Budget 2022: Josh Frydenberg to unveil tradie funding package
Hundreds of thousands of Australians will be able to train for skilled jobs across in-demand industries under a major budget boost for tradies.
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Hundreds of thousands of Australians will be able to train for skilled jobs across in-demand industries under a major budget boost for tradies to fuel the nation’s economic recovery.
Reducing cost of living pressures will be central to the Coalition’s 2022-23 Budget, with cash payments, relief at the petrol bowser and further assistance to enter the housing market among the key measures to be handed down on Tuesday.
But as unemployment plummets to record lows and skilled workers are in high demand, The Daily Telegraph can also reveal the federal government will unveil a substantial tradie package.
Treasury figures will show unemployment is expected to fall to just 3.75 per cent, a whole three points lower than was initially feared at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The huge drop in the number of jobless Australians is predicted to drive up wages as competition for workers increases, but also put pressure on sectors already struggling to find skilled employees.
In response to this the Budget will include a new trades package, on top of the existing skills measures unveiled by the federal government to subsidise apprentices and trainees.
The care sector, hospitality and construction trades are all suffering shortages, further exacerbated by the closure of Australia’s international borders for almost two years due to the pandemic.
The government will also provide $49.5 million over two years for an additional 15,000 subsidised Vocational Education and Training places that can be accessed by existing aged care workers and people interested in working in the sector.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the government was focused on targeting new funding to “significantly improve the aged care system”.
“In this year’s Budget we’re providing more opportunity for people to enter the aged care workforce as part of our plan for a stronger future,” he said.
The Budget is also expected to include a temporary modest cash payment for people earning under $126,000 as an alternative to extending the $1080 low-and-middle income tax offsets.
A cut to the fuel excise — currently at 44 cents a litre — will also provide immediate cost of living relief for motorists, with the government expected to rush through legislation to get the savings flowing immediately.
Government sources have moved to play down speculation the excise could be slashed by as much as 20 cents for the next six months, instead indicating a lower amount was likely.
During a visit to the Western Sydney International Airport site on Monday Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the budget would be provide “immediate relief” as part of a “balanced and responsible plan”.
“We’ve taken the time to get that package right,” he said.
“That feeds into our broader economic plan ... which is about investing in the skills and the infrastructure that Australia needs to ... grow our economy.”
Mr Morrison said he knew the economic plan was on track because Australians were “working in record numbers,” particularly women.
“More than a million women have gotten into jobs,” he said.
Mr Morrison said there were now 220,000 Australians in trade apprenticeships.
“That is the highest number on economic record in Australia, going back to 1963,” he said.
The pressure of worker shortages in in-demand industries will also ease sooner than first assumed by Treasury with the earlier than expected return of skilled migrants.
Fully vaccinated skilled visa holders have been allowed to enter Australia since December 2021, and as arrivals increase are expected to support a range of critical sectors.
‘FASTER AND STRONGER’ COVID RECOVERY MAKES FOR BETTER BUDGET BOTTOM LINE
Australia’s strong economic recovery has added $20 billion to the budget bottom line as federal government payments dropped and tax revenue rose with unemployment to plunge to a historic low.
The Budget handed down on Tuesday will have a “significant turnaround”, with the deficit of $99.2 billion expected to drop to about $70bn.
It will also show the unemployment rate dropping to 3.75 per cent later in the September quarter, the lowest rate since August 1974.
A record 13.4 million people employed means there are now more than half a 611,000 more Australians employed than what was expected at the time of the October 2020-21 Budget.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said all Australians had contributed to the recovery from the pandemic, which has been “faster and stronger” than comparable countries.
“This hasn’t been luck,” he said.
“It has been the result of a clear fiscal strategy to save jobs and drive the unemployment rate to historically low levels which today at 4 per cent is it at its equal lowest level in 48 years.”
Mr Frydenberg said with more people in work and less people on welfare the Budget bottom line was improving “after providing unprecedented economic support to Australians”.
“But there is more to do and now is not the time to risk the gains we have made in our economic recovery with Labor’s higher taxes,” he said.
Labor’s treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers was scathing of the government’s economic record, arguing the Budget was showing “all of the signs of a desperate government spraying money around in their own political interests”.
“One of the reasons why we have a trillion dollars in debt and nowhere near enough to show for it is because this Government only sees budgets through the prism of their own political survival,” he said.
Deloitte Access Economics partner Chris Richardson said the good news was Australia’s economy had recovered “faster and better” from the Covid-19 pandemic than expected.
“We can genuinely be proud of how Australia’s economy has roared out of Covid,” he said.
But Mr Richardson said there were still risks on the horizon, as necessary welfare and defence and security spending increased the cost of “running Australia”.
He said some of Australia’s economic success was also in part due to “luck”.
“We were always going to recover from Covid, but the magnificent prices of things like coal, gas, iron ore and wheat could not have been predicted and you wouldn’t really expect those things are permanent,” he said.
“So a chunk of what we’re seeing is temporary improvement, it’s welcome, it’s marvellous, it’s just not something you should put up the ‘mission accomplished’ sign around.”
Originally published as Budget 2022: Josh Frydenberg to unveil tradie funding package
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