LABOR
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Different Prime Minister, same government. Illawarra Labor MPs fear the 2016 federal budget will, once again, deliver the region very little.
Despite the expected lack of region-specific cash, this year’s budget has been labelled “a test” for the government on a range of issues, including the steel industry.
Add to that list the essentials – like health and education – along with big-ticket Illawarra infrastructure items, such as the Maldon-Dombarton freight rail link.
Cunningham MP Sharon Bird doesn’t believe the long-awaited rail link will be put on the right track after the state government recently “flick-passed” the project to a federal level.
“I always hold out hope that there may be something there [for Maldon-Dombarton] but, if I’m honest, I have to say it’s faint,” Ms Bird said.
“They [the federal government] have not really engaged with our region in any significant way.”
Ms Bird said the past two budgets, under the Turnbull and Abbott governments, had “no particular bright spot” for the region.
“My best hope for this budget is it doesn’t make any more cuts across health and education, in particular, but also ... they have another look at some of those real harsh Abbott government cuts and reconsider them.”
Member for Throsby Stephen Jones said nationwide the budget was about jobs, health and education, while his Illawarra focus was on the future of the steel industry, the future of school education and the future of Medicare.
“This is a test for the government to make clear its policy on steel. Does it have a clear plan for the future of the industry?” Mr Jones said.
In the region’s southernmost seat, Gilmore, Labor’s candidate Fiona Phillips echoed a call for health funding to be removed from the government’s chopping block and stressed the need for a full Gonski funding commitment.
“We have … low socioeconomic areas and they really need that Gonski funding to help with programs that will help train young people for jobs and also to create new businesses as well,” Ms Phillips said.
The Labor candidate said the electorate was also crying out for money to fund infrastructure projects, including Princes Highway upgrades.
“We’ve been waiting for the replacement Nowra bridge for a long time, it’s long overdue,” she said.
‘We can only do our best’: MP
LIBERAL
Not even Liberal MP Ann Sudmalis knows what her government’s budget will contain until just prior to its delivery on Tuesday night.
The Member for Gilmore gave little away to the Mercury on Friday, citing she wouldn’t be briefed about the cash splash until late afternoon on budget day.
“I’m not privy to what’s in the budget,” Mrs Sudmalis said. Despite a lack of knowledge, the MP said she had been working hard behind the scenes to ensure some cash was Gilmore-bound.
Her “most fervent wish” was money for the new Nowra bridge. “When you have a minister who looks at you in the corridor and says ‘yes, yes, yes I know your bridge’, you think you’re actually making headway,” she said.
As for the overall budget, there was “no way everybody is going to be happy with the outcome”, she said.
“Whilst not everything is completely brilliant for every citizen, we can only do our best to make life better for as many citizens as possible,” she said.
The budget will be delivered at 7.30pm on Tuesday.
Fighting for the future
SOUTH COAST LABOUR COUNCIL
Stop wielding the axe and start splashing cash on health and education because “future generations of Australians depend on it”.
That’s the South Coast Labour Council’s message to the government ahead of Tuesday’s federal budget.
SCLC secretary Arthur Rorris said the looming federal election, likely to be held on July 2, made for an “interesting time” to deliver a budget and the union’s wish list was intertwined with the upcoming poll.
The full implementation of Gonski funding reforms were high on the list last year and remain a priority.
“They [the government] need to pull their finger out and fund Gonski, just as they promised. The education of future generations of Australians depends on it,” Mr Rorris said.
“There are no excuses for defunding education, particularly as we seek to increase opportunities for young people.”
TAFE was another sector neglected by the government, Mr Rorris said.
“The farce and the awful mess that has become of the vocational educational and training system must be fixed,” he said. “When will governments get the message that the whole purpose of our education system is to educate our people, not to make profits for what are often, unfortunately, unscrupulous corporate sharks?
“This would be a perfect opportunity, in the budget, to actually outline a change of direction in vocational educational and training and, for us, the answer lies in funding TAFE.”
Mr Rorris said action on health was also needed, citing “attacks on Medicare have got to stop”.
“People are crying out for a properly funded health system. We pay our taxes so that we can have an adequate, advanced health system,” he said.
The SCLC also wanted tax changes. “It is about bloody time the big end of town paid their fair share of tax. We are sick to death of low and middle income earners having to carry corporate Australia, who are ripping us off blind,” Mr Rorris said.
Skills and steel on chamber wish list
ILLAWARRA BUSINESS CHAMBER
Will this year’s budget deliver for small business like it did last time around?
It’s the question Illawarra Business Chamber (IBC) chief executive Debra Murphy hopes will get a positive answer on Tuesday night.
The three key issues the IBC wants the federal government to act on are infrastructure, skills and steel.
Ms Murphy called on the government to bring forward projects like the M1 (F6) extension, pay more attention to the region when it comes to steel and pump more money into vocational education and training (VET).
“Employers are still telling us that they’re not getting the outcomes that they wanted from the education system and I think the answer lies pretty heavily in a greater investment in VET,” she said.