Foremost in last night’s Federal Budget is what Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg termed a “temporary, targeted, and responsible” cost of living package “to take pressure off household budgets”. The cost of living, he said, had risen due to the pandemic and the invasion of Ukraine.
As a result, from 1 July, Canberrans on less than $126,000 will receive a one-off $420 cost of living tax offset. As a result, Mr Frydenberg said, eligible low- and middle-income earners will be up to $1,500 better off for a single income household, or $3,000 better off for dual income households.
“Low and middle income earners will see more money in their pockets,” Liberal Senator for the ACT Zed Seselja said.
Six million pensioners, welfare recipients, veterans, and eligible concession card holders will receive a cost of living payment of $250 – “a cash bonus to help you through these difficult times,” Senator Seselja said.
Similarly, excise on petrol and diesel will be halved, from 44.2 cents to 22.1 cents per litre, for six months.
“That’s a big issue at the moment,” Senator Seselja said. The “big cut” to petrol excise means “you can keep more of your money as you’re getting around town.”
The first home buyers scheme will expand from 10,000 to 35,000 places a year across Australia, more than doubling to 50,000 in the ACT.
“Thousands more first home buyers will get support to enter the market – something that I’m particularly keen to see,” Senator Seselja said.
The Liberals also want to lower the unemployment rate below 4 per cent – the lowest rate in 50 years. They have promised to back an extra 35,000 trade apprentices and trainees, while education and skills funding to the ACT will increase from $448.2 million in 2022–23 to $489.9 million by 2025–26 (including $4.2 million over two years for the JobTrainer fund, and $35.7 million for 15 hours of preschool each week).
“Canberra businesses who we know have done it tough will benefit from tax cuts and incentives to upskill their staff or invest in digital technologies,” Senator Seselja said.
Small businesses will have access to a new 20 per cent bonus deduction for eligible training courses for staff, or of expenses and depreciating assets that support digital uptake, up to $100,000 per year.
The Federal government will provide $5,000 payments to new apprentices, and up to $15,000 in wage subsidies for employers.
Moreover, Senator Seselja said, the Federal Government would invest $528 million in funding for Canberra health and hospitals in 2022-23, and $448.2 million for Canberra schools.
“As a Government we have invested more in ACT health than any previous Commonwealth Government in history,” Senator Seselja said.
Furthermore, Senator Seselja said, deficits would come down, and debt would peak lower. The 2020–21 deficit was $52.7 billion lower ($161.0 billion) than expected six months ago at last year’s Budget, due to more Australians working and fewer on welfare, Mr Frydenberg said; and gross debt was expected to be lower every year over the medium term compared to the last Budget – half that of the UK or the US debt, and a third of Japan’s.
“We’re going to ensure our economic recovery here in Canberra and around the country,” Senator Seselja said.
However, University of Canberra political expert Dr John Hawkins noted, the largest item was the ‘Stage Three’ tax cuts, coming in mid-2024. This would mostly go to high income earners, he said, giving $9,000 a year to those on incomes over $200,000. These tax cuts, said Dr Tjanara Goreng Goreng, Greens Senate candidate, would cost $183 billion over the next decade.
“Unlike some of the temporary measures for the battlers, these are permanent,” Dr Hawkins said. “Calculations by the Australia Institute show they give twice as much to men as to women. They are the largest single reason why the budget is projected to remain in deficit for at least the next decade.”
“It would be cheaper to wipe student debt and make uni and TAFE free,” Dr Goreng Goreng said. “How can there be consensus amongst our political class that this is not a better option?”
Other politicians were sceptical of the one-off payments.
“Australians battling cost of living pressures and stagnant wage growth don’t want a cynical short-term election sugar-hit,” said Alicia Payne, MP for Canberra.
“They want a real plan to grow the economy, a plan for cheaper child care, a plan to lift wages, a plan to deal with climate change, and a plan for a better future.
“This Budget shows the government is out of ideas, and Australians will see through these cash bribes, because, just like Scott Morrison during a crisis, once the election is over, it will all just disappear.”
Tim Hollo, ACT Greens candidate for Canberra, said: “The miserly $250 one-off payment for people on income support will do nothing to lift them out of poverty, while the already rich get tax cuts worth thousands of dollars a year. A low-income earner gets a one-off payment of $420, but a billionaire gets $9,075 a year tax cut – every year.”
Senate Independent candidate David Pocock said the one-off payments, “while appreciated by households in need, won’t do anything to address the lack of real wages growth that make cost-of-living increases so hard to cope with”.
“Housing affordability features in almost every conversation I have with people all around the ACT, but once again, there’s been no big ideas or bold ambition. Helping overcome the deposit hurdle is only one small part of a much bigger picture that does nothing to address housing stress or put downward pressure on prices.”
Dr Emma Campbell, head of the ACT Council of Social Service (ACTCOSS), said the Budget “does very little for people in the ACT who are struggling to keep a roof over their head, put food on the table and pay the bills”.
“While we welcome the $250 cost of living bonus paid to some income support recipients including pensioners and jobseeker recipients, that might help you for a week or two – but what happens for the rest of the year when you are struggling to cover the costs of the basics and you are left living in poverty?”
The Budget provides an extra $4.7 billion for health services and a further $1.3 billion to support delivery of the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-32.
ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said the Territory welcomed the additional investment into efforts to reduce domestic and family violence.
“It’s a critical issue for all governments, and we look forward to seeing details on the Commonwealth’s national plan to end violence against women and children,” Mr Barr said.
The Federal and ACT Governments have also jointly committed $38 million for mental health and suicide prevention services in the ACT ($25.2 million from the Commonwealth, $12.9 million from the ACT).
“We also welcome additional funding for services to support Australians suffering from mental illness,” Mr Barr said.
Paid parental leave will be changed; the two-week Dad and Partner Pay and 18-week Parental Leave Pay will be combined into one package, while single parents can also access 20 weeks of leave.
Dr Goreng Goreng considered the enhanced Paid Parental Leave inadequate. “It still does not include superannuation, and does not actively incentivise shared care arrangements.”
Independent Senate candidate Kim Rubenstein agreed. She thought the package was not sufficient for men to take up leave; worldwide, “use it or lose it” provisions have been the greatest motivator for men to take up paid parental leave, but the Budget did not include them.
“To really achieve true gender equity, you need shared parenting incentives, right from the start,” Professor Rubenstein said. “If you really, truly want to commit to ending violence against women, you have to commit to gender equity more broadly in a much more structural sense. And the Budget is not showing that commitment.”
ACTCOSS, however, welcomed a reduction in the safety net threshold for the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme, which would help pensioners and others on income support afford essential medicines.
“This is the minimum required,” she said. “The ACT has the highest proportion delaying or not filling prescriptions because of financial hardship.”
Nevertheless, Dr Campbell was disappointed with the Budget. She had hoped for major investment in community services, including funding to lift the pay of care workers, most of whom were women, and funding to help people on low incomes to make their homes more energy efficient to reduce emissions and deal with increasing energy costs.
“The ACT needed a budget that delivered solutions for the long term to reduce poverty and inequality and address climate change,” she said. “We didn’t see that tonight.”
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