Cost of living relief, investment towards net-zero and economic responsibility is how local federal Labor MP, Justine Elliot, has framed her party’s first budget this term.
‘I know for our region that’s vitally important,’ Elliot told BayFM’s Community Newsroom last week.
The member for Richmond also took the opportunity to express outrage at the Greens’ refusal to support Labor’s Housing Australia Future Fund Bill 2023.
According to The Guardian, the Greens say they will not support it, ‘unless the government offers substantial improvements’, including $5B of direct spending on housing and a national rent freeze.
And overshadowing Labor’s budget was their commitment to implement the previous government’s stage three tax cuts, which will give those earning over $200,000 per year a $9,000 windfall.
Some of the nation’s top economists told The SMH (Nine) in 2022, the tax cuts were ‘unaffordable’ and would drive inflation.
So, what’s in the Labor government’s federal budget for the people of the Richmond electorate?
A big component of Labor’s budget aims is strengthening Medicare ‘through a whole range of initiatives,’ Elliot said, before describing the tripling of bulk-billing incentives as ‘the real centrepiece’.
‘We know this is an issue in our region, everywhere you go, we all know that people just cannot access doctors who bulk bill, I’ve heard this from many people in our region, many doctors as well,’ Elliot said.
Bulk billing returns, but only for some
Ms Elliot says the bulk-billing increase is the biggest investment in Medicare in its history, but the increase only applies to fees for concession card holders and children sixteen years and under.
Those on low incomes and without concession cards will miss out.
The increase isn’t due to start until November, unlike many of the other schemes announced in the budget, leaving Australians to go through another winter and associated flus before bulk billing kicks in.
‘There are obviously starting dates for all of this,’ Elliot said, ‘but we have been looking at ten years of inaction’.
‘I know many people are saying they just have made a choice previously to not go to the doctor because they just couldn’t afford it,’ Elliot said, ‘so this is something that I’m really proud of as part of the Labor team’.
Welfare support
Labor has also promised to provide an extra $40 per fortnight for those struggling to survive on JobSeeker welfare payments – currently a single unemployed person without children can be paid $693.10 a fortnight.
Yet this comes well short of what the government’s own interim economic inclusion committee recommends.
It reported in April that JobSeeker payments act as a barrier to entering the workforce, as job seekers don’t have enough to meet the ‘essentials of life’.
But there is some respite for those aged 55 and over, with access to higher welfare support to become available. Until now, it was only available to those who were over 60.
Similarly, single care-givers in charge of children up to the age of 14 will be entitled to extra support, while those in charge of 15–18 year olds miss out.
Services Australia’s website says those aged between 16 and 21 can apply for youth allowance as a job seeker.
Labor has also promised what equates to a maximum of $31 extra per fortnight in rent assistance.
The biggest increase to the scheme in 30 years is still nowhere near enough to compensate for some of the skyrocketing rent increases that we’ve seen over the past few years, so what else has Labor got planned in terms of housing investment?
Housing fund stalled
Elliot says Labor’s Housing Australia fund, worth $10 billion, will also see an extra $2 billion added in the budget.
‘This includes predominantly social housing. There is some affordable housing, but it also includes 4,000 homes for women and children fleeing domestic violence,’ Elliot said.
Yet the bill has so far failed to win necessary support from either the Greens or the coalition, with the Greens calling for more housing support, while the coalition says the scheme is inflationary and unworkable.
‘The Greens teamed up yet again with the Liberals and Nationals and we’ve seen this, we saw it with the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) over a decade ago,’ Elliot said.
According to The Guardian on May 8, the Grattan Institute think tank says, ‘The Greens rightly point out that this doesn’t go far enough, but they over-egg their criticisms of the future fund model.’
Economic policy program director, Brendan Coates, said the future fund model is where the federal government provides funding to the states, then passes it on to housing organisations.
Locally, that could be housing providers such as Social Futures and North Coast Housing.
Coates said he ‘can’t understand’ why Labor won’t commit to a minimum yearly disbursement from the fund, noting that it doesn’t appear willing to put more money on the table.
Last week, Elliot also announced on social media $3M in joint funding with the NSW Labor government, ‘to build more social and affordable housing’ in Mullumbimby.
She was criticised online for it being too little, given ‘$3M will nearly buy three houses’.
Low-cost loans for energy efficiency
Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, also promised support for all houses in Australia, including affordable and social housing, to become more energy efficient through double glazing and solar panels.
The budget shows around 110,000 households will be eligible for shares in a $1 billion fund for low-cost loans to have double glazing, solar panels and other energy improvements installed.
Labor’s $1.6 billion energy savings plan also includes $300 million for energy efficiency improvements in social housing and $310 million for businesses investing in renewable energy and efficiency measures to receive tax deductions.
The member for Richmond confirmed all residential properties would be eligible for the energy efficiency scheme, including rental properties, with the landowner’s cooperation.
Both the energy efficiency scheme and the government’s automatic energy bill rebate for concession cardholders such as pensioners, veterans and seniors, recipients of Carers Allowance and some Family Tax Benefit recipients are to start in July.
‘That will be $500 in power bill relief in total that will come off people’s bills,’ Elliot said.
For more information, visit www.budget.gov.au.
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