Federal budget 2020: Job training for apprentices and help for women
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Prime Minister Scott Morrison have splashed the cash at the federal budget - all with the aim of getting people laid off during the pandemic back to work.
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Jobs, jobs, jobs — spend, spend, spend. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg spent up big last night to get more than one million Australians back to work.
In the biggest budget since World War II the Treasurer told the nation it would be an Australian-led recovery from the pandemic with an emphasis on training that would secure our future for generations to come.
“In the space of just one month, more than one million Australians lost their jobs or saw their working hours reduced to zero,” he said.
The government response saved 700,000 jobs.
Last night Mr Frydenberg had just one job — to get Aussies who had lost theirs and those who had shuttered their businesses back to work.
“This Budget is all about jobs,” Mr Frydenberg said ahead of announcing a raft of measures aimed at creating work by flushing cash into the economy and stimulating demand.
It was a Liberal budget like no other with the Treasurer handing out borrowed cash with only one requirement — to spend it and create more work for fellow Aussies.
Top priority was to get young Australians trained up and working, future- proofing the Australian economy.
The biggest incentive came in the form of a $4 billion government wage subsidy to bosses for giving an unemployed young person a job.
“The JobMaker hiring credit will be payable for up to 12 months and immediately available to employers who hire those on JobSeeker aged 16-35,” Mr Frydenberg said.
It will be paid quarterly in arrears at the rate of $200 a week for employees under 30 and $100 per week for those aged between 30 and 35.
“Treasury estimates that this will support around 450,000 jobs for young people,” Mr Frydenberg said.
Young people, among the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, were also targeted with a $1 billion JobTrainer Fund aimed at creating 340,000 free or cheap training spots for school leavers and job seekers.
Apprentices
Mr Frydenberg said a further $1.2 billion would be spent on the JobTrainer scheme to subsidise half the wages of 100,000 apprentices. That is in addition to the $1.5 billion spent on the scheme that was announced in July.
The government is also funding 50,000 new higher education short courses and 12,000 new higher education places. There will also be funding for 2000 places for Indigenous students to finish Year 12 and enter higher education.
The Budget heralded a new way forward, encouraging people back to work rather than paying them through the $101 billion JobKeeper program that many fear was subsidising workers in jobs that may no longer exist. In mid-September almost 1.83 million Australians were being supported on government programs.
Weaning Australians off JobKeeper began last week with payments reduced from $1500 a fortnight to $1200. From January 4 to March 28 it will drop to $1000 a fortnight for eligible workers.
The toll of the pandemic has been felt by all but borne particularly by women.
In his speech last night Mr Frydenberg said: “Women made up the majority of those who lost their jobs during this crisis.”
Help for women
The Treasurer acknowledged that with a $240 million package aimed at encouraging and supporting women in the workplace with cadetships and apprenticeships particularly in traditionally male dominated fields including science, technology, engineering and maths.
“We are determined to see female workforce participation reach its pre-COVID-19 record high,” he said. But the Treasurer wanted everyone to do their part.
Income tax cuts were also designed to drive job creation with 3.7 million taxpayers in NSW expected to receive tax relief for the 2020-21 financial year.
“More than 11 million taxpayers will get a tax cut backdated to 1 July this year,” Mr Frydenberg said. “Australians will have more of their own money to spend on what matters to them, generating billions of dollars of economic activity and creating 50,000 new jobs.”
Asset write off
Businesses will also be able to write-off the full value of any assets they purchase.
“This will be available for small, medium and larger businesses with a turnover of up to $5 billion until June 2022,” Mr Frydenberg said.
And they will be allowed to claim against profits made in or after the 2018-19 financial year, effectively a refund which the government wants them to create an estimated 50,000 jobs.
“This will provide a targeted cash flow boost that businesses across the country desperately need. Normally, businesses would have to return to profit before they can use their losses, however, these are not normal times,” the Treasurer said.
The big spending budget also pumped dollars into infrastructure to create more jobs building roads, rail and bridges on worksites across the country, including the Singleton Bypass and Bolivia Hill Upgrade in New South Wales.
“Together with what we have announced since the start of the crisis, measures in this Budget will see $14 billion in new and accelerated infrastructure projects support a further 40,000 jobs,” Mr Frydenberg said.
That comes on top of a record 10-year infrastructure pipeline that is already supporting 100,000 jobs across Australia.
Recycling boost
Mr Frydenberg said banning the export of plastic, paper, tyres and glass waste would also create jobs. Previously Australian waste had been shipped to countries such as Indonesia.
“By recycling more waste we can also create jobs,” he said.
“This Budget will invest $250 million to modernise our recycling infrastructure, stop more than 600,000 tonnes of waste ending up in landfill and by doing so help to create a further 10,000 jobs.”
Mr Frydenberg said “COVID-19 will see our deficit reach $213.7 billion this year” and that the spending was necessary to help Australians get back to work and rebuild the economy. “The Australian economy is now fighting back. More than half of those who lost their job are back at work. There remains a monumental task ahead. But there is hope. Australia is up to the task,” he said.