UPON delivering the Albanese Labor Government’s first Budget last Tuesday, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the plan was “responsible, right for the times, and begins to build a better future for Australia”.

Mr Chalmers said the Budget delivers responsible cost-of-living relief which doesn’t put additional pressure on inflation; targeted investments to build a stronger, more resilient, and more modern economy; and begins the long-term task of Budget repair.

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“A deteriorating global outlook, high inflation and energy prices, and rising interest rates make this a time of great challenge for Australians, with impacts on the economy and the Budget,” said Mr Chalmers.

“Our best defence against this combination of challenges is a Budget that is solid, sensible and suited to the conditions we confront.

“The Budget implements our commitments to the Australian people to deliver cheaper child care, fee-free TAFE, cleaner and cheaper energy, and a future made in Australia.

“After years of wasted opportunities and warped priorities under the former Government – that delivered energy chaos, stagnant wages, a skills crisis, and a trillion dollars of debt with not enough to show for it – this Budget marks an end to the wasted decade.

“It confronts the challenges that have been ignored for too long and seizes the opportunities that won’t wait any longer,” Mr Chalmers said.

Within the Budget the Government revealed a $7.5 billion, five-point plan to deliver targeted cost-of-living relief for households without adding to inflation.

The plan includes:
● Cheaper child care for more than 1.2 million families.
● Progressively expanding Paid Parental Leave to six months by 2026.
● Cheaper medicines by reducing the PBS maximum general co-payment to $30 a script.
● More affordable housing – including a new National Housing Accord to build more affordable and well-located homes for Australians.
● Getting wages moving again – including supporting the increase to the minimum wage; supporting a wage rise for aged care workers; fixing the bargaining system; and investing in the capabilities of our people and the capacity of our economy.

Federal Member for Lyne Dr David Gillespie expressed concern that there was no relief in Labor’s first Budget to help households and businesses deal with rises in electricity prices.

Dr Gillespie said many people and local businesses in his electorate and across Australia could not afford the 56 percent increase in power prices forecast by the Energy Market Regulator over the next year.

“It was disingenuous for Labor to promise before the election to cut household electricity prices by $275 per year when they knew of the international pressures and the acceleration their climate policies would have on the domestic electricity market,” Dr Gillespie said.

“With inflation high, household budgets are tight and the difference between profit and loss among our local small businesses who create the majority of our workforce is very tight.

“The increase in electricity will be enough to cause some to lay off staff or even close.

The Budget should have provided relief to respond to this.”

Dr Gillespie said the Government needed to rethink its Climate policies.

“Right now, they are doing everything to fast-track climate policies that will continue to drive electricity prices even higher, particularly the cost of rewiring the nation to cater for more renewables which will not be enough to provide the energy we need for our economy.

“Renewables are fine as far as forming part of Australia’s energy mix is concerned, but for the security of the nation and in ensuring we have lower electricity prices, we need to make sure a significant part of our energy mix maintains baseload power.

“That is why I have suggested we need to embrace new small modular nuclear technology which can ultimately replace coal-fired power,” Dr Gillespie said.

The Budget documents are available to read on the budget.gov.au website.