government, we understand that, if you want capital on the table which can grow the places for aged care so people can get the support and assistance they need, the government cannot do it alone. Our role is to work with private enterprise, free enterprise, to create the environment where you get investment so that you get quality homes, quality services and quality access to support and if you need help you can get it.
We're proud to be the home of many private aged-care providers from across Australia. There are 26,317 senior Australians living in the Goldstein electorate who will get additional assistance from the providers of aged care through additional supplements in the ACFI funding. That's important, but, to be frank, I think we need to do more to free up funding for aged care, particularly in terms of individual responsibility. I have given speeches in the House about this in the past. If you look at aged care from the perspective of responsibility, you have the responsibility of contributing to capital because it's displacing people from their homes. We need to acknowledge that. There's a responsibility around management and providing services, which is a mixture of responsibility between individuals and the taxpayer. When it comes to access to health services, pharmaceuticals and the like, that traditionally falls back on taxpayers. We should be looking at that as a system of responsibility. That is the only basis upon which we can provide sustainable aged care to support the number of people who will need places at the standard and with the quality and dignity that we expect, not just as a government but as a country. What older Australians want for themselves is to be in a situation where they can go into aged care and live out their days with dignity. If we don't make sure there's responsibility on everybody, all we end up doing is underwriting inheritances and advantaging those who are well off at the expense of taxpayers overall.
Those aren't the only areas, in terms of service delivery, where this government is providing to make sure we get the assistance that people need at every stage of their life, from child care all the way through to aged care. The federal government has been giving significant funding to investment in local infrastructure. This is an election promise that we have delivered on, and we'll continue to deliver on it as we work with the state government and councils regarding commuter car park upgrades. In the City of Glen Eira we have increased the funding for the development of the Bentleigh commuter car parking from $4 million to $9 million. Bentleigh residents, this means that, with the approval of the council, you're going to have access to more commuter car parks. Council have agreed to use their land to develop the site so that you can catch a train more easily and earlier, without having to run around and find a car park. The streets surrounding the Bentleigh railway station will be in a better position, being freed up for people who want to use them both for residential purposes and also for accessing the Centre Road shopping strip.
The same has occurred in Elsternwick, where, working with the council, there's been an additional $2.5 million to take total funding for an upgrade for community car parking to $9 million—again, aiding Glen Eira residents and those in surrounding communities to access parking. In Bayside, the Hampton station parking upgrade on council land is progressing, with a feasibility study to be completed before the end of the year. We want to see that project go ahead, every step of the way. When I go and stand at Hampton railway station in the mornings and speak to commuters, they consistently say, 'We need more access to car parking.' The state government has been a challenge, but the councillors are working with the federal government to deliver.
Unfortunately, after assessment, the soil at Brighton Beach station has been deemed too sandy to take additional weight. But, at the North Brighton station, the parking upgrade is awaiting approval by the Victorian state government to use their land. Federal funding has been increased by $4.3 million, to a total of nearly $7 million. Once the state government gives the tick-off, we will progress with developing that site so more people can have access in and around North Brighton and of course to the Bay Street shopping strip.
The same is also true in Sandringham. We are awaiting approval from the state government to use their land. We have ensured that there is access to additional car parking at Sandringham station, but I have to say that I am very worried and very concerned that there have been allegations that the state government aren't planning to support the upgrade of additional parking at Sandy station but are seeking to take away the existing car park and that is why they have been blocking the upgrade of additional parking at Sandy station. What that will mean, if the state government get their way and take away those additional community car parks, is fewer people catching the trains, fewer people relying on them, and those people who need to access or park at Sandy station will be moving around surrounding streets and there will be no additional car parking.
We, the Morrison government and of course myself as a local federal member, are 300 per cent committed to delivering on this project if only the state government would let us. But, more critically, I will fight with the state member, Brad Rowswell, every step of the way, if the state government chooses to take away the existing car parking at Sandy railway station because they want to put additional rolling stock there. They would be selling out the Sandy community at the expense of capital improvements so that they can indulge votes in other parts of the state. It's wrong. We know it's wrong. We have to stand up against them if they go down that path.
Other critical investment in our community includes $1 million in Bayside City Council's Elsternwick Park Nature Reserve project, which is the gateway for many people from Melbourne, along the Nepean Highway, down to the city of Bayside. This reclaimed land from the old Elsternwick Golf Course is going to be a significant nature reserve which is going to facilitate water cleansing, which is going to improve the outflow that goes to Port Phillip, while also making sure that it provides a beautiful nature reserve for local residents in and around the adjoining point of the city of Port Phillip, the city of Glen Eira and the city of Bayside.
Another significant funding opportunity includes the $400,000 that has been given to the Black Rock Yacht Club to rebuild the roof on their clubhouse, a project that Bayside has wanted to see delivered for a very long time but has not been able to secure the funding for. The Morrison government has come along and backed that. At every stage, we have a budget that delivers for communities and builds the strength, resilience and security of communities as the foundation not just for today but for the nation's continued success.
Ms SHARKIE (Mayo) (12:48): I rise in support of Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2021-2022 and wish to take the opportunity to speak to a range of community priorities and concerns across my electorate of Mayo. I was pleased to see the government allocate funding to a number of projects I have strongly advocated for, including $5 million to finish upgrading the emergency department and renal dialysis unit at Victor Harbour hospital and the $5.4 million for the Southern Materials Recovery Facility recycling plant at McLaren Vale.
Victor Harbour hospital serves a growing population of more than 37,000 people. We have a significantly higher proportion of older people living on the south coast of the Fleurieu Peninsula when compared to South Australia's average. More than a third of our residents aged over 65 years. The south coast is growing rapidly, with a projected population increase of 18 per cent over the next 15 years. This funding will allow the expansion of the renal dialysis unit to meet the projected renal dialysis demand by 2030.
The southern materials recovery facility, when completed, will process 31,000 tonnes of recycling a year. The additional federal funding will enable the facility to escalate recovery to 62,000 tonnes a year to service more regional councils and nearby commercial businesses. This is really exciting news. This facility is so much more than a recycling depot. It's an engine for an exciting new circular economy in our community and will create over 80 full-time jobs during construction and approximately 20 ongoing full-time jobs. It's those ongoing jobs that are just so critical for our community, and I commend the government for providing national leadership on this important issue.
I would like to talk about child care. I welcome the budget announcement of childcare fee relief for larger families, making child care more affordable for second and subsequent children attending child care at the same time. I recently spoke in this place on the high cost of child care in my community and in particular highlighted the need to remove the cap, which families in my electorate reaching well before the end of the financial year, resulting in families having to pay unsubsidised, full-cost child care for a significant proportion of the year. I asked for this serious issue to be addressed and I'm grateful the government has listened to many people in this chamber and removed the cap altogether.
Often what happens with the second or perhaps even third child is that one of the parents says, 'It's just not affordable for me to keep working at all,' and we are taking away choice from a person simply because of cost. I do, however, have concerns about the estimated rollout date of July 2022 with the announcement that's in the budget. I stress to the government that we need to implement these changes sooner. 2022 is well over a year away, and I can't see why, with the powers of government and with the Public Service, we can't get this happening by the end of the year, if not sooner.
I'm pleased to see that the budget has allocated $40 million for supplementary road funding over two years for South Australia. I've continually advocated for this since it was cut in 2014. When I was first elected with Nick Xenophon and our whole Nick Xenophon Team, now known as Centre Alliance, we lobbied hard for this money to be reinstated for South Australia. This funding would provide more than $4 million to councils for local roads across Mayo and addresses the inequity that we experience in South Australia, where we receive only five per cent of the nation's share of road funding despite our state having more than 11 per cent of the nation's local road network. While this funding is welcome, I call on the government to permanently fix this anomaly by addressing the inherent inequity in this funding. South Australia should receive a share that is commensurate with our share of the local road network.
There was some really exciting news in the budget for our planning study for the Greater Adelaide freight bypass. It's an important first step in addressing the increased congestion and dangerous freight and commuter interaction that happens on the South Eastern Freeway. We have too many accidents on our freeway, and heavy vehicle breakdowns cause significant and prolonged traffic delays, prompting serious safety concerns. This is in a high-risk bushfire area where this is really our only corridor out. Diverting heavy freight off the freeway is critical in the future for South Australia. It will improve safety, reduce congestion and ease local concerns. This $5 million is very welcome. We need to make sure that we get the planning right. I look forward to the opportunity of a briefing on this initiative to better comprehend the finer details of the planning study.
I urge the government, in undertaking the study, to commit to preserving the existing rail infrastructure. I think disposing of land corridors, whether it be federal or state governments doing so, is a very short-sighted decision. We need to make sure that we keep these corridors open so that future governments can use these important transport corridors. We are a growing region. We have a great need for public transport today and will have in the future.
Another exciting part of the budget was the funding for craft distillers. I have a number of craft distillers in my electorate, and I think this is really important. It is all about supporting small business. The lifting of the threshold for receiving full remission of excise from $100,000 to $350,000 is a real boon. It will return $225 million to distillers, and I know that the distillers in my community are going to be reinvesting that money in their businesses and expanding their businesses. It's incredibly exciting news and a really good first step, but there's more that needs to be done. We need a freeze on the CPI indexing and no excise applied to tastings, just like we have in the wine sector. For me, this is all about the same set of rules applying to all related industries.
Disappointingly, the budget failed to deliver on some of the most important and immediate concerns of everyday Australians. We need to end the climate policy deadlock that we have in this nation, and particularly in this place. I was particularly disappointed that there was no funding set aside for the member for Indi's proposal for a new Commonwealth corporate entity, the Australian Local Power Agency. Regional communities are not always seeing the full benefit of the community energy projects being built in regional Australia. The establishment of the Australian Local Power Agency would address this by providing a dedicated focus on developing community energy projects and ensuring that regional communities share in the benefits of renewable energy. It would sit alongside ARENA and the CEFC to administer direct financial, technical and investment support. I think this is an opportunity lost and I would urge the government to look at it again. I wrote a letter to the Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction supporting the budget request for $54 million, in underlying cash balance terms, to establish the Australian Local Power Agency. Unfortunately, that money was not in the budget, but I will continue my lobbying, as, I am sure, the member for Indi will, for this to be considered in the future.
Another omission from the budget was electric vehicles. There was nothing in the budget to accelerate the rollout of charging infrastructure and there were no incentives for consumers to adopt more environmentally friendly transport options. At present, we have a mismatch of state and territory arrangements for electric vehicles and infrastructure. The federal government, I believe, has a pivotal role in setting a national approach and facilitating electric vehicle ownership. One simple measure would be to remove the luxury car tax from electric vehicles. We should also be investigating how we can create an electric vehicle parts and manufacturing sector. Until recently, Australia had a strong and proud tradition of automotive manufacturing, especially in my home state of South Australia—we made Holden cars; we made Mitsubishi cars—and we have the opportunity to do this again with electric vehicles. They could be the renaissance of car manufacturing. We should not accept that car manufacturing in Australia must end. As I said, we could build electric vehicles in this nation. We have most of the base metals that go into electric cars, so why are we not building them? What an opportunity lost!
My electorate is home to the Amy Gillett Bikeway in the Adelaide Hills. I have previously secured government funding for sections of this wonderful trail, and I recently wrote to the Treasurer seeking funding to connect the trail to the proposed Adelaide wine capital cycle trail, which seeks to deliver an iconic cycling pilgrimage of 250 kilometres, spanning four distinct wine regions: Clare Valley, Barossa Valley, Adelaide Hills and McLaren Vale. The trail would provide much needed support to communities looking to rebuild and diversify their local economies after the Black Summer bushfires. It will assist our wine region, particularly with respect to tourism. We are having a number of challenges in respect of tariffs and China, and we need to support our wine regions to encourage more visitors and more people purchasing home-grown stock. Speaking of the Australian wine industry, it is currently experiencing considerable financial pain, and I encourage the government to work more closely with the industry and fund future initiatives to grow exports and diversify our international markets.
Another fight we have on our agricultural battlefront is in our fruit growing regions in the Adelaide Hills and Riverland, which are currently under siege from serious Mediterranean fruit fly outbreaks. I urge the federal government to work with states to develop a national eradication strategy and to fund a food irradiation plant in Adelaide. We need this in South Australia. This will control our insects and invasive pests. Ultimately it would be an opportunity—an insurance policy, if you like—for us to be able to continue to export, to diversify our exports and to ensure that our produce is seen as safe, particularly in new countries. I am really encouraged by the great work that so many of my producers do, off their own back, out of their own pocket, to build their export networks. We need to ensure that the federal government and the state government are behind them. I'm really keen to continue lobbying for an irradiation plant in South Australia. We need to be able to export directly out of South Australia, and we can't do that without it.
I'm very pleased to see the six-month extension of the Small Business Financial Counselling service for small regional businesses experiencing or at risk of financial hardship due to the impacts of drought, bushfire and COVID-19. The program has assisted so many businesses in my community through a very difficult period, and many of them are now once again thriving. It's very exciting news. I'm pleased to see the extension, but I like to think we can continue further. I think that six months is a little bit short-sighted and I would urge government to continue that program because it really is helping regional businesses so much.
I think overall I give the budget a B-plus. There were parts missing, but there are many, many good parts to the budget, particularly for my electorate. I'm pleased to commend this bill to the Chamber.
Mrs McINTOSH (Lindsay) (13:02): We went into the coronavirus pandemic from a position of strength, swiftly implementing policies to save lives and save livelihoods. Now we're building a more resilient and secure Australia. The federal budget outlined by the Treasurer guarantees the essential services Australians rely on and is creating the jobs of the future to lead our economic recovery. We are making record investments in mental health, fully funding the NDIS, enhancing women's safety and economic security, reforming aged care and making child care more affordable and accessible for families in our communities.
For people in Lindsay, this is a budget that delivers from a government that delivers. We are putting more of people's hard-earned money back into their pockets by delivering tax relief to families and businesses to spend across our economy and to support local jobs. The government's tax plan has already benefited over 82,000 people in my electorate of Lindsay, and now around 76,000 taxpayers in Lindsay will benefit from tax relief of up to $2745 this year. The Morrison government will always help hardworking, aspirational Australians like those in my electorate of Lindsay keep more of what they earn, and it will support them as they create and work in our local employment industries.
It's Australian Made Week this week. What a great time to be talking about the support the Morrison government is delivering for Aussie manufacturers in Western Sydney—something I am very passionate about driving. I recently brought the minister for employment to visit Baker & Provan in St Marys, founded by two diggers who said that, if they survived the Second World War, they would return home and start their own business. Well, they did, and in 1946 Baker & Provan was born. Seventy-five years later, this is still a family business, which is in some ways quite extraordinary in these times. It is an Aussie-made business, contributing to some of our nation's most important sovereign capability projects, particularly for our Navy. This budget means we're supporting two new apprentices at Baker & Provan—two young female apprentices breaking into the manufacturing industry and learning the trade from the best in the business. Chris has been at Baker & Provan for 30 years, and I know that he, Mal and the whole team are welcoming their new apprentices into their business, because they know it's the future of our economy.
An extended and expanded JobTrainer Fund will support 500,000 new places to upskill jobseekers and young people. We already have 2,285 apprentices in Lindsay, and these new measures will lead to more opportunities for apprentices and trainees, with expanded wage subsidies. The $2.7 billion investment is supporting the employment of newly commencing apprentices and trainees, assisting school leavers and jobseekers during the peak hiring period for key industries. To date, over 141,000 apprentices have been supported through this program.
We're also extending the instant asset write-off, enabling businesses to buy the equipment they need to grow and expand, become more efficient, scale up and ultimately support more local jobs. Around 15,000 businesses in Lindsay will be able to write off the full value of any eligible asset. This is because we believe in enabling local businesses to do what they do best. We want them to succeed and to drive our jobs-led recovery. The tax-free cash flow boost has helped more than 5,000 small and medium-sized businesses in Lindsay and provided much-needed financial support to keep them going through the coronavirus pandemic.
The minister for employment and I also met with a number of local small business owners to talk about what the budget means for them. It is a priority of mine to make sure our national policies are delivering for local families and local businesses on the ground, and it was great to hear how our policies are unlocking new opportunities for businesses in Western Sydney. It is a pillar of the Morrison government's plan to unlock the potential of Australian businesses, not to hold them back.
I said earlier that we entered the pandemic from a position of strength, and that has allowed us to deliver unprecedented support to families and businesses throughout the pandemic and has now put us back on track to emerge with a stronger, more secure and more resilient economy. The recent labour force figures show our plan is working. With over 13 million Australians in work in April this year, the level of employment is now above its pre-COVID level in March 2020, and we added over 33,000 full-time jobs in April, taking full-time employment to a record high. This is a promising sign, but there is still more work to be done. We have seen around the world the continued risk and impact the coronavirus can have. Our budget continues the Morrison government's plan to secure Australia's economic recovery and guarantee the essential services that all Australians rely on.
Since the start of the pandemic, in Lindsay there have been over 360,000 telehealth consultations. That incredible figure shows just how important this service has been for our community, and that's why we are investing to continue this service until the end of 2021. In this budget, we're providing record funding for hospitals, Medicare, mental health, aged care and disability support. We have committed $2.3 billion for mental health care and suicide prevention, including more headspace centres, a National Suicide Prevention Office and a new Head to Health national network of 40 centres. We're making life-changing treatments accessible for our community by funding new medicines to treat breast cancer, lung cancer, severe osteoporosis, severe asthma and chronic migraines. We have also announced new funding for endometriosis, research into preterm birth, and genetic testing for pregnant women. In the last year, there have been over two million free or subsidised medicines delivered in Lindsay through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
From supporting our local jobs and our local manufacturing industry and getting new apprentices into work to our sovereign capability, backing Australian made and providing the important health and mental health services that our country relies on, all of these things make a tremendous difference in the lives of people in my electorate of Lindsay, in Western Sydney and across Australia.
Ms PAYNE (Canberra) (13:10): I rise today to speak on the Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2021-2022. Never has Australia seen a less impressive budget. Never has an Australian government spent so much to achieve so little. Never have the Australian people been left behind by a government as they have been left behind by the Morrison government. Labor has been saying for a long time now that the Morrison government doesn't care about you, and this budget absolutely proves that. The Prime Minister is all talk and no action. During the bushfires, he said, 'I don't hold a hose, mate.' And that is his approach to everything. He blames the states, he blames other people and he takes no responsibility. He hates to be questioned and he hates accountability.
Through this pandemic, Labor have been a constructive opposition. If it were not for Labor calling for a wage subsidy, we would never have seen the JobKeeper payment. We have supported the government in the things that needed to happen, and we have acknowledged successes where there have been successes, like the JobKeeper payment, albeit that there were many people left out of that. It is a stark contrast to the Liberal-National coalition when we were getting Australia through the global financial crisis. Essentially, the Morrison government have had two jobs through this pandemic. Two things are strictly a federal government responsibility: quarantine and vaccinations. We have seen those bungled completely. We have seen the Prime Minister still scrambling and avoiding giving any kind of commitment as to when Australians can expect to have access to a vaccination. And we have seen the devastating situation in India, where we have had to tell Australian citizens that they can't come home because we don't have the quarantine facilities to manage them, which is absolutely disgusting and unacceptable. But the federal government, led by Scott Morrison, just puts this on the states. He's doing nothing to address it, and there was nothing in his budget about that.
This budget did nothing to combat poverty in Australia. It did nothing for social housing in Australia. It has not done anything to solve the catastrophic issues with aged care. Rather, as it so often does, this government is hiding behind a headline figure. It hides behind the announcement. There's no follow-up; there's no plan. And I want to talk more about that. The budget confirmed the worst fears of the disability community, with the government continuing to talk about hard conversations and sustainability. As a hard-working local member, I listen to people with disability and NDIS participants, and every person in this place must hear the stories of people on the NDIS fighting desperately for the most basic of supports, while the minister talks about it not being sustainable and talks about relying too much on the empathy of public servants. People are rightfully disgusted by that. But I'm also on the NDIS joint parliamentary committee. We had two hearings last week. It was incredibly harrowing to hear people's experiences and to be confronted with that brick wall this government puts up, with the minister not listening at all, showing no empathy herself and talking about too much empathy.
Coming back to the budget, it has confirmed that this coalition government has no plan on climate change—again, doubling down on the fact that we're not even quite committed as a nation to zero emissions by 2050. This is a real opportunity to invest in renewable energy and become the renewable energy superpower that Australia could be.
This is a budget that has continued the ideological crusade against our public universities, cutting funding by 9.3 per cent. We've already seen 17,000 jobs lost. We've seen people walking away from research projects at a time when the world is relying on this research to address issues like the pandemic, like climate change. We're abandoning it. When young people need to know they have jobs into the future, that they can access the university education or the vocational education that they need to get the jobs of the future, this government is doing nothing for them and it's cutting it.
Labor is the party of vision in this country. As our shadow treasurer, Jim Chalmers, said in his Press Club address: 'No Labor budget would ever be so devoid of vision as what we have seen from this government'. Labor is the party that, under Bob Hawke and Paul Keating, set-up the foundations for the economic growth that we saw then squandered under the Howard government. Labor is the party that got us through the global financial crisis. It did that by investing in low-income households, in building our nation—things like that. We're the party that did Medicare and continue to defend it against coalition attacks. We are party that has done more than this government could ever dream of to protect our natural environment. We are the only party that has ever taken any serious action on climate change, introducing our first carbon price. When we talk about vision I want to quote Paul Keating, because he is one of our most visionary leaders that we've seen in Australian history. He said:
We will not adopt the fantastic hypocrisy of modern conservatism which preaches the values of families and communities, while conducting a direct assault on them through reduced wages and conditions and job security.
There is no more relevant example of that than this budget, because what we have seen in this budget—after eight years of wage stagnation under this government—is not only do they have no plan for wages, but that they have acknowledged, in their own budget papers, that wages will grow slower than inflation over the next four years. That is a real wage cut for Australians over the next four years. That is the thanks that workers get for getting us through this pandemic. We have fared so well because Australians care for one another and are dedicated to doing the right thing, and because of the hard work of our aged-care workers, frontline health workers—people who are still not being vaccinated.
This should be the top priority of this government at the moment, ensuring that people are getting vaccinated. First of all, frontline health workers and the most vulnerable—older people, people in disability. It's just shameful that we have seen that people with disability are barely having access to vaccines yet. We're going to continue to call on the Prime Minister to answer these questions. What are you doing about the vaccine rollout? This is a government that has spent $1 billion on advertising and we have not seen a public advertising campaign around getting vaccinated. We are seeing mixed messages, even from their health minister, about waiting for particular vaccines—wink-wink, nudge-nudge. This is serious. This is incredibly serious. They talk a lot about the economy and the economy is not going to get back on its feet until we are not at risk of lockdown, which we will be until we get a significant proportion of the Australian community vaccinated.
We can see a situation looming where countries that have not fared anywhere near as well as Australia, countries that are really suffering around the world, are going to be opening up their borders before we are, because under this government we cannot get a vaccination rollout right.
I want to come to aged care, because I think this is a perfect example of how this government is all about the announcement and not about the follow through. The centrepiece of their budget has been $17 billion of funding for aged care. Sure, that sounds like a big figure; it does. But don't be fooled. It falls so far short of what the royal commission into aged care recommended be done to fix this system, which is in absolute crisis.
Anyone who, like me or the people whom I talk to in my electorate, has had a personal experience with aged care knows that it is in crisis. They know that it is in crisis from the experiences they have with their loved ones each and every day. When you talk to people about aged care, they all know the problem is around staffing. It's around people not receiving good enough pay. It's around there not being enough staff. That is where a lot of this money needs to go to fix this problem. None of it has been directed that way through this government's announcement. This announcement gives all the money to providers, with no guarantee that any of it be put into decent wages for aged-care workers.
These people must be saints to work for the money that they work for and to do the things that they do, and I can tell you that they are, because in the last sitting, when I was speaking to people who are aged-care workers, it was just so clear that their deep dedication to the people whom they care for is the reason they get up and do this job every day. Those people are being let down by this government. The residents are being let down and the workers are being let down.
This package does nothing about the fact that so many people in aged care are malnourished. In a country like Australia they are actually starving. These are our older Australians, who have worked their entire lives. At a time when they're vulnerable and they need care, this government is directing the money to the people whom we've seen in the media reportedly buying Maseratis and those sorts of things. This is while our parents, grandparents and loved ones aren't getting three decent meals a day. It's not good enough, and Australians are not fooled.
They've fobbed this off and delayed or outright rejected key recommendations of the royal commission into aged care. They've failed to clear the home-care package waiting list. This is another thing: we all know that most older people want to stay in their homes as long as they can, but we are seeing the tragic situation where people on waiting lists are dying while they wait to have someone come and help them with their meals or manage their house so they can stay in their house as long as they can. There is a waiting list of 100,000 people. If you think about that money, it's not going far enough. It sounds like a big figure, but it's not.
They've also ignored the recommendation to require a nurse to be on duty 24/7 in aged-care facilities. This has been something that unions and aged-care groups have been campaigning on for many, many years. It's obvious. Just do it. Just get it right. Again, there is the issue of staff ratios in aged care. They have shirked the main increase to mandatory care minutes in residential aged care. As I've said, staffing levels are central to many of the quality care problems in aged care. This announcement does nothing to ensure that they are fixed.
There is the issue of housing. This budget has done next to nothing for social housing, whereas in our budget reply we announced that an Albanese Labor government will create a $10 billion off-budget Housing Australia Future Fund to build social and affordable housing and create thousands of jobs now and in the longer term. Over the first five years, this investment will build around 20,000 social housing properties. Four thousand of the 20,000 social housing properties will be allocated to women and children fleeing domestic and family violence and to older women on low incomes who are at risk of homelessness, which is the fastest-growing group of homeless people at the moment in this country. Ten thousand affordable housing properties will be provided for frontline workers. A total of $1.7 billion will be allocated to women, $1.6 billion for long-term housing and an additional $100 million for crisis and transitional housing options for women and children fleeing domestic and family violence.
This is the sort of vision this country needs at the moment. The pandemic has been an incredibly challenging time for Australia and the world, and it will continue to be. But we should look for the positives in it. The positive that I am so proud that our leader, Anthony Albanese, has continued to talk about through all of this is that it is a chance to reset and rebuild better. It is a chance to build an economy that is more sustainable by investing in renewables, because good climate policy is good jobs policy. We need to be honest with people whose jobs aren't going to survive. They know that. We need to show that we're going to work with them to let them partake in the jobs of the future.
We have such an opportunity here, and it is very frustrating to be in opposition and see it absolutely squandered by this government in this budget. Labor is the party that is going to ensure no-one is held back and no-one is left behind. We just heard from the member for Goldstein about how it's all about community and risk taking et cetera. Well, no. It's about giving people the opportunities. Labor is the party of aspiration. Labor is the party that wants people to get ahead, because we want everyone to have the opportunity, not just those who are born with it.
Mr LAMING (Bowman) (13:25): This is an opportunity to talk about Australia's world-class health system, which, like all health systems, is facing a significant struggle. It's the product, obviously, of a Commonwealth-state arrangement, with Commonwealth-state health-financing agreements. In our good state of Queensland, 39 public hospitals are now funded under activity based funding on a national efficient price and another 83 public hospitals on a national efficient cost, where those smaller services and smaller public hospitals still get block funding. The movement to activity based funding is absolutely critical, and the Commonwealth, at arm's length from the operation of hospitals, is reliant on activity based funding to put a value on everything that happens inside the walls of a hospital.
Of course, there's been additional finesse and detail added to how we calculate this. There was a degree of back-casting going on, which meant that, as soon as we gave additional criteria whereby we would fund certain patients with more money, in many cases states were simply signing every patient up to every category to maximise the amount of activity based funding they got. What that led to was a need for the Commonwealth to back-cast and identify whether we should have absolutely every patient in the system suffering every single symptom in order to get more money. Clearly that was preposterous and had to stop, and that's one of the reasons why there was some disagreement between states and the Commonwealth on funding in 2018. That was the essence of that issue.
Apart from that, these very laborious Commonwealth-state health state agreements are interesting beasts, because they have allowed certain states to try different models. I well remember that from 2007 to 2010, under the Rudd administration, for the first time we allowed public hospital patients to access Medicare inside public hospitals, which up until then we had thought was anathema but which is now commonplace. This interface between what Medicare funds and what is a public hospital responsibility continues to shift, and I'm putting down here today that ultimately a patient who spends the night in a facility remains the responsibility of the state, while a patient who doesn't spend the night in a facility will one day become fundamentally part of the public health responsibility of the Commonwealth. That's where I think things will go over the next decade.
Because my time is limited now—but I'm going to continue later—I want to make some very brief observations about the challenges of using an ABF system in financing hospitals and how difficult it is to get clear information from states about how they spend the money. The Commonwealth is continuing to increase its contributions, but let's be honest: it's still a minor funder of the system. But it's moving up, and it's important that states don't fiddle with the data to unfairly obtain more ABF than they're entitled to. It's the job of large numbers of Canberra public servants to monitor that, but it's also for the community to be completely frank about whether state governments are being honest.
I want to note what the member for Capalaba, in my area, said on behalf of the state Labor government, in relation to the problems at the hospital in my area, where you are more likely than not to be ambulance ramped. Fifty-one per cent of people arriving at Redland Hospital are likely to be ambulance ramped, and the excuse given is that that is predominantly because of long-term dementia patients being unable to return to an aged-care facility—which, yes, is the responsibility of the Commonwealth. So let's be clear here: we’re all on the sticky paper together. But we do need solutions, and we need to make sure we're not simply blaming dementia patients for the ills of the hospital. We can't use dementia patients as an excuse for why, because the ambulances are all stacked up outside the hospital, there can't be an ambulance on the sideline of a football field where kids are getting broken jaws and broken legs. This is the point I'm making. We're building a multistorey car park at Redland Hospital, but what's the point if it's filled with ambulances with patients sitting in them and high-quality ambulance staff sitting there looking at patients for up to 12 hours because there's nowhere to put them in the hospital?
This is not about bigger A&E centres. This is not about more passionate staff. This is not about having more ambulance workers, because fundamentally, no matter how good they are, there's nowhere to put those patients. There is no bed available. We have to find a way to provide an incentive for states to operate efficiently and to return dementia patients when they can. That is an important contribution that I will detail in subsequent debate.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Vamvakinou ): Order! It being 1.30, in accordance with the resolution of 13 May the debate is adjourned. The resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for a later hour. The member for Bowman will leave to continue speaking when the debate is resumed. The chair will be resumed at 4 pm.
Sitting suspended from 13:30 to 16:00
CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS
Macedon Ranges Regional Sports Precinct
COVID-19: Vaccination
Mr ROB MITCHELL (McEwen—Second Deputy Speaker) (16:00): Our electorate of McEwen has been waiting for federal funding for the Macedon Ranges Regional Sports Precinct since 2018. This project has been fully planned, and it has continued to involve collaboration between community groups, sporting associations, myself, the state government and local council. The Macedon Ranges Shire Council committed $10.7 million, the Victorian government has committed $11.6 million and even the AFL tipped in 100 grand for this project. Both our state government and local councils recognise the need for our growing community to have access to sporting facilities. It's these facilities that help communities thrive and foster teamwork, collaboration and health within a quickly growing area like McEwen.
But despite application after application after application to the federal government for a grant under the Building Better Regions scheme, the Morrison government has yet again refused to fund this project. The excuse is that the funding process is competitive, but what we know is that, of the 54 community projects that have been approved under this funding scheme, 43 went to councils and organisations within Liberal electorates. The stench of pork is strong. The reality is that the Morrison government is using this grants scheme as their personal slush fund and ignoring communities like the Macedon Ranges who would benefit the most from having this money. The people of McEwen are relying on this funding to make their dream of a healthier and happier community a reality, and they deserve better than to be continually ignored by a government that cares more about its own re-election than it cares about helping communities. Our kids and our communities need a government that's on their side. Only Labor will commit to this facility, and only Labor is on their side.
The Morrison government's failed vaccine rollout continues to hurt people in McEwen as well. The recent COVID-19 outbreak in the north of Melbourne which has now resulted in nine positive cases so far is the latest example of where the coalition has failed on the very basics of what its job is: to protect Australians and keep them safe. They have failed on quarantine and failed on the vaccine program. Scared local businesses and families have spent the last day calling my office. They are afraid of what this outbreak will mean for them. The government has botched this vaccine rollout from the start—first, in failing to secure the contracts needed for vaccines and then in failing to get them to GPs and creating confusion about the rollout going forward. The opening of our economy is dependent on getting this health crisis under control and that means people getting jabs in the arm. The longer we wait, the more lockdowns we'll see. The Commonwealth is receiving 1.4 million vaccines per week but only administering 450,000. You can't blame supply when you're getting the vaccines but you're not giving them out. This issue is directly the result of the Morrison government. The rest of the world is moving on and Australians are sitting there pondering: what's the point of the Morrison government if it can't even get vaccines and quarantine right? It's an absolute disgrace, and the people of McEwen deserve better than being overlooked by a government that leaves them behind.
Digital Economic Strategy
Mr ZIMMERMAN (North Sydney) (16:03): When the COVID-19 pandemic caused lockdowns across our nation, almost every Australian business went online. As the Prime Minister said only two weeks ago, every business in Australia is now a digital business, and it is likely to be one of the enduring legacies of the pandemic. That is why I really welcome the Morrison government's Digital Economic Strategy which invests $1.2 billion in Australia's digital future. It will allow Australian businesses to capitalise on the opportunities that digital technologies are creating, and it provides the framework for ensuring that Australia is a world-leading digital economy by 2030.
One part of this strategy that will make a significant economic impact both nationally and within my own electorate is the new digital games tax offset of 30 per cent. The offset will promote the growth of Australia's digital game development industry and increase its market share in a rapidly expanding global sector. I'm excited about the potential impact of this offset for the sector. The global video games industry is worth approximately A$250 billion, which, by comparison, is considerably more than the entire global film, home entertainment and streaming industries are worth combined, and it's growing. In fact, the gaming industry expanded by 20 per cent last year as COVID-19 led to an increase in game play and sales around the world. This offset will provide a significant boost to our local game development industry. It will allow Australian developers to produce more games for overseas export and increase international investment in the local gaming industry, and it will ensure a thriving and successful video gaming sector in Australia for years and years to come.
North Sydney houses a flourishing video game industry, which will benefit from this policy. Last week I joined Minister Fletcher to visit Ben Lee and his team at Blowfish Studios, an independent games developer and publisher in North Sydney, to hear about the impact the 30 per cent offset will have on the business. Ben told me that, because of the digital games tax offset, he now plans to expand his current studio and hire more employees as he and his team create more Australian made games and distribute them to the global market. But it is not just Blowfish Studios that can benefit from this announcement. There are six other gaming development studios in my electorate, making North Sydney one of the most dynamic hubs for the interactive games industry. This tax offset will lead to many more studios that are backed by global gaming companies being established in Australia—and, hopefully, in North Sydney as well. It is the logical place to be.
I want to acknowledge the advocacy of the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association, particularly Chair Roger Clarke and CEO Ron Curry. I also thank the minister and the Treasurer for their vision in delivering this in the budget. With the digital games tax offset, Australia is placed to position itself as a global force in this rapidly expanding and lucrative industry. It will mean more support for local businesses, more investment for overseas companies and more jobs for Australians.
Corio Electorate: St Mary's Primary School
Mr MARLES (Corio—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (16:06): Last Wednesday I had the pleasure of visiting the prep classes of St Mary's Primary School in my electorate. There, amongst a group of five- and six-year-olds, I had the pleasure of talking to them about my recent visit to the Square Kilometre Array telescope site at the Boolardy station near Murchison in outback Western Australia. I was able to tell them about the array of dishes that is in place there now and has already discovered millions of new galaxies. I was able to talk to them about the 130,000 low-frequency antennas that will be established at Boolardy station and will enable us to see across the 13.5 billion light years of the universe. I then asked the group whether or not they had any idea why this was all being done in the middle of the desert, and one of them immediately said, as quick as a whip, 'Because nothing gets in the way out there.' And they were absolutely right.
After that, together we watched Dr Shannon Walker, an American astronaut, read from the International Space Station a book called Give me some Space! by Philip Bunting. There was a buzz around the classroom as they saw Dr Walker floating before she started to read a book which was, in turn, floating right in front of her. All of this was part of the National Simultaneous Storytime event, which is held annually by the Australian Library and Information Association. This year's event, specifically, was made possible by the Australian Space Agency and the Office of the Chief Scientist. Indeed, Dr Walker, in reading the book, acknowledged that there was a particular significance for those viewers in Australia to her reading of this book.
These kids were among 1,980,280 kids from 33,000 locations around the world—in places such as New Zealand, Thailand, the UK, Canada, Singapore and Vietnam—who shared in this reading. It was a wondrous thing to look at the wonder in the eyes of those kids as they listened to Dr Walker talk about a story from space while, in the process, relating her own experiences of space. In the eyes of a five- or six-year-old, all of this was inspiring. I have to confess that, through the eyes of a 53-year-old who was watching, I too was amazed at the fact that, in this day and age, kids can be in prep school and have a lesson taught to them from an astronaut circling the globe as she was.
I particularly want to give thanks to the deputy principal, Marie Monea, the prep teacher, Raquel Bowman, and the principal, Annice Lappin, for allowing this to occur. This is really important because we've seen a decline in the number of students studying STEM in this country. Inspiring kids about science is how we arrest that decline.
Spinal Muscular Atrophy
Mr VASTA (Bonner) (16:09): Today I rise to speak on behalf of my constituents Kate and Grant Gough and their six-month-old baby, Oakley. I recently met with this beautiful family, who shared with me the heartbreaking story of baby Oakley's spinal muscular atrophy diagnosis when just eight weeks old. Sadly, SMA is the leading genetic killer of infants under the age of two in Australia, with one in 35 Australians unknowingly carrying the gene. Had Oakley been screened for SMA as part of the newborn bloodspot screening and started treatment sooner, her quality of life might have been completely different today.
I first became aware of SMA in 2018, through baby Mackenzie. At just 10 weeks old, little Mackenzie was diagnosed with SMA. Sadly, she passed away at just seven months and 11 days old. I brought Mackenzie's story to the attention of Minister Hunt and Minister Coleman, and they took prompt action. This action resulted in the inclusion of a $20-million study into reproductive genetic carrier screening, called Mackenzie's Mission, in the May 2018 federal budget. I understand the minister had asked all states and territories to include screening for SMA in their newborn bloodspot screening programs. Trials for SMA through newborn bloodspot screening programs are currently only underway in New South Wales and the ACT. I ask those in the room today: what about newborns impacted by SMA in other parts of the country?
I want to emphasise that the results of these trials have been extremely encouraging. The medical community is overwhelmingly in agreement that the sooner the treatment begins, the better the long-term prognosis is for children with SMA. With that in mind, I'm calling on the Queensland state Labor government to consider the courageous families battling SMA, and those who will be in the future. Even AMA Queensland is asking for SMA to be included in the Queensland newborn bloodspot screening program. Our families do not have the time to wait for trials to conclude in New South Wales and the ACT before Queensland state Labor acts. With the cost-effectiveness of this test—approximately $10 per test—it's positive results thus far and the Morrison government's willingness to collaborate, I urge Queensland state Labor to include SMA in their newborn bloodspot screening program.
You have heard Oakley's and Mackenzie's stories today. As a father of two, there is nothing more important to me than family and their wellbeing. I am taking this opportunity today to fight for the quality of life of these babies. No family should endure the heartbreak of losing a child to this disease, and no child should be disadvantaged based on where they are born.
Australian Public Service
Dr LEIGH (Fenner) (16:12): In the 1940s and 1950s, US Senator Joseph McCarthy began a regime of attempting to seek out so-called communist sympathisers. Over that period, some 10,000 to 12,000 people lost their jobs. People's lives were ruined. People were unjustly imprisoned. The claims were exaggerated, and did nothing to improve the national security of the United States.
Whether your political tradition is that of freedom or egalitarianism, you should be horrified by McCarthyism in all its forms. The Australian Public Service Code of Conduct makes clear in paragraph 6.4.1:
APS employees may participate in political activities as part of normal community affairs. They may also join, or hold office in, political parties.
The code also notes:
Commonwealth anti-discrimination legislation prohibits discrimination against a person on the ground of political opinion.
And yet, as a member of the CPSU and the ACT branch of the Labor Party, I have frequently had drawn to my attention instances in which public servants are pressured to step back from their activity within the ALP, to reduce their involvement, to not seek elected office within the Labor Party, to not become a delegate to branch conference. This is inconsistent with the APS Code of Conduct, but it's also inconsistent with the values we should be striving for as an inclusive society. Strong democracies require mass parties. Back in the 1950s, more than one in 100 adults were members of one of the major political parties. Now that's fallen to fewer than one in 300. As one commentator has noted, there are more people on the waiting list for the Melbourne Cricket Club than there are members of all the Australian political parties combined.
The General Social Survey found that participation in civil and political groups decreased from 18.6 per cent in 2006 to just 9.4 per cent in 2019. Were I fortunate enough to serve as a minister in some future time, I would have no trouble being reported to by public servants who were members of the Liberal Party. This is not a partisan issue; this is about involvement in political parties.
In a committee of which I'm a member we have had an instance in which a committee member asked a witness, 'Are you a member of any political party?' And, of course, we've had Senator Eric Abetz asking Chinese Australians to make statements of loyalty. This creeping McCarthyism must end. It is perfectly appropriate for public servants to be members of political parties, and the APS Code of Conduct must be upheld.
Pacific Lutheran College
Montville Tennis Club
Mr WALLACE (Fisher) (16:15): The weekend just gone I had a terrific Saturday night with my wife, Leonie. We attended the Pacific Lutheran College rendition of Grease, and we had an absolutely fantastic time. There were 44 students and seven staff. We hadn't been to a live theatre performance in so long, and we had such a good time. The quality of the students' performances was just amazing. Often, when you go to one of these school musicals, there are a couple of stand-out kids and the rest are uh-uh-uh, but this one was fantastic. All the kids' voices were just amazing. They were great actors and great singers. Of course, most of the staff did the music, and that was first-rate as well. A huge shout-out to Pacific Lutheran College for your performance of Grease. All the staff, the crew and the actors were just amazing, so congratulations.
On Sunday morning I attended the Montville Tennis Club. They've been open since 1925, but their numbers had dropped down to 14 members and they were operating on some very, very old and worn tennis courts. Quite frankly, the club was really withering. But, to their great credit, they amassed some $276,000, with only a very, very small contribution from, I think, the local government and no funding from the state or the Commonwealth. This really excited me, because it was the community that banded together and raised this money. They built a new clubhouse, put new courts in—
A division having been called in the House of Representatives—
Sitting suspended from 16:18 to 16:28
Mr WALLACE: When it comes to tennis, there are highs and there are lows, but it was all highs on Sunday morning—such a great community spirit. The club started out with just 14 members before it was rejuvenated, and now it has 88 members and such terrific spirit. I want to send a huge shout-out to Wayne, Brett and the coach, Ian, and all of the management committee, for getting such a terrific grassroots club off the ground and really breathing life into it.
I also want to give a big shout-out to Chris Bond and Bridie Keane, two Paralympians who are just about to leave for Tokyo. Go and do us proud, Bridie and Chris, because you are everything that the Sunshine Coast should be and everything that Australians should be. Go well in Tokyo.
Brand Electorate: Telecommunications
Ms MADELEINE KING (Brand) (16:30): Today I would like to talk about the unacceptable mobile phone coverage in my electorate of Brand, particularly in the suburbs of Safety Bay and Baldivis. Constituents from all around my electorate are getting in touch with my office about this inadequate coverage. Many of them cannot get a mobile phone service from inside their very own homes. People are worried about their ability to reach emergency services, and business owners relying on EFTPOS are unable to maintain a steady connection, while many others are simply sick of having to leave the house to make a phone call. I share their frustration daily, having to deal with the same poor reception in my electorate office in Rockingham and with the NBN constantly dropping out in my home in Shoalwater. It simply isn't good enough.
Over the last year and a half, with the spread of COVID-19, we've become increasingly reliant on our phones, not only to remain connected with others but to continue living our everyday lives, including working and schooling from home. Many isolated vulnerable people spent past lockdowns unable to call or text others from their own home. As well as COVID-19, people within my electorate faced the danger of bushfires. Again, they rely on being able to access emergency services should they need to, and they need that mobile phone reception to do exactly that.
After repeatedly reaching out to her service provider and getting nowhere, Beth Phillips of Safety Bay took matters into her own hands. Beth organised a petition calling for greater mobile phone coverage in Safety Bay, and this petition received over 230 signatures. They went door to door, talking with local residents about their concerns, and got 230 other residents to sign up to a petition to fix their mobile phone coverage. After meeting with Beth, my office presented this petition to Telstra, who admitted the gap in their service. They say they have investigated the issue previously, but the project has since stalled. Again, this is simply not good enough. Telstra—along with the other major carriers, Optus and Vodafone—at the very least owe their customers a usable product. They take people's money. People pay for their mobile phone service, but they are not getting the service. This is unacceptable for the residents of Safety Bay and Baldivis and equally for anyone around this country who can't get mobile phone reception.
In an effort to keep Telstra accountable and to advocate for all of my constituents, my office has set up a petition on my website calling for better reception across the whole of the electorate. I urge anyone across Brand, whether from Safety Bay, Shoalwater, Waikiki, Warnbro, Baldivis, Kwinana, North Parmelia, Orelia or Medina: if you are suffering from poor mobile reception, please get in touch and sign my petition at madeleineking.com.au. You should have good, or at least adequate, mobile phone reception across all of Brand. If you don't have it, get in touch. We will change this, and I will fight for you to have good mobile phone reception.
Mallee Electorate: Schools
Dr WEBSTER (Mallee) (16:33): Last week I had the joy of opening the new Henderson College learning hub and technology rooms. I'm very proud to say that the Liberal-National government is delivering to schools in the regions. The $1.6 million investment into this project supports years 5 to 8 with new food technology and fabrics technology rooms, as well as four general-purpose classrooms, two tutorial rooms and an outdoor learning space. The school also contributed $1.47 million to this project.
Henderson College in Mildura was established in the 1950s in a small residential dwelling and has now grown to over 200 prep to year 10 students. From humble beginnings, the school is now thriving, and the kids couldn't be happier. The school principal, Sandra Ferry, was teaching at the new site in the 1980s and has been successfully guiding the school forward to what it is today. My own children attended the school in the early 1990s, and I am amazed by the development since then.
I want to thank two grade 6 students, Sadie and Talitha, for hosting me around the new building. It's wonderful to see the pride these students take in their school. They took me to their Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden, and I saw the variety of fruits and vegetables being grown by all of the children., from pumpkins, spinach, tomatoes and herbs to stone fruit trees and even a very healthy lemon tree. The strawberry I picked was delicious. The school students then sat with me for a lunch prepared by the students of grade 5. Henderson College is one of the several independent schools across Mallee that has benefited from Commonwealth government capital grants programs.
Others include: Holy Trinity Lutheran College in Mildura, which received $1 million in November; St Mary's Primary School in Swan Hill, which has received $1.2 million, and St Mary's in Robinvale, which has received $1.5 million. I recently visited St Marys in Robinvale and looked over the plans for the new administration building with Tim Larkin, the deputy principal. Tim spoke with me about the school's vision for the future. While visiting St Mary's, it was great to see the completed upgrades to the basketball courts and the new cricket net, also made possible through federal government support. The school offers education to many underprivileged children in Robinvale and is truly a diverse school, with 30 nationalities represented. What a rich educational experience for these kids. St Mary's fulfils a specific need in the region and brings quality education to the children of Robinvale.
The Commonwealth government supports all schools around the country. The 2021 budget has committed a record $21.1 billion for all Australian schools. (Time expired)
National Volunteer Week
Ms McBAIN (Eden-Monaro) (16:36): Last week marked National Volunteer Week. My electorate is home to hundreds of amazing volunteer groups and organisations. From our emergency service workers to our local community gardeners, there are volunteers doing important and vital work in every pocket of our region. These organisations look to create quality outcomes for their communities and work hard to bring locals together.
But, over the last year and a half, our communities have been kept apart. Through fires, floods and a pandemic, it's been difficult to maintain our local sense of community. As we begin the process of recovery, our local volunteer organisations are often the first places that locals will come together. There are organisations such as the Country Women's Association, which operates 24 branches across our region and recently hosted its New South Wales state conference in Bega. Thank you to all the CWA members who have continued their work in creating our local sense of community and giving women a safe place to come together.
There are organisations like the Sapphire Community Pantry in Bega, who I visited last month with Labor's COVID-19 recovery task force. The Sapphire Community Pantry been providing affordable meals and groceries to residents across the Bega Valley since 2017 and have been running a mobile pantry service to those in need in our more remote communities. So do Sapphire Life Opportunities. They run a similar food pantry in Merimbula, with the aim of decreasing social isolation and bringing their communities together, especially in the aftermath of fires.
These services provide a volunteer service to the Bega Valley and help those that need it the most. They join tens of other local charities who've stepped up over the last few years to help their communities. Across our region, we have St Vincent de Paul, the Salvation Army, Red Cross and Anglicare, who provide irreplaceable services to our local communities.
We couldn't talk about volunteers without mentioning our local volunteer rescue associations—Marine Rescue NSW and our rural fire service brigades, who exemplify the selflessness and community spirit we see regularly every day in our regional communities.
My region has been impacted by a number of natural disasters. In that time, the state emergency service branches in Bermagui, Bega, Eden, Bombala, Nimmitabel, Cooma-Monaro, Snowy River, Khancoban, Tumbarumba, Tumut, Yass, Sutton, Bungendore, Braidwood, Captain's Flat and Queanbeyan have gone above and beyond in supporting our communities. Our SES units have provided an invaluable and irreplaceable service to our local communities. Last week marked WOW Day, Wear Orange Wednesday. It serves as an opportunity to thank all of our local SES branches for everything they do. Thank you for your bravery and selflessness in our communities. Thank you to all of our local volunteers who have been helping bring our communities back together.
Budget
Brisbane Electorate: Business
Beyond the Broncos Girls Academy
Mr EVANS (Brisbane—Assistant Minister for Waste Reduction and Environmental Management) ( 16:39 ): It's been very encouraging to see the recent data showing that there are more people in jobs now in Australia than there were prior to the pandemic, something that no other developed economy can yet claim. This year's federal budget presents the next stage of our government's plan to secure Australia's recovery following the pandemic. As well as helping to secure jobs and delivering lower taxes, our federal budget helps to guarantee essential services like aged care and health.
I want to highlight and commend the mental health reforms announced in the budget, and I want to specifically mention Kids Helpline, headquartered in Milton, in Brisbane. For over 30 years, their team has worked tirelessly to provide support for young people facing tough times right across Australia. The budget delivers $26 million in funding for Kids Helpline over the next four years. Last week I joined with the Minister for Health, Greg Hunt, to meet some of their volunteers and counsellors. Our funding will empower Kids Helpline to continue to provide ramped up levels of service as the pandemic recovery period continues, and then to continue their amazing work well into the future, helping young people who need their help and support.
Last week, I also had the opportunity to introduce the Prime Minister to some amazing Brisbane small businesses and family businesses through the Paddington4064 business group. I want to give a special shout-out to the gang, including Karen Harley from Living Silk and her fellow Paddington business owners and operators, who is made the event at the Paddo hotel such a memorable one, and indeed to all Brisbane small businesses, who've worked so hard and sacrificed so much over the past year, at the heart of our local communities, to keep so many Aussies in work.
The Prime Minister and I also had the opportunity to meet and celebrate some of the students, graduates, mentors and ambassadors for the Beyond the Broncos Indigenous Girls Academy. Since its inception in 2016, more than 4,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander girls have joined the academy, which provides school based mentoring, significantly boosts school attendance and helps find career pathways for these girls. It's a truly inspirational program, delivering practical but unsurpassed results, which is why I was so pleased that further funding has been provided in this year's budget to extend that program into the years ahead.
The Broncos team members that we met also had the opportunity to present the Prime Minister with their 2021 Indigenous jersey, marking their decade-long partnership with the key Indigenous health promotion initiative Deadly Choices. I'm not sure that the Prime Minister is yet a huge supporter of the Brisbane Broncos over the Sharks, but, nonetheless, 'Go Brisbane Broncos'.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Mrs Wicks ): In accordance with standing order 193, the time for members' constituency statements has concluded.
BILLS
Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2021-2022
Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2021-2022
Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2021-2022
Second Reading
Cognate debate.
Consideration resumed of the motion:
That this bill be now read a second time.
to which the following amendment was moved:
That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:
"whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House notes:
(1) the 2021 Budget includes nearly $100 billion in new spending and racks up one trillion dollars in debt, but still delivers a real wage cut for Australian workers;
(2) after eight long years of cuts to key services, increasing job insecurity, stagnant wages growth, weak business investment, weak productivity, waste and rorts, this Budget was designed to get through an election rather than outline a vision for Australia; and
(3) that the 2021 Budget is a missed opportunity to shape a better, stronger post-pandemic Australia where no one is held back and no one is left behind".
to which the following amendment was moved:
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".
Mrs ELLIOT (Richmond) (16:43): The Morrison government's budget is nothing more than marketing, mismanagement and missed opportunities. It's just a shameless political fix, rather than the genuine reform that's actually needed in our economy. Despite spending almost $100 billion and racking up a record trillion dollars in debt, the Morrison government's budget reveals that real wages will in fact go backwards. So, after eight long years of neglect from the Prime Minister and his government, there are still so many urgent issues they've failed to address in regions like mine, the New South Wales North Coast, including a plan for housing affordability, the rental crisis and homelessness. The Morrison government's also bungled the vaccine rollout. They won't tell us exactly when locals will be vaccinated and they have failed to deliver fit-for-purpose quarantine facilities to protect us all. These are federal government responsibilities, and they have failed when it comes to the vaccine rollout and the quarantine facilities. So, instead of securing Australia's recovery, the Morrison government is actually risking it.
Also after these eight long years, this government's presided over an aged-care crisis, an energy crisis, a housing crisis and a skills crisis. Even in the face of the damning royal commission, the aged-care packages they put forward really fall well short of the commissioner's recommendations. The fact is that this budget would have racked up less debt if there were fewer Morrison government slash funds, rorts, dodgy land deals—all of those things that they have racked up debt for. So, after eight long years of job insecurity, weak wages growth, neglect, waste and no action on climate change, this budget really is another missed opportunity to invest in Australians and their future.
The New South Wales North Coast faces a huge housing affordability crisis, a rental crisis and a homelessness crisis. Our region has seen the largest increase in house prices across the nation, and rental vacancies are at 0.3 per cent. Every day, locals tell me how hard it is to find a rental, or that their rent has skyrocketed overnight and they suddenly have to move out—they're forced to move out. We simply have no affordable housing in our region, and our community is calling out for support and solutions to fix this problem. The housing crisis is worse in my area than it is almost anywhere else in Australia, and the Morrison government have no plan to fix it. They're just not listening. The Liberals and Nationals have been in power now for eight long years, and in that time housing affordability has just gotten worse. The fact is that it's harder to buy, it's harder to rent and there are more homeless Australians than ever before. This is truly shameful.
Only last week the shadow minister for housing and homelessness, the member for Blaxland, came to my region to hear about it firsthand, to listen to locals and community groups and to discuss the housing and rental crisis that we're experiencing on the New South Wales North Coast. Many of the things that we heard were really staggering and very upsetting. For example, in the Byron Shire, there actually is no women's refuge. There is no crisis refuge and police estimate there are approximately 400 women in the region who are sleeping in their cars. This is a disgrace. It must be addressed. But the problem is that the Morrison government are just not listening. The Liberals and Nationals are just not listening to and hearing the concerns of our community. They're not listening and they're not acting.
But we're listening. Labor is listening and we're on your side in this. That's why we announced our housing affordability plan. During the visit, the shadow minister highlighted Labor's plan to build social and affordable housing now and into the future. We talked about how an Albanese Labor government will create the Housing Australia Future Fund to build social and affordable housing in places, like the New South Wales North Coast, which are experiencing this crisis. These particular funds and these plans will create jobs and will, in fact, change lives. It's so important to have that massive investment in housing projects—social housing projects, affordable housing projects. It will provide affordable homes for those heroes of the pandemic who have kept us safe, such as the frontline workers, police, nurses and cleaners. It will provide housing for veterans and crisis accommodation for women and children fleeing domestic violence. These are such important issues in my community.
Another major issue is how slow the vaccine rollout has been in our region. Locals contact me every day, concerned they're not able to get the vaccine because the Prime Minister has failed to deliver enough vaccine to our region. Many of our great GPs are ready and able to provide vaccinations to our community, but they're just not getting the supplies. Last week the shadow minister for health and ageing, the member for Hindmarsh, visited my region and met with doctors and staff at the Tweed Health for Everyone Superclinic to discuss the Morrison government's failure to deliver a speedy and effective vaccine rollout for the New South Wales North Coast. This clinic has 8,000 1b patients. To date, they've been able to vaccinate only 800 of them. Eight thousand 1b patients is a lot. They've been receiving only about 100 vaccine doses per week. Hopefully, that will soon increase to 300 a week, but it's still not enough. Our locals urgently need this vaccine. We have a very large proportion of older Australians living in my region, and the bottom line is that the Liberals' and Nationals' bungled handling of this vaccination rollout means that the lives of many of our seniors are being put at risk because they are failing to get that vaccine.
The Prime Minister initially said that we were at the front of the queue. Well, we're not. We're way behind the rest of the world. He promised that four million Australians would be vaccinated by the end of March. He failed that target. His next target was that six million Australians would be vaccinated by 10 May. That hasn't happened. With just over three million vaccinations completed, the Prime Minister has utterly failed, in terms of this target, when it comes to vaccinations. We urgently need them on the New South Wales North Coast. Many frontline healthcare workers and aged-care workers in my region, and disability residents as well, who were supposed to be vaccinated first are still waiting to actually receive their first jabs. This is astounding. It just isn't good enough, and I'll continue to call on the Morrison government to get more vaccine to our region.
Another big issue in my area is the Morrison government's inaction on climate change. This government has had more than 20 energy policies in eight years, and all they have to show for that is more emissions and higher electricity prices. That's it. Nothing more. What we've seen is really wilful vandalism by the Liberals and Nationals over that time, because for them it's actually about politics rather than delivering solutions to climate change or lowering electricity prices. That's not what it's about for them; it's all about politics.
For the regions, action on climate change is very important. It's good for jobs, it's good for lowering emissions and it's good for lowering power prices for both businesses and families. But do you know what happens? The Nationals constantly sell out the regions. I've said many times in this place that National Party choices hurt. Their decisions and their climate change denial are constantly hurting the regions economically and environmentally.
Renewables are by far the cheapest form of new energy, and our nation has the capacity to be a renewable energy superpower. We can create new jobs in technologies at the same time as reducing power prices and creating many jobs across the economy, but the fact is the Liberals and Nationals have no plan at all when it comes to climate change.
Another major issue in my region is young people and all of the issues that concern them. Young people in our regional communities are really being left behind by this government, because this government constantly treats young people with a policy that is often too little, too late, an afterthought, refusing to provide our youth with a fair go. That's when it comes to TAFE, access to university, their working conditions, their penalty rates, their healthcare needs or their vital mental health services. Young people are often forgotten. The Morrison government's eight-year record leaves young people behind at every turn, particularly in terms of mental health.
Now, I acknowledge that the government did make some announcements on mental health in the budget, but it's just not good enough and not good enough for the regions and our younger people. According to the ABS, one in seven young Australians suffer from a mental health condition. Sadly, this number is increasing in regional areas across the nation. In my electorate of Richmond, locals often tell me the way to access mental health services sometimes results in hospitalisations. Youth mental health must be a priority for the Australian government. We need to take an approach of early intervention with educational programs and also follow evidence based solutions. Our young people, like all of our community, deserve to be treated with compassion and respect, especially during these very troubling times. All the evidence has shown that early intervention is the best solution. Improving on this is vital for our region and for all young Australians, The government needs to start addressing the needs of all young Australians, and it's particularly felt in the regions.
Sadly, across so many areas, we see the Liberals and Nationals at state and federal levels continuing to show that they are just not on the side of regional communities. We see it time and time again. I point out one area in my region that really highlights the cruel and callous decisions of the Liberals and Nationals when it comes to the state government: their decision to close all four schools in Murwillumbah. This is a major issue for our local community. Last October the New South Wales state Liberal-National government announced suddenly, without any consultation with anyone, the decision to close all four schools in Murwillumbah and force them into one location. The actions of the New South Wales education minister, Sarah Mitchell, the Tweed Nationals MP, Geoff Provest, and in fact all of their government in doing this, are indeed disgraceful, shameful and wrong. The way they so rudely dismissed our community, didn't consult with anybody—the minister hasn't been back there. It's now been seven months, and she will not answer any community calls to actually come and talk with the community. To date she has refused any meeting to come to Murwillumbah and meet with the parents, the teachers and the children of that community. At seven months after making this really cruel decision, she still actually refuses to face the community. So I will continue to call upon her, the education minister, Sarah Mitchell, and Tweed Nationals MP Geoff Provest to front up and talk to the community. It's your government that have done this; you need to face this community for what you have done.
Of course the decision is wrong and should be reversed. Closing these four schools—two high schools and two primary schools—and forcing a megaschool will just mean fewer staff, job cuts and worse educational outcomes for our community as well. It's also a concern for other areas of regional New South Wales. Who's going to be next? Who overnight will be told, 'All your schools are getting shut?' People should be concerned about the way this government behaves.
We heard in only the last few days some other harsh action they're taking in relation to this. They've actually broken a promise that they made about staffing levels at Murwillumbah High School. In fact, the education minister of New South Wales lied when she said she'd maintain the staffing commitment for schools nominated for a rebuild or a major refurbishment. What's happened now? She claimed months ago there would be no cuts, and of course there are cuts. Staffing cuts have been imposed on Murwillumbah High School with the government axing almost two full-time equivalent positions. So we had the government starting off saying: 'We're going to close all your schools. We're going to build a mega school. Don't worry, there will be no staff cuts.' But already there are two. Imagine how many more there will be once they are able to proceed with this mega school and closing.
This has caused huge concern in my community. They're very concerned about their children's future educational opportunities and about the job losses as well. It really shows that in those regional and rural areas you just can't trust the Liberals and Nationals. They just can't be trusted at all. So I call upon the New South Wales government to reverse this unfair decision. They must listen to the community. First and foremost, again I call upon Sarah Mitchell to actually front up to that community. For seven months she has been in hiding, and that is a disgrace. Sarah Mitchell and Tweed Nationals MP Geoff Provest must front the community.
Whilst I am speaking about the state government, another issue I want to raise is the lack of police that we have in our area, the Tweed-Byron Police District. The fact is we have fewer police than we had a decade ago. That is the shameful legacy of Tweed Nationals MP Geoff Provest and his government. It has caused huge concern right across our community. Can I say that as a former police officer I have great respect for the outstanding job our local police do, and I know why they need more resources to keep our community safe. They work very hard under very difficult conditions, but their numbers have dropped dramatically. The fact is that in 2012 our police numbers were at 198, but under this government they dropped to 165 in 2017. That is 33 fewer police officers. We don't know what the numbers were beyond 2017 because—what did the government do?—they stopped releasing the figures, which is appalling. They should start releasing those figures.
The issue of allocating police as a purely political decision. They could fix this today. Recently we had a major forum at Pottsville, and I commend their community for hosting this. Because of concerns about the lack of police in the area, they have started a community petition to get more police, and I certainly encourage locals to sign that. We really have a situation where we have increasing crime in the region yet fewer police than 10 years ago. This is absurd for a growing region like ours. Again I call upon the government to listen to the community, provide more police and start reporting on that as well.
Across the board, whether it is the federal government or the state government, we see the Liberals and Nationals failing to provide the support and services that we need. When it comes to the regions, it really is the National Party choices that have really hurt our region across so many areas. Whether it's health or education, police numbers, action on climate change, providing correct aged-care services for our elderly, providing that vaccine rollout, we have seen failure after failure by both the Liberal and National parties right across the New South Wales North Coast.
Dr ALLEN (Higgins) (16:58): As the Treasurer of Australia announced in his budget speech a fortnight ago, Australia is back. It has been a tough 2020 with COVID, but the Morrison government is creating jobs and increasing investment to ensure our recovery is locked in. As part of our plan, not only are we continuing with programs that work but we are also ushering in landmark reforms off the back of the Morrison government's ambition for Australia's future growth and prosperity. Across my electorate the Morrison government is delivering for the people of Higgins. With record investment and real reform in policy areas of aged care and mental health, coupled with lowering taxes, we are securing our future.
On the side of the House we understand that in securing our future, we must ensure low and competitive taxes to stimulate economic activity. In the 2020-21 budget, the Morrison government brought forward the second stage of our tax relief plan by two years. This has meant that in this budget the low-income tax offset will be increased from $445 to $700, the 19 per cent threshold will lift from $37,000 to $45,000, and the 32.5 per cent threshold will lift from $90,000 to $120,000. Again, this year, we are delivering this additional tax relief for over 10 million low- and middle-income earners by retaining the low- and middle-income tax offsets for a further year. Consequently, this will provide further tax relief of up to $1,080 for individuals and $2,160 for families. Tax relief puts money back into the pockets of Australians—tax relief that rewards, not represses, hard work and that supports local enterprise and creates jobs.
In my electorate of Higgins, I'm thrilled to know that approximately 65,700 taxpayers in Higgins will benefit from tax relief of up to $2,745 this year. This is a result of the continuation of the Morrison government's decision to extend the low- and middle-income tax offsets in 2021-22. Take the example of my constituents in Higgins, Amy, who is a kindergarten teacher, and Darren, who owns his own small business. Darren and Amy are expecting their first child. They know the extension of the tax offset for low- and middle-income taxpayers will support the increased costs that happen when you start a family. This is in addition to the 86,900 people in Higgins who have already benefited from the government's tax plan. When our stage 3 tax cuts are implemented, we will see 95 per cent of Australian taxpayers paying a marginal rate of no more than 30c in a dollar. That's real reform, and it's coming down the pipeline. We're also backing businesses in Higgins, with the continuation of tax incentives that will allow around 27,300 businesses in Higgins to write off the value of any eligible asset they purchase. Furthermore, approximately 9,499 businesses in Higgins will benefit from the extension of the loss carry-back measures, supporting cash flow and boosting business confidence.
With life returning to normal in Higgins as Victoria extricates itself from the COVID lockdowns of 2020—and I'm sad to say there have been nine reports of COVID cases, so we are not yet out of woods in Victoria—I am keen to see the further benefits flow, particularly for families and small to medium enterprises, as a result of the Morrison government's tax regime. We don't have to look any further than my home state to see the evidence that Labor governments are addicted to tax. The newly imposed $3 billion property and payroll taxes will unquestionably stifle business investment and employment growth, hamstringing employers as Victoria tries to emerge from the big lockdowns of last year which are being threatened again this year. All the while, infrastructure blowouts and spending inefficiencies from the Andrews Labor government have continued to mire our beautiful state of Victoria in debt. Indeed, this is the blueprint for the opposition were they to win the next federal election. This is Labor; tax increases are in their DNA. There is no doubt that, under the coalition government, your taxes will always be lower. Under Labor they will increase.
The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety revealed some harrowing truths occurring within the sector—truths that alarmed us all and that we as a government must confront. That is why I welcome the final report from the royal commission and the Morrison government's response to ensure senior citizens of Australia are treated with the respect, care and dignity that they deserve. As announced in the budget a fortnight ago, the Morrison government is responding with an absolutely transformational landmark investment of $17.7 billion of funding for aged-care services. This signifies record investment which, most importantly, will be partnered—because we are a government that cares about this—with record reform to ensure that the spending is efficient and effective to guarantee the provision of high-quality support, to secure the future viability of the sector and to improve strict reporting and transparency measures. Australians, as we age, deserve this.
Fundamental in this response by the Morrison government is the five-year five-pillar aged-care reform plan. This is important because it will address the whole system: home care, with $7.5 billion towards supporting senior citizens who choose to remain in their home—and we know Australians are choosing to age at home and that that is their preference; residential aged-care services and sustainability, with $7.8 billion towards improving and simplifying residential aged-care services and to ensure senior Australians can access value-for-money services; residential aged-care quality and safety with $942 million to drive systemic improvements to residential aged-care quality and safety; and workforce. We know the workforce is changing and it needs to step up to deal with the ageing population, not just across the general population but the ever increasing ageing population within residential aged care where residents, unfortunately, are becoming more frail with more comorbidities because people are choosing to age at home. And we are getting a change to the population in the residential aged-care sector. There's $652 million to grow a skilled, professional and compassionated aged-care workforce. It is a good workforce. It just needs more support. This will be the powerhouse of the government's reform agenda.
Importantly, there will be $698 million for the fifth pillar of the five-year five pillar aged-care reform plan to look at the issue of governance. This will help across the aged-care system by embedding respect, care and dignity at the heart of the system; guaranteeing better choice, higher quality and safer care for senior Australians. The sector has undergone major change as our population ages and more senior Australians receive at-home support. Realising these trends, the Morrison government is working to secure a future that we all face.
Our senior Australians built this country. They've imparted so much to strengthen our great Australian project. We are indebted to senior Australians. It's our duty to ensure that all receive the care they require later in life. It's our duty to protect them later in life and that was made all the more clear through COVID in 2020. Unfortunately, we know that those over the age of 70 are most at risk from COVID. We saw how the outbreak in Victoria raced through our older generation last year. If that outbreak hadn't have happened, following quarantine breakdown and failed contact tracing in Victoria, Australia's death rate from COVID wouldn't have been over 900. It would've been far fewer, perhaps as few as 100. That is a remarkable statistic out of a population of 25 million Australians in this country. That is why the Morrison government is, as our first step of the COVID vaccination rollout, making sure that it's our senior citizens in aged care and their workers that are the first to receive the COVID vaccine.
Across the country we have 4,122 aged-care facilities and they have received their first or second dose of the COVID vaccine—
A division having been called in the House of Representatives—
Sitting suspended from 17:07 to 17:29
Dr ALLEN: To continue, I'm very proud that the Morrison government has targeted the COVID vaccination rollout to our senior citizens. Across the country we have 4,122 aged-care facilities, and we now know that at 94 per cent of these facilities first doses have been administered. This is a great outcome for the protection of the vulnerable in our community, particularly our older citizens.
The other aspect of our recently announced budget which I'm very proud of is our groundbreaking $2.3 billion National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan. This is another key priority for the Morrison government, to spearhead much-needed reform and assistance for Australians in need. On the back of the longstanding recognition by the coalition that mental health is just as important as your physical health, the Morrison government remains steadfast in its commitment to guaranteeing all Australians access to world-leading mental health and suicide prevention services. Through the transformation of our mental health system, Australians can have access to top-quality care whenever, and wherever they might be.
Every year, we tragically lose more than 3,000 of our fellow Australians to suicide. Heartbreakingly, suicide continues to remain the leading cause of death amongst Australians aged 15 to 44. In my first speech I spoke of how I had lost my cousin to suicide. He was a young man who lived in the regions and had difficulty accessing services. He came from an extended family of doctors, but unfortunately there were no services that were age appropriate in the town of Beechworth, where he lived. That is why I'm proud that the Morrison government is ambitious in its unwavering commitment to the transformation of Australia's mental health system, and that is through a fivefold plan.
We heard from the previous speaker that they believed we didn't have a plan that looked at prevention and early intervention. That, indeed, is not the case. It's a misrepresentation of the facts. The facts are: our fivefold plan includes prevention and early intervention, with $248.6 million to go towards access to essential services, including the creation of a landmark digital platform that will provide online professional counselling, peer support, clinical support and referrals. We want there to be no wrong door. When people are in need, they need to be able to access mental health support, whichever portal they go through.
Secondly, we're investing record levels of funding in suicide prevention, with $298 million to work towards zero suicide. Most prominently, this will be through funding universal aftercare so that every Australian discharged from hospital following a suicide attempt will have services wrapped around them. We know this is a highly vulnerable subpopulation and we need to provide targeted services to support those who've attempted suicide.
Thirdly, there is an increased package of treatment, with $1.4 billion to improve and enhance accessibility to and effectiveness of mental health services through the creation of a national network of multidisciplinary mental health treatment centres.
Fourthly, we have further investment to support the vulnerable, with $107 million for marginalised community members, including $79 million for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, $16.9 million for migrants and multicultural communities, and $11 million for those with complex mental health needs.
Lastly in our five-point plan is workforce and governance, with $202 million for measures to grow the mental health labour force and provide additional staff resources and training.
Just last week I was fortunate to visit, with the Prime Minister, headspace Elsternwick, which in 2007 was the very first headspace centre to open in Australia. In meeting with counsellors and carers and the great Australian of the Year Professor Pat McGorry, it was wonderful to be reminded of the brilliant work that these facilities and the workers in them are providing to those who need mental health support. Recognising the brilliant work of headspace, we are also enhancing and expanding the network, with 10 new headspace centres and five satellite services, at a cost of $278.6 million, bringing the total number of headspace services throughout Australia to 164. This will include a headspace in Higgins. I'm delighted, because we really need one. I know this because, when I spoke to the headspace in Elsternwick, they told me that they receive many referrals from my electorate of Higgins.
As a paediatrician and mother, I appreciate just how important these services are to so many young Australians, but we need more than that. We need services for children and for adults, including the Head to Health initiatives that are also being rolled out as part of this budget. My community is benefiting from the real reform and record investments made by the Morrison government. I'm proud that we are backing our community and businesses as we secure Australia's future. I'm proud that we are taking care of Higgins.
Dr ALY (Cowan) (17:35): When my family came to Australia in 1969, they knew they were coming to the lucky country, to a country which had opportunities for themselves and for their children, a country that would afford them social mobility, a country with universal health care—thank you very much, Labor governments—and a country with good public hospitals and good public schools. In 1973, my father was actually offered a job in the US. It was my family's original intention to go to the US, but we got the offer to come to Australia first. So they packed up and were ready to move to the US, but they were convinced to stay in Australia and give it a go. So instead they packed all three of us up and we headed north to Brisvegas. In 1974, we were living in a modest home that we'd bought in a place called Hill End when the floods came. I think it was then that our family also realised that they had come not just to a lucky country but to a country of people who look after each other, a country of people who roll their sleeves up and help each other and face adversity head on.
We've been here for well over 50 years now. We are heading into three generations of my family that have been in Australia. Hopefully there'll be a fourth generation if my two sons can get their act together and give me a grandchild! But we now see with COVID-19, again, that kind of endurance that really marks the Australian spirit, that ability to roll your sleeves up, that ability to face adversity head on. The fact is that Australians have really done the heavy lifting during COVID-19, whether it's the frontline workers, the mums and dads educating their kids at the kitchen table or the parents and the grandparents who went for months without being able to see each other. We did the right thing. Aussies did the right thing. They followed the rules, they social distanced, they stayed indoors, they wore masks—they did all of those things.
When I think of Australia and her people, I think of the people that don't ask much of their government, not really, not when you compare it to some other countries, certainly not when I compare it to the country that my parents left, where there isn't health care and there aren't good public hospitals. We Australians really don't demand that much of our government. But what Australians did ask of their government was simply that the government fulfil its constitutional responsibility to keep them safe by providing effective quarantine facilities and a timely vaccine rollout. That was all. They did everything else and just expected those two things. But, sadly, I have to say that Australians feel let down in that space.
Last week's budget had a range of things I thought were good. Let's be honest and fair and give credit where credit's due. It was great that the government finally started to address the aged-care crisis that they have presided over. It is great that they have put more funding into social programs that need funding. But there was no mention of quarantine. There was zero mention of their responsibility for quarantining. I take the Prime Minister's point from when he was asked in question time about the federal responsibility for quarantine about the national cabinet and the states taking on that role. I want to go to that point just for a little while tonight.
Sometime in May last year I came across an article that was written and published 100 years ago in the journal Nature, which is a very well-known and highly respected journal. The article was titled 'Lessons from a pandemic'. The pandemic that it referred to was actually the Spanish flu. It gave a range of lessons that they had learned from the Spanish flu. So I did a bit more research into the Spanish flu. Did you know that the Spanish flu had five waves? It was actually the second and third waves that were the most deadly. They were the ones that claimed the most victims. So, while we've used the word 'unprecedented' many times during the COVID-19 pandemic, it's actually not that unprecedented.
There actually are lessons to be learned from the Spanish flu of 100 years ago. One of those lessons is that the virus is knocking on our door. It's not going to go away immediately and we must be vigilant against the virus. But we must also plan for the future and for the prospect of the virus returning in different iterations. There will be different manifestations of this virus, and we have now seen different strains in various countries, including the Indian strain. The fact is that hotels are woefully inadequate as quarantine facilities for airborne strains of the virus. They are simply not built for the purpose of being quarantine facilities.
I would have said that, even if at the beginning of this virus we had started on the footing of having hotel quarantine in consultation and in agreement with the states, there should have been enough lessons learned, enough foresight and enough vision to have started building quarantine facilities to ensure that various strains of the virus would not take hold in Australia, that we would not get community transmission in Australia and that we would have quarantine facilities that could take us through the inevitable various waves of the COVID-19 strains, just as we had learned from the Spanish flu 100 years ago. The Howard Springs quarantine facility should have been the model for what other dedicated facilities could look like.
I just have to point out here that Australia is a world leader in rapid building technologies. Do you know what we do here in Australia? We build dongas and mine sites, and we build them in a really timely fashion. We build them really quickly. We could have built rapidly, using that technology. Using Australian ingenuity and world-renowned Australian technology, we could have built a number of quarantine facilities around Australia that would have allowed us to do a number of things. It would have allowed us to bring stranded Australians home. It would have allowed us to keep state borders open. It would have allowed us to continue to keep our citizens safe. But, most of all, it would have allowed us to have a foolproof plan for the future as this virus mutates into different strains and as we face a longer-term period of dealing with COVID-19. Anyone who thought that COVID-19 was going to go away with the first wave surely had no understanding of how viruses work. But, also, they had no understanding of human behaviour and what we needed to do to plan for that future.
But, as I mentioned earlier, in this budget there is not a single mention of quarantine. Instead of allocating money to the things that people in Western Australia want, like a quarantine facility, the budget actually provides for $1.2 billion to be set aside for a road to nowhere that Western Australians have voted against. It's a road that Western Australians have resoundingly rejected time and time again. Yet in the federal budget $1.2 billion is allocated for this road, the Roe 8 and Roe 9. The people of Western Australia have said, 'We don't want it.' This is holding West Australians hostage for $1.2 billion.
I want to talk a little bit about the vaccination rollout. I don't need to repeat what's been said time and again by people on our side reminding Australians of the constant variations in the information that they're given: the Minister for Health saying one thing, the Prime Minister saying something else and somebody else saying something else; the mixed messages; the inability to achieve the targets that were set; the fact that, as of last week, only one per cent of Australians are fully vaccinated. Compared to other countries, we are way behind.
I'm sure that everybody else, like me, is getting calls, emails and constituents coming into their offices saying that they simply cannot get the vaccine, that they have been unable to access the vaccine. We know that frontline workers, healthcare workers, aged-care residents and disability-care residents are really counting on this vaccine. I've got a constituent who is really counting on the vaccine so that he can finally visit his mother in the nursing home. He is still waiting on the vaccine. It's just not good enough when it's all that Australians asked for: a timely vaccine rollout and an effective quarantine regime. That's all they asked for: two jobs. This government had two jobs and it failed on both accounts.
As those in this place may know, my husband works in anticorruption. I've said before that I find it quite astounding that my husband has the capacity and the ability to investigate my state colleagues but there's nobody to investigate me or any of my federal colleagues. The establishment of a federal anticorruption body is something that is not just popular with the people. Yes, it is a popular thing. A lot of people want that. When I ask people, 'What do you want?' that's what they want. But it was also an announcement that was made by this government, and we're still waiting on it, still waiting on a federal integrity commission. Apart from that, the budget didn't have a single cent put towards any kind of staffing for a federal integrity commission. To me that says very clearly that there is absolutely no intention to establish a federal integrity commission even after this government has made the announcement that they want one.
I'd like to finish on one thing. We get this spiel, as you would know as politicians, when we ring constituents or when we talk to constituents and say to them: 'Are you concerned about jobs or education? What are you concerned about?' People will say, 'Yes, jobs. Yes, employment. Yes, education. Sure,' but, when you really dig down and have a conversation with someone, what people really want is security. I'm not talking about national security or the ability to leave home with the doors unlocked. Sure, people want that kind of feeling of security as well, but when I say 'security', I'm talking about a feeling of wellbeing, a feeling of belonging and a feeling of security in that they know that their jobs are secure, their wages are secure and they're going to be able to go to work and put food on the table.
It's not just about protection. It's not just about more police services—that your car or your home are not going to be broken into. It's not just national security, of which I am very fond, as you would know, Deputy Speaker. It's not just about defence or anything like that. It's actually about a feeling of security that people have. That's what people want. They want a sense of belonging to their community. They want a sense that they can plan for the future, for their children's future, and that they have a vision for that future so they can follow their dreams and their children can follow their dreams. That's what people want. They may express it in the political terms of policy that we give them: more employment, better wages, more police on the beat or education. But, when you really sit down and have a conversation with someone, when you really talk to them about their lives, their hopes, their futures and their dreams, what people want is security—that's all they want. It's up to this government to provide that for them in a whole range of areas, certainly including a timely vaccine rollout and an effective quarantine facility. Sadly, this government has failed on both those counts, and on other counts as well. I urge the Morrison government to really talk to people. You've got two jobs: vaccine and quarantine. It's your constitutional responsibility. Get it done and get it done right.
Mr PASIN (Barker) (17:50): It's a privilege to be given this opportunity to provide comments on the appropriation bills as they relate to the budget that was handed down recently by the Treasurer. It's also great to be given the opportunity to do it after there being a little time for the community to digest the content of that rather substantial piece of work. The sense I get from being in my community is that Australians understand that this budget effectively builds on the excellent work that our government has been doing since first being elected in 2013.
The coalition are known for their ability to be good economic managers. Over the last eight years that we've been given the privilege of government, it's at least my suggestion that we've consolidated that reputation. For the first time in 11 years, in the lead-up to this pandemic, the budget was set to be back in black. That was because of good economic management, and it meant that we were in a position to weather the inevitable economic storm that came with the COVID-19 pandemic. It meant that we were in a position to guarantee the essential services that every Australian relies on, constituents in the electorate of Barker, of course, included. These are services like aged care.
The budget assists 33,535 senior Australians living in my electorate. There is $17.7 billion in additional funding—it's practical, it's targeted, it's new—aimed at significantly improving the aged-care system. It will have an impact on older Australians in Barker, and I can tell you, having spent a week in the electorate, it's very welcome news. Like everyone in this place, but I think I speak for every Australian, I found the findings of the aged-care royal commission and much of the evidence confronting. It was heartbreaking, to be truthful. That's why this important structural aged-care funding adjustment has been applied. The reforms that we're talking about are being undertaken through a five-year, five-pillar aged-care reform plan, which will see the funding increase that I mentioned. It will include $6.5 billion for 80,000 additional home-care packages to get our senior Australians the support they deserve. This is a legacy issue—it's across governments—but we are chasing down the waiting list. We are also set to improve face-to-face care. There is $3.9 billion in the budget that will ensure, once in care, our loved ones receive the care and treatment we all expect that they will.
The investment of $123 million in our rural and regional health workforce, including $65.8 million to increase bulk-billing incentives for doctors working in rural, regional and remote Australia, is also very welcome news. It's news that I hope will deliver practical solutions to issues we face in our regional towns when it comes to seeing a GP. For those who don't need to see a health professional face to face, there is $204.6 million invested in extending telehealth arrangements. That's fantastic news if you just need a script and you don't want to leave the farm, or you can't, or, indeed, you are too busy to go and see the doctor. This is our government continuing to provide access to health services for all Australians, regardless of where they live.
Mental health, I am pleased to say, was an important focus in the budget, as it is for my constituents. The announcement our government will undertake significant structural reform to mental health and suicide prevention systems in this country was welcomed. There's a $2.3 billion package in the budget. It's a fantastic step forward. Our government understands that mental health funding and the resources for suicide prevention services benefit Australians quality of life, quite obviously. But it's also my respectful submission that it's an investment that reduces dependence on emergency services, while improving barriers to economic productivity.
We're also cutting the cost of child care for families in Barker by increasing subsidies available for families with more than one child under five in child care. Not only is this lowering the cost of living for families but it's boosting, and will boost, workforce participation in our regions, which is all great news.
Our budget also contained a women's safety and economic security statement, outlining the budget's $3.4 billion commitment to improve women's safety, economic security, health and wellbeing. This funding, importantly, includes $164.8 million in financial support for women who escape family and domestic violence. That continues to be a scourge in our society, and one that I know across the divide in this place we are committed to doing real work to address. There's $129 million for increased legal assistance enabling women to access justice. Our budget supports women not only through economic empowerment but also as a safety net if women experience, as I said, the scourge of domestic violence.
Another important budget measure, for my constituents at least, was the commitment to fully fund the NDIS with a further $13.2 billion in funding for the scheme. Mr Deputy Speaker, you know that we are committed to ensuring the NDIS is a demand-driven scheme, which is why the last two budgets have allocated an additional $17 billion to the scheme to make sure it remains fully funded. Not only is it important that the NDIS remains demand driven, but it is important that the eligibility and appropriate plans for recipients are made in a timely, objective and consistent manner to be fair for all Australians that are in need of that care. The strength of the NDIS is highlighted by the fact that currently approximately 450,000 Australians are accessing services via the scheme.
Getting Aussies skilled and into jobs is how our economy will bounce back. I know it's something you are personally past passionate about, Deputy Speaker. It's the fastest and best way to bounce back from the COVID-induced recession. That's why I was pleased to see that we are doubling our commitment to the JobTrainer fund to support a further 163,000 new training places to upskill jobseekers and meet skills shortages. We're funding more than 170 new apprenticeships and trainees. These measures, I've got to tell you, have been popular in Barker. I've spoken to numerous businesses and countless apprentices and trainees who have been taken on as new apprentices or trainees because of these initiatives themselves. Of course they were very pleased to hear that the next cohort of apprentices and trainees were likely to find their way into employment because the 50 per cent apprentice wage subsidy was continuing.
We also firmly believe that once in a job, Australians spend their own money far better than government spends it for them. To support Australians in keeping more of what they earn, the budget expands personal income tax cuts for low- and middle -income earners. Low- and -middle income earners earning between $48,000 and $90,000 will benefit by up to $1,080 for individuals or $2,160 from couples, increasing the amount families can spend on the goods and services they are keen to consume or buy.
In addition to these personal benefits embedded in the budget, infrastructure improvements, I got to tell you, are a standard in the coalition budget and so it was for Barker in this budget. Connectivity is the No. 1 issue in my electorate, as I expect it is for many rural and regional electorates around the country. Being connected by road is a big part of this. It keeps our local economy ticking and gets our loved ones home safely. So it's great news that the government's record support for infrastructure places regions right at the centre. We are building the infrastructure our economy needs for the future, with a record $110 billion infrastructure pipeline which is already supporting 100,000 jobs across the country.
This budget goes even further, with $15.2 billion in additional infrastructure commitments which will support a further 30,000 jobs for projects such as the Truro bypass, upgrades to the Heysen Tunnels, investigation into duplication of the Swanport Bridge, upgrades of the Princes Highway and Dukes Highway and investigation into the construction of upgraded freight routes connecting the regional north-south freight route via the Sturt Highway to bypass Adelaide. The new National Water Grid is also allocated $3.5 million for a detailed business case to bring a sustainable alternative water supply to the Barossa Valley.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I don't have any knives for you, but wait—there's more! As well as these major projects, our Local Road and Community Infrastructure Program has also received a significant boost. In addition to the $1 billion for our Road Safety Program that will deliver thousands of kilometres of road upgrades to regional Australia, our Local Road and Community Infrastructure Program, which has already injected a whopping $1.5 billion into our local communities via local government, has been extended with another $1 billion for local roads, bike paths, community halls, public facilities and almost whatever local councils and local decision-makers deem a priority.
In Barker this means a total of $37 million in additional money being pumped into our local councils to spend on community priorities. From the Beachport Bowling Club to the riverfront lighting in Renmark and many local roads in between, this project is funding direct, tangible projects, putting spades in the ground and jobs on the books. Of course this is on top of the additional $250 million for a sixth round of the highly successful Building Better Regions Fund; $22.7 million for a seventh round of Stronger Communities; and a new program, Rebuilding Regional Communities, which will provide microgrants to grassroots community organisations to assist communities in their recovery from the impacts of the pandemic. This funding is not only delivering outcomes for local communities; as I said earlier, every brick laid and every metre of bitumen applied is creating jobs, supporting local communities and leaving legacy infrastructure in its wake.
This brings me, in the time I have, to local businesses. This government is continuing tax incentives that will allow around 23,500 local businesses in Barker to write off the full value of any eligible asset they purchase. Additionally, around 4,620 businesses in Barker will be able to use the extended loss carry-back measure to support cash flow and drive confidence. It's stimulus measures like these—in particular, in my view, the instant asset write-off extension—that have seen business spending on machinery and equipment increase at the fastest rate in nearly seven years. It's measures like these that have seen employment go above its pre-pandemic levels ahead of any other major advanced economy. It's worth repeating: it's measures like these that have seen employment go above pre-pandemic levels.
Our government also understands the value Australians place on homeownership, which is why we are proudly the party of homeownership. Despite the last budget's success in getting 133,000 applications for the HomeBuilder program, we are committed to continuing to support even more Australians to get into their own homes. This includes establishing the Family Home Guarantee, with 10,000 guarantees available to single parents with dependents, allowing them to purchase a home sooner with a deposit of as little as two per cent. First home buyers seeking to build a new home or purchase a newly built home will be able to do so with a deposit of as little as five per cent. All other first home buyers are able to save more under the First Home Super Saver Scheme; we've increased the maximum allowed to be saved from $30,000 to $50,000.
So whether it's providing the essential services that my constituents depend on, securing our economic future or getting more Australians into work, our government will continue to work hard to provide an environment for all Australians to not only survive this pandemic but of course to thrive following it.
Mr HILL (Bruce) (18:05): I'll be clear from the outset for anyone listening at home—if anyone listens to the Federation Chamber; you never know—this is a debate about the budget bills giving the government $142 billion to spend next financial year. The budget confirms that the Liberals are on track for $1 trillion of debt, but there has been nothing to show for it in eight long years. The Prime Minister likes to pretend he's all shiny and new and he's running for his second term. This is an eight-year-old government with a budget that's just a marketing exercise. There are no real plans outlined in the budget, no actual reform. There's just spraying money around to fix the Prime Minister's political problems that he's created in his eight years in government.
Aged care? We hear a lot about aged care. It's budget is about one-quarter of what is needed. It doesn't implement the royal commission's recommendations. There is no actual reform that will see wage rises for aged-care workers or quality staff ratios. There's no guarantee that even the little pittance that was put through will flow through to food for people in aged care to eat. There is nothing in the Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2021-22 and the other budget bills that's actually going to reduce the waiting times for home care. My office is inundated, day after day, with calls made by desperate families needing high-level homecare packages. There is none of that. There's just a failed ad man with $100 billion of new spending and $1 trillion of debt.
But at the centre of this budget is the real scam being pulled on Australian workers—that is, in this budget real wages under this government will go backwards in the next four years. I mean, how do you rack up $1 trillion of debt, $100 billion of new spending over the next four years, $142 billion of spending next year, and have real wages in this country go backwards? That gets a gold medal for a special kind of incompetence. The government says about wages: 'Well, it's COVID. We're doing the best we can.' That's rubbish. It is a deliberate design feature of Liberal economic management. The facts don't lie. Have a look at what happened to wages in this country before COVID. From 2013 to 2019—this is OECD data—real wages in Australia fell. In 2019, real wages in Australia were 0.7 per cent lower than when this mob were elected in 2013, and they've just handed down a budget with $1 trillion of debt that's going to see real wages go further backwards.
In 2019, Australia sat in third-last place out of every developed country in the OECD—before COVID. They had managed to push wage rises down to the bottom of the developed world. It's no accident they have opposed the minimum wage increase year after year. They cut penalty rates—they took delight in cutting penalty rates, voting against it about 27 times. Last week they snuck a dodgy little announcement out that's slowly but surely converting the international student visa into a cheap labour visa. And, for the eighth year in a row, they have refused, as a government, to index the minimum salary that employers have to pay to bring low-skilled migrants into this country. You can see the data. If you come in as a low-skilled migrant on a meat labourer agreement, you are not paid $1 more on average than you were eight years ago. It's the same with labourers and personal care workers.
It is not an accident that wages are going backwards; it's the deliberate point of Liberal economic management. No. 1 on the Liberal Party's real political agenda is to boost the profit share of big business in this country by reducing the wages share. That's who funds them. That's actually the point of the Liberal Party. All the aspiration stuff is just marketing spin. They exist to boost the profit share of business by reducing the wages share, trashing working conditions and superannuation, and that's what this budget locks in—that is, lower wages.
It also shows they're bankrupt ideologically. They don't stand for anything anymore. At least John Howard and Tony Abbott had some beliefs. I didn't like them, but you could point to them, and they were broadly consistent. This shapeshifting failed marketing guy we've got as Prime Minister was sacked from Tourism Australia. He left the Tourism New Zealand body under a cloud a year before his contract was up. He has no plans for the future, just a plan to sneak through the election by spraying a bit of money around to fool people into thinking that, after eight years, he's fixing the messes that he's created. It's just brand propaganda that they're good economic managers; the data does not back it up. This budget makes that clear to anyone who reads the charts. We've had 30 years of lectures from them on how they oppose fiscal stimulus, oppose budget deficits, oppose public debt, oppose investment in urban infrastructure. We had decades of Liberal governments refusing to fund urban rail in this country because, apparently, it was bad. We've had them kick the car industry out of Australia, opposing Australian manufacturing and saying the market will decide.
Their budget figures themselves—the graphs, the charts and the numbers in this budget—expose, in black and white, eight years of incompetent economic management. Take the debt. The Liberals now record five times the net debt of the last Labor government. Of course, it would be a lot less without their rorts and their slush funds, which are built into this budget, and the $1 billion of taxpayer funded advertising. They've spent $1 billion of taxpayer money on ads since they got elected.
Take JobKeeper: billions of dollars to profitable businesses. Not just profitable businesses but businesses that actually increased their profits during the pandemic have received billions of dollars of taxpayer largesse from this mob—these great economic managers—who have put it on the national credit card. Apparently Labor debt is bad but Liberal debt is good. We'd be causing congestion in the big cities if they had the debt truck out, wouldn't we! It would be like a freight train. There wouldn't be enough little trucks to glue on the back, with all the zeros. The deficit is seven times as big as it was under the last Labor government, and there's nothing to show for it.
There's nothing in my electorate—not one single election commitment. All the pork went down the road. There's nothing for the most disadvantaged community in the whole of Melbourne. In a city of five million people, for the most disadvantaged council area there's not one dollar from this mob. Family violence is through the roof. It's the highest in the state in the south-east of Melbourne. Do you think, Mr Deputy Speaker, that from the minister's $60 million family violence slush fund we got anything for new housing for women and children facing homelessness? No. We got absolutely nothing.
The last Labor government, with much lower debt and a much lower deficit, at least left a legacy. We built the National Broadband Network, which this mob stuffed up. We left 20,000 social housing units—they're still there today. We created an asset for people to live in. Education infrastructure, urban transport infrastructure—we left a legacy. What has this government actually done?
Let's just go back to debt. When we left government, federal net debt in Australia was 11 per cent of the OECD average. This mob have got to 36 per cent, and it's going to touch 45 per cent. That's what their budget papers say. But that's not because of COVID. Two-thirds of the debt in this budget was borrowed by the Liberals before the pandemic. They more than doubled the national debt before COVID. This budget, if you read it, exposes the hypocrisy of the fear and scare campaign they've run for years.
There's tax. We hear about taxes all the time in question time: 'We're for lower taxes!' This budget locks in a tax hike for Australians on modest incomes—but after the election. They'll just kick that little can down the road till after the election. The Treasurer is saying: 'Well, you know, the offset will have to end sometime.' It's a temporary tax break for average income earners, yet the highest income earners in the country enjoy a permanent tax cut—forever. That's point No. 2 of Liberal economic management: deliver tax cuts for those who need them least and pay for them by undercutting and underfunding income support and spending for struggling families, child care, pensions, health, education and aged care. That's the point of them: boost profits to big business, cut the share of the economy going into people's pockets through wages, and then cut taxes for the top end and raise taxes at the bottom end. That's what this budget does, in black and white. Those opposite exist to protect those who already have wealth—to keep wages low and to protect those who already have the most.
There's infrastructure. We actually heard the previous speaker say, 'Infrastructure is standard in a coalition budget.' That's what he said; I wrote it down. We've had eight long years of the nonsense marketing scam where in every budget they announce projects that they don't actually build. They pretend to deliver infrastructure, budget after budget. The Prime Minister goes out with that idiotic grin, the hard hat and the thumbs up, honking the horn in the truck. 'It's a hundred billion dollars'—we heard that last year. 'It's a hundred billion dollars'—we heard that again. But it's a scam.
Last week in Victoria they quietly announced—when they thought there was a bigger announcement coming, they buried it in the paper. 'Actually, you know those railway station car parks we promised around Melbourne? Well, we're not going to build them any more. It's too hard.' They announced it. They campaigned on it. They put the leaflets out, but they're not going to actually build them. Thompsons Road in south-east Melbourne? 'Oh, we're not actually going to fund that duplication and extension. It's too hard.' But my favourite is that the member for Hindmarsh has told us about the north-south corridor in Adelaide. There is one little bit of the north-south corridor that got built. It was because Albo, the Leader of the Opposition now, when he was the infrastructure minister announced it and funded it in 2012, and it was finished. I think Tony Abbott turned up to the announcement and took the credit for it, but it was a Labour government that funded it. But this government, the Liberals, have announced this project eight times, eight budget in a row. They've never built it; they've just announced it. They announced it again two weeks ago. Except they say, 'We will start it in 2023, and it's going to take 10 years to build.' Eight times they've announced it, but now they say they'll start it in two years and take another 10 years. It's a joke.
If you read the numbers, though, this budget cuts infrastructure funding. It's in the tables in black and white. They're cutting infrastructure funding by $3.3 billion. But they're out there in the hard hats with the shovels, with the shovels, with the fluoro vests on. It's a marketing scam, and this government is led by a failed ad man. You can't believe anything they announce. Remember the centrepiece of last year's budget, JobMaker? JobFaker! The Prime Minister told us it was going to create 450,000 jobs. It created 1,000, and they've dumped it this year. They see government as a never-ending marketing exercise not to leave a legacy but just to stop us getting in and doing anything, like Medicare, the disability scheme, universal superannuation, the world's first disability pension in 1908. We called it an invalid pension. It was by an Labour government. NDIS. Universal services. These are things that Labor governments build and the Liberals try to stop and cut.
But the biggest omission—the thing the Prime Minister does not want to talk about or get people to think about—is quarantine and vaccines. He's had two jobs above all else with the pandemic in the last few months: manage quarantining to stop COVID coming in and stop it leaking out of hotel quarantine, and get a reliable, diverse supply of vaccines and get them out to states and territories to get in people's arms. He's obsessed with Labor every question time. He doesn't want to talk about doing his own job.
The vaccination program is way off track. As of last Thursday, we've got one per cent of people in this country vaccinated. That's an embarrassment across the whole of the developed world. We're vulnerable to outbreaks and lockdowns. We're seeing it now re-emerge in Melbourne because it leaked out of South Australian hotel room because there are no national standards for quarantine. Imagine if Labor had made a mess like this. You'd run out of black ink to print the newspapers. The borders: 'Labor mess.' But apparently it's OK when we have one per cent of Australians vaccinated because of the government's incompetence, mixed messages and confusion.
We need to be careful not to confuse antivaxxers with vaccine hesitancy. I was down the shops for two hours and had a lot of very sensible people come up saying: 'I'm not sure about the AstraZeneca vaccine. I heard the health minister saying, "Well, you can get another one in a few months."' You need a consistent, serious message. They spent $1 billion on taxpayer ads since they got elected but not when it actually matters. Literally right now there are ads on TV, funded by the taxpayer, promoting the Liberal Party, promoting roads that haven't even been built, but they haven't got a proper vaccination campaign out. Why is that? Because they've stuffed up the supply, they've stuffed up the distribution and they don't actually want people to think hard about that. They put all their eggs in one basket and the government owns this shocking failure. It's adding billions of dollars to the debt, costing billions of dollars to the economy, and it's on their watch.
And then there's quarantine. The Prime Minister never takes responsibility when it matters. He turns his back on people. If you are a cat or a dog or a horse and you come to Australia, you go to a Commonwealth quarantine facility, but, if you're a person, apparently that's not his responsibility. He had a report on his desk seven months ago—the Halton report—saying, 'There are a bunch of things you have to do. You've got to have national standards.' There are still no national standards for quarantine. All the states and territories do different things. The Prime Minister likes it that way because he can blame them instead of doing his job. Still the health guidelines in the country don't even accept that COVID's airborne, because then he'd have to fund N95 masks and put ventilation standards in. The best time to build a quarantine facility was last year, and the next best time is today. He needs to fix hotel quarantine and build purpose-built quarantine.
With regard to the borders being open, we hear a lot of footsie. He doesn't want people to think about what the future will be like. It's way too early to know about quarantine-free travel. But keeping the virus out does not mean keeping all people out. Australians should not have to live in a gilded cage. Australia under this government needs to overhaul completely how it is managing the coming and going of people and to scale up nationally auspiced quarantine. There can be no certainty about how and when borders open safely, and its way over time that the Prime Minster stood up, did his job, took responsibility for quarantine and fixed his vaccine mess.
Ms BELL (Moncrieff) (18:20): Australia's recovery is underway. On the Gold Coast, the mood has been shifting for many from gritty determination to a sense of cautious optimism. There's a shift taking place from the production of jobs to the creation of jobs. Many businesses and individuals have shifted from being supported to supporting themselves. All of that is about jobs for Gold Coast families. If there is a note of caution that I hear most often it's that businesses and families are still a little bit nervous about the prospect of state border closures being foisted upon them once again. But, overall, business confidence is up, consumer confidence is up and people on the Gold Coast have more spring in their step.
That spring is the national economy step two. Consider that nearly one million jobs have been added since the peak of this twin health and economic crisis. Australia is outperforming similar advanced economies and, in 2021, GDP is expected to grow by 5¼ per cent. To avoid lockdowns, state border closures and, most importantly, harm to the health of Australians, we will need to remain on guard and increase our resilience. To that end, the budget included an additional investment of $1.9 billion in the vaccine rollout, and Australia has secured supply of 170 million vaccine doses.
For some sectors, this process is slower and the support continues, such as the $1.2 billion support package for tourism and aviation, delivering close to 200,000 half-price tickets to the Gold Coast so that our local businesses have more customers. I was at the Blues on Broadbeach Music Festival on Sunday, and there were customers everywhere. Tourists usually spend 10 times what they spend on air tickets at their destination. Other support is in place for the arts and entertainment sector. As I said, Blues on Broadbeach proceeded last weekend with COVID-safe measures. It was supported by government funding to the tune—of course, a blues tune!—of $200,000.
Beyond the temporary support measures, the government is busy delivering major infrastructure investments like the additional $26.6 million in contribution to the Gold Coast light rail stage 3, announced recently on the Gold Coast. I see the smirks on my colleagues' faces across the chamber when I talk about the federal government coming to the rescue of the state government in Queensland. We came to the rescue—hook, line and sinker. The minister for communication and urban cities announced that big gaping hole and we covered that up with federal funding—yes, we did.
What the arts, urban cities and communication minister knows is that infrastructure investments not only are good for jobs during the construction phase but also help underpin long-term prosperity. The Gold Coast needs infrastructure to enable our growing city to grow at pace with the population whilst maintaining our enviable lifestyle. It's the most enviable lifestyle in the country, in my view. One of the mischievous refrains coming from those opposite is not to oppose the level of spending by the government but to feign concern about what we'll have to show for it. Well, $110 billion in infrastructure over 10 years is certainly something to show for it. That's what I would say to those opposite. On the Gold Coast, one of the greatest examples is the light rail stage 3, which is Broadbeach to Burleigh. It's the kind of world-class public transport that a world-class city like the Gold Coast, Australia's sixth largest city, needs and deserves.
Another is increased capability and potency for the Australian Defence Force. Labor's appalling neglect of the ADF was ended by the coalition coming to government. Can you imagine what it would be like now after eight years under Labor? Defence wasn't even mentioned in Labor's address on the budget. But we did not stop there. We are delivering the sustained funding commitment required and two per cent of GDP on defence to maintain and enhance the Australian Defence Force.
National security is without doubt a vital duty of federal governments. The prosperity and freedom of our liberal democracy and the security of our peace-loving, industrious people cannot be left to good luck. These require good management. They require commitment. My wise and resolute Queensland colleague, the Minister for Defence, is leading that commitment, and I will quote his words. He said:
In 2020, the Australian Government delivered on its commitment to grow the Defence budget to 2 per cent of GDP. The 10-year funding model in the 2020 Defence Strategic Update and 2020 Force Structure Plan builds on this by providing Defence with a total funding of $575 billion over the decade to 2029-30. This includes—
An opposition member interjecting—
Ms BELL: I'll take that interjection. Those opposite ask me what it includes. This includes a $270 billion investment in the capability and potency of our defence force. That's what it includes.
So I say to those opposite: what do we have to show for the pandemic response that supported our economy through the crisis, and what will we have to show for this budget? On the Gold Coast, we have domestic tourists spending at Gold Coast businesses. We have a prosperous economy across Australia that working Australians rely upon to support their families. We have infrastructure jobs now and transport, like light rail, that will provide value for decades to come. We have a more secure Australia with a formidable ADF. We have a safe, free national vaccination program. That's what we have to show for these budget measures.
There's a lot more that we'll have to show for this budget. For those opposite, I will touch on a couple more key examples. I can let them know that the Treasurer understands, although some opposite may not, that tax cuts will be good for families and that growth in household spending will flow through the economy. That'll be good for small businesses in Moncrieff. There will be an extra $1,080 in the pockets of individuals, and $2,160 for couples. That will be welcomed by over 10 million Australians, over 70,000 of whom are in Moncrieff. For some families, that will make the difference in being able to afford a safer car or a new car, or being able to afford school fees. It'll help with all of those household bills. It'll take some of the pressure off paying the rent or paying the mortgage. It does help. Absolutely every little bit helps during these difficult times. For others, it'll be a contribution to the education of their children. It may help with fees or sports fees. Regardless, those Australians in Moncrieff will know what they have to show for this period during the pandemic, and they will be able to spend it themselves.
I previously mentioned the investment in light rail, but let's take the time to consider infrastructure needs across Australia. As I mentioned before to those opposite, this budget commits an additional $15.2 billion as part of the government's record $110 billion infrastructure pipeline over 10 years.
An opposition member interjecting—
Ms BELL: Well, we announced it, yes. I'll again take that interjection from those opposite, because we did announce $26.6 million in gap funding for the light rail stage 3 on the Gold Coast, and the Deputy Prime Minister knows that many regional communities will share in the over 30,000 jobs that will be created from the $110 billion in infrastructure. He knows that tourists need transport to get to the Gold Coast and that farmers need transport to deliver produce to their markets. He knows that workers need to travel to their jobs and home safely again. Australians know they can trust the Deputy Prime Minister to deliver on infrastructure.
Let me pivot to the Minister for Health and Aged Care. Recently, just in the last week, he visited Moncrieff. The feedback that I have received from the locals who met him at Ashmore Men's Shed and at TriCare aged-care home in Mermaid Beach is that they see the qualities of intellect and compassion that the minister holds and that will be required to lead improvement in our aged-care system. The most important thing that we have to show for this budget, I think, is an aged-care system that treats older Australians with the respect and dignity they deserve. The record investment of $17.7 billion over the next five years, along with the reform we are delivering, will improve the quality, safety and provision of aged-care services. It's a $10 uplift per day per resident, which is considerable in the aged-care environment.
Let's talk about the Minister for Employment, Workforce, Skills, Small and Family Business. He knows that one of the best things that we will have to show from the budget is driving unemployment down to low levels. Of course, that requires investment—a great deal of investment—in skills. Except perhaps for the Greens, everyone in this place understands how fundamentally important jobs are to the mental, physical and financial wellbeing of individuals and how that flows through to their families, and the minister understands that small businesses provide jobs to 50 per cent of all Australians. Low unemployment will be one of the great achievements of the Morrison government. It is great to have a Gold Coast colleague looking after small business, which is the heart and soul of the Gold Coast's economy.
Another legacy of this budget will be a major contribution to the transition to affordable, reliable low-emission energy supply—a transition driven by technology, not by taxes. The Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction understands that taxing our way to lower emissions would also be a path to lower employment. Instead he's enabling change driven by technology. As the Prime Minister has said, higher taxes are bad policy when you are seeking to recover, which is exactly what this country is doing: we are in recovery. The Prime Minister reciprocates the trust the Australian people have given him and the coalition. Everyone on this side of the House trusts the Australian people to be the best judges of how to spend their own money. The tax cuts that they will receive they will be able to spend. We trust the ingenuity of the Australian people to both invent new energy technology and deploy the best of global technology. We trust that, if we lay road, rail, digital and all other kinds of infrastructure, Australians will literally and figuratively drive their own recovery.
Mr ROB MITCHELL (McEwen—Second Deputy Speaker) (18:31): If after eight long years the Australian people didn't know it already, the one thing that we can be sure of now is that the Morrison government cares more about its own image than it does about Australian citizens. The legacy of this Liberal-National government will be that they saddled future generations of Australians with debt without delivering any actual economic benefit to the majority of Australian citizens. Again and again this government has been dragged kicking and screaming to the table on issues which are important to all Australians. They only acknowledge the needs of Australian communities when it's politically convenient, not when it is most necessary. They make grand promises but rarely stick around to ensure that their promises are fulfilled, caring more about a photo-op than they do about the communities they claim to help. When the smoke is clear and we look back on the legacy of the Morrison government, we will see a government that abandoned Australians in need and cared more about scoring cheap political shots than supporting real people.
You don't need to look any further than this year's budget to see that the Morrison government care more about their image than they do about Australians. The budget is yet another marketing exercise that tries and fails to rebrand the mismanagement and missed opportunities that define the eight long years of this Liberal-National government. Despite plunging Australia into over $1 trillion of debt, the Morrison government's budget revealed that real wages for real Australians are only going to go backwards.
Despite their claiming, even today, that they're on the side of working Australians, at the end of the day it is only the highest income earners who are going to enjoy the tax benefits touted in the government's budget. We need to be clear: for low-income workers, they are extending the low-income tax offset for one year to get themselves through an election, but for themselves—for every member of parliament and every high-income earner—there is an extra nine grand in their pocket. When the government talk about anything, all they are really talking about is themselves. That's all that matters. Once the election is done, the low-income tax offset's gone and we will have low-income earners paying more tax in two years than they are today. So take away the smoke and mirrors. Take away all the garbage. The simple fact is this: if you're a low-income earner, this government will make you pay more tax in two years than you do today while the members of the government themselves each pocket a minimum of $9,000. They want to pretend that they're on the side of working families, but reality shows that those most in need of support are the ones the government plans to leave behind.
The government's budget makes for grim reading, and it gets worse when you scratch below the surface. It was based on an assumption that all Australians would be vaccinated at the end of the year. Remember, we were told that four million would be vaccinated by March. When did that happen? There was a 90 per cent miss. There was $60 billion for JobKeeper missing in last year's budget. This government has not hit any targets. The only thing that they have reached 100 per cent on is the failure to actually live up to what they've put out. They have failed on every single occasion. Their only 100 per cent success rate is failing to meet their targets. The people out on the streets are the ones who feel it the most.
The failed effort of this government on the vaccine rollout means it's no longer expected to happen. In fact, yesterday the Prime Minister couldn't even name a time or a date when people would be fully vaccinated. The most fundamental thing to do during a pandemic is to look after the Australian people, yet they look themselves more than they look after anyone else. When the government based its budget on the false assumption all Australians are going to be vaccinated, they failed to provide any real benefits to the majority of Australians. We can only wonder just how much worse the reality is going to be when the full impacts of this failed vaccine program are realised.
The government wants this budget to be one that addresses the PR crisis, not a national health crisis. They thought the budget would save them from glaring issues that have risen with regards to their attitudes towards women, their failure to protect aged-care residents and their failure to provide quarantine facilities and a vaccine rollout capable of bringing Australia out of this pandemic along with the rest of the world. The government's own budget didn't even achieve that. It aimed to be a marketing exercise that would save the government from admitting their gross failure to the Australian people but it has failed.
We never heard one word for pensioners. Pensioners are suffering with not getting extra support and facing rising costs of living. What did the government do? It slammed the door on them, turned its back and said, 'We don't care about you'. The Australian people can see that the vast majority of them are going to be worse off under this government. They can see their children, and generations upon generations of Australians, are going to be saddled with the national debt topping $1 trillion. What do we have to show for it? There's no vision, no nothing for 10, 20 or 30 years. There's no prospect of wage growth under the Morrison government. The members opposite laugh about that. They think that's funny. There's no plan to address the housing affordability crisis facing so many families and no plan to protect workers' rights. It's never been more clear that a Liberal-National government is leaving Australia behind.
Along with the trillion dollars of debt which the Morrison government has accrued and the lack of real wage growth across our industry, it should come as no surprise that the Morrison government is failing to protect Australian workers. Not only are Australians having to accept uncontrolled house prices and stagnant wages but the issue of workplace safety and employment security are being ignored by this government as well. Only Labor has committed to the criminalisation of wage theft. The rights for gig economy workers, through the Fair Work Commission, for job security, should be explicitly inserted into the Fair Work Act. And Labor has proposed a comprehensive plan to tackle the gender pay gap. The Morrison government has not. Instead, the Morrison government has ignored Australian workers and their calls for criminalisation of wage theft. It is estimated that wage theft costs workers $1.3 billion every year. That is money coming out of the pockets of essential workers and young Australians and it's going straight into the piggy banks of big business and the donor friends of the government's frontbench. It has never been more clear that the Morrison government is abandoning Australian workers, the hard-working men and women of this country who have supported Australia throughout the pandemic, particularly our essential workers on the frontline—in health care, in education and, of course, in retail. They deserve a better government which is not going to be condemning them to lives without the possibility of growing wages and financial security.
One of the so-called key successes that the government talks about is their HomeBuilder grant scheme. But beyond the one success story that the government's lauded, the HomeBuilder grant scheme has failed hundreds of families, causing stress and uncertainty for the many people it was designed to help. Families are being left behind by this government, overwhelmed by the bureaucracy, the misinformation that has defined this government. Two brothers bought homes right next door to each other in Wallan, one of the many towns in the electorate of McEwan. Like so many young Australians they hoped to build their homes, their futures, their families with the assistance of the HomeBuilder grant scheme. Both brothers faced delays in receiving commencement dates from the builders, which are required for applications to proceed. Despite already having begun their application for the HomeBuilder grant scheme, they found out they were unable to continue the application after these delays, having literally been locked out of the application system. These brothers relied on the grant scheme in order to secure loans for their homes. Now that they have been shut out from accessing that grant their future is uncertain. This is the case for so many Australians who've been shut out from accessing this scheme due to circumstances beyond their control.
The HomeBuilder scheme originally required prospective recipients to have already signed a contract with a builder prior to applying. The process of planning renovations, securing finance and receiving council approval is complicated and extensive. What the Morrison government has continued to overlook is that the HomeBuilder scheme requires an immense amount of effort to apply for, as applicants are forced to jump through hoop after hoop to meet deadlines and cut-off dates that are unrealistic and to meet documentary requirements that are far too complex. Families are being left behind under this government. The coalition want us to believe that, just because their scheme has assisted a minority of prospective first home buyers, it's been a success. It hasn't. The hypocrisy of this grant is that you can be a first home buyer in every state. You can live in Victoria, buy a house in Queensland and get a first home buyer grant, then pop over to WA and buy another one. How is that helping young people? It doesn't. It doesn't help people get homes.
An honourable member interjecting—
Mr ROB MITCHELL: No, it's a matter for this government. You should read your own bills. What this is about is that this government is happy for people to buy five or six houses and claim the first home owner grant. The people sitting over here, the multimillionaires, don't care about the people trying to buy their first home. This is the difference between us and them: we care about people; they care about themselves. The reality is that the scheme is failing many young Australians and locking them out of the housing market, and those opposite can smirk, but it doesn't help people get into their first homes.
Let's have a look at childcare, another huge issue facing McEwen families. The Liberal government have been dragged kicking and screaming into childcare reform due to immense pressure and hard work from the member for Kingston. After this government ignored the calls of Australian women and families, business leaders and economists in the early learning sector for years, the government tried to address child care. What did they do? They failed. They failed the majority of Australian families. We can see that in their own plan, with this cynical attempt to avoid the PR crisis that is all the government is about—protecting themselves, spinning away from the issues that they have faced. Regardless of all the hype and the media spin, the government's plan for child care fails to benefit the majority of Australian families.
Whereas our plan, Labor's plan, would benefit around one million Australian families, the government's plan will benefit about 250,000, supporting only a small amount of families with more than one child requiring child care. And we have seen the issue raised, where, if you've got twins, you only get one lot of child care. That's just absolutely stupid. What we see is benefits getting ripped quickly away from people. In contrast, our childcare plan benefits 86 per cent of all of Australian families.
Just yesterday, I received an email from a woman in my electorate, named Doreen, who has two children under the age of four. She pays $3,000 a month in child care. After eight long, dark years of this government, this is something that is getting not better; in fact, it's getting worse. It's like having a second mortgage. Like many families, Doreen's family hoped that, when the government made an announcement, it would help them. But, as we find with everything this government does, it's a show bag. It's all pretty on the outside, but, as soon as you open it up, you find out you have paid a high price for absolute rubbish. Thousands of families across Australia in our electorates are in the same position; they need relief now, but they get nothing from this government.
An issue that is very close to my heart is veteran suicide. We welcomed the Morrison government's backflip on 19 April about the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. It was about time. Labor had been calling for this since 2019, and the government failed. Only a week before, the minister said, 'It's not going to happen.' Veterans and their families have been failed by this government. Since the beginning of the war in Afghanistan, we have lost more veterans to suicide than soldiers killed in combat. That is a blight on our society. The royal commission is a once-in-a-hundred-years opportunity to fix this, to identify the problems and the solutions, to listen to the ideas of veterans, defence personnel and other Australians, and to implement changes that will save lives. We need to get this right.
Contrary to what the government is proposing, Labor believes it is critical the royal commission has the power to make findings of civil or criminal wrongdoing and be able to refer those to the proper authorities. We believe the royal commission should be able to hold public and private hearings, as many veterans and their families want to talk in a public platform to tell their story. This should not be a political fix. It needs to be a royal commission for veterans by veterans. We can only hope the government will put politics aside this time and engage with everyone to ensure the royal commission delivers enforceable recommendations that will prevent tragic deaths from happening in the future.
Australians deserve a government that is on their side, that cares about them more than it cares about a photo-op. Australia needs a government that understands the experience of working families, supports local jobs, stands up for fair pay and conditions, supports cheaper child care and focuses on pensioners. The Morrison government is more focused on its political image than on what's best for Australia. It designs policies based on what it thinks sounds best, not what ensures we get the best outcome. This is a Liberal-National government that really doesn't know what to do, except leave people behind. Instead of coming up with a plan to get Australians back to work, to support real wage growth, to fight wage theft and to address underemployment, the Morrison government proposes a budget that will leave many generations of Australians paying off a debt.
The Morrison government, instead of confronting the failures of its vaccine rollout, has left behind rural communities, aged-care facilities and disabled people, as well as leaving many Australians behind the rest of the world in the vaccination rollout. You can't have the economy grow and fix our business issues until you fix the health crisis. But the government has washed its hands of the health crisis. Every promise it has made, it has broken. Every marker it has put through—remember last year when we were told that 40,000 Australians stranded overseas would be back by Christmas? How many are still overseas? You won't get an answer out of the minister. You certainly won't get an answer out of the Prime Minister! The answer is this: every one of those Australians left overseas was stranded by a government whose first duty should be to its citizens, not a photo opportunity.
Even when this government does take notice of the issues facing real Australians, it's only there for the photo op and not the follow-up. The Morrison government is leaving Australians behind, and Australians deserve a government that is on their side right now, but they're not getting it. The question we will have in years to come is, what was the point of the Morrison government? What did it leave us, apart from debt and deficit? Nothing. A lot of empty promises, lots and lots of media releases for photo ops, but still nothing—except for failure after failure after failure for eight long years. Australia deserves better. Australians deserve a government that is on their side. An Albanese Labor government will be that government.
Mr VASTA (Bonner) (18:46): I'm pleased to rise today to speak on the Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2021-22 and its cognate bills. The 2021 budget delivered extremely positive news for all Australians. I would like to take this opportunity to bring to the attention of the House how it is securing my electorate of Bonner's recovery. It is remarkable how far we have come since the start of the pandemic. Our government has guided the Australian people through the COVID-19 pandemic, and delivered unprecedented support to our local communities, to first home buyers, to low- and middle-income earners, to families needing child care, to homebuilders, and for women's safety, aged care and more.
It was fantastic to be out and about in my electorate of Bonner last week, spending time with my community and hearing their overwhelmingly positive responses to the budget. The week started with a visit from the Prime Minister to announce a further boost to Australia's long-term fuel security. We are locking in the future of our refining sector at the Ampol refinery in Lytton—one of only two refineries across the country supporting the operation. This fuel security package will help secure Australia's recovery from the COVID-19 crisis. It will secure our sovereign fuel stocks, lock in 550 local jobs and over 500 indirect jobs, and protect families and businesses from higher fuel prices. I couldn't be more thrilled to keep Lytton open. I thank our government for this great investment, and I know many local families are ecstatic that their jobs are secure. We are keeping our skilled workers in jobs and we are safeguarding our fuel security onshore. The Morrison government is ensuring our country is more self-sufficient and secure. Thank you, Prime Minister, for your visit to Bonner.
During our visit to Lytton, we were able to spend time with workers at the Ampol refinery, hearing their sincere thanks for enabling this project, and our government's commitment to the refining sector. It made me so proud. The plan for Australia's recovery is focused on creating jobs. This naturally extends into supporting our hardworking small businesses. Bonner is home to incredible small-business and family business owners, and they are the backbone of our community. This budget benefits small brewers and distillers by delivering $255 million in tax relief to support more jobs and investment. I had the pleasure of visiting Hudson Brewery in my electorate, in the suburb of Wynnum, which can benefit from this tax relief. The only thing better than beer brewed in Australia is when it's brewed in your own neighbourhood. This tax relief will be able to support Bonner's hospitality sector by providing opportunities to invest in these businesses.
Backing these businesses means that we can create more local jobs for our community. We are backing businesses small and big and keeping our economy moving. There is only one thing better than a new family owned business opening Bonner, and that's when it's a family owned chocolate shop. Everybody loves chocolate, but there is something even more magical when it's handmade on site by passionate locals. Last week I had the pleasure of dropping in on Phil and Dawn, a couple who have put their heart and soul into this delicious new business. Our community has welcomed Chocolate Elements with open arms.
The past 12 months haven't been easy on small business, but our government is doing everything it can to make sure they stay afloat. We will be continuing tax incentives that allow 21,500 local businesses in Bonner to write off the full value of any eligible asset they purchase through the instant asset write-off. On top of this, over 8,000 businesses in Bonner will be able to use the extended loss carry-back measure to support cash flow and confidence. This will stimulate more economic activity, helping local businesses and creating jobs. Under the coalition, taxes will always be lower. This budget proves our government is on track. We are looking out for all Australians and providing a helping hand to those who need it. Bonner is coming back stronger, and our country is coming back even stronger, all thanks to the Morrison government.
Mr WALLACE (Fisher) (18:51): It's now nearly five years since I first stood in this building and addressed the House. On that day I laid out my goals and made commitments to the people of Fisher who elected me. Throughout my life I have believe that when you set goals and make commitments, you should follow up on them and evaluate your progress against them. As we discuss this government's federal budget today, I want to take the opportunity to do just that.
In my maiden speech, I promised to represent the people of Fisher with integrity, honour and respect. I've certainly always sought to uphold and embody those values, but I will leave it to others to judge my success in doing so. However, I can say that I have never once taken this privilege for granted during the five years that I have been in this place. I committed to work tirelessly for Fisher and I believe that I have lived up to that commitment. I've contributed over 400 times to debate in this place, chaired four parliamentary committees, served on a total of nine, and represented the Speaker on the Speaker's panel. I've travelled to nations on four continents to represent Australia, brought more than 30 ministers to my region, conducted more than 150 listening posts in Fisher and taken part in thousands of meetings and community events across the Sunshine Coast. I've advocated for and secured more than 350 separate funding commitments for organisations and individuals in my electorate, totalling more than $3.7 billion in federal government funds. In doing so, I've stuck to the priorities that I told Fisher residents would form the core of my mission as their federal member.
In 2016, I stated that my No. 1 priority for the people of Fisher would be better road and rail infrastructure, and I believe that I'm fulfilling that commitment. Of course, these things are always a work in progress. This coalition government has invested more in infrastructure on the Sunshine Coast than any government before it. Residents in Fisher are benefiting right now from $900 million in upgrades to the Bruce Highway between Caloundra Road and the Sunshine Motorway which are almost complete. They are seeing work begin on upgrades to the congested highway between the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane, including construction underway between Deception Bay and the southern Steve Irwin Way exit.
Since my election in 2016, this government has committed the funding we need to deliver upgraded intersections and additional lanes on the Bruce Highway on congested stretches all the way from the northern boundary of Fisher to the outskirts of Brisbane, and we haven't stopped there. It's important to recognise that whilst Mark Bailey, the Queensland state minister, is always out there spruiking Bruce Highway upgrades, it's the federal government that funds those upgrades to the tune of 80 per cent. Very rarely does he give any mention to that whatsoever.
Since my election, we have committed $390 million for a long-awaited duplication of the north coast rail line, $5 million for a network planning study on congested local roads in Kawana and Caloundra, $12 million to build a new four-lane bridge on Brisbane Road in Mooloolaba, $14 million for safety upgrades to Steve Irwin Way and millions more for a planning study into the possibility between faster rail tween the coast and Brisbane.
In the 2021-22 federal budget, we've seen another $172 million in new projects funded by the Morrison government for what are, in effect, state government projects. The government is investing $160 million to transform the congested deathtrap that is the Mooloolah River interchange. We are allocating $7 million to extend Caloundra's Third Ave to Nicklin Way and achieve a real solution to the gridlock around the Caloundra Road and Nicklin Way roundabout. The budget also includes $5 million for a study to pave the way for further duplication of the north coast rail beyond the existing funded upgrades.
I remain committed as ever to the promise I made in 2016, and I won't rest on my laurels. This year I've stepped up my campaign to secure funding for heavy rail along the CAMCOS corridor from Beerwah through Caloundra and Kawana and up to Maroochydore. The people of Fisher can rest assured that I will keep fighting for this transformative project.
In my maiden speech I said that the state of our construction industry was dire and that I would work to improve it. I've spoken out more than 40 times in this place about the bullying and intimidation of the CFMMEU and voted again and again in support of this government's efforts to protect construction workers. In 2019, I took up the cause of private building certifiers publicly and played a part in ensuring that professional indemnity insurance would continue to be available to them so that buildings could go on and be built.
Most recently, I played a part in the creation of the HomeBuilder scheme which has saved hundreds of thousands of jobs in construction and helped create the greatest boom in residential construction indicates. To date, this scheme has led to a massive increase of some 34 per cent in residential building approvals from the previous year in Queensland.
During my first speech in this place, and in dozen speeches since, I spoke about my commitment to play a role in supporting better mental health in my community. I'm delighted to say that, since my election in 2016, the Sunshine Coast has become a true leader in mental health research and treatment. I advocated for a total of $7.5 million in funding for the Thompson Institute in Birtinya, which has paid for cutting-edge mental health programs and research, culminating in recent months in the publication of a world-leading study into the use of ketamine in protecting against suicide.
I've also advocated on behalf of those living with an eating disorder in my community, resulting in almost $10 million in funding flowing to the region. Today, the Sunshine Coast is the site of Australia's first ever residential treatment facility for eating disorders. Wandi Nerida is its name and it's the location of a multimillion dollar trial into new approaches to Medicare funded outpatient treatment. Both of these programs are now forming a model which this government is expanding across Australia.
In the most recent federal budget, this government has gone even further on mental health and the treatment of eating disorders. The budget allocated $2.3 billion in the landmark national mental health and suicide prevention plan, $1.4 billion to a high-quality national network of mental health treatment centres for adults called Head to Health, similar to the headspace program for young people, which will also be expanded, with more centres across the country. Most importantly, from my perspective, this package of reforms will also include new measures for eating disorder treatment and research, which I've been fighting for since 2016—$26.9 million will go towards providing additional support for people with eating disorders and their families, including critically $13 million to establish a national eating disorder research centre. As it stands, we don't have a good understanding of the causes of eating disorders, which include the most deadly of all mental illnesses, anorexia nervosa. This new centre will be a big step forward in developing more effective approaches to its prevention and its treatment.
In my maiden speech I committed to working tirelessly for Fisher's 31,000 seniors and, with the latest federal budget, the government has delivered for them. The budget includes a once-in-a-generation increase in funding for aged care that is going to create transformative change in the system as well as introduce important new measures to support self-funded retirees. The government is committing an additional $17.7 billion to a five-pillar package of fundamental reforms to aged care in Australia. This includes $7½ billion to create 80,000 new home-care packages over the next two years, $7.8 billion for residential aged care to increase the amount of face-to-face care time for each resident and billions more for strengthening the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, providing better access to GP led care and dramatically improving training and governance for aged-care workers.
Above all, in my maiden speech I committed to working positively with my colleagues in this place to deliver a stronger economy and the creation of jobs for people living in our region. Nationally, I've been part of a government which before COVID-19 had supported the creation of more than a million new jobs and delivered the first federal budget surplus in more than a decade. Since COVID, this government has provided direct financial support to more than 20,000 small businesses and 50,000 taxpayers in Fisher to ensure that our economy recovers as quickly as possible and Sunshine Coast locals get back to work. Locally, I've worked on economy-building projects, including promoting the Land 400 contract and infrastructure such as the Bruce Highway and fast rail. I've developed local activities like the Support Sunshine Coast and Tourism de Fisher campaigns, the Fisher Defence Industry Initiative and my tourism, fishing and small business councils, which have sought to promote local businesses and local jobs. I've done as I've said I would in every decision I've made in this place and in my community. I've considered whether the outcome would strengthen our economy and create new jobs.
Today, despite the challenges of COVID-19, the Sunshine Coast continues to benefit from a growing, vibrant and ever-more-diverse economy. I'm proud to say that, though there is much more work to be done, on every commitment I made in my maiden speech we have made progress since 2016. From my Ready Set Go bursary to the Fisher Community Awards, from my community forums on the NDIS to bringing Facebook and Google to Fisher, from my campaign to Say No to Council's Casino to my Sunshine Coast veterans' days, I've worked hard to support volunteers to uphold our debt to those who have served this country, protect our environment, support those with a disability, promote small business and keep the Sunshine Coast family friendly.
Of all the professional achievements of my career, I believe that the faith of the people of Fisher have placed in me has been the greatest and most humbling. I'm proud that, when given the opportunity in 2019 to pass judgement on my first three years as their federal member, more people in my community voted to give me their trust again than they had in my first election. In the last five years, I have worked assiduously for the veterans in my community. I've held numerous veterans forums. I've had the veterans' affairs minister to the electorate, I've had the defence minister to the electorate and I've had the assistant defence minister to the electorate, all of which have been only very recently as well, on top of previous visits.
We owe a debt of gratitude in this country to the men and women that have served us so proudly in uniform, whether that is domestically or whether that is in harm's way in faraway places. When men and women join the ADF, they do so knowing that at some point in their career they may be called upon to pay the ultimate sacrifice, and they do it regularly. I've been very proud to visit men and women—
A division having been called in the House of Representatives—
Sitting suspended from 19:04 to 19:16
Mr WALLACE: Before we had to rush off, I was talking about how proud I am, and I know every member in this place is, of members of the Australian Defence Force. When men and women put on that uniform, they put themselves in harm's way. Whether on deployment, in training, on Australian soil or in far-afield places, the professionalism of the men and women of the ADF is really first rate. It has been a great privilege for me, and for many of my colleagues on both sides of the fence, to see these men and women at work through the Australian Defence Force Parliamentary Program, a wonderful program that has enabled us to get just a very small glimpse of what life is like in the ADF. It has been my immense privilege over the last five years to participate in that program at least once or twice each year. I want to pay tribute to veterans both young and old for the work that they have done for our community. I want to continue to work for all ADF members and all community members in Fisher as we head into the next election, and I ask for their support next time around.
Mr KEOGH (Burt) (19:18): Labor is the party of the social safety net, but it's also the party of prosperity—nobody left behind and nobody held back. We are on the side of Australian families. Australia is a wealthy nation, and there is no reason why people can't have access to good health care, quality education, a roof over their head and a job to go to as well. This is a core belief of Labor. Good economic policy is good social policy and vice-versa. They are two sides of the same coin, not distinct and separate areas of work. In my community, there is some wonderful work going on to support those who need it most. I've stood in this place before to discuss some of those programs, and I believe there are lessons we can learn and ideas we should adopt to support families across our nation.
Research tells us that the most important time in a child's development is the first 1,000 days from conception, and we're obliged to provide every support from that time onward, especially to new families. Mr Deputy Speaker, you would have heard about Labor's childcare policy. Currently, Australia is home to some of the highest childcare fees in the world. The way the current system is designed, many families actually lose money if the primary caregiver, often a woman, works more than three days a week. Labor wants to fix our childcare system, and our policy will make child care more affordable for some 97 per cent of families who currently access it. You see, child care is more than just babysitting; it's early education. All over the world there are programs where children are in the education system years before kids in Australia. We are falling behind. We should be fostering our children's minds and development from the early years. Up until the age of four, children are absolute sponges for information. We should be nourishing these young minds, ensuring that kids come into schools with the proper level of knowledge before they reach the formal classroom. Similarly, for kids in households that might be struggling, kids from vulnerable families, the introduction of more accessible and affordable early education will ensure these children have stability and are being looked after properly.
Today the Sydney Morning Herald revealed that children are beginning school without basic literacy and numeracy skills such as recognising letters and numbers. This is contributing to Australia's poor results in international primary school maths tests. Sue Thomson, the Deputy CEO of the Australian Centre for Educational Research, said these gaps were evident when children began school and grew as they got older. She said the research shows:
We need to focus on getting all kids through solid pre-school and having all kids do that, not just some kids and kids in advantaged areas.
We don't want equity to be an issue at kindergarten level, so if we don't want to start there it's important that we do something about bridging that gap. Universal, high-quality early childhood education would be ideal.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth Death, the CEO of the Early Learning and Care Council of Australia, said vulnerable and disadvantaged children needed at least 35 hours of early learning a week. She says this will pay dividends for educators and children.
Further to this, as much as we want to get parents back into work through a childcare policy—it will improve our nation's productivity and GDP significantly—we must also support parents to be parents. In my community we have child and parent centres in two of my local primary schools, Westfield Park Primary School and Brookman Primary School. They are run by Parkerville. These are hubs that provide high-quality, approachable and accessible services for the whole family. Importantly, these facilities are safe. Families like those in my community often find approaching formal support services difficult. They can be intimidating to those who need to access what they have to provide. But these wonderful services, which are based at local primary schools, are headed by fantastic teams and are excellent hubs of support and guidance. Many people are understandably overwhelmed when they become parents, and these facilities provide a friendly way to access support and resources for new and struggling parents and families. They allow for early intervention to take place, to make sure that there's a connection to services that are required and that children and families are receiving the developmental support and education they need. In 2019 the first cohort of students who started with this program graduated from Westfield Park Primary School. I'm told that their academic and developmental results were a noticeable improvement on those of previous cohorts. That's why I'm so happy to see these services made available in my community, and I'd like to see them expanded throughout more schools so they're available to more people and families in my community.
One of the great benefits that can come from the expansion of these services is the building of a critical mass of benefit across our entire community, making sure that our entire community is lifted through the supports being provided to these families. Using a full-service school hub model would establish a support network for families, both the children and the parents, from a young age, setting them up for success. The Minderoo Foundation funds the Challis Primary School Integrated Early Childhood and Family Support Service. The aim of that program is to prevent early disadvantage from becoming an ongoing drag on a child's chances of success in life.
Challis is located in Armadale in my community. It's an area of great intergenerational disadvantage. The model integrates of suite of services, including a child health nurse, various allied health services and a community engagement worker. Working together through this program, they seeks to address barriers to child develop and reinforce the family and community support necessary to raise thriving children. The model established at Challis has had significant impact. It has enabled local children to go from a position of disadvantage to exceeding the state average at the start of their education. It's through this early intervention that we are setting students up for success when they enter high school.
While the approach undertaken at Challis is comprehensive, it's also at relatively low cost. In the main, it is redirecting existing funding instead of requiring lots of additional funding. Rather than trying to solve problems of early disadvantage via heavily layered, costly, multiagency, top-up interventions that often result in duplication, inefficiency and intervention fatigue among families, this is a lighter, more efficient model. It does this through targeting long-term, cumulative actions that commence soon after birth and extend through the primary school years. It is more accessible. Families access it through a central community location already being accessed by them and familiar to them, the school, instead of trying to run around and find different services at different places that they may not be familiar with.
This program ensures that more children start school ready to learn. Then they're supported through their schooling, as are the parents and their communities, better preparing whole families for the challenge of high school. Evidence from this program at Challis supports the potential of systemic, well-planned interventions to make a difference to outcomes for children, especially those living in areas of significant disadvantage with complex needs—communities just like mine. This research confirms that work. Like the work that has been occurring at Challis, it is likely to be most effective in changing the life course of children in disadvantaged families. The children start school better prepared; therefore when they are graded they have better results. This can change the story of the trajectory of a child's education and life, and that of their family and the wider community around them.
This research is backed up by research commissioned by COAG, the Council of Australian Governments, and points to the merit of establishing integrated and intensive child and family centres in the nation's poorest areas. Across the country, 41 per cent of Australia's most disadvantaged zero- to five-year-olds live in the top 20 per cent most disadvantaged suburbs. The national average for the Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas, SEIFA, disadvantage measure is 1,000. A lower score reflects greater disadvantage. For context, Perth metropolitan area's score is 1,033.4. The catchment area for Challis Community Primary School, where this research was undertaken, is a mere 965.9. Children from socially and economically disadvantaged areas such as Armadale typically have poorer physical health, have less access to learning materials from infancy and are less likely to access material and cultural resources than their counterparts in more affluent areas. These are the areas that need this type of intervention.
Last week, I visited Southern River College in Gosnells, the next local government area over from Armadale, where Challis is. Southern River is a school that has come such a long way in a short amount of time, turning around the lives of children and, indeed, the reputation of their school. Sixty per cent of the students at that school are coming into high school, year 7, under standard. They have three years to catch up on six years of literacy and numeracy learning, due to only progressing four years in the seven years that they were in primary school. That's right; they're entering high school with a year 3 level of literacy and numeracy. It takes an average of three years of intensive work to have them catch up, which means it's often not until year 9 that they hit that minimum high school entry level.
Schools like Southern River are working hard to support their students and are going above and beyond, but they are siloed, which they shouldn't be. Southern River wants to work with other schools in our community, both feeder primary and other local senior schools, to support these vulnerable children. They're looking at setting up a community services hub on site that can be utilised by both the school community and the wider community. Similar projects are being taken on by other schools, such as Armadale Senior High School, which is trialling a full service model with additional supports, and other schools are looking to follow suite. But all these schools are siloed. We need a systematic rollout of support to make a true impact on the community that is in need. We need a critical mass. We need federal funding to support these programs for schools in vulnerable communities across the country in order to support students and their families.
Through appropriately funding early childhood education, community support hubs in primary schools and support measures in high schools, we can change the story. We can also fold in and involve federal agencies like Centrelink and the work of Primary Health Networks, headspace and more. We are currently operating on an 1800s school day. The school's structure assumes that parents are available to drop off kids at 8.30 and pick them up at 3.15. This is not reflective of modern Australia. Parents are working. Parents are vulnerable. Parents need additional support. It's in the best interests of communities like mine that we make these changes and support these hubs. We need that critical mass of investment, the right intensive interventions and support at a local community level in order to change the story.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Mr Llew O'Brien ): I understand it would suit the convenience of the Federation Chamber if the debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate made an order of the day for the next sitting.
Federation Chamber adjourned at 19:31