The Australian Greens have said today\u2019s budget was a missed opportunity to deliver real cost of living relief by getting dental into Medicare, and to pay for it by making the big corporations pay their fair share of tax, which would have delivered more help than tiny tax tweaks that are 15 months away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a wealthy country like ours, everyone should be able to afford the basics \u2013 a home, food, and have access to world class health and education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead, many people are struggling to afford the essentials while one in three big corporations is paying no tax.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Labor\u2019s budget has delivered $56 billion in fossil fuel subsidies and $176 billion for wealthy property investors, but failed to deliver the bold reforms needed to support people being smashed by the skyrocketing cost-of-living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The two new tax cuts announced by the government will barely scratch the surface for people struggling to pay for food or rent, and won\u2019t come into effect for 15 months, with low income workers saving only 73 cents a day, which wouldn\u2019t even cover one cup of coffee per week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, the government\u2019s previous stage three tax cuts delivered $4,500 in tax cuts for billionaires, with these new cuts increasing those savings to more than $5,000 for billionaires like Gina Rinehart and Clive Palmer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are no increases to Job Seeker or Youth Allowance in this budget, meaning the more than one million on these income supports will remain in poverty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the government has forecast billions more in cuts to the NDIS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On housing, the government has fixed some of the problems the Greens have highlighted in the Help to Buy scheme, but there is nothing new for renters, who didn\u2019t even get a mention in the Treasurer\u2019s speech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Climate and the environment got zero mention in the Treasurer\u2019s speech as well. Perhaps this is not surprising as Labor has approved over 30 coal and gas projects in this term of Parliament alone and is gutting Australia\u2019s environment laws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The government is also continuing to pour billions of dollars more into nuclear submarines as AUKUS costs increase, with funding in this budget blowing out from $12 billion to $18 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Labor has also broken its promise on refugees, by failing to increase the humanitarian intake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a sign that Greens\u2019 pressure works, Labor did commit to adopting part of the Greens\u2019 plan to see the GP for free, by tripling the bulk-billing incentive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Labor also locked in their commitment to wipe 20 per cent off student debt, a step towards the Greens\u2019 plan to wipe it completely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Labor has also made a significant investment in women\u2019s sexual and reproductive health, including cheaper contraceptives, more accessible menopause treatment, and investment in the maternal health workforce. This follows a Greens\u2019 campaign including two Greens-initiated Senate inquiries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the Greens say it is disappointing that rather than locking in that cost-of-living relief right now, Labor has used the cover of the budget to do a dodgy deal with Dutton to gut environment and climate laws.
While everyone was focused on the budget, Labor and the Liberals have teamed up to ram through legislation in Parliament to gut our climate and environment laws making it easier for big corporations to trash our precious natural environment and approve more coal and gas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It shows you can\u2019t keep voting for the same two parties and expecting a different result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This election the Greens will keep Dutton out and get Labor to act on what people need like getting dental and mental health into Medicare, seeing the GP for free, capping rent increases and lowering mortgages, and taking strong climate action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Greens\u2019 previously announced plan to tax the excessive profits of big corporations<\/u><\/a> across different sectors of the economy would raise $514 billion dollars over the next decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Leader of the Australian Greens, Adam Bandt MP:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis tiny tax tweak budget was a missed opportunity to provide urgent cost of living relief, like dental into Medicare. Instead, Labor teamed up with the Liberals to gut our environment laws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAn extra 73 cents a day in 15 months\u2019 time won\u2019t do much when your rent has already gone up hundreds of dollars a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBillionaires and politicians still end up with tax cuts four times as big as low income earners. \u201cUnder this Budget, one in three big corporations pays zero tax.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe can\u2019t keep voting for the same two parties and expecting a different result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe should tax big corporations and billionaires to fund what we all need like getting dental and mental health into Medicare, seeing the GP for free, capping rent increases and lowering mortgages, and taking strong climate action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere will be a minority government and the Greens are within reach of winning seats right across the country. Last time there was a minority government, the Greens got dental into Medicare for kids. This is our chance to deliver it for everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf you want change, the first step is to vote for it.\u201d \u201cThis budget is far more notable for what it doesn\u2019t contain than what it does. It\u2019s a massive, missed opportunity to deliver genuine cost of living relief funded by making ultra-wealthy billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share of tax.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cInstead of colluding with Peter Dutton to weaken Australian environment laws, Labor should have spent this week working with the Greens to put dental into Medicare and better protect our environment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Greens Finance spokesperson, Senator Barbara Pocock:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAustralians need cost-of-living relief and a wealthy country like ours can afford world class health and education services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThese vital services depend on a healthy, well-funded public sector. We must end the rorting of consultants and the endless outsourcing of government services to private contractors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe way to get value for money and to ensure adequate services is to build capacity in the public service. We need assurances from Labor that the reduction in spending on external contractors will actually reduce the government\u2019s reliance on consultants.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Australian Greens have said today\u2019s budget was a missed opportunity to deliver real cost of living relief by getting dental into Medicare, and to pay for it by making the big corporations pay their fair share of tax, which would have delivered more help than tiny tax tweaks that are 15 months away. In … Continue reading “Tiny tax tweak Budget a missed opportunity to get dental into Medicare, tax the big corporations: Greens”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32044"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32045,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32044\/revisions\/32045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u201cIn a wealthy country like ours, everyone should be able to afford the basics: a home, food, and have access to world class health and education. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Greens Treasury spokesperson, Senator Nick McKim:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n