Mr NAIRN (6:06 PM) —I am very pleased to speak on Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2004-2005 and the cognate bills which are the result of the excellent budget brought down last month by the Treasurer. With federal budgets, I think the key issue we should talk about is the overall running of the Australian economy and not whether this road or that road got some funding or whether this little pet project for somebody got a guernsey. I think people often forget that this is a national budget that sets the framework for the nation. The nation then progresses one way or another, depending on the quality of the overall economic management of the government of the day.

This is certainly an excellent budget when you put it together with the budgets since the coalition came to government. We talk about economic management—this is the seventh budget in a row that is in surplus. We have now paid off $70 billion of the debt we inherited when we came into government in 1996—$70 billion of the $96 billion is now paid. We have projected growth of 3½ per cent over the next three years. Inflation is running at about two per cent. Unemployment is below six per cent. Interest rates—the cash rate—were today kept at 5.25 per cent by the Reserve Bank Governor. These are very good figures. The economy is going so well because of good budgeting by the government, and all the other things that occur in our nation can progress as a result of that.

If you do not get these things right then you run into difficulties all over the place. Once again, we can contrast these sorts of numbers with what we remember having in the last few years of the previous government. I have spoken a number of times over the last eight years about that, but it is something you cannot remind people of too many times. The experience of the late eighties and early nineties will constantly haunt me and many other people. I think 21.75 per cent was the highest interest rate I paid on my business overdraft which, at the time, was a six-figure overdraft and was keeping 25 people employed during the recession that we had to have. They were interesting days, that is for sure. Those days taught me a huge amount, but it was a lesson that I hope nobody else has to go through in the future. When I compare those circumstances with what we have today and have had for a number of years it is quite incredible.

The real benefit that has come out of this good management is that many more people are in a job. If you are in a job, you can solve many other problems. If you are not in job, all sorts of issues and problems will arise. But getting people into work, from a government point of view, is by far the best thing that we can do. We see in Eden-Monaro at the moment, as a result of this good management, unemployment now down around the national figure. This is unheard of—it is historic—in Eden-Monaro. In parts of Eden-Monaro we still have high unemployment—higher than I would like. Down on the coast, where unemployment has traditionally been very high, it is still high but over the whole electorate it falls below the six per cent figure, similar to the national figure. That similarity has never been there before. Only a few years ago, the unemployment rate on the coastal parts of the electorate was up into the high teens. Now we are below 10 per cent on one part of the coast and below seven per cent in the other parts. So there are dramatic differences. You can see the changes: the shopping centres are full, the shops are no longer vacant and there is real activity, which is terrific.

This budget continues to address issues about jobs and it continues to make sure that interest rates are kept low. Home loan affordability remains at a good level. If interest rates took off, we would certainly see some problems for home buyers, but they are being kept low. Older Australians and families are targeted for assistance. We make no apologies for targeting families in this budget. Look at a number of budgets in a row and see how we have made various changes. If you package them together, which is what you have to do, you can see how various parts of our communities have been assisted over a number of years. You can never do everything at once. If you try to help every little aspect of the economy and the community every time you do your budgeting, you will never do anything substantial for anybody. One of those areas is obviously tax cuts.

Critics have made much about single people on less than $52,000 not receiving tax cuts but they ignore what has been done over a number of years. It is quite interesting to look at that. For instance, somebody on $20,000 is now paying $625 per year less than they were paying before the A New Tax System was introduced in 2000. We had changes to the tax system in 2000, changes in the 2003-04 budget and changes in the recent budget. Somebody on $20,000, because of those changes that have taken place over a number of years, is paying $625 per year less. Someone on $30,000 is paying $1,050 less, someone on $35,000 is paying $1,250 a year less, someone on $40,000 is paying $1,630 a year less, someone on $45,000 is paying $2,280 a year less, and someone on $50,000 is paying $2,930 less tax per year than they were paying before those first changes were made. Changing the tax scales, which we have done in this budget, is unfinished business from what we tried to do during 2003-04—substantial changes to the tax system which we have continued in this budget.

The other benefit to families is in the family tax benefit. We see a $600 increase in family tax benefit A, which means that the base rate goes up from $1,095 to $1,695. The income test has eased as well. This is a substantial issue. You can use all sorts of cameos, and families out there in Eden-Monaro can get some idea from some of the examples as to where they fall in. That is why I have given a range of different incomes. The phase-out for the maximum payment of the family tax benefit will be softened so that a family with three children will still receive some payment when earning up to $70,920 per year. The cut-off income for a base payment for a family with three children will be raised to $105,572. They are really quite substantial changes, so you can see that a lot of people are benefiting from those.

The other major change is with respect to a single income where you have a part-time second earner. Around 90 per cent of these families will receive the additional $600 per child that I mentioned before. That $600 is before 30 June. They will then receive another $600 once their tax is reconciled at the start of the next financial year. That is likely to be in around September, depending on when they get their income tax returns in.

We also have the maternity allowance of $3,000 on the birth of a baby after 1 July this year. That will rise to $5,000 by 1 July 2008. There are also extra child-care places. We have seen some big increases in child-care places. I have some very strong, growing areas in my electorate, and I have been pleased that we have constantly been able to provide additional child-care places in those fast-growing areas. The budget announced an extra 30,000 outside school hours care places and an extra 1,500 family day care places. That will mean that from 1 July there will be an extra 40,000 places for outside school hours care and 4,000 family day care places—all fairly substantial amounts.

Carers were well looked after. Eighty thousand people receiving carers payments will get a payment of $1,000 before the end of June. All members of parliament increasingly hear of either people who are caring for elderly people or, all too often, older people looking after younger disabled people. They are receiving carers payments, so they will certainly be pleased to receive that additional support.

There is $3.1 billion of additional money over the next five years going into roads, and that is on top of $5.6 billion that covers funding for the national highway system and roads of national importance. I know the two ministers responsible will be making further announcements about that money, but the key there is that the money is budgeted. I see the opposition running around in various places, including in my electorate of Eden-Monaro, making all sorts of promises about roads, but we have not seen what sort of programs they are talking about and where the money would come from. For the things that I have been able to talk about in my electorate that could be funded over the next few years, the money is there—it is in the budget. That is a key issue.

Aged care is a very important part of the budget, and certainly the changes to aged care have been well received throughout my electorate. We are looking at overall payments of about $3.6 million into Eden-Monaro by the end of June to all of our aged care facilities. Having spoken to many of those facilities, I can say they are certainly extremely pleased about the extra assistance that they will be receiving. I will go through the various aged care facilities because they are so important and are key to looking after our older people. It is really a key thing in our rural towns to have great facilities, and all of our facilities are superb. Most of them are community based in one way or the other, and they do a great job.

Banksia Village down at Broulee will be eligible for a $112,000 payment by the end of June. I took the Prime Minister down there the other day to meet those people, and he enjoyed the visit. Bimbimbie Retirement Village at Merimbula, $182,000; Casuarina Hostel in Bega, $108,500; Crown Gardens in Batemans Bay, $140,000; Currawanna Home in Bombala, $140,00; Dalmeny Retirement Village, $126,000; Edgewood Park facility at Batemans Bay, $269,500; the Eurobodalla Shire Residential Care Facility at Dalmeny, $192,500; George Forbes House in Queanbeyan, $297,500; Hillgrove House in Bega, $203,000; Imlay House at Pambula, $182,000; Keweree Lodge in Queanbeyan, $133,000; Maranatha Lodge in Batemans Bay, which was extended quite substantially recently, $332,500; Mariner Park at Tura Beach, $84,000; Moruya Hostel, $105,000; Nullica Lodge at Eden, 45,500; Queanbeyan Nursing Home $385,000; Sir William Hudson Memorial centre in Cooma $182,000; Snowy River Hostel, the small one at Berriedale $35,000; and Yallambee Lodge in Cooma $84,000. They are substantial payments to all of these aged care facilities which will really help them with what they do—not to mention the additional places that have been announced and the increase in the formula from 100 places per thousand people over the age of 70, to 108 per thousand. That will put substantial new places into our area.

There are just a few other key issues. The member for Ballarat mentioned the WET tax. The change was well received by all the small wineries in the greater Canberra area and down the coast. There was a $290,000 rebate for wineries up to $1 million. Across the nation, 90 per cent of producers will be eligible. I cannot absolutely confirm it, but I think 100 per cent of the wineries within my electorate will be eligible.

Drought assistance for exceptional circumstances will be forking out $73 million in income support and interest rate subsidies between 2003-04 and 2005-06, giving a total of $1.1 billion in drought assistance between 2002-03 and 2005-06. It is certainly well received and needed in many parts of my electorate. The drought has certainly not gone from the Monaro. People know that it is extremely dry around the Canberra area and in the far South Coast as well. Dairy farmers down there have been eligible for exceptional circumstances for some time, and I know the Monaro farmers are currently going through that application process also.

Small business will certainly benefit. In fact, I was quite surprised that 740,000 small businesses and 30,000 not-for-profit community groups will be eligible for the change in GST reporting to once a year. It is quite a large number that fall within the categories of turnover of less than $50,00 for small businesses and $100,000 for the not-for-profit groups, and certainly they will benefit from that.

While I am talking about GST, I want to reinforce the fact that all of the GST that is collected does go to the states. It was good to see the Treasurer announce in the budget that from this coming year all states now are in a bonus situation—that is, they will be collecting or being paid more in GST than they would have been getting under the old financial system between the Commonwealth and the states.

I was particularly amazed to be given a copy of a letter to a constituent from the Labor state member for Monaro, who tries to justify the New South Wales government's axing of the Mature Workers Program as part of their mini-budget. In that mini-budget, they also whacked an extra stamp duty on houses when you sell them and introduced all sorts of other incredible taxes. In trying to justify it—as the states always do, they just blame the Commonwealth—he says, `On top of this, we're yet to see a single cent of the money raised from the GST.' I could not believe that. Even if you want to argue about whether or not they are getting a bonus, they are getting all the GST and have done so ever since it started. But he writes to a constituent and says that the state government have never seen the GST. He—and I will quote it again—says, `On top of this, we're yet to see a single cent of the money raised from the GST.' These are the sorts of lies that seem to get thrown around by some people in the political process. It is an outrageous thing to say in a letter to a constituent. New South Wales not only have been getting every single cent but also this year—all the other states have already got this in past years—are getting more money than they would have under the old arrangements.

This is a very good budget. It continues the very sound economic management that the coalition have demonstrated ever since we came to government. That is the key to a national budget—to get all those national things right. We have seen the benefits of good economic management over the last number of years, particularly with the flow-on to falling unemployment. Eden-Monaro has certainly received this budget well and knows that it can grow into the future, as a result of that good management.