Labor talks up support measures in Federal Budget

GEELONG’s federal Labor MPs say the benefits of the 2023/24 Federal Budget will be widespread and will ease cost of living pressures for many of the region’s residents and businesses.

The budget includes increases to welfare payments, a boost to bulk billing and energy bill relief.

A $3.5 billion boost to bulk billing will provide free GP consults to more than 11 million eligible patients. This incentive has been tripled for GP appointments for concession card holders and patients under the age of 16.

The base rate of JobSeeker and Youth Allowance will rise by $40 a fortnight from September. Eligibility for a higher rate will be lowered from 60 to 55, meaning about 52,000 Australians will get an extra $92.10 per fortnight.

The threshold for the single parent payment will lift to when the youngest child turns 14, instead of eight.

The federal government will also increase the maximum rate of Commonwealth rent assistance by 15 per cent for 1.1 million households.

Energy bill relief of $500 will go to five million households, while $650 payments will be sent to one million small businesses.

Patients able to get two months’ worth of medicine at once, which is expected to save $1.6 billion over the next four years.

$5.7 billion to Medicare will increase access to primary care and allow for GPs to stay open for longer hours.

“At the heart of the Albanese Government’s Budget are measures focused on helping Geelong households deal with the cost of living,” Corio Labor federal member and Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said.

“At the end of last year we eased the pressure on energy bills for households, meanwhile Peter Dutton and Sarah Henderson voted to make power bills for families hundreds of dollars higher.”

“This is a fair budget which provides targeted assistance to the Geelong community – if you’re a JobSeeker, a single parent or a business owner, Labor’s Budget is about creating opportunities for more people and the benefits will be felt right across the Geelong region.”

Corangamite Labor federal member Libby Coker said the budget had important tax incentives for local small and medium businesses to save energy and to save on their energy bills.

“We will be investing more than $730 million over four years to lift the NDIA’s capability, capacity and systems. This is welcome news for the NDIA but importantly, is better support for participants.”

The present financial year is expected to have a $4.2 billion surplus, but this will decline to a $13.9 billion deficit in 2023/24 and not go back into surplus until at least 2026/27.

Victorian Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson said the Budget “divides Australians and treats regional Victorians as second-class citizens”.

“Richard Marles and Libby Coker have shown they could not care less about fighting for our region.

“Not only has Labor cut $1 billion from the howitzer defence project, Labor’s razor gang is targeting infrastructure funding for hundreds of projects across the nation including in our region.

“The Albanese Government can’t even guarantee its election commitment to Barwon Heads Road stage 2, let alone funding delivered by the Coalition for major projects like the Waurn Ponds rail duplication and Geelong Fast Rail.”