Federal Budget 2017: Welfare whack for middle-class families
MIDDLE-class families are bearing the brunt of the nation’s ballooning $158 billion welfare bill as the government spends more of its tax dollars on benefits than health and education combined.
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MIDDLE-class families are bearing the brunt of the nation’s ballooning $158 billion welfare bill as the government spends more of its tax dollars on benefits than health and education combined.
But Treasurer Scott Morrison has vowed the government will live within its means in today’s Budget, while promising to tackle the rising cost of living, grow the economy for more and better-paying jobs and guarantee key services.
Foreign aid payments are tipped to be cut again in a suite of savings.
Cost-of-living measures will include one-off payments of $75 to single pensioners and $125 for couples to deal with energy costs, while the government will also announce its long-awaited housing affordability package.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the Budget would be committed to “fairness, opportunity and security”. The government is already spending a massive $158 billion on welfare this financial year — up from $150 billion the year before — out of its total of $450 billion.
Data crunched for the Herald Sun shows a working family on a dual income of $100,000 and two kids at school gets $2360 in benefits, while $4830 from their $18,094 tax contribution is doled out in welfare.
Mr Turnbull said the government aimed to make sure Australians were given the opportunity to “get ahead”, to get a “better-paying job”, to start and grow a business and “to realise their dreams”.
Figures produced by the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling show families with two kids at school on a dual income of $150,000 receive just a $803 rebate on their private health insurance.
But they pay $34,879 in tax, with $9311 going to the nation’s welfare bill, $4824 to the health system, $3012 to education and training and $3666 to defence.
Families with children in childcare receive more assistance, with the government’s $1.6 billion childcare package covering 85 per cent of the fees paid by low-income families.
A family on $80,000, with both parents in full-time work and two children under six in daily childcare, will now be almost $8000 a year better off.
Victoria and Mark Mancuso, who have two children in primary school, said they wanted today’s Budget to help with the cost of living, while providing fair education funding and cash to develop growing suburbs.
“Obviously, education and the health system is a priority because of our current circumstances. I would like to see taxpayers’ money be allocated more equally across the board rather so much going towards welfare,” Ms Mancuso said.
The Keysborough family said Australians who worked hard deserved more rewards in the face of flat wages growth.
“Utility expenses, health insurance and general everyday expenses are continually growing, however wages are not increasing to cover these costs,” Ms Mancuso said.
PM’S FAITH IN FAIR GO PLAN
PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull has vowed his crucial first post-election Budget will deliver fairness, opportunity and security to all Australians.
Ten months after a narrow election victory, Mr Turnbull will today join Treasurer Scott Morrison to deliver a Budget they hope will revive their flagging political fortunes.
The Budget will confirm a $1 billion boost for Victorian infrastructure, which is not linked to specific projects, and is less than the $1.45 billion demanded by Premier Daniel Andrews from the asset recycling fund.
Tackling cost of living and housing affordability will be key themes of the Budget, while Mr Morrison tries to find savings measures — which can be negotiated through the Senate — to achieve his promised surplus by 2021.
But the government has lost every Newspoll since September and cannot afford a horror Budget like the one delivered by Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey in 2014.
Mr Turnbull said the Budget would deliver security, both in terms of national security and by ensuring essential public services like health and education.
“But above all, this Budget will be a thoroughly fair Budget. It is a commitment to fairness, Australians understand that,” Mr Turnbull said.
“We are the nation of a fair go, it’s in our DNA and our Budget will reflect that.”
The man given the task of developing the housing affordability plan, assistant minister to the Treasurer Michael Sukkar, will miss today’s Budget after his wife gave birth to a boy last night.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten remained on the attack about the government’s new school funding deal yesterday, claiming it would affect 760,000 students in the Catholic education system and more than three million students across the country.
“If (Mr Turnbull) wants to properly look after the kids and the schools and the parents, he would drop his ridiculous corporate tax cuts for the four big banks and multinationals and invest that money in the kids, because that is the best investment any government can make,” he said.
Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas said the Turnbull government had to stop “short-changing hardworking Victorians” by lifting its share of national infrastructure funding from just 8 per cent.
He said Mr Turnbull had to stop being “the prime minister of Sydney” and give “Victoria its fair share”.
The Victorian government has announced a $1.45 billion regional rail plan, funded with the money the state is owed from the asset recycling fund for leasing the Port of Melbourne, but no agreement has been reached for Victoria to receive the full amount.
OUR SCHOOLS TO SURVIVE PM’S CUTS
NO Victorian school — public, independent or Catholic — will lose funding over the next decade, according to new modelling released by the federal government.
Amid a fierce campaign from the Catholic education sector over a new schools funding deal, the Turnbull government has released new figures of where its additional $18.6 billion investment in Australian schools will go.
The 24 “overfunded” independent schools that will lose some taxpayer funding are centred mainly in Sydney’s exclusive suburbs.
About 27 Catholic schools based in Canberra will also have their Commonwealth funding pared back.
Figures show the needs-based formula ensures per student funding remains higher in Catholic schools — estimated to be $12,493 per student in 2027 compared to $10,853 per student in the independent sector.
Catholic schools have claimed the new deal — which locked in more than $1 billion in additional funding over a decade — will force them to triple student fees.
Education Minister Simon Birmingham has also written to all schools across the country to provide details on the deal following “mistruths” to schools and parents.
He said the deal factored in the background, family life, levels of disability and socio-economic status of each student and school to ensure funding was “truly needs-based and fair”.
“We’ve been open and upfront all along that more than 9000 schools are set to receive significant funding boosts according to their need, but that also means some schools will have their funding levels frozen or reduced,” he said.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said “every Catholic school in Australia” was “very clear” that fees would have to go up. “Why is it that Malcolm Turnbull thinks he is so clever and so arrogant that he knows more about running schools than the people who run it every day?” Mr Shorten said.
Originally published as Federal Budget 2017: Welfare whack for middle-class families
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