Coalition says Budget will secure economic recovery

THE federal Coalition handed down the 2021-22 Budget this week, and spent the days beforehand talking up the need to “secure Australia’s economic recovery”.

Speaking on Tuesday, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said despite Australia’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and recent promising economic figures, the job was not done and there was still more to do.

“Australia is still in the midst of a global pandemic. More than 800,000 new COVID cases a day (and) Europe has gone into a double-dip recession. And only recently, we saw a statewide lockdown in Western Australia,” he said.

“We must secure Australia’s economic recovery. Tonight’s budget will do exactly that.

“Tonight’s budget will invest more in our COVID health response to keep Australians safe. Tonight’s budget will invest in infrastructure and skills to create more jobs and provide incentives to businesses to do what they do best – hire, innovate and to grow.

“And tonight’s budget will see record commitments on essential services, disability support, mental health, aged care and women’s safety.

“Australia’s strong position today is not the result of luck. Australia makes its own luck. And tonight’s budget will lay out the Morrison Government’s economic plan to secure Australia’s recovery.”

Federal debt is forecast to surpass $1 trillion – which Mr Frydenberg said was a response to a “once-in-a-century pandemic” – and Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers said on Tuesday the outcomes from the budget needed to reflect the enormity of that figure.

“The budget is recovering for a range of reasons,” Mr Chalmers said. “The iron ore price is substantially higher, some multiples of what the government assumed. So they got their forecasts wrong there.

“But obviously, as the economy recovers from the deepest, most damaging recession in almost a century, the budget will recover as well when it comes to income taxes and social security payments and the like.

“So the budget is improving in predictable ways and, in some instances, the improvement in the budget has nothing to do with the government when it comes to commodity prices we’re getting.

“We want the budget to recover strongly. We want the $1 trillion in debt to actually mean something in terms of jobs for people around Australia.

“The budget would be in much better nick if it wasn’t riddled with rorts and weighed down with waste.”

Pre-announced 2021-22 Budget highlights include:

• More than $10 billion over the next four years for aged care
• Investments in major infrastructure projects totaling more than $10 billion, expected to create more than 23,000 direct and indirect jobs
• A $1.7 billion investment in childcare, including increasing the childcare subsidies available to families with more than one child aged five and under in childcare, benefiting about 250,000 families, and removing the $10,560 cap on the Child Care Subsidy, benefiting about 18,000 families
• $353.9 million over the next four years to support women’s health, including $95.9 million for new tests on the MBS for pre-implantation genetic testing (PGT) of embryos for specific genetic or chromosomal abnormalities prior to implantation and pregnancy, $47.4 million to support the mental health and wellbeing of new and expectant parents, $22 million for additional gynaecology items on the MBS, and $21.6 million for women’s health initiatives including Jean Hailes for Women’s Health and the Pelvic Pain Foundation of Australia for the Periods, Pain and Endometriosis Program
• More than $100 million on skills, $124 million on artificial intelligence, $200 million to overhaul myGov and $302 million on the My Health Record system as part of a $1.2 billion Digital Economy Strategy, and
• 10,000 places to be added to the First Home Deposit Scheme.