Page 1489 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 14 May 2014
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What we have also seen from this decimating budget is the federal government ripping spending from the areas that the previous government had been working on to ensure long-term viability. A staggering $80 billion has been ripped from health and education over the next 10 years. Services in these areas are two of the most crucial front-line delivery areas of this country. Gone are the days of equality for students. Gone are the days of increasing public health investment to address our ageing population.
With this we see the dissolving of Medicare Local, a successful tool connecting local needs with the larger health system. I am sure I am not alone in receiving correspondence from the ACT branch of Medicare Local calling on support to continue its strong role in our local community. You only need to turn to their report card to see the positive impact they have had on our community in harnessing local knowledge, driving community-led best solutions, delivering coordinated front-line services and joining the dots.
This budget provides even more pain for those families who have chosen, due to reduced costs, to live in the outer suburbs, many located in my electorate of Brindabella. With petrol prices rising through the taxation system and the remarkable lack of ACT infrastructure funding in this federal budget, we again see the federal budget hitting hardest those who cannot afford it.
It is not just Canberra as a whole that will be affected by this budget. As someone who has a deep passion in the move towards a sustainable future through renewable energy, I am dumbfounded at the wanton destruction of the renewable energy sector, with $1.3 billion being ripped out of our children’s future by the removal of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency. What do we see as the alternative? It is quite laughable—$525 million to fund the green army initiative and, as we have heard from Minister Corbell, all will be paid less than the minimum wage. This is offset by the $438 million loss to Landcare expenditure. We know those community groups are currently doing the same job it is proposed the Green Army will do, and they have been so successful. This policy continues to ignore the long-term positives of renewable energy and the future of combating climate change in our own region.
It may be that Canberra as a whole is in a better position now to ride through the attack than it was when we saw a similar budget in 1996. The ACT government continues to roll out our economic plan in order to transform and diversify the territory and the ACT government will help soften the blow to Canberrans. Through planning and red tape reduction changes, we continue to see a growing private sector in Canberra as well as continued major infrastructure projects rolling out across the territory in the forward years. I urge all members to support Ms Porter’s motion.
MS BURCH (Brindabella—Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Disability, Children and Young People, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Women, Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Minister for Racing and Gaming) (4.04): I am pleased to support Ms Porter’s motion and to speak a little on how, through education, the ACT government is promoting economic growth, job growth, and creating a more diverse and prosperous city. Education contributes significantly to the ACT economy.
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