Federal Budget 2017: Verdict on the major points

THE VERDICT: We’ve picked over the Budget point-by-point to deliver a thumbs-up or thumbs-down.

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THE Courier-Mail’s federal political editor Renee Viellaris delivers her verdict on the main points in Federal Budget 2017:

Overall

THIS Budget shakes off the Abbott/Hockey stinker and the snooze-fest of the Turnbull Government’s first Budget. The Government has realised Australians are sick of being hit with cuts at a time when wage growth has been the lowest since records started. Restoring essential services and some new, big projects should breathe life into states like Queensland, which have never fully recovered from the mining collapse. This Budget aims to reward, unlike the Abbott Government’s “lifters and leaners” debacle.

Welfare

IT WOULD not be a Coalition Budget without a crackdown on welfare. While the streamlining of welfare payments is a necessary and money-saving measure, drug testing for the unemployed is a bad idea politically. While many would support the plan it is unlikely to get support in the Senate. And the drug testing measures raise more questions. Will those who test positive have their results forwarded to police? If they test positive for ice will they be allowed to drive home? This one is a Pandora’s box.

Tax

FOR a Government that has taken a stick to Labor for being the big taxers, the Government’s big tax grab of $21 billion will leave it open to attacks. But it is smart politics to whack the banks with a $6 billion hit (especially when Labor continues to call for a Royal Commission into the sector), as is earmarking cash raised from an increase to the Medicare Levy to the NDIS. The Government says it needs to pay for the services credibly and says its Budget shows the public how they are paying for promises.

Queensland

THE Coalition would not have success at the ballot box if it wasn’t for the support of Queenslanders. But once again, the long-suffering Sunshine State has been short changed. While there was some money for the Bruce Highway, Queensland got the crumbs from a Budget that favoured NSW, Victoria and Western Australia. There should have been real money for Brisbane’s Cross River Rail. Overall, Queenslanders would be better off from the junking of the zombie measures but we hoped for more.

NDIS

THE Government deserves a big thumbs up for its practical and politically savvy way of funding the NDIS. When Labor, under former prime minister Julia Gillard, announced the worthy scheme, it was massively underfunded. Now the plan to help some of the most vulnerable in Australia is funded – and what a clever way to do it. By increasing the Medicare Levy, it will be hard to attack the proposal. It would be a mean person who would argue they should not pay a few extra dollars a week to help the needy.

Schools

THE Turnbull Government should be congratulated for pumping an extra $18 billion into schools, but more importantly for ending special deals for Catholic schools. Catholic schools are still getting more money but they will now get less than they would under Labor. So when Bill Shorten rails that the Coalition has ripped $22 billion out of schools there’s two things to note. One, their plan was never fully funded and they are simply spending more money to cover up their special deals.

Housing

SCOTT Morrison has ticked all boxes with his housing plan but it will not address affordability without similar action from the states. The Treasurer is right to make housing affordability a national issue because fewer people living in their own homes has a negative impact on the Budget. People who live in their own homes are less likely to draw on the maximum rate of the age pension. There is no silver bullet to address the issue but the measures included make the package a good one that should work over time.

Medicare

HATS off to Greg Hunt for securing five deals with major lobby groups under a move that will preserve bulk-billing rates and secure cheaper doctors’ visits. Medicines will become cheaper for the Government, allowing it to add new, expensive “blockbusters”. A massive investment in mental health has revealed this Health Minister – whose deceased mother was bipolar – understands the pain of under-invested programs in the health sector. The $10 billion spend will make it hard for Labor to attack the Coalition’s plan.

Originally published as Federal Budget 2017: Verdict on the major points