Mrs MOYLAN (12:35 PM) —The way governments approach the management of the national economy can have profound effects on people's lives. These effects can be positive or negative. Who can forget the nightmare of high national debt bequeathed to the Commonwealth under the leadership of Mr Keating, the former Prime Minister and self-appointed `world's best Treasurer'? Families and individuals aspiring to home ownership were faced with prohibitively high rates of interest on home mortgages. Small businesses struggled to keep going under the weight of record high interest rates for business loans—at one point, some overdraft facilities attracted interest of 24 per cent. I know; I watched them going out of business and into bankruptcy. It was the thing that galvanised me to run for a seat in parliament in the hope that I could, in some small way, contribute to better public policy. The jobless queues grew, with especially high rates of youth unemployment. There were record business failures, and Victoria, with the aid of a Labor-led government at both state and federal level, became the rust bucket state.

This contrasts starkly with a Howard-led government. Since its election in 1996 the government has taken a consistent and measured approach to economic policy. This steady approach has resulted in the $96 billion Commonwealth debt racked up by Labor when they held the Treasury benches for 13 years being reduced by about two thirds. Government debt is now a mere three per cent of GDP compared with the OECD average of 50 per cent.

Some people ask: `What does that mean for me and my family? How important to me is the way in which the federal government manages its budget?' It means that since the Howard government took office in 1996, the debt has been reduced by two-thirds to $25 billion. The good news is that, instead of the Commonwealth paying a massive interest bill on that debt, the government has been able to spend that interest saving on direct benefits for people in the community, as well as the additional revenue that a strong business sector has been able to bring in. Health, including aged care; the environment; transport; telecommunications and improved safety nets through the social security system are some of the areas where the government has increased spending.

The government's success has been a mixture of careful planning and targeted reforms. For example, industrial relations reforms have provided greater flexibility to both businesses and employees, creating higher productivity and higher real wages. Much-needed tax reforms, including the introduction of a goods and services tax, has spread the tax burden more evenly and put a stop to the trend under Labor of constantly targeting sectors of the small business and business community to raise additional taxes.

Eight years of continuous economic growth under a Howard-led government have provided a 19 per cent increase in the standard of living; unemployment is below six per cent; inflation is below three per cent for the first time in 35 years; real wages are up 13 per cent compared to 2.4 per cent under the 13 years of Labor; 1.3 million new jobs have been created in this more favourable environment; home loan interest rates remain remarkably low; spending on health care is up 51 per cent; school funding is up 63 per cent; an extra 200,000 child-care places have been created, with another 40,000 in this budget for outside school hours care; and nearly 500,000 new apprenticeships have been created for our young people, compared to 141,000 under Labor. These achievements must be placed in the context of the worst financial meltdown in Asia in a decade, a protracted drought affecting farm income, an international recession and the impact on tourism due to terrorism and SARS. The strength of the Australian economy has sustained and cushioned the majority of businesses from the worst impact of these world events and, having sustained and cushioned those businesses, it has sustained and cushioned average Australians.

Unwilling to be lulled into a false sense of security by its economic achievements, the government continues to forge ahead with important reforms and initiatives. Recognising that our future industry growth and development will require increasingly reliable modes of transport, the government has recently committed an additional $2 billion to improve transport with its AusLink initiative. This is of particular concern to Western Australia, with its huge contribution to the economy through mining, farming and pastoral activities. It is in these sectors that fast, reliable, efficient transport modes are essential, especially if we are to continue to compete successfully in a robust export market. In Western Australia we are facing a state government that has completely neglected its responsibility in relation to local roads and its shared responsibility in relation to national highways. It is putting the majority of its transport money into rail to Mandurah and allowing the state's roads to go to complete rack and ruin.

The government also recognises the pivotal role of science and innovation, mindful that it underpins productivity and growth, and has allocated a $5.3 billion package of support. This funding will help develop and retain Australian skills and accelerate the commercial application of research. Dr Richard Insel of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation spoke recently at a dinner and made the point that Australia has some of the best researchers in the world, particularly in the area of medicine and looking for a cure for diabetes. In fact, Australia was the fourth or fifth highest recipient of funds from the international arm of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. And in many other areas of science Australia leads. These people need to be supported. We need to keep them here in Australia.

Regional and rural communities have struggled over the past two decades—and I spoke about this in the chamber this morning, when speaking on the Farm Household Support Amendment Bill 2004—to recover from successive droughts and from a reduction in the number of people living in many rural communities. It is difficult for those living in the cities to conceive how important our rural economies are and the importance of keeping them going during difficult times. I know that my colleague the member for Hinkler, who is here on duty today, would support me on that. With an increasing prospect of continuing drought in many areas, including the eastern wheat belt in WA, it is important to have strong drought relief programs, and the government has directed $1.1 billion into direct drought assistance in this budget. Again we have seen vacillating and a lack of interest by the Western Australian state Labor government in resolving the issue around drought—at one stage not even bothering to reply to an invitation to join a meeting with the Commonwealth minister and other state ministers to discuss how we can better be responsive to drought affected families with a better drought policy.

An industry that has become increasingly important to rural and regional areas all around Australia and particularly to my electorate is the wine-producing sector. According to ACIL estimates for 1999-2000, wine tourism produced estimated revenue for the regions of $965 million. Of that, $411 million was spent at wineries on food and merchandise and accommodation and $554 million was spent in regional communities on food, accommodation and transport. Wine production has become enormously important to the regions, employing about 57,000 people and boosting many small businesses in regional areas which supply goods and services, such as machinery dealers, mechanics, reticulation suppliers, cleaners, food wholesalers and a host of others.

The measure to alleviate what I believe was a flaw in the adjustment tax, called wine equalisation tax when we changed to the new tax system, have been generally well received. This is an important measure for the small wineries in my electorate. For example, for producers selling up to 800,000 litres of wine, the average rate of WET was approximately $3.25 a litre. That was almost three times that paid by the four major companies, who account for about 60 per cent of wine production. The average WET paid by these companies was $1.10 a litre. There is a very big difference, and it caused a lot of problems within the small, family-run wineries in the electorate of Pearce.

The WET in its original format produced great inequities in taxing wine production and, as I have said, particularly prejudiced small wineries. About 95 per cent of wine production is carried out by small, usually family owned, wineries and they were badly affected. Under the new arrangements about 90 per cent of small wineries will benefit from a rebate of $290,000 of WET. This will particularly benefit those producing about 85,000 litres or $1 million wholesale turnover, and I know that it has been well received in my electorate.

Since coming to this place in 1993 I have consistently argued that it is a robust economy that underpins the social fabric of our communities. It is very difficult to look after the needs of people if you do not have a strong economy. We have only to look at some of the basket case economies the world over to see that. They are poorly managed, governments do not look after their resources and their economies are in a downward spiral. They cannot provide good economic policy, support for the environment or social policy programs that support their people. It is enormously important that we maintain a strong economy so that we can look after the needs of all citizens.

The robust economy and careful management have provided the Howard government with a solid tax base on which to deliver benefits to most sectors of the community. From the perspective of my electorate, I know they welcome additional assistance. There are many benefits in the budget that have received a great deal of cover in the media but many smaller measures that do not rate a mention in dispatches are terribly important to many Australian individuals and families, and I propose to speak about some of those lesser known aspects.

I was interested to hear the member for Shortland get stuck into the government over its carer program. When I came to parliament in 1993 and when I became a minister in the first Howard government in 1996 there was no carer program. The task I had, at the request of the Prime Minister and at the urging of the Carers Association of Australia and the wonderful people who led and guided that organisation for so many years, was to put into place a national program for carers. Before that, they could not even get a hearing from the Labor government. I remember them telling me that there was no interest whatsoever in supporting carers. That organisation had tried and tried to get governments' attention to this very important issue and it had been ignored. When the Howard government came in and I became the Minister for Family Services, the Prime Minister asked me to establish a national carer program. That involved establishing a National Respite for Carers Program across Australia and a national carers resource program to help and support people who undertake a caring role for a dependent member of their family or somebody with a chronic illness. It was a great joy for me to work with the caring sector, because there were many heart-rending stories from people.

There are over one million people in Australia caring for a family member with a disability or chronic illness or someone who is aged. The relaxing of the rule means that carers will receive greater financial support. Every carer will receive a one-off payment of $1,000, around 80,000 eligible carers will receive the carer payment in June, and 300,000 people receiving the carer allowance will receive a bonus of $600. This is a one-off payment and it will be tax free. Improved access to respite care will provide extra help to older carers who care for an adult child with a disability, so that they can have some relief from their usually 24-hour caring role. About 13,000 carers who do not live with the person they care for will now be eligible for a carers payment. The carer package alone amounts to a $461 million commitment over five years. This builds on the tremendous program that was put into place in 1996 and has been followed up by the Howard government ever since.

I want to talk also about diabetics—a subject that I am particularly interested in. Many families with a child who is an insulin-dependent diabetic welcome the additional funding for the national diabetic subsidy scheme that will now allow them to purchase insulin pump consumables at a saving of about $2,200 per annum. Many families—some of them are in my electorate—have one, two or even more children with insulin-dependent diabetes, and in the past this has been a very heavy burden on them. Apart from bearing the heavy burden of the cost of the pump, they have had to buy pump consumables, as I have said, at a cost of about $2,200 a year.

The most important aspect of this measure, though, much more than the saving aspect, is that it will improve the quality of life and provide better long-term health outcomes for children with insulin-dependent diabetes who can use an insulin pump because it delivers a steady dose of insulin and allows their bodies to not have those incredible highs and lows and the risks of going into a coma because their insulin levels drop too low. It is enormously liberating for families whose lives revolve around eating schedules, testing schedules and insulin injections. I do not think anyone in the House remained untouched or unmoved by the wonderful presentations by children from about three to 18 in this place on Kids in the House day, when young insulin-dependent children came to this parliament and talked to members of parliament, ministers and indeed the Prime Minister about what it is like to be a kid with insulin-dependent diabetes. Although it is a small measure, it is an enormously important one to those many families out there whose children are insulin-dependent diabetics, and indeed to many insulin-dependent diabetics, whether they are type 1 or type 2.

Hearing-impaired children also have received attention in this budget, and I am very pleased to learn of this. Cochlear implant speech processes can open up a whole new world for children with profound hearing loss. Funding allocated for this measure will allow around 130 children currently waiting for upgrades to access cochlear implant speech processes and it will provide for about 230 upgrades a year. This is a small measure but an enormously important one.

Caring for our veterans is of primary importance, and this budget allows for veterans on gold or white cards to see medical specialists when they need to. Staying on the medical benefits of this budget, many families have a person with a chronic health problem, and families with people with diabetes have that concern. When there are chronic health problems, the worry of ongoing health costs is always of enormous concern. That is why the government's new Medicare safety net is so important. It means that a government rebate will now pay 80 per cent of non-hospital costs and above $300 for families eligible for family tax benefit part A and concession card holders. For all other individuals and families 80 per cent of costs are covered under the government scheme once these costs rise above $700. So all families have that marvellous safety net, and this is particularly welcomed by families who have members with chronic illnesses.

Aged care has become a major issue as we raise concerns about an ageing population. It has become evident from the number of families who have contacted me about the difficulty of finding appropriate care that this continues to be a concern. I am thrilled to see that the budget has allocated $2.2 billion to improve the number of beds for people wanting to access aged care and to improve the facilities for them.

I cannot finish without talking for a moment about small business, because it is the lifeblood of our country. Small businesses and non-profit organisations will benefit enormously from a reduction in the cost of tax compliance. It will benefit 740,000 small businesses and 30,000 not-for-profit organisations. The cost to government is about $330 million. Given that the small business sector is the engine room of our economy, this is money well spent.

The member for Shortland mentioned youth and her leader's policy. I have to say that what we have done is taken practical steps to help and engage our youth. We have established the Work for the Dole program, which allows them to get back into the work force to learn some skills and to get a better opportunity to get long-term employment. I have never seen young people so enthusiastic about learning new skills as those in the Green Corps program. In addition to that, we have increasingly allocated money to establish Cadet Corps units around the country. Most importantly, the Howard government has recognised families and has recognised many groups of the community but above all it recognises its responsibility to maintain a strong and stable economy so that all Australians, regardless of where they live and what they do, can be the beneficiaries.

May I just comment on Iraq in the 20 seconds I have left. We have not failed there. When I went to Baghdad with the minister, our troops were the ones keeping the Baghdad airport open. That meant that aid could come in. The Iraqi people have suffered terrible deprivations, particularly the children, and without our troops manning the airport in Baghdad that aid would not be getting through. They have played a major part in providing aid in Iraq. (Time expired)

Debate adjourned.