The Morrison Government’s Budget has left the struggling Blue Mountains tourism sector behind, and has once again failed to deliver on desperately-needed mental health services for young people in the Hawkesbury, Federal Member for Macquarie Susan Templeman has said.
“You wouldn’t want to be a tourism operator in the Blue Mountains or a travel agent in the Hawkesbury holding out for some extra support from this week's budget, because it wasn't there,” Ms Templeman told Federal Parliament on May 12.
“There was nothing to support major attractions like Scenic World, who have to keep equipment maintained and safe until overseas visitors return.
“Nor was there support for travel agents, who are now being told that it will be another year before they can expect their customers to be able to go overseas, thanks to a broken promise of a quick vaccination program and a failed quarantine scheme.
“The businesses and workers in my community have survived fire and flood twice, and pandemic, with small businesses hanging on by the skin of their teeth. Those are their words, not mine.
“And don't tell me that bushfire recovery money is there, because so little of it hit the ground in the last year that I can count on two fingers the number of businesses that'll be able to expand their tourism offerings as a result of that so-called local economic support.
“For the Hawkesbury region — the region that has had its new much-touted flood-free bridge go under — there's no indication of additional money to do a decent job on the North Richmond duplication project for that bridge, nor for improved evacuation routes to take people east to safety.
“And where is our Hawkesbury headspace? It didn't happen as a result of the last budget and it has not been announced in this one either.
“Young people have been waiting and waiting. Their parents have been waiting and waiting. Their teachers have been waiting and waiting.
“All of them, doing what they can to plug gaps, support each other, patch together bits and pieces of support. But we’re missing a really key, coordinating, no wrong door place for young people in the Hawkesbury to walk into and say to a person who will understand: I need help.
“It's not going too far to say that lives have been lost because of the failure of this government to deliver decent mental health services to this community.”
While Ms Templeman welcomed the fact the government had finally listened to the call for tax relief from operators of small breweries and distillers in the Hawkesbury and Blue Mountains, backed by Labor, there she said the big slap in the face for households was the ongoing lack of wages growth, meaning incomes are predicted to go backwards in real terms.
“There were many deficits in this Budget, but the biggest one was a deficit of vision,” Ms Templeman said.
