Business has cautiously welcomed the Budget, but expressed concern about the fragility of the surplus and welfare groups have welcomed some parts and slammed others.
Australian Council of Social Service president Michael Raper said the Government had failed to deliver for the two million Australians currently living in poverty.
“”Where are the big ticket items that would have really addressed their needs,” he said. “”Where are the increases in unemployment payments, where are the wage subsidy programs to help unemployed people get a share of the jobs, where are the extra childcare programs, where’s the help for Aboriginal communities?”
The government was incapable of balancing economic policy with social imperatives, Mr Raper said.
“”It’s a very thin surplus because of wasted expenditure, tax cuts on people earning $60,000 a year…which has meant they have no real capacity to address the needs of the 750,000 households living in poverty in Australia today,” he said.
The Council on the Aging said older Australians should have been given more money to combat unemployment. The council’s executive director Denys Correll told reporters the elderly had been only given minor attention.
The Anglican Church’s welfare body Anglicare said the $240 million promised for families in the federal Budget was a positive first step in preventing family breakdown. Anglicare Victoria’s chief executive officer John Wilson said, “”Every dollar spent in this area will repay itself many times over,” Mr Wilson said.
He said that on the other hand, neglecting the needs of disadvantaged families would exact an immeasurable personal and social cost.
The NSW Council of Social Service (NCOSS) said it welcomed the extra $65 million over four years to help families get childcare but said the Budget failed to address the affordability of childcare.
“”The government’s done nothing tonight…to assist the childcare assistance basic payments which is the fundamental problem – affordability of childcare,” NCOSS director Gary Moore said.
Mr Moore said it was premature for the government to spend $6.8 million on pilot programs to curb welfare dependency before the government appointed Welfare Reform Group reports back.
ABC managing director Jonathan Shier said he was pleased the ABC’s annual funding had been retained in real terms in the Budget.
The Odyssey House drug rehabilitation service was gratified by the federal government’s promise of an additional $40 million for drug treatment services and prevention programs.
The Business Council of Australia said the Budget delivered the political basis for tax reform and, as such, was one of the most important Budgets in recent history.
“”Every Australian stands to benefit,” BCA executive director David Buckingham said. “”While bracket creep will inevitably erode some of the value of these (tax) cuts over time, many Australians will now feel for themselves the real, practical benefit of those cuts. The scrapping of the Timor levy will reinforce this appreciation.”
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) feared a wages breakout as a result of the Goods and Services Tax could undermine the Budget, ACCI chief executive Mark Patterson said he didn’t expect that the $2.8 billion surplus would be eroded.
Access Economics head Chris Richardson said the better than expected surplus might not be good enough.
“”Most of it is built on the back of that mobile phone spectrum and it’s clear that the government has spent a fair amount of extra money in tonight’s Budget,” he said.
Many of the details, like the scrapping of the Timor tax, had already been flagged before the Budget, he said.
“”But once you strip out the smoke and mirrors from the surplus, there really isn’t one,” Mr Richardson said.