Page 1469 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 4 May 2016
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All of this would be bad enough, but to add to it all the budget indicates that there is no intention to continue the national partnership agreement on housing beyond 2017, placing further holes in the safety net for those young people who slip off the Treasurer’s already slippery ladder of opportunity.
I know Mr Hanson and his team have spent no time in government and might find the complexity of our funding arrangements challenging, but it is really pretty simple. When your federal colleagues do not meet their education funding commitments, part of that impact is felt right here in Canberra. When they refuse to take action on housing, it affects our housing market, and when they make it harder for young people to get a job, it means our young people are missing out.
Like my colleague Mr Hinder, I look forward to the Canberra Liberals figuring out this connection and calling on their federal colleagues to stop attacking this city. It is important to note that this motion brought forward today by Mr Hinder calls on the government to continue doing the great work that we are doing, and to provide support for low income Canberrans, including through the ACT concessions program, and to continue to provide high quality health, education and community services for the Canberra community. As I said, we welcome the commitments from the opposition leader, Bill Shorten, and the federal Labor Party to resource the full Gonski needs-based funding model for all Australian schools.
As I have said previously in this place, I am encouraged by the federal opposition leader’s announcements about the conversation that needs to be had on negative gearing and on the capital gains tax. That alone will not provide the solutions that we need regarding affordable housing across Australia, but it is certainly a bold step and a bold conversation that needs to be had. It can contribute to providing an opportunity for our young people and for people on low incomes to be able to afford to get into homes of their own.
Madam Deputy Speaker, I thank Mr Hinder for bringing this motion to the Assembly so that we can have this conversation today.
MR WALL (Brindabella) (11.23): It is no surprise, no surprise at all, that a federal coalition government brings down a budget that brings great benefit to many parts of the country—and also to the ACT community, it should be noted. But members opposite always manage to find the negative in the message. They always manage to find a negative.
They do not even understand it. We heard Ms Berry’s anecdote about the youth employment program that was announced by the federal Treasurer last night. She said that they need real jobs. The internships program that was announced last night provides an opportunity for young people who have been struggling to get employment, to be taken on board by a business to learn skills, to be trained, and to be given the opportunity to prove their worth in the hope that they will be more job-ready in the future.
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