The ACT Council of Social Service (ACTCOSS) has welcomed the Federal Government’s $560 million investment in community services, as well as investment in aged care ($2.5 billion over four years), early childhood education ($4.7 billion over four years), and expanding paid parental leave to 26 weeks by 2026 ($531.6 million over four years).
“While these measures will have some positive impact, they do not do enough to address the real and multiple crises that people are facing now as costs of living continue to rise,” Dr Gemma Killen, ACTCOSS’s acting CEO, said. “We are seriously concerned about the lack of action or commitment to raise the rates of income support and lift people out of poverty.
“Providing social and public housing, lifting income supports and ensuring community sector organisations are adequately and sustainably funded should take priority over stage 3 tax cuts.”
Labor is keeping the Coalition government’s Stage 3 tax cuts, under which people earning between $45,000 and $200,000 will pay 30 per cent in tax from 2024. Previously, people earning above $120,000 were taxed 37 per cent.
“We know these cuts will go mainly to men with incomes of $150,000 or more, and are not in line with the gender or family friendly budget line the Government is trying to sell us,” Dr Killen said.
“While we appreciate commitments to reduce the cost of early childhood education, this cannot be done without serious investment in the sector to attract, retain, and value workers – who are predominately women themselves.
“ACTCOSS is cautiously optimistic about the National Housing Accord,” Dr Killen said.
The Accord sets an aspirational target of one million new, well-located homes to be delivered over 5 years from mid-2024 as capacity constraints are expected to ease. Under the Accord, the Government will provide $350 million over 5 years, with ongoing availability payments over the longer term, to deliver an additional 10,000 affordable dwellings. States and territories will also support up to an additional 10,000 affordable homes, increasing the dwellings that can be delivered under the Accord to 20,000.
“However,” Dr Killen said, “we urgently need to see more investment in public and community housing to address the housing crisis in the ACT, where the wait time for the priority list for public housing is now 375 days and the standard list has now grown to more than four and a half years. Waiving the ACT housing debt would have allowed the ACT to do more to keep people from living in tents, on couches, or on the streets.”
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