The Winners And Losers Of This Year’s Federal Budget
The hotly anticipated Federal Budget for 2023/2024 is here, described by Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers as being aimed at “seeing our people through the hard times — and setting our country up for a better future”.
Over successive Australian Federal Budgets, young Australians have gotten used to finding themselves squarely in the “losers” pile as governments failed to address critical issues for young people like welfare reform or housing availability across the nation.
So let’s get into the nuts and bolts of the 2023 Federal Budget to see if it actually fixes things the issues you care about, like the environment, welfare payments, or housing affordability.
Jobseeker Has Been Raised By $40 Per Fortnight
Welfare payments like Austudy, Youth Allowance, and Jobseeker will see a rise of $20 per week to address the rampant cost of living crisis facing the country. The single parenting payment — previously only available for parents with children up to eight years of age — has also been extended to include single parents with children as old as fourteen in a base payment of $922.10 per fortnight.
While Australia’s welfare system has long been criticised for failing to provide a dignified and survivable wage for unemployed people, welfare advocates have broadly criticised the $40 increase as inadequate. “We do not welcome this insult,” a spokesperson from the Antipoverty Centre said. “This government, like the last, simply does not care about those who are going to have to keep on suffering.”
The Greens Party have also been heavily critical of the budget, arguing the government has neglected people affected by the cost of living crisis in order to deliver the first budget surplus since 2008.
Labor’s second Budget is a betrayal of people who were promised that no one would be left behind.
Budgets are about choices. Labor is choosing a surplus over supporting people who were counting on them.
— Adam Bandt (@AdamBandt) May 9, 2023
Rent Assistance Gets A Boost, But Housing Demand Still Dire
Commonwealth rent assistance (CRA) for low-income earners in Australia will receive a boost. While previously, a single low-income earner living by themselves without dependants would receive $157.20 per fortnight, these payments will now rise to a maximum of $180.80 with an increase of 15 percent.
But with housing availability seeing record lows for renters while prospective buyers face extreme prices, is there anything in the budget that will make housing more accessible? “We know an essential part of the solution to pressures in the housing market is more homes for Australians,” Chalmers said in his Budget address, alluding to Labor’s Housing Accord which aims to build one million houses in Australia over the next five years.
What about social housing properties? Well, The National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation’s liability cap will increase from $2 billion to $7.5 billion, which will potentially allow community housing providers to undertake more affordable housing projects according to the ABC. Meanwhile, the government’s trying to introduce the Housing Australia Future Fund — legislation aimed at building more social and affordable housing across the country.
No Mention Of The Environment In Budget Address
Despite Jim Chalmers failing to mention any of the issues facing Australia’s environment in his budget address, there’s $121m allocated over four years to establish a federal Environment Protection Authority that would enforce conservation laws across the country. There’s also a bunch of policies aimed at making Australian homes more sustainable, like $1 billion in loans for double-glazing or solar panel projects across 110,000 eligible households.
The government will also pull $2.4 billion extra from oil and gas companies with increases to the Petroleum Rent Resource Tax. Although as discovered by The Guardian, the government will actually make more from increases to the national tobacco excise.
Photo credit: @andretaissin, Unsplash