Category: Australian News

Australian Greens Spokesperson for Forests, Janet Rice, has lashed out at the Labor Government for failing to budget to protect native forests and their threatened animals, birds and plants.

$224 million has been allocated as part of the Labor Government’s Threatened Species Action Plan but it fails to protect native forests. 

Senator Rice said: 

“According to a parliamentary budget office costing, it will take $24.4 billion over the next decade to restore wildlife habitat and protect threatened species. $224 million is an insult. 

“In this Budget Labor has made their priorities on climate and the environment very clear, giving over $40billion in fossil fuel subsidies and not a cent to native forests and their threatened animals, birds and plants. 

“As long as the government continues to approve new coal and gas projects and support native forest logging, their zero extinction target remains a farce. 

“Species like the critically endangered wollert or leadbeaters possum and the endangered greater glider lost so much of their habitat in the black summer fires and their forest homes are still being destroyed by logging.

“If Labor were serious about saving threatened species, they would end native forest logging and meaningfully invest in environmental restoration and recovery plans.” 

Labor’s budget has failed the public schools test, committing even more to private schools than the Morrison Government pledged in its March budget, the Greens say.

The Albanese Government has promised private schools $70.2 billion over the forward estimates, $1.7 billion more than Scott Morrison guaranteed in his pre-election budget. The private school sector will now receive an even greater share of Commonwealth funding under Labor than it would have under the Coalition.

Greens spokesperson on schools, Queensland Senator Penny Allman-Payne, will today move a disallowance motion to block an increase in the size of the Capital Grants Program, a Commonwealth capital works fund exclusively available to private schools.

Greens spokesperson on schools, Senator Penny Allman-Payne said:

“This is a schools budget the Liberal Party would have been proud of.

“As a proportion of total funding, private school funding is actually growing, moving public schools even further away from reaching 100% of the minimum Schooling Resource Standard.

“This budget indicates that the Albanese Government is either ignorant of growing school inequality, or it just doesn’t care. A stronger commitment to public school funding would have helped Labor tackle the cost of living crisis, teacher shortages and declining student performance.

“While elite schools are building extra boat sheds and plunge pools for their headmasters, public schools in my own region of Central Queensland, and across the country, are struggling to attract and retain teachers and meet the needs of their students.

“Labor had an opportunity to undo a decade of conservative damage to the education system by winding back government support for the private sector and investing in the public system. Instead we got the kind of budget you’d expect from Scott Morrison.

“With negotiations on the next National Schools Reform Agreement beginning soon the Greens will be pushing to ensure that all public schools receive at least 100% of their Schooling Resource Standard by the end of the agreement, and we’ll continue to fight for public money for public schools.”

Australian Greens Social Services spokesperson Senator Janet Rice has condemned Labor’s decision to give tax cuts to the wealthy while one third of Australian households are struggling to put food on the table. 

Senator Rice said: 

“Poverty is a political choice and Labor has chosen to give tax cuts to the wealthy instead of raising the rate of income support payments above the poverty line.

“While one third of Australian households are struggling to put food on the table and the cost of living continues to escalate, Labor is providing $9000 a year for the wealthy and doing nothing to raise the rate of income support.

“Last week at the first hearing of the Senate inquiry into the extent and nature of poverty, multiple community organisations and advocacy groups called for a permanent raise in the rate of income support.  

“The Labor Government has ignored these calls and in doing so has left millions of Australians having to choose between paying the rent, essential medicines or eating three meals a day.

“The Greens are calling on Labor to introduce a guaranteed liveable income which would see all income support payment rates raised above the poverty line to at least $88 a day, mutual obligations abolished and the removal of unfair restrictions on who can access payments, to ensure everyone has enough to cover their basic needs.”

Labor’s budget gives billionaires and politicians a $9,000 a year tax cut but fails to deliver for older Australians and the aged care sector. 

Senator Rice said: 

“The Greens welcome the $3.9billion in increased funding for the aged care sector but it falls short of the total funding recommended by the Royal Commission by more than $4billion a year. 

“Labor’s budget gives billionaires and politicians a $9,000 a year tax cut but fails to deliver for older Australians and the aged care sector. 

“This budget was a missed opportunity for the government to ensure that older people in this country have access to the level of care they need. The aged care sector is in crisis and one-off top ups won’t solve the structural problem.

“The Greens are calling for an overhaul of the aged system including phasing out for-profit providers, a human rights based approach to aged care, and ensuring no one needs to wait to access a home care package.”

Labor’s Women’s Budget Statement outlines the problems women face, but offers very little when it comes to delivering the solutions women need.

On top of waiting years for half-measures on PPL and childcare, women are offered partial indexation rather than a funding boost for frontline services, while billionaires and big corporations get massive handouts and tax cuts.  

Greens leader in the Senate and spokesperson on Women, Larissa Waters said:

“After talking up their ‘women-centred’ budget for months now, the Albanese Government has offered up an incredibly underwhelming budget for women. 

“After 9 years of inaction under the Coalition, it was a low bar to clear, but redirecting existing funds and dangling the promise of better things in the future just isn’t going to cut it when it comes to women’s safety and economic security.

“Cheaper childcare is a welcome outcome for women, but it’s still not free and there is nothing to address the early childhood workforce crisis. And instead of raising the rate of income support payments above the poverty line, they’ve chosen to give tax cuts to the wealthy. 

On the National plan to end violence against women and children
“The new National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children was released last week with great fanfare and laudable goals. But ambitious aims need to be backed with funding.

“The women’s safety sector has repeatedly called for a $1B per year to ensure funding meets demand. And yet the government’s budget response was to re-badge and re-shuffle previous funding commitments, adding only partial indexation and a fraction of the workers needed. 

“Partial indexation is not a base funding increase. And the Albanese Government shouldn’t be trying to spin it as one.

On a standalone National plan to end violence against First Nations women and children
“A First Nations Action Plan and a standalone National Plan for First Nations women is a matter of national priority and needs to be treated that way, but the Budget failed to dedicate funding for consultation or development of the Plan.  

On Paid Parental Leave
“We support moves to strengthen Australia’s parental leave scheme, but Labor’s plan is too slow and doesn’t include superannuation or replacement wages. Families, and particularly women, have waited long enough for fairer leave and deserve action.

“If the Jobs summit convinced the Minister for Women to ‘step up’ on paid parental leave, why keep women waiting?.

“Fairer Paid Parental Leave is a no-brainer that benefits everyone – parents, children and the economy. If the Albanese government had axed the Stage 3 tax cuts, we could easily afford it.

On Respect @ Work

“Implementing all Respect @ Work recommendations is overdue and we welcome the government’s Bill and the funding commitments to support the Human Rights Commission and Fair Work Commission to take stronger action on workplace sexual harassment. 

“We are also pleased to see funding for Working Women’s Centres across Australia to provide independent, expert advice and support to workers who experience sexual harassment.  

On Reproductive Healthcare
“It is crystal clear that reproductive healthcare across Australia is a postcode lottery and too many women, especially in rural and regional areas, struggle to get access. There is nothing in this Budget to remove those barriers such as adding abortion care to Medicare, ensuring public hospitals provide abortion care, or resourcing the full suite of birthing options for women. 

On Birthing on Country
“We know that First Nations parents can experience trauma when forced to be away from Country when giving birth. 

The commitment to develop a Birthing on Country Centre for Excellence is a great first step, and must prompt the roll out of access to culturally-safe care for First Nation families across Australia.

The Greens welcome passage of the Bill to give employees access to 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave. It is a long overdue reform that will save lives. 

But a lack of new funding in last night’s Budget means frontline response and prevention services will struggle to meet the expected increase in demand. 

Senator Larissa Waters, Greens Leader in the Senate and spokesperson on Women said:

“The Greens have championed paid family and domestic violence (FDV) leave for years. Paid leave will help victim-survivors, who are predominantly women, to escape abusive relationships, protect themselves and their children, and rebuild their lives.

“But paid FDV leave cannot succeed if advice and support services for victim-survivors and employers don’t have funding to meet demand. The long-awaited National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children has now been released, but without any new funding commitments.

“The women’s safety sector has repeatedly called for a $1B per year investment to ensure funding meets demand. And yet the government’s budget response was to re-badge and re-shuffle previous funding commitments, adding only partial indexation and a fraction of the workers needed, with the Labor government instead choosing tax cuts for the rich and subsidies for donor mates. 

“The Greens moved a number of amendments today to strengthen the FDV leave scheme and prevent discrimination against employees who disclose family and domestic violence to their employers. 

“We know it can take several attempts and over 140 hours to escape an abusive relationship. We have called for employees to be able to request extra unpaid leave when 10 days is not enough. This would provide the best possible chance for women to keep themselves and their children safe. 

“Experts made it clear that dedicated FDV leave is essential to cultural change and removing the stigma of disclosing. The shame is on the perpetrator alone, so we did not support Senator Tyrell’s proposal to rename it emergency leave. But we were pleased to support amendments preventing employers recording FDV Leave on pay slips and confirming that any information disclosed must be kept confidential. This has strengthened the Bill and we will keep working to remove barriers to accessing this life-saving leave.

“We also moved amendments to ensure the Bill recognises the full range of situations people experiencing FDV may need to navigate so victim-survivors are not denied leave because their safety relies on something not in the list of eligible activities. 

“While our amendments did not get support today, we will push for the important issues they raised to be revisited in the statutory review of the Bill. Victim-survivors deserve a scheme that provides protection and support when they need it most.”

The test tonight for the federal budget was for the Government to build on the strong position it inherited from the Coalition to address the cost of living crisis bearing down on Australians.

Labor has failed this test.

Just before the election, the Prime Minister told Australians that they “will be better off under a Labor government.” In fact, by Christmas, the typical Australian family will be at least $2,000 worse off.

Tonight’s federal budget does nothing to assist your family budget.

There is no credible plan to deal with the source of inflation or to help families deal with immediate cost of living pressures.

Instead, there is an aspirational promise to build one million homes – starting in 2024.

This budget fails Australian families at a time when they really need a plan to address cost of living pressures.

This is a budget that’s heavy on partisan politics, but lacks an economic plan.

This budget confirms that:

• your cost of living is going up;
• your electricity and gas bills are going up;
• your tax payments are going up;
• government spending is going up;
• employment will go down; and
• real wages are forecast to go down.

We were told that this would be a ‘bread and butter’ Labor budget – and it hasn’t failed on that account. It’s a high-taxing and high-spending budget that does nothing to help you or your family get ahead.

As we emerged from the pandemic, the fundamentals of the Australian economy were strong – our jobs growth was better, and our debt was lower than any other advanced economy.

Every nation is facing challenges born from the pandemic and amplified by global economic headwinds. We approach these challenges in a stronger position than any other nation. Despite this advantage, Labor’s first budget fails to deliver for Australian families.

Electricity prices

The budget confirms that electricity and gas prices are expected to rise sharply over the next two years. Treasury has assumed retail electricity prices will increase by 50 per cent. Retail gas prices are up some 40 per cent in 2022 and 2023. Despite Labor’s pre-election promise to reduce your power prices by $275 a year, their own budget papers contradict this claim, and the Government has no plan to address rising prices.

Tax

Tonight, the Albanese Government has again failed to limit taxes imposed on Australians. Under Labor the tax paid by Australians will increase by $142 billion over the forward estimates. They have abandoned the 23.9 per cent of GDP tax cap. Families facing cost of living pressures should be able to keep more of what they earn. This budget delivers no certainty for the 10 million Australians on their legislated tax relief due in 2024.

Retiree Tax 2.0

The only new change to the tax system announced in this budget is a new tax on investments.

Labor’s sneaky new tax will slug people who invest their own savings and superannuation.

Despite ruling out these changes before the election, Labor will hit retirees and investors with a new $555 million tax – depriving investors of franking credits which they have previously relied on.

Labor’s billion-dollar black hole in multinational tax avoidance

At the election, Labor promised to crackdown on multinational tax avoidance to the tune of $1.9 billion over the next four years. The budget confirms this measure is now expected to only generate $950 million – resulting in a $1 billion black hole in Labor’s first budget.

The Albanese Government inherited an enviable set of economic circumstances from the former Coalition Government.

In just one year under the Coalition – between 2020-21 and 2021-22 – the budget position improved by over $100 billion, the largest budget turnaround since Federation.

The Coalition wants Australia to do well, but we are being hampered by a new government with no economic plan for the future.

Australians deserve better from a government that promised so much, but in its first economic test, has delivered very little.

The Albanese Government is boosting Pacific security and defence, supporting critical infrastructure across our region, expanding the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme, and increasing Australia’s Official Development Assistance to the Pacific and Southeast Asia.

The comprehensive suite of measures deliver and build on what Australians voted for, and will significantly bolster the nation’s competitiveness, security and relationships at a time of global uncertainty.

Investments include $900 million over four years from 2022-23 to increase support to the Pacific family’s development and resilience.

More than $147 million over four years will advance Pacific security and engagement priorities including the continuing AFP deployment in Solomon Islands, an Australia- Pacific Defence School and training for defence and security forces, and upgrading aerial surveillance. The Government will expand the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s services and partnerships in the region, to ensure more Australian voices are heard across the region.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) will also be funded to support the development of key economic sectors.

There will be more support for infrastructure investment in the Pacific and Timor- Leste through the Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific. This increases the Facility from $3.5 billion to $4 billion to support grant and loan packages, and additional funding to DFAT to strengthen project and risk management capabilities.

Financing packages will also be provided through the Facility for the Timor-Leste Airport Facilities project to support construction of airport related infrastructure, and for the Fiji Transport Infrastructure Restoration project to maintain and rehabilitate major bridges and roads in Fiji.

The Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme is being expanded and improved, and a new Pacific Engagement Visa will be created for up to 3,000 nationals of Pacific Island countries and Timor-Leste each year to permanently migrate to Australia.

Additionally, the Government is increasing ODA for Southeast Asia by $470 million, as well as deepening Australia’s Southeast Asia capability by establishing an Office of Southeast Asia within DFAT.

This will ensure whole-of-government coordination of Australian efforts in the region, and develop a Southeast Asia economic strategy to 2040.

Senator the Hon Penny Wong, Minister for Foreign Affairs said:

The Albanese Government is working to make Australia a partner of choice for the countries of our region, to ensure our shared security, our shared economic strength and to shape the world for the better.

“The Budget is a major step towards the goal of making Australia stronger and more influential in the world.

“Our assistance will help our regional partners become more economically resilient, develop critical infrastructure and provide their own security so there is less need to call on others.”

the Hon Pat Conroy MP, Minister for International Development and the Pacific said:

“The Albanese Government is bringing new energy and resources to the Pacific to help build a stronger and more united Pacific family, and a more secure region.

“Our additional investment in Australia’s Official Development Assistance will be the biggest increase over four years since 2011-12 and follows a decade of Liberal cuts.

“It will advance Australia’s interests by tackling poverty and supporting stability, prosperity and security in our region.

“And by improving and expanding Pacific labour mobility we will support Australian employers facing skills shortages and Pacific economies still struggling with the aftermath of COVID.”

In response to statements from the Treasurer tat the Budget will see wages go backwards for another two years and paid parental leave measures will also be delayed, the Greens say the government was delaying cost of living relief while making room in the Budget for Stage 3 tax cuts for the wealthy.

“Labor is spending over a quarter of a trillion dollars on Stage 3 tax cuts for politicians and billionaires while delaying cost of living relief for everyday people,” Greens Economic Justice Spokesperson Senator Nick McKim said.

“Labor’s budget gives Clive Palmer a $9,000 a year tax cut but makes everyday people wait years for a pay rise and cost of living relief.

“Axing the Stage 3 tax cuts would free up room in the Budget for immediate cost of living relief, like dental into Medicare and free childcare.

“Telling everyday people to wait years for a wage rise and cost of living relief is unacceptable. 

“Labor must axe the Stage 3 tax cuts and the billions in subsidies to coal and gas corporations and deliver immediate cost of living relief by getting dental into Medicare and making childcare free.”

The budget Treasurer Jim Chalmers hands down tomorrow will be a test of Labor’s willingness to put the Australian people first.

Budgets are statements of a government’s priorities and tomorrow, this new Labor government’s true intentions will be exposed.

In a rapidly changing economic environment, Labor must use the budget to deliver a coherent plan to deal with the current cost of living crisis which is very real and painful for so many Australian families.

In the short term the government must:

1. Build upon the strong position the government has inherited from the Coalition and not deteriorate the bottom line. Labor has inherited the lowest unemployment rate in decades, economic growth over three per cent, and an improving budget bottom line. A high-taxing, high-spending traditional Labor budget will only make the Reserve Bank’s job harder next Tuesday.
2. Put downward pressure on inflation and interest rates without increasing taxes. The government should heed the calls of stakeholders and the community to commit to the Coalition’s tax to GDP cap of 23.9 per cent to put a speed limit on spending and include a plan to return inflation to within the Reserve Bank’s target of two-three per cent. The government’s budget cannot respond to growing cost of living pressures with increased taxes.
3. Deliver relief to supply side pressures in the economy by increasing productivity and participation. The government must reject changes to industrial relations that will start a wage-price spiral and damage the productivity of our struggling small and family businesses.
4. Avoid breaking promises made to the Australian people at the election to bring down power bills by $275, to implement the stage three tax cuts in full, to bring down the cost of living and to increase real wages.

In the medium term, the government must grow the economy and contain spending to reduce pressure on the Budget and adopt pro-growth policies that support innovation, enterprise, and reduce red tape.

Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor said the government’s first budget must make hardworking businesses and households a priority.

“Prices on just about everything are going through the roof. Australians are feeling it at the grocery checkout, in their power bills, at the fuel bowser, when they go out for a meal and when they’re buying furniture,” Mr Taylor said.

“The Treasurer must avoid the temptation of handing down a traditional big spending, big taxing budget that puts Labor’s big government agenda front and centre. A budget like this will only make the current cost of living crisis worse.

“Australians need Jim Chalmers to stop complaining about the challenges of this economy and instead deliver a plan to support Australians through this cost of living crisis.

“If the Treasurer can deliver on these priorities we will back him in. If not, we will hold him to account.”

Shadow Minister for Finance Jane Hume said tomorrow’s budget will be a test for Jim Chalmers and Katy Gallagher.

“Will the budget deliver a plan to bring down the cost of living while not adding to inflation, or will they continue to have no plan for the economy and the Budget?” Senator Hume said.

“This must be a budget that finally sets Labor’s fiscal policy and economic policy moving in the same direction as the Reserve Bank’s monetary policy.

“Labor inherited an enviable set of economic circumstances. The test for Labor is whether they will use this to deliver for the Australian people, or whether they will squander it.”