Susie O’Brien: Budget snack pack leaves a bad taste in mouth
THIS Budget is like a greasy burger, going down like silk but setting like concrete — it may satiate voters initially, but will leave them hungry a few hours later, writes Susie O’Brien.
Susie O'Brien
Don't miss out on the headlines from Susie O'Brien. Followed categories will be added to My News.
THIS Budget is like a greasy burger, going down like silk but setting like concrete.
Like much fast food, it may satiate voters initially, but will leave them hungry a few hours later.
Scott Morrison has fashioned himself as the Big Mac Treasurer, offering a $10-a-week burger-and-milkshake tax cut for low- and middle-income earners.
This election sweetener, in the form of a $500 tax rebate, will hit workers’ bank accounts around Christmas.
Morrison has fashioned himself as a benevolent fatherly figure, keeping a check on the family budget.
HERE’S WHAT THE FEDERAL BUDGET MEANS FOR YOU
FEDERAL BUDGET: YOUR 5-MINUTE GUIDE
ANDREW BOLT: MANY BUDGET WINNERS BUT LIBERALS NOT AMONG THEM
“It is not a good idea to keep putting everyday expenses on the credit card,” Pa Morrison tells us.
The government has made itself a small target with this Budget, offering the tax cuts phased in over time for those earning up to $90,000.
The final stage won’t kick in until 2024-25, when those earning $41,000 and $200,000 will pay the same rate of tax. It’s great for those at the top end of the scale but less fair for those at the bottom and in the middle.
Those who are really struggling — like people on Newstart earning $40 a week — will miss out.
Liberal MP Julia Banks may be able to live off $40 a day, but most Australians — who don’t have the benefit of a large property portfolio — cannot.
Newstart hasn’t been raised in real terms since 1994, so a boost is long overdue.
The tax cut sounds like small fry — small fries, perhaps — but it will cost $13 billion. For all their talk about balancing the books, the government is on a major cash splash.
Despite this, the 2020-21 wafer-thin surplus will be seen as a positive in an election year. Most people don’t understand a surplus doesn’t erase previous debts; it just means they aren’t mounting as fast.
Forget the seven-year itch, this Budget is the 10-year pitch. Voters will have to wait up to a decade to see the benefits of many of the commitments. There’s more than $30 billion for hospital funding, but most will come in 2021 and further ahead. There’s $24 billion for schools, but this is spread over a decade.
And there’s $75 billion for infrastructure, but just $24 billion of it will be paid this year.
Voters on low incomes will find the gloss of tax payments wears off quickly when they feel the impact of “targeted” changes to family payments and childcare rebates. Any time the government talks about funding becoming more “targeted to those who need it most”, you know there will be less money to share around.
There is also further “targeting” of the welfare safety net. This includes a saving of $300 million by extending welfare fraud schemes. While most Australians want welfare to go to those genuinely in need, pursuing those who have inadvertently been paid too much, due to the complexity of the system, seems mean.
It’s a pity the government doesn’t put the same zeal into pursuing companies who pay too little tax.
This is also a compromise Budget, missing some of the big-ticket items that didn’t get through parliament. This includes major company tax cuts and an increase to the Medicare levy. The latter will increase pressure on the already struggling NDIS. Morrison says the scheme will keep its current funding, but the lack of additional money is alarming.
Similarly, many people will welcome the extra 14,000 home-care packages for the elderly. However, it will do little to help the 100,000 people already on waiting lists for these services.
The Budget will be popular with Victorians, largely due to the long-awaited $5 billion for the Melbourne Airport Rail Link. However, it’s dependent on state governments finding $5 billion to put in, which is by no means assured.
There is no major new money for roads to ease commuter congestion. The Budget papers list $500 million for the M80 Ring Road upgrade and $500 million for the Monash Freeway upgrade, but it’s not new money.
The government will also make newly arrived migrants wait four years to be able to access welfare, saving $200 million, and will “streamline services” for refugees at a cost of $68 million.
What else?
There’s little for universities and nothing much for the environment, except $500 million for the Great Barrier Reef. The government will also fully fund the National Schools Chaplaincy Program. They can find $61 million a year to put screeching preachers in schools, so why can’t they help those earning $40 a day?
Big Mac Morrison tells us there will be more investment to “keep the lights on”.
I’m left feeling the lights are on but nobody is home. This fast-food Budget will leave voters hungry for something different, which could be good news for Labor.
AFL locker room lechery reveals lack of respect
The sight of Richmond ruckman Mabior Chol being groped by his teammates was schoolboy locker room lechery. It was also pathetic, weird and we deserve better from our AFL players, writes Susie O’Brien.
Box office classics fail to capture iPhone generation
Movie night seems like the perfect way to get ourselves through stage four. But trying to introduce the iPhone generation to much-loved classics from the ‘80s has been a massive flop, writes Susie O’Brien.