The SPEAKER ( Hon. Tony Smith ) took the chair at 12:00, made an acknowledgement of country and read prayers.
Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2016
Water Amendment (Review Implementation and Other Measures) Bill 2015
Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility Bill 2016
That:
(1) the House endorses the statement of the Speaker in relation to the constitutional questions raised by Message No. 487 transmitted by the Senate in relation to the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility Bill 2016; and
(2) the message be considered immediately.
That the Senate's purported amendments be disagreed to and Government amendments Nos (1) to (3) made in place thereof.
National Disability Insurance Scheme Savings Fund Special Account Bill 2016
… the NDIS, the National Disability Insurance Scheme was properly funded when Labor left office and what we did is we increased the Medicare levy.
The four years of surpluses I announce tonight are a powerful endorsement … of our policies.
This budget delivers a surplus this coming year, on time … after that, strengthening over time.
… … …
The surplus years are here.
The Commonwealth’s contribution to the NDIS is expected to escalate rapidly in the forward estimates as the number of clients covered increases with the expansion of the scheme. There is some uncertainty over the actual number of clients, since the NDIS is effectively a demand driven programme. Initial estimates were based on the PC Report, but there is the potential for actual numbers to be higher. In particular, it is possible that eligibility within the broad mental health disability area may be much higher than forecast.
Around half the people currently eligible for the Disability Support Pension are likely to be in the NDIS. This suggests that there are likely to be many people who attempt to test their eligibility for the NDIS.
Care and support costs account for over 90 per cent of the total costs of the NDIS. Any difference between the actual and estimated average package costs will have significant financial impacts. Care and support costs are expected to be highly volatile in the early stages.
Data from the first quarter of the NDIS shows that average package costs are well above the original forecast ($46,000 compared to $35,000) … However, given the early stages of implementation it is difficult to read too much into these early estimates. It may be the case that package costs have so far been tailored to people with greater disability and therefore higher needs.
The NDIS is a new scheme with associated uncertainty associated around costs and participant numbers. Most of the financial risk associated with this uncertainty will be borne by the Commonwealth. Under agreements with the States and Territories, the Commonwealth will meet 100 per cent of cost overruns during the launch and transition stages and at least 75 per cent, and up to 100 per cent, in the full scheme.
The initial roll-out of the NDIS includes both a launch and a transition phase. During this latter component, scheme numbers are forecast to increase from just over 30,000 in 2015-16 to over 450,000 in 2018-19 ... This represents a significant scaling up of operations, which poses a number of risks, including for the capacity of the new agency. It also increases the likelihood of any workforce pressures being amplified, thus potentially leading to wage pressures within the scheme. These pressures are likely to be exacerbated by increased demand for staff with similar skills in other areas such as aged care.
Around 90 per cent of NDIS costs are expected to result from the provision of care and support packages. This means that a small 10 per cent increase in customer numbers and/or package costs can translate into large increases in overall expenditure.
Analysis conducted by the Australian Government Actuary has confirmed that there are uncertainties around all cost elements of the NDIS, e.g. populations, severity distributions and average costs …. .
Preliminary performance data is currently showing that the number of people registering interest in participating in the scheme is 50 per cent more than the expected number of participants for the period 1 July to 30 September 2013. Plan costs are also currently exceeding modelled average costs by around 30 per cent … Since this data on costs is only based on the first quarter of operations—
There is no doubt that the current policy of offshore processing and prolonged detention is immensely harmful. There are approximately 2,000 very vulnerable refugees and asylum-seekers on Manus Island and Nauru. These people have already been through a great deal, many have fled war and persecution, some have already suffered trauma. Despite efforts by the Governments of PNG and Nauru, arrangements in both countries have proved completely untenable.
The situation of these people has deteriorated progressively over time, as UNHCR has witnessed firsthand over numerous visits since the opening of the centres. The consensus among medical experts is that conditions of detention and offshore processing do immense damage to physical and mental health. UNHCR's principal concern today is that these refugees and asylum-seekers are immediately moved to humane conditions with adequate support and services.
Prime Minister, forget the boats for a moment. Turn back your heart. Turn back from this path to brutality. Turn back from piling trauma upon the traumatised. Because it shames us. It grinds innocent people to despair and self-harm and suicide. It ruins the lives of children. Give these people back their faces, their humanity... For the sake of this nation's spirit.
Ron Clarke was to be my pacemaker for the first two laps, and then it would be over to me. I flew home over the last two laps, with the crowd roaring encouragement. After running through the finishing line there was an anxious pause of three minutes, as the timekeepers compared their times. It was unanimous; I had run the 1 mile in 3 minutes 58.9 seconds.
Excise and excise equivalent customs duty has been written down by $4.1 billion over the forward estimates, mainly reflecting lower tobacco and alcohol excise collections and weaker forecast consumption of these goods.
… a true national endeavour with thousands of suppliers across the country participating in the project, in addition to the creation of thousands of direct jobs.
… a true renaissance of the industry benefits which will flow to all Australians, including hundreds of companies and thousands of workers.
… an amazing shot in the arm for confidence in South Australia.
… a massive step forward in the transformation of the SA economy, to meet our vision for an advanced manufacturing … hi-tech manufacturing economy.
For the first time, Australian naval shipbuilders are about to get a sustainable and reliable workload. It’s a pivotal moment for the nation’s manufacturing industry.
The black hole at the centre of our galaxy is only 4 million solar masses, so this one is a monster in comparison.
In Australia, the available information suggests that the economy is continuing to rebalance following the mining investment boom. GDP growth picked up over 2015, particularly in the second half of the year, and the labour market improved. Indications are that growth is continuing in 2016, though probably at a more moderate pace.
Labour market indicators have been more mixed of late.
In reaching today's decision, the Board took careful note of developments in the housing market, where indications are that the effects of supervisory measures are strengthening lending standards and that price pressures have tended to abate.
We have repeatedly pointed out that we think that there are a number of areas across Government where there are savings that can be found … we are continuing to identify and point out savings measures …
Supply (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2016-2017
Supply Bill (No. 1) 2016-2017
Supply Bill (No. 2) 2016-2017
Tax and Superannuation Laws Amendment (Medicare Levy and Medicare Levy Surcharge) Bill 2016
The House was informed that Mr Clare had proposed that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the House for discussion, namely, 'The government’s failure to deliver on the NBN for Australians.'
The Manager Copper Service Assurance will lead an nbn team working closely with the Managed Service Partner teams in Melbourne, Mumbai and Delhi. This role will provide visible leadership in relation to the performance management for all aspects of inbound/outbound Service Management.
We won't rip up everything that Mr Turnbull has done because I think … not everything the Liberals do is bad. So we will do a hybrid of some of what he's done but we will have in our announcement, which we will be putting pretty soon, a greater proportion of the use of fibre and we will also look at the proportions of fibre and we think we can provide more of that to more Australians.
The National Broadband Network is a hot topic for Moreton voters, some of whom have voiced concern over how the rollout will proceed if there is a change of government.
The rollout of the NBN network has not started in this area.
We will get this out faster and cheaper than under the Government's plan—
because we don't need to dig up every footpath to deliver the NBN to the home.
The volume of traffic on the internet has grown, particularly with the arrival of Netflix and other online media functions that are replacing TV broadcasting. Internet service providers now sell unlimited monthly volumes compared to, say, 50 to 100GB a month just three years ago.
My family and I have recently moved to Moorooka from regional Queensland. We're loving the vibrancy of the community as well as the diversity of the culture on show. However, I was disappointed to find out that NBN was not yet available and was told they didn't know when it might be available.
I thank the honourable member for his question and I can well understand the frustration and disappointment of his constituents—
There was a $31-billion black hole advised to the Labor government at the end of 2010—
and, regrettably, quite a few truths have vanished into it.
One of them was the true state of the broadband rollout by the NBN. In fact, as the honourable member said, in October 2011 the then government announced that construction had commenced in East Victoria Park and Burswood. Two years later there is no ready-for-service premises in those areas. Indeed, despite barrels of propaganda, reams of leaflets and flyers, and lots of claims, on election day in total there were—
34 brownfield premises in Perth connected to the fibre network—
National Disability Insurance Scheme Savings Fund Special Account Bill 2016
The cost of the NDIS is being met in part by an increase in the Medicare Levy from 1.5 per cent to 2 per cent. This increase takes effect from 1 July 2014. There will always be a risk that collections from the levy are less than forecast, which will require the funding shortfall to be made up from other funding sources.
Analysis conducted by the Australian Government Actuary has confirmed that there are uncertainties around all cost elements of the NDIS, e.g. populations, severity distributions and average costs …
… … …
The NDIS is a new scheme with associated uncertainty associated around costs and participant numbers. Most of the financial risk associated with this uncertainty will be borne by the Commonwealth.
For the benefit of members opposite, the NDIS will cost the Commonwealth $11.3 billion—$1.1 billion comes from existing Commonwealth funding on disabilities, $1.9 billion from redirecting moneys that would otherwise go to the states and $3.3 billion from the increase in the Medicare levy, leaving an amount close to $5 billion.
Senator FIFIELD: Mr Ray, I might just return to the helpful document you provided at the start of proceedings today and try my luck. This relates to chart 3, 'DisabilityCare Australia' on the last page of the document. There is a category 'Other long-term savings' of $20.6 billion for 2013-14 to 2022-23. Are you able to further disaggregate that by each of the measures there over the time scale?
The short answer is no, because for one of those measures we cannot tell you at all what the out numbers are, and that is the change to the indexation of tobacco excise.
… we cannot disaggregate it because of that.
Savings from this measure will be redirected to partially offset the cost of the Dental Health Reform package announced on 29 August 2012.
To return the budget to surplus in 2012‑13 and beyond, the Government has made substantial targeted savings, ensuring that Australia's public finances remain strong.
That this bill be now read a third time.
Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2016-2017
That this bill be now read a second time.
Budget strategy and outlook 2016-17
Budget measures 2016-17
Federal financial relations 2016-17
Agency resourcing 2016-17
Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2016-2017
That this bill be now read a second time.
Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2016-2017
That this bill be now read a second time.
Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2016-2017
That this bill be now read a second time.
That the House do now adjourn.