The Budget is a dull piece of work that again fails to make the bold reforms needed to address the great challenges confronting Australia and Australians. But at least it’s consistent, based as always on the political timidity and lack of vision shared by whichever major party has been in government in recent decades.
All you need to do is hold the unusually flimsy budget papers to know there isn’t much in it. Sure, they have made some welcome changes here and there. Not least the additional cost-of-living relief in the form of more funding for bulk-billed health service incentives, student debt relief, energy bill concessions and steps towards universal childcare. There’s also the income tax cuts, but even they only really return bracket creep and unnecessarily also apply to high income earners. But what else would you expect ahead of the election?
Sadly the Government has again refused to make the single biggest difference they could for those struggling the most with the skyrocketing cost of living, which is lifting income support payments above the poverty line. And while there are some long-overdue health measures in the budget, what about doubling the Medicare GP rebate to genuinely encourage bulk billing in communities like mine? What about addressing the housing crisis through much greater investment in social housing, homelessness supports, and tackling the tax breaks and incentives which skew the market in favour of investors? And for a Government that rode into power off the back of a climate election in 2022, there is a stark lack of further action now.
If they were really brave, the Government could focus on fairness by means testing cost of living measures like the energy rebate, removing unfair tax concessions, implementing a super profits tax and restoring the top tax rates for high income earners. But we all know that ahead of an election they wouldn’t touch any of that with a bargepole.
As for Southern Tasmania, we do see confirmed support for the Icebreaker berth and Hobart Maternity Ward. Also notable is the $80 million for the Southern Outlet, all or at least most of which looks set to be spent within Clark. Then there’s a token $3m more for the captive breeding program of the Maugean Skate, a fiscal fig-leaf for a government who knows, today especially, they’re complicit in driving the skate to extinction. It’s worth remembering that the Opposition has no real plans to address the big issues either. In fact, it’s all too clear that the prospects for significant reform in Australia remain adrift in a major party policy vacuum.