Mrs VALE (5:29 PM) —I rise to speak on the Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2001-2002. I wish to record my support for this bill because of its focus on a group of Australians who deserve from us our regard and a respectful duty of care. I specifically refer to those older Australians who have worked and raised their families—often in the hardship of the world depression of the 1930s and in a recession or two in later decades—and who had fought or lost loved ones in World War II, Vietnam, Korea or the Malaysian conflict. These older Australians, some of whom are recipients of social security and some of whom are low income self-funded retirees, are Australians who have paid their own way throughout their lives. Many are of little burden upon government revenues and they continue to get on with their lives in a positive and contributory way.

I welcome the 2001 budget because I believe it is a budget of honour and respect for all Australians, but especially for our older Australians. As such, it is a fitting budget for the year of the Centenary of Federation. It is a budget that pays tribute in sentiment and in dollars to those who, over the past 60 years or so, have—like our young men who fought on the Kokoda Trail—helped to defend our country during its days of danger.

This budget also pays tribute to those who, over their lifetimes, have contributed to the many benefits that every Australian, whatever their circumstances, today enjoys in our great nation. No longer in the work force, they continue to contribute to the Australian community in a positive manner. They do this, for example, through their advice to and support of younger family members, helping them to cope with the daily stresses of life, or through other forms of volunteer community service that are often hidden from the public agenda but are essential to a healthily functioning community. This brings to mind a fine elderly couple who live in my electorate of Hughes, Mr Don Morrison, OAM, and his wife, Nita, of Engadine. Don, actively supported by Nita, has served on various voluntary community committees since the 1930s and was recognised last year for his lifelong service to his local community and to the RSL association.

It has been a privilege for me to be a member of a government that, in five years, has steered our nation from a crippling national indebtedness, foolishly created by the opposition when it was in government, to a prudent budget surplus and with the inherited debt substantially paid off. Sixty billion dollars of Labor's $80 billion debt has now been paid off in five years of sound economic management by the Howard coalition government. This has created interest repayment savings of over $4 billion a year. This is a significant achievement and one which has become a hallmark of the responsible financial management of this government.

The coalition government has done this despite knee-jerk ideological warfare by the other parties and their cheer squads who oppose us in and out of parliament. It has been achieved during times of international financial collapse, especially in our own geographic area, and the economic woes of many of our key trading partners. The coalition government has planned for responsible economic management which, in turn, has provided the ability to implement caring social policy. This reasoned and responsible management was not undertaken without pain in some quarters, and there was certainly some screaming and gnashing of teeth by the opposition. But now the hard yards are almost over, and the work has been carried out to the point where we can now implement the care for those in our society for whom we are responsible and to whom we owe respect.

Now we can prudently honour our elders, our widows and our aged warriors through the surpluses provided by previous federal governments in federal budgets through the exercise of tough economic restraint and which were implemented without fear of criticism but in determined pursuit of our national economic health. This is not a budget of empty promises to our senior Australians like the infamous 1993 l-a-w law election promises of the then ALP government; but it is a budget of benefits n-o-w for now. This budget is not just about dollars; it is also a tangible message of honour and respect to our senior Australians and their families.

Focusing upon low income aged persons, the 2001 budget makes good policy sense. Australia is a greying community. The baby boomers of the late 1940s and 1950s are already beginning to enter early retirement. As our population ages and grows greyer, there is a growing burden upon the younger tax paying workers of Australia to support the elderly. This was one of the vital reasons that we needed a new tax system, so that the government could rely on the widest possible tax base to underpin our commitment to those Australians dependent upon government support.

However, we also need to encourage a culture of self-sufficiency in retirement. This requires governments to establish the right precedents and to put in place the right incentives to encourage those in the work force to make prudent and sensible financial provision from their own resources for their retirement years. I believe this budget has begun that process and is sending out the right messages. This budget will have a positive and significant effect at the local community level. For example, I estimate that, in the electorate of Hughes, there are some 2,500 aged persons who are also low income, self-funded retirees who will be substantial beneficiaries of this budget. For them, an effective non-taxable threshold will soar from $6,000 to $20,000 for a single person and from $7,000 to about $32,000 for couples.

Not only will those who do not exceed the $20,000 threshold not pay any tax but also they will not have to submit a tax return. For all who qualify, it will take effect in the current financial year—that is, it will be backdated to 1 July 2000. If they have been paying tax on any of their income during this financial year, they can look forward to getting it back. I estimate that in Hughes there are about 12,000 full- and part-time pensioners who will benefit from the non-taxable payment of $300 announced in the budget. The purpose of this payment is simple: it is a tribute given as tangible recognition of the contribution to the community made in the past by these older Australians.

In my electorate, there are about 20 former prisoners of war of the Japanese or their widows who will benefit from the $25,000 ex gratia payment contained in the budget. Prisoners of war of the Japanese were not covered by the Geneva Convention and suffered a form of brutality that was of exceptional severity, even when compared to the general suffering and horror of war that non-POWs were called upon to endure. More than one in three prisoners died, either at the hands of their captors or through deliberate neglect. Most of us can recall seeing archive film of places like Changi and the Thai-Burma railway and the emaciated living skeletons who managed to survive and emerge from their ordeal of horror.

There was also the infamous Sandakan death march which only a handful of the hundreds of Australians who began that forced march survived. Nothing in Australian life compares to that kind of suffering and sacrifice made in order to protect their fellow Australians from the very real prospect of invasion, possible massacre, certain occupation or ruthless exploitation. This $25,000 payment will also be a tangible thank you and tribute to the many wives who, when the war was over, spent many years looking after those who had been deeply scarred physically and emotionally by the brutality of captivity. There are about 300 British Commonwealth and allied veterans and qualifying merchant mariners in the electorate of Hughes who will now qualify for the Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. During the Second World War, they were enlisted in the service of countries such as New Zealand, Britain, Canada, Belgium, France, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, the United States and the former Yugoslavia. These older citizens fought alongside Australians against the common enemy and their efforts helped our Australian democracy to survive. We owe them a debt of honour and our continued gratitude.

I was especially pleased to hear on budget night that our coalition government would also end Labor's discrimination against remarried war widows. This restores justice to widows who lost their husbands to wartime service, only to be penalised by later marrying again. Since the decision of the Labor government in 1984, for almost two decades there have been two classes of Australian war widows: those who receive their rightful entitlements and those who were denied what was due to them. This budget offers the nation's deepest regard and respect to all our war widows. I applaud them, join with local members of Legacy and the RSL subbranches of Woronora River, Engadine, Liverpool, Helensburgh, Bundeena, the Heathcote Services and Citizens Club and the Sutherland United Services Club and salute this initiative on behalf of the war widows in our local area.

Families in my area will also be pleased to learn of important initiatives within the health portfolio. In Hughes, there are about 15,000 over the age of 25 who already suffer or will suffer from diabetes. Half are currently undiagnosed. They will benefit from the $49.8 million over the next four years announced in this budget to improve the prevention, early diagnosis and management of this disease. It is estimated that up to one in three people do or will suffer from mental illness at some time in their life and that possibly more than 10,000 people in my electorate will experience a mental health problem in the next year. The budget provides $120 million over the next four years to help GPs provide improved care for those suffering in this way. It will enable greater access to psychological support for patients. This will be good news for families and friends as well. When this flow-on effect is taken into account, I have no doubt that this is one measure that will have a widespread beneficial effect within my electorate of Hughes and within other electorates of members from both sides.

Asthma is a real concern for families in the Sutherland Shire. The electorate has approximately 13,000 asthma sufferers living in close proximity to two national parks. This important health issue will also receive budget attention. The budget will provide $48.4 million over the next four years for GPs to better manage this illness through a unique three-plus visit. I also note that the national cervical screening program and the incentives to GPs is worth $71.9 million in the budget. This will increase the number of women participating in this important women's health program. I am sure it will be widely welcomed by all Australian women, including those in my electorate.

The other major scourge afflicting young people is illicit and addictive drugs. As someone who has spoken often about the drug problem I was pleased to see the Australian Federal Police receive an extra $110.5 million in funding over the next four years. This will lift funding for law enforcement from $260 million when the coalition government came into office to almost $400 million in the next financial year. The runs on the board are impressive: over the past two years apprehension of offenders has increased by 30 per cent; illicit drug seizures are up 800 per cent for cocaine and 164 per cent for heroin; recovery of criminal assets is up 140 per cent; and the proportion of finalised cases referred to the legal system is up 70 per cent. These increases are no coincidence or accident. They have come about as a result of the tougher anti-drug policies of this government. These policies have led to the AFP setting up 10 specially trained mobile strike teams based in our major cities and involving 133 agents and specialists. They are having a quantifiable impact on the drug and underworld bosses, quite a number of whom are now locked away.

I also welcome a sensitive article in the Daily Telegraph by journalist Anna Cock. She reported significant anecdotal evidence from families who had lost a member to suicide after a history of using the so-called soft and recreational drug, marijuana. I have raised the concerns of parents about this dangerous drug and the connection with incidents of suicides on other occasions before this House. Losing a family member to suicide is the most devastating event that any family could suffer. Unanswered questions remain for years to torment the family, and there is always the weight of an unbearable guilt. It seems to me that it is time we began some qualitative research into a link between marijuana and suicide. But until we can interview many families at such a sensitive time in their lives—after they have suffered such a tragedy—we are not going to get any closer to the truth as to the causes. Now is the time we should learn more about connections between illicit marijuana use and the mental health of our young people. I also note that the young people aged 15 to 24 in the Sutherland Shire have suicide rates higher than the national level.

The failed economic policies and the high home mortgage interest rates that plagued Australian families for years under the previous Labor government have placed family relationships under enormous strain. The high interest rates led to many families losing their homes, and many of those families became homeless. For over 30 years the ALP has just shrugged its shoulders as family relationships have broken down and been destroyed by financial stress. Maintaining healthy, functional families is a priority of the Howard coalition government, and the record of low interest rates, low inflation rates and low unemployment levels enjoyed by Australian families since this government began making tough budget decisions in 1996 is continued in this fifth budget. For example, many Australian families who qualify under the family tax initiative may qualify for a tax free threshold of up to $17,000, depending on the number and age of their children.

The Howard coalition government has also recognised the importance of helping to maintain cohesive families. I am also pleased that this government is continuing its efforts to strengthen family relationships. In the 1999-2000 budget the government provided $6 million to fund marriage and relationship education services. It followed recommendations of the report, To have and to hold: strategies to strengthen marriage and relationships, from the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, of which I am a member. This report pointed out that marriage breakdowns cost Australia up to $6 billion each year. By better educating people about their relationship responsibilities our government hopes to reduce some of the personal and emotional trauma associated with family breakdowns, both for the adults and for the children. I welcome and applaud the continuing initiatives of the Howard coalition government to support and uphold the families of Australia, which have long been recognised as the basic building blocks of our nation.

However, I am mindful that there are other families in Australia who are in deep social crisis and desperate for our understanding and active support. I refer to those families—particularly the women, girls and, tragically, even female babies—in some of our remote indigenous communities who suffer silently and unrecognised by mainstream Australia. I refer to the report by the courageous academic, Boni Robertson, and her team of 50 other Aboriginal women, who toured outback Queensland and some parts of regional Australia. It noted horrific findings of rape and sexual abuse amongst Aboriginal girls, women and even babies as young as 17 months. I also acknowledge with respect Michael Duffy's article in the Daily Telegraph of 16 June 2001, which faithfully covers this national tragedy. I actually brought this particular report to the attention of House last year, but I am afraid that report also met with silence. That is another reason I raise it again today: it is indeed the real tragedy of indigenous relations within Australia today.

I stress that not all remote communities suffered in this way. Indeed, there are many indigenous leaders prominent in Australian society today who deny the existence of the sexual abuse and the murders and who turn their back on their own people. We spend our entire national consciousness, it seems to me, on worrying about past wrongs, but the real tragedy for Australia is this shameful inability—almost a national paralysis—to honestly face and deal with the proper protection of these women and children and help them cope within their families, within the terror of their daily lives.

I ask two prominent indigenous leaders recently in the news what they have done to respond to the important report by Boni Robertson. I say, `What have you done, Mr Geoff Clark, President of ATSIC? What have you done, Pat O'Shane, to help respond to this report and to support these women and girls and babies? What have you done other than accept the fine accoutrements and high status of your office accorded to you by the wider Australian community?' Unless and until you and others like you accept that there is a horrendous problem in some of these communities, and that some women's lives are nothing but terror, and sit down with governments to seek ways to face and address it, you are both frauds upon your own people.