Appropriation Bill 2024

Tuesday 18 June 2024

Ms CLANCY (Elder) (15:51): I rise today in support of this Appropriation Bill. I am really proud that we have for the third year running delivered a very clear Labor budget: a budget that is focused on housing, cost-of-living relief, jobs and skills and of course, importantly, health. The cost-of-living measures have been really widely welcomed in my community. Whether I have been at a train station, a school gate, out doorknocking yesterday or on the phones, people are really pleased to know that they have been heard by this government. We understand that these are difficult and challenging times at the moment, and I am glad that we are able to provide some relief.

We are providing $51.5 million in the 2023-24 financial year, so right now, to provide a once-off additional Cost of Living Concession payment of $243.90 to all recipients who have received the payment in this financial year. Those payments should have started to hit people's bank accounts this week, which is really important, particularly at a time when people are starting to get their energy bills as people have started to try to heat up their homes. We have also doubled the Cost of Living Concession for next financial year for tenants and Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holders. That aligns it to that of home owners, which supports around 73,000 people.

At the school gates over the last couple of weeks, since we announced the budget, people have been really excited to hear about our expansion of the Sports Vouchers program. I know there is a bit of contention about it being called the sports program, because we keep expanding it. So it is not just sports but it is dance. As a proud Girl Guide, I am happy to know that Scouts and Girl Guides are also included in it, and we have also expanded this program to include music lessons.

So there really is something for every child in this program now, and people are able to use the full $200 on one activity or they can use $100 on one activity and the other $100 on the other. It gives families flexibility, and it also provides an opportunity to some families who potentially have not been able to participate in extracurricular activities at all, so it makes it a lot easier for those who have already been doing it but have started to feel the pinch.

The materials and services charge subsidy is another thing people are really excited about. So for another year, we are providing a reduction to the materials and services charge, but we are actually making a $200 reduction this year. That is very exciting and well received.

One thing that does come up a lot, and I think I have probably even shared it in this chamber before, is people living in social housing talk about the difficulty of keeping their home cool in summer and warm in winter. We know that that is a challenge for many people. It is something you think about a lot as you think about your energy bills.

I am really happy to see in this budget $35.8 million over three years as part of a social housing energy upgrade initiative. That can help people to put in some new insulation, which I know for one family in Mitchell Park will be a real lifesaver if they are able to get it, and also replace some inefficient appliances. Those things are better for the environment, it is better for people's comfort and it is also better for their bottom line as well.

We are also extending the public transport concessions. I cannot tell you how many people in my community have shared with me how happy they are that we made it possible for people, Seniors Card holders, to travel on public transport free all the time, every day. It has made a real difference. People are using it. People are not panicking that their doctor's appointment is at 9.15 so they are going to have to pay for public transport as well. It has made it so much easier for so many people and I am really happy that we did that.

I was extra excited to see that we are also extending public transport concessions to all Health Care Card holders. That benefits around 15,000 people in our state, saving about $2.25 per trip when people use their Metrocard.

We also have some relief for our businesses. While we are obviously very proud of how well our economy is going, we do also know that some small businesses are having some challenges. It is really good to see that we have the small business energy grants. That is a grant process that a number of small businesses can go through to either make their premises more energy efficient or purchase more energy efficient equipment. That will make a difference to small businesses as well, making things a bit more affordable.

Last year, straight after the budget, I stood up in St Marys with the beautiful Tim and Vanessa and their little boy, Fletcher—who is probably running around everywhere now but was very little at the time—as well as the Premier and the Treasurer and we were talking about our changes to stamp duty for first-home buyers. Tim and Vanessa and Fletcher are going to be moving into their new home in the next couple of weeks.

Around this time last year they were struggling to get into the market and very soon they are going to be moving into a new home, and I am really proud that we were able to support them to do that through this initiative. I am very sad that they are leaving the mighty electorate of Elder, but thankfully they are moving into the electorate of my good friend, the member for Gibson, and so I know they will be well taken care of there.

Today, in this budget, we are providing relief to first-home buyers buying a new home or building a new home regardless of the cost. We are removing that property value threshold, which will make that relief accessible to a lot more people.

Also in housing, we are spending $135.8 million over five years to build and upgrade around 442 additional social housing dwellings by 30 June 2028. That is funded from the commonwealth government's Social Housing Accelerator Payment (SHAP) and it is being distributed across five SAHA and nine community housing projects in areas including Camden Park, Oaklands Park, Tonsley in my hood, Seaton and Eastwood.

I would like to now talk about our work in early childhood. I think all of us, regardless of whether we are parents, grandparents or wherever we might be in our journey in life, can recognise and appreciate the importance of early education. So much happens in those first few years. Our work as a government, through the royal commission and our significant investment, being $1.9 billion over the period of 2032-33, is going to make a huge difference long term.

I know people might have gotten a bit sick during the last election campaign of us constantly saying 'for the future', but this really is for the future. Setting up the next generation with the skills they need early on and identifying challenges and difficulties really early so children can get the support they need is incredibly important.

One thing I am really proud of that we are doing in this space is making kindy, or preschool as some people call it, more accessible to more people. I know that for a lot of working families kindy hours are really challenging to make work. For us, it was our neighbours who did pick-up and drop-off one day, we did drop-off one day, my dad did pick-up the other and we could not make the half day work as it was just too challenging for us and that was even with a lot of support.

Our pilot for out-of-hours preschool care is really exciting. That starts next term and two kindies in my electorate, Clarence Gardens and Clarence Park, are both involved. I am really excited to see how that plays out because I would love to see it rolled out more broadly so every family is able to access kindy. I am really excited that three year olds are soon going to be able to as well.

Obviously, we are investing a significant amount of money in health, which is one of our greatest priorities along with housing. We are full of ideas, and we are full of action to implement them. We have significantly built our workforce. We are investing in beds. We are investing in new ambulance stations and rebuilds. In this budget, we have funding to rebuild five stations, including the Marion station, which is based in Mitchell Park. That was originally going to just be an upgrade, but if you talk to anyone at that station they will let you know that there is a fair bit of work to be done, including a giant crack that keeps getting wider and wider, so a rebuild really does make sense. That is in addition to the brand new additional station that we are building at the Repat.

We also announced $5 million over four years in youth mental health support. That includes an expansion of the Child and Adolescent Virtual Urgent Care Service to include mental health. I know a number of people who have used that virtual care service, and they swear by it. I think this expansion will really make a big difference, along with workshops to support parents with children or teens with mental illness. It will be a great support to them to know how to navigate through the system and help them to help the children in their care. It also has funding for the organisation Eating Disorders Families Australia to support families and carers of young people with eating disorders.

This work adds to our government's significant commitments to improve the mental health of children and young people, including building 10 extra mental health beds in the new Women's and Children's Hospital, employing an additional 10 child psychologists and five psychiatrists working in CAMHS, employing 100 new mental health and learning support specialists to work in public schools, partnering with the Albanese Labor government to open the Head to Health Kids centre in Bedford Park—just over in the member for Davenport's electorate, but which will be very much used by my community as well nearby—and also employing an additional six specialist mental health nurses at the Women's and Children's Hospital.

Before I conclude, I would also like to draw attention to some funding that we secured to help secure the future of an incredible organisation in my electorate called MarionLIFE in Mitchell Park, on the corner of Marion Road and Alawoona Avenue. The member for Gibson and I advocated really strongly for some support for this organisation to ensure they would be able to stay on the land they currently are on and to help enable them to really start working towards their plans to become a real southern hub in our community and in the future to develop some community housing on the site as well. It is really exciting to see what could happen there. I am really proud of the work done by the member for Gibson and myself and I am very grateful to the Minister for Human Services and the Treasurer for their support on this really important project. I commend the bill to the house.