Credit: Illustration: Andrew Dyson
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THE BUDGET
Winners and losers in this stimulus budget
This budget is a necessary but, unfortunately, discriminatory stimulus. It gives big breaks to business, but ‘‘business’’ is a privileged group of people – owners or shareholders – who will reap an ongoing benefit. There is also a supposed ‘‘trickle-down’’ effect to others. Taxpayers will benefit from tax cuts (high-income earners much more than those on lower incomes) but non-taxpayers will get nothing, while the unemployed will go backwards with reductions to JobSeeker. The discriminatory effects of JobKeeper are not addressed, while non-pensioner retirees who are suffering markedly reduced dividend payments are given no consideration in the budget. Discrimination indeed.
Rodney Syme, Yandoit Hill
So many people are struggling to make ends meet
There is a lot of advertising on television at the moment showing the ideal lockdown life. People having group meetings on Zoom, bingeing on Netflix, taking part in online shopping and spending family time together eating takeaway meals. What is not shown are siblings sharing their one family computer for their study, hand-me-downs from friends and food bundles from charities so that people who have lost their jobs or had their incomes cut can get through this time.
Based on the budget’s cuts, I suspect Josh Frydenberg thinks we all live in the ideal advertisers’ world. The truth is many people out there are struggling to make ends meet. We need to ensure people are not left behind, but it seems the government has forgotten this.
Donna Lancaster, Inverloch
Why were these critical issues overlooked?
Two areas of concern to me were not addressed in the budget. There was no money for initiatives in cheaper and cleaner energy and nothing to address the critical lack of social housing. Will climate change and the plight of the homeless ever be addressed by this government?
Maria Prendergast, Kew
The real winners may well be countries like China
The budget will put taxpayers’ money back into the hands of ordinary punters and businesses to encourage all to spend on consumables and new equipment. However, given our dire shortage of a manufacturing base, won’t that just mean capital leaks out of Australia to the countries that actually make these items?
I appreciate this will potentially support jobs here but I find some of the underlying assumptions that COVID-19 will be brought under control, in light of what is happening overseas, worrying. And where is the ‘‘future-proofing’’ with renewable energy in the Treasurer’s assumptions? Clearly the world’s real manufacturing hubs, such as China, are walking with renewed vigour following the budget.
Graeme Foley, Werribee
The essential decency of Keynesian economic policy
Economics teaching in the 1960s was steeped in Keynesian thinking. Stagflation in the ’70s rocked the doctrine to its core. Ronald Reagan’s supply side, trickle-down, monetary policy replaced it, which resulted in the corporate coup d’etat we see today in the United States, along with a vastly diminished middle class. Our own Treasurer, a confessed admirer of monetary theory, has been forced to face up to the essential decency of Keynesian policy.
Moray Byrne, Edithvale
Tax cuts for some, unemployment for others
I do not want the government’s measly tax cut. Not when my neighbour is out of work and struggling. Not when my friend’s business has been shuttered since March and may have to close permanently. Not when severe droughts and bushfires threaten our nation while our climate-denying government provides scant funding for mitigation. Count me out, Josh Frydenberg. Please go back to the drawing board and deliver a budget that meets the desperate, essential needs of the nation.
Dan Coleman, Elwood
THE FORUM
The forgotten people
During COVID-19, we have been supporting and caring for one another. I expect our federal government to extend this same courtesy to everyone living in Australia. Yet 2 million people have been left out in the cold with no income support. Temporary visa holders, international students and migrant workers had their hours cut when COVID-19 hit. Borders have been closed for months and many flights out of Australia cost in excess of $5000.
Many of these workers were employed in service and essential industries such as fruit picking, hospitality, warehouses and medical packaging facilities. They were often underpaid and on insecure contracts. The federal government wants this budget to encourage spending but it includes nothing for these people. It needs to provide support for everyone if it wants our economy – and also our reputation as a fair and just country – to grow.
Meredith Butler, Don Valley
Most unfair payments
So, taxpayers earning more than $120,000 will get tax cuts of $2430 in 2020-21, and age pensioners will receive a $250 payment from December and another $250 from March. There is nothing, of course, for the unemployed, especially if they are over 35. That sounds fair to me ...
John Terrell, Thornbury
Plight of the self-funded
Treasurer, what is the difference between a self-funded retiree and a senior Australian (pensioner)? We self-funded retirees paid tax willingly all our working lives and now we are the forgotten Australians. Shame on you, Josh Frydenberg.
Jim Kierce, Ballarat
Go on, splash it around
So the budget has ticked off tax cuts that will benefit high-income earners who may spend the money or ‘‘squirrel down’’ their gain and buy more shares. Might I suggest that they give their house cleaners a decent pay increase, employ another gardener, eat out more often and tip generously, donate to charities that distribute to the unemployed and homeless, and share the generosity that the government has handed out.
Margaret Burbidge, Ararat
Protect our environment
The environment seems to be at the bottom of the ‘‘jobs, jobs, spend, spend’’ budget priorities. There is so much work to be done in Victoria’s national parks and reserves, such as feral animal (deer especially) and weed eradication, which would offer many employment opportunities all over the state. It is time to reverse the heavy budget cuts that have occurred over past years. The damage caused by these pest animals and plants must be stopped before it is too late.
Margaret Finger, Clifton Hill
Gross public offensiveness
Thousands of people took to Edinburgh Gardens in Fitzroy North over the weekend to enjoy the warm weather. Unfortunately, several hundred of them engaged in offensive, anti-social behaviour involving urination and defecation in laneways surrounding the park, public trespass and public drunkenness. Offensive behaviour was fuelled by alcohol (now being advertised for delivery to groups in the park), as well as the absence of social distancing and masks, and overstaying the two-hour limit.
There was an absence of police or COVID response units, despite repeated calls to restore public order. This was a potential ‘‘super-spreader’’ mass gathering. While extra portaloos might help, public parks cannot become de facto, alcohol-fuelled venues, more so while bars, clubs and restaurants are closed. We all want to get out of lockdown but we need to be clear what a new, ‘‘COVID normal’’ looks like. This requires a whole-of-government response, not a series of Yes Minister-style responses.
Annabel Pollard, Fitzroy North
Just follow the rules
My wife and I are part of a group of 14 people that I know of (there are certainly more) who are in home quarantine in the Kilmore area. This is due to one inconsiderate idiot from Melbourne who had permission to travel here for work, but who dined out (despite not being allowed to) in one of our local cafes (The Age, 6/10).
Shane Gunn, Heathcote Junction
Importance of details
There has been much discussion on the need to improve Victoria’s contact tracing to the standard of that in New South Wales. However, I have not heard any suggestion about adopting compulsory registration for all retail outlets, cafes and other places that people visit, either via phone scanning or writing down your contact details. Apparently NSW has adopted this system. Surely, this would improve the speed and accuracy of contact tracing in Victoria.
Kiersten Eddy, St Kilda
Destroying ecosystems
If it is elected, Labor says it will establish an Australian Centre for Disease Control (The Age, 5/10). I am sure most people will welcome this announcement. However, if we are to get serious about reducing the occurrence of zoonotic diseases such as COVID- 19, then we must recognise and address the root cause of them. That being the human-induced destruction of ecosystems. Labor should also consider policy that prevents future outbreaks by rebalancing the needs of people, the planet and animals. If we continue to ignore the shots across our bows (see HIV, SARs, MERS and now COVID-19), then those working in Labor’s new centre will not only be run off their feet, they will also need all the luck in the world.
Paula McIntosh, Oakleigh South
In the words of AC/DC
Hopefully, Anthony Albanese will not wait to create the ACDC until we are back in black.
Ross Tanner, Clifton Hill
Be very, very afraid
Donald Trump tweets to his citizens, ‘‘Don’t be afraid of COVID’’ (The Age, 7/10). This is easy for him to say when the cost of nine doctors and treatments in one of the world’s best hospitals are covered by taxpayers. An average American would pay more than $3500 for remdesivir, $10,000 for five days in hospital, plus other costs. You might not die of COVID but Americans should be afraid that a short bout of it will put them in the poorhouse.
Angus McLeod, Cremorne
An ominous warning?
Seeing a helicopter conducting an airlift on the White House’s grounds reminded me of another image. The helicopter atop the US Embassy during the fall of Saigon in 1975. Could this portend the fall of the US?
Demetrios Kourelis, Mont Albert North
Will our votes get through?
We keep hearing about the decline in Australia Post’s delivery standards. We only get mail three times a week and even that does not always happen. Yet we are soon to have postal council elections. I know from past experience that Australia Post struggled – even when times were ‘‘normal’’ – to ensure timely and correct delivery of this mail, so I wonder how it will cope this year. Maybe we will join Donald Trump in regarding the whole process as flawed.
Dave Torr, Werribee
The grand old days
Five most perceptive articles (Comment, 7/10). However, it was Jan Carter’s analysis of how current bureaucracies work, or do not work, that reminded me of the devastating effects of privatisation and content-free management on our once efficient, low-cost and technically world-class government-run utilities.
In Victoria alone, some of us can remember the State Electricity Commission, the Gas and Fuel Corporation and the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works, while nationally there was the Postmaster-General’s Department telephone division, and how good they were.
Michael Hipkins, Richmond
Danger in ‘‘content free’’
I love the idea of content-free managers, Jan Carter. It helps explain content-free policies. Or, even worse, wrong-content policies.
John Rickard, Windsor
High price of tax cuts ...
Yet another report on the underfunding of government schools to even the minimum standard – ‘‘Less cash the fate for state schools’’ (The Age, 6/10) – and yet we are browbeaten about the need for tax cuts. You reap what you sow.
Alan Duncan, Frankston South
...and private schools
Public schools should not have to rely on fetes and cake stalls for sufficient money to operate. If less public money was spent on private schools, there would be funds available for all required public schools’ budgets.
Michelle Leeder, Seddon
Cherish our universities
Most of the great universities of the world cherish the teaching of humanities at the heart of their enterprise. By massively increasing the fees for students studying them (The Age, 7/10), the government has intruded on the structure of our universities and threatened their standing and reputation among the world’s universities.
James McCaughey, Middle Park
Putting our students first
If the government really cared about young people, then the planned changes to university fees would start in two years. That way, the current year 10 students could choose their subject streams knowing the potential future costs, and the year 11 and 12 students who have already made their choices are not potentially disadvantaged. Students who are at university who have had this year so disrupted probably deserve some fee relief, too, given the high costs of many current courses.
Clancy Briggs, Berwick
Fix the roads first
Moreland mayor Lambros Tapinos (who is up for re-election) says he wants to promote electronic scooters in his area – ‘‘Moved by
an idea that goes post-viral’’
(The Age, 7/10). Perhaps Cr Tapinos would be wise to do something about the appalling state of footpaths and streets in Brunswick before urging commuters to scooter on them.
George Lazarides, Brunswick
AND ANOTHER THING
Credit: Illustration: Matt Golding
Budget
No Hockey and Cormann-style cigars this year.
David Jones, Essendon
Stacks of faith and hope, but very little charity.
Breda Hertaeg, Beaumaris
A clever budget for difficult times. Well done, Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg.
Diana Goetz, Mornington
Very little for universities and no more for the ABC.
Peter Harkness, Mont Albert North
Obvious by its absence: the environment.
Greg Bardin, Altona North
What, a new budget? What’s in it for me?
Bill Pell, Emerald
What’s the point of tax cuts when so many are unemployed?
Julie Carrick, Leopold
Trump
‘‘Don’t be afraid of Covid’’. He’s entered a totally dangerous phase.
Gary Bryfman, Brighton
Quick, somebody in the White House hide the nuclear codes.
Pete Sands, Monbulk
To enhance his tough guy image, will we see a bare-chested President riding a white stallion?
Ross Chadderton, Mount Waverley
Congratulations on your recovery, Donald. If only 210,000 dead Americans had received the same treatment that you did.
Denis Evans, Coburg
Did the doctors give Trump a booster shot for his empathy immunity?
David Harris, Ivanhoe
We’re hanging out for him to walk on water.
Don Stewart, Port Fairy
Furthermore
I fail to see what Tim Smith’s ‘‘catch and kill’’ cards have to do with politics. It is pure hate.
Yianni Banikos, Fish Creek
Essential for managing the virus: a less dysfunctional health department.
Sidra de Zoysa, Glen Iris
Essendon should change its song to See the Bombers Blow Up.
Joel Feren, East St Kilda