May 10
2007
BUDGET FAILS THE FUTURE TEST FOR WERRIWA
Member for
Werriwa Chris Hayes said that the 2007 Federal Budget failed the
future test when it comes to the electorate of Werriwa.
Mr Hayes said
that while Howard Government MP’s are praising the Budget, saying
that there is something in it for everyone and waiting for the
real spending to occur during the election campaign period, a
closer examination of the Budget documents reveals that it
contains little for local residents in terms of investment in the
future.
“The tax cuts
for low and middle income earners are welcome and will help take
the pressure off local families who are struggling to pay the
mortgage and make ends meet after four consecutive interest rate
rises since the Prime Minister promised to keep interest rates at
record lows, rising grocery prices and rising petrol prices but it
won’t do much more.
“The changes
to the Child Care Benefits and Child Care Tax Rebate will also
help make it easier to make ends meet but families will still bear
the brunt of increases in childcare fees which are regularly four
or five times the increase in the cost of living.
However, it
needs to be remembered that the average payment under the Child
Care Tax Rebate is only $813 per family per year which is well
short of the much publicised $4,000 cap”, Mr Hayes said.
Mr Hayes said
he was disappointed that, apart from a headline grabbing project
in Queensland which had already been announced, the Budget papers
did not include details of the road and rail projects proposed
under AusLink II.
“The Budget
provides no details on whether the $16.8 billion AusLink II, a
package dedicated to developing and maintaining the national
transport network, includes any money for the widening of the F5
south of Brooks Road despite three major AusLink reports
recognising the need for the project.
“This is
something that I have taken up with the Minister already as I am
very concerned that the Government will simply use AusLink II to
buy votes rather than invest in the links between major population
and economic centres and the productive capacity of local
businesses.
“Investment in
road and rail infrastructure must be guided by productivity goals
not election goals”, he said.
“The Budget also
doesn’t contain any initiatives to help increase the number of GPs
in outer metropolitan areas like ours and the initiatives on dental
care fall well short of the mark and will do nothing for the vast
majority of people on the public dental health waiting list”, he
said.
Mr Hayes also
expressed some concern about the education initiatives announced by
the Government, particularly the removal of the cap on the number of
full-fee paying university places.
“The education
endowment fund for is a good start but there is still plenty more to
do to improve early childhood education, schools and vocational
education and the Government’s position stands in stark contrast to
Labor’s Education Revolution”, he said.
“The Government
has not matched Labor’s commitment to universal access to pre-school
for all four year olds meaning that Australia will continue to rank
dead last in the OECD on investment in early childhood education.
There is also very little for schools.
“I am also
concerned that access to university education in the future for the
many talented young locals could be reduced now that the cap on the
number of full-fee paying degrees has been lifted”, Mr Hayes said.
“Many degrees
already cost upwards of $100,000 and I would hate to see these
policy changes result in either HECS or the cost of degrees spiral
out of control and access to a university education suffering as a
direct result”, he said.
“The one
message I have for local residents about this Budget is don’t
believe all that you are told, this Prime Minister has a track
record of big promises and little delivery”, Mr Hayes said.
“Four of the
eight big election promises made by the Prime Minister during the
2004 election campaign – promises covering water management,
childcare, entrepreneurs and schools infrastructure – have all
fallen short of their billion dollar price tags”, he said.
Mr Hayes said
many of the expenditure items detailed in the Budget were not new
but merely re-announcements and that the Prime Minister’s election
pork-barrelling has not yet begun.
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