Federation Chamber
Wednesday 28 October 2020

I want to begin by commending the member for Macquarie, with her small-business background, for her passionate advocacy for her community and years of representing her community. I know how powerful that has been and how disappointing the budget has been for her residents and for my residents.

A government member: It'd be nice just to hear some positivity.

Mr DICK: I will take the interjection from the member who wants positivity. I'd be delighted to stand here and give some positivity if there was some positive news in the budget.

A government member: Okay. Let's start with the military centre of excellence, the military vehicle centre of excellence—

Mr DICK: I'll take that interjection as well. I'm glad that the government finally came on board after my calling for an investment in my community for the amazing new facilities for the Redbank and Carole Park areas, the complex built by the Queensland government after heavy investment by the minister for manufacturing, the Hon. Cameron Dick. Of course, the community was not included in that, because the Prime Minister excluded the Queensland government in order to prop up the Queensland Leader of the Opposition. So they went to a centre to open it—and didn't include the local federal member, which he's just outlined as me; partisan politics always coming first with this government—and they didn't let the Queensland government know. That put the facility in an embarrassing position. They were upset about it. They were disappointed that they were used as a prop. At the same time, the Prime Minister didn't let the LNP leader in—and she had to stand outside! If you think that is good campaigning, great. If that's the positive news that you want, well, go right ahead.

In my community we know that, when it comes to defence building and when it comes to jobs, there's one side of politics that will deliver, and that is this side. The contract was signed, sealed and delivered by Queensland Labor after the government travelling to Germany to get that contract. We hear a lot about, 'Whatever happened to Team Queensland?' Remember all of that? That's disappeared off the face of the earth—led by the genius member for Fairfax. Remember, he was there front and centre—not any other member of parliament, not any other member from Queensland. The big star of Queensland disappeared without trace.

Which allows me to talk about the 2020 budget. I am so delighted that the member for Fisher, a fellow Queenslander, is here, so I can talk about the impacts of LNP cuts at both a federal level and a state level and what is at stake at this coming Saturday's election. We know that this year has been a difficult year. We know that it has been incredibly hard, and I pay tribute to all Australians who have been left without a job due to the COVID crisis. We know the daily numbers in Victoria, New South Wales and elsewhere and of course in my home state, which has led the nation in terms of its COVID health response and economic response.

We have seen some big numbers from this year's budget: a $213 billion deficit this financial year and $480 billion of deficits over the forward estimates. The budget is in deficit every year for the next decade. Last year we heard how the budget was back in black—and the coffee cups were made, the t-shirts were designed and the posters were all out there—but that wasn't the case at all. The budget was never back in black. Budgets are about more than just raw numbers; they are about priorities—a vision for Australia and, most importantly, a future for all Australians.

That is where this year's budget falls over. There is $1 trillion worth of debt, but millions of Australians are left behind, including 928,000 people aged over 35 on unemployment benefits deliberately excluded from hiring subsidies. There's no plan for child care, no proper plan for aged care—with the extra home-care places in this year's budget being a drop in the ocean compared to the waiting list today; no proper plan for energy, which would drive down costs and provide investment certainty for businesses; and no plan for the future of JobSeeker recipients, leaving nearly 1.4 million recipients with an uncertain future as to whether they will go back to the old $40 a day. For all of their job-something prefixed announcements, the government expects 160,000 Australians to be added to the jobless queues by Christmas. We all saw the wraparounds at Centrelink—the unprecedented long queues and long lines. You could see the hurt and the pain in those Australians, and in my community as well, due to the lack of dignity that comes when you are without a job. Time and time again we have asked the government to take action and yet those people have been ignored as well.

After spending the last decade complaining about Labor's debt and tightening the nation's belt, the government have realised that they have to spend money—and unfortunately it is not going to where it is needed. With all their spending and the $1 trillion worth of debt, we still have no plan for child care, no plan for safe and secure aged care, no plan to drive energy prices down, no plan to support those who have been left unemployed and no plan to deliver for the future.

This leads me to my home state of Queensland. When it comes to investment in our state and when it comes to delivering for my community, we've seen time and time again the LNP falling short. We're seeing the LNP not investing in our people and not investing in our infrastructure. Whether it is the state LNP or the federal LNP, the record is stark. On Saturday the people of Queensland have a very clear choice. We know that the state LNP have $26.2 billion in unfunded promises. They promised no new taxes and they want to recklessly rush to a surplus in four years—they're their words. The Australian Treasurer, when given these voodoo economics, said:

It would … be damaging to the economy and unrealistic to target surpluses over the forward estimates—given what this would require … in terms of significant increases in taxes and large cuts to essential services.

Given the state LNP have ruled out tax increases, the only way to achieve their plans is with cuts. We know that the Queensland LNP will have to cut 31,373 jobs to deliver on their promises. That's around 16,000 jobs in health alone.

I remind the chamber what happened last time the LNP were in government in Queensland. I will tell a story about my own electorate of Wacol. In late January 2014 the then LNP health minister closed the Barrett Adolescent Centre, Queensland's only special-purpose adolescent psychiatric care centre, despite pleas from parents, employees and clinical staff. I'll remind members of the chamber who are here today what the centrepiece of that LNP state government was. It was to cut, sack and sell. It closed nursing homes. It sold off school land. It tried to close a whole range of centres that the community relied on. As I said, budgets and governments are about visions and decisions.

In the three months after, tragically, three former Barrett Adolescent Centre patients took their own lives. This was a centre that provided specialist care. It provided one-on-one support. Thankfully, after the horrific period of the LNP toxic government, the Palaszczuk government was re-elected. One of the first commitments of the Premier was to restore funding and rebuild a specialist adolescent centre. This is not politics; this is about doing the right thing.

I want to talk about a second example in my community when the LNP were last in charge. They closed down the legal aid centre. The South West Brisbane Community Legal Centre, previously known as COILS, was a brilliant community legal service run by the wonderful Sandra Padgett. They dealt with a whole range of people from non-English-speaking backgrounds. They provided resources for people fleeing domestic violence and offered support services. They provided all manner of legal services that the non-English-speaking-background community that I represent need and rely on. It was located in Wirraway Parade in Inala. It was closed. It was defunded. It was relocated to the suburb of Browns Plains. To access this service people would have to catch two buses and walk 45 minutes. In my books that's unfair, unnecessary and, quite frankly, cruel.

This community legal aid service was made up of local residents and support groups. They tried to provide services. They asked for satellite services. They asked if specialist lawyers could come through. In my time in the council I thought I could open my office and let lawyers come in. I would give them a meeting room or see if the council library could provide services one day a week. All of these things were completely ignored. They were completely shut out by the state government at the time.

The second proud announcement that the Premier and state member for Inala, Annastacia Palaszczuk, made was about the building of a multimillion-dollar community asset that now houses a brilliant legal aid service, near Richlands East State School in my electorate, co-located with Inala Youth Service, a wonderful community centre space, where people come and do craft and learn, with support services and social inclusion, located about 30 metres from Inala Elders and Inala Wangarra, which is a specialist peak body for Indigenous services in my electorate. Just across the road, a little way up the hill, is a learning space for kids who don't fit into mainstream schools. So it is a wonderful asset to the community.

I wanted to highlight to the parliament today exactly what budgets are about. I wanted to highlight how maybe, in the big figures and the big numbers that we talk about in this place, small amounts of funding make incredible amounts of difference. What we've seen is the LNP, when given the opportunity, either at a national level or a state level, not investing in people. I am hoping that people won't return the LNP to government in Queensland on Saturday, because I know what that will mean for my community. I know what that will mean for local residents who need really important services, because we've seen it before. We've seen services ripped out of the community and frontline workers lose their jobs. I just remind the chamber that the state Labor government restored those 14,000 frontline workers. These were not pen-pushers. These were not public servant fat cats or whatever derogatory terms they used at the time. These were paramedics. These were ambos. They were frontline health workers, wardsmen, nurses. And who can forget the war that Campbell Newman had with doctors in the state, not wanting to pay them what they were due? Time and time again that record speaks for itself.

What I'm fearful of is that the state LNP leader will not announce how she will fund her election commitments—$26 billion of unfunded costing. The state Labor government made its announcement on Monday, for the whole electorate, in the last week before the election. I think that is prudent and responsible economic management. We hear a lot from the government saying that the Queensland government hasn't delivered a budget. Well, neither has New South Wales and neither has the state of Victoria, but we don't necessarily hear that. The Berejiklian government hasn't delivered a budget. We don't hear much about that. But, nonetheless, when it comes to budgets and budget priorities, this federal budget has been found wanting. It has been found not delivering for or targeting those who need support the most. We're having a debate in the other place at the moment about reforms and cuts to pensions and to services in the community. So today my call to the government is very clear. We've got an economic crisis in this country, a recession that is getting deeper as a result of the decisions of this government. Almost one million Australians are unemployed. Now is not the time to reduce services. Now is the time to support Australians in need, both in Queensland and in Canberra.