It is my great pleasure to rise and speak on the appropriation bills before the parliament. I am delighted to reaffirm our government’s commitment to a budget which is responsible, measured and fair. It is a budget for small business, for families, for jobs growth and for opportunity. It is responsible because we remain committed to stabilising the nation’s finances and reducing Labor’s debt, key to building a stronger economy for Australians. It is measured because we understand the importance of balancing the fiscal challenge with the need to drive confidence and jobs investment. And it is fair because it delivers for those who most need our help—pensioners, low- and middle-income families, young people, job seekers, the vulnerable and the disadvantaged.
Before I speak about the wonderful benefits the budget delivers to my electorate of Corangamite, I want to remind everyone—those watching and those reading this speech in Hansard—that we must never forget Labor’s legacy: $123 billion of cumulative deficits; $667 billion of net debt; the world’s biggest carbon tax, which destroyed jobs, destroyed incentive and damaged small business; and of course six years of chaos and dysfunction. I am reminded of that chaos and dysfunction today in a report in The Australian newspaper under the heading ‘Rudd was a bully; Gillard betrayed me: old wounds reopened’. It is a report about a documentary made by the ABC, The Killing Season, which is going to be aired next week. It talks about Ms Gillard alleging that Mr Rudd was physically intimidating towards her, describing a bullying encounter in which he acted in a menacing and angry way after a dispute about parliamentary tactics in 2007. It opens deep divisions of the chaos and dysfunction that absolutely crippled the government for six years and really set this nation backwards. Mr Rudd rejects this accusation. He says it is false. He accuses Ms Gillard of treachery and betrayal, falsifying events to justify her ambitions and colluding with former minister Mark Arbib to bring him down. For Australians who want to be reminded why we must never elect Labor at the next federal election, I think The Killing Season on the ABC next week is compulsory viewing.
There is wonderful news in this year’s budget for the electorate of Corangamite. I want to start by speaking about the National Stronger Regions Fund grant to the Norlane community hub, which delivers a community space, affordable housing and aged care. It is a wonderful $40 million project with a $7.2 million grant by the federal government.
When it comes to the National Stronger Regions Fund—and I reflect, Madam Deputy Speaker Wicks, on your comments—it is very disappointing that the Labor Party is opposing this $1 billion being invested into regional Australia over five years. It is a wonderful fund, driving incredible investment into regional Australia. I would encourage all eligible organisations, including local councils, to look at the criteria and make an application for this round, which is currently open.
There is $1.3 million for our local jobs fund, Geelong Employment Connections. I have been very proud to deliver this very specific fund which is geared towards retrenched workers, particularly in the manufacturing sector. It adds to another $500,000 that we have already delivered. It is a $1.8 million fund for the Geelong region. It is very proudly an example of how we are working at a grassroots level on the ground to help those who have lost their jobs move into new work. I am very, very proud of that.
There is our stronger communities program. This is a new program which will deliver $300,000 over two years for every federal electorate, including Corangamite, to fund important local projects to deliver social benefits. That is another great program. I say to all not-for-profit organisations across Corangamite, ‘When the criteria are announced, please have a look at that program. It is a wonderful way for the federal government to support your organisation and to support the wonderful work that you do.’
I have to say with enormous pride that I was so proud to turn the sod on our $371 million duplication of the Princes Highway between Winchelsea and Colac just a number of weeks ago. This is an incredible project and one that I fought so hard for for so many years—since 2009. What a joy it is to see this being delivered. It is an incredible commitment for the people of Corangamite and south-west Victoria. It will be a duplication that will drive jobs investment, make the road much more safe, which will help families, and really open up so many opportunities for places such as Birregurra, Winchelsea, Colac and beyond. I am very, very proud.
That is along with our $50 million upgrade of the Great Ocean Road, with $25 million from the federal government. This is a project that I fought so hard for. This is an iconic road. Very unfortunately, this is funding that the Labor Party oppose, which is extraordinary. This is one of Australia’s most iconic roads. It is a road that was built by returned servicemen between 1919 and 1932. It is extraordinary that the Labor Party continue to oppose the upgrade of this road. Now we read that the Victorian government, state Labor, want to put a road tax on the Great Ocean Road, imposing a $10 fee on anyone who visits the 12 Apostles. It is an absolute and utter disgrace. I will fight that tooth and nail. It just goes to show how little Labor appreciate and understand the importance of regional roads, particularly one as important as the Great Ocean Road. It is a very important project and one that I am very proud of.
Speaking of roads, we have our $3 billion commitment to the East West Link which remains on the table. I cannot find the words to describe the utter recklessness of state Labor, with the opposition leader, Bill Shorten, and the member for Corio standing by and doing absolutely nothing when Labor tore up that contract, costing at least $640 million and 7,000 jobs. We need a proper western link from Geelong into Melbourne. I am fighting tooth and nail for that link. We are looking at the Western Distributor. We are considering it. But it falls well short of the benefits that were going to be delivered to the people of Geelong with the western section of the East West Link. What a grotesque waste of money. What a grotesque act in destroying those jobs.
In Victoria we are now left with very little infrastructure happening at the moment compared to states like New South Wales. It is a very poor reflection on Labor.
In our budget, we are also seeing the rollout of $3.5 million for Ocean Grove’s Shell Road Reserve and $2½ million for Colac’s Central Reserve. I was there on the weekend, at the Colac Tigers—another great win for the Colac Tigers. Boy, oh, boy—there is great excitement at our very substantial commitment to upgrade Central Reserve and to build a new community pavilion and grandstand. Again we see Labor completely deserting that project. From the Labor candidate for Corangamite, who previously ran in the state seat of Polwarth, there was not a dollar of commitment. She deserted the people of Colac by not fighting for an extra train service, she deserted the people of Anglesea by not committing to funding for the Anglesea Bowling Club, and she has deserted the young people of Colac by not fighting for or delivering a dollar to assist with the upgrade and redevelopment of Colac’s Central Reserve.
For Torquay’s Banyul-Warri Fields, there is a wonderful $500,000 commitment. There is over $4 million for the Golden Plains food production and employment precinct, a wonderful reflection of our commitment to agriculture and the benefits that flow to our region from that. There is $10 million for the new Geelong Library and Heritage Centre project and $3 million for the Geelong Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases.
One of the other fantastic projects of which I am so proud is the new Australian Bureau of Statistics Centre of Excellence which will be established in Geelong in early 2016, bringing with it 250 jobs. Here we have another Commonwealth agency moving to our region after a very hard-fought battle, bringing those jobs, and here is a government that I am very proudly a part of, delivering those jobs to our region. The National Disability Insurance Scheme is being rolled out across Geelong and Colac—across Corangamite—with offices in both Geelong and Colac for the Barwon trial and with the NDIA national headquarters in Geelong. That is incredibly exciting.
The NBN is being delivered to some 40,000 premises across Corangamite, areas of Corangamite that were completely ignored by Labor but that we are strongly committed to—the small towns that matter: Alvie, Coragulac, Cororooke, Barongarook, Forrest, Warncoort. They go on and on. This is a government which cares about small regional communities, and that is why we are rolling out the NBN to those communities which need it the most. My battle and my fight to make sure that the NBN is expedited into Geelong continues, because we know how important fast broadband is to ensuring that we can become an innovation hub of Australia—and Geelong has that enormous potential.
There is no doubt that one of the absolute highlights of our budget is our Growing Jobs and Small Business package. Boy, oh, boy—there is great excitement on the ground. We have held small business forums with the small business minister, Bruce Billson, in both Geelong and Colac. For the first time, small businesses have been heard, and that is what they are saying. There is a 1.5 per cent cut in the company tax rate, to 28.5 per cent, the lowest in almost 50 years. Unincorporated small businesses will get a five per cent tax discount, up to $1,000 a year. The unincorporated small businesses, which make up two-thirds of all small businesses, were completely forgotten by Opposition Leader Bill Shorten in his budget reply speech. He just left them out altogether, as if they do not even exist, which just goes to show again that Labor do not get it. They do not understand small business, and we are the proud champions of small business.
Another incredibly popular measure is that small businesses can claim an immediate tax deduction for each and every asset purchased up to $20,000 from budget night until 30 June 2017. This is an extraordinary opportunity. It is already seeing great consumer confidence ripple throughout the community and delivering immediate benefits not just to small businesses which are eligible—those with a turnover of $2 million or less—but to the bigger companies which act as an important supply chain to small business. I was very proud to speak on our Tax and Superannuation Laws Amendment (Employee Share Schemes) Bill, and that is another wonderful measure in our support for small business, particularly start-up companies.
Importantly we are very focused on getting people back into work; we have had a terrible failure of labour, particularly with youth unemployment. We are focused on driving incentives and opportunities, particularly for young people. Through our $1.2 billion National Wage Subsidy Pool, there will be $6500 for employers who hire job seekers under 30. We also have the important $331 million Youth Employment Strategy, which includes the $212 million Transition to Work program to help young, disengaged people aged between 15 and 21 become job ready. Of course, we also have our National Work Experience program for young job seekers and the new weekly $10 Newstart bonus for those who do some volunteer work. We are also reversing the six-month waiting period for Newstart, bringing it down to five weeks—which reflects the fact that we have listened. I am very proud to have made representations to the social services minister on this, and I am incredibly impressed with the package that he has helped to deliver to ensure that we can drive these important opportunities for young people.
We have just seen a charade in the main chamber where the Labor Party was trying to shut down debate on our small business measures—it is very unfortunate. Perhaps they are trying to hide the fact that some 519,000 people lost their jobs in small business over six years under Labor. Small business is the engine room of our economy. There are two million small businesses, which employ 4½ million people. Our government is incredibly proud of the support we are giving small business, families and, of course, farming enterprises. This is a great budget for jobs, for opportunity, for small business and for families. I commend the bills to the House.