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Tuesday’s federal budget appeared to give hope to the many Australians who are feeling the impact of the cost of living crisis.
A $300 energy rebate for every household, extra rent assistance and the government’s much-touted tax cuts for all middle and lower income earners mean the government could rightly say it had included something for everyone.
But it didn’t take much digging by commentators and interest groups to find that beneath these and other giveaways there wasn’t a great deal to turn around the lives of those who need the most assistance.
Cassandra Goldie, adjunct professor at the University of New South Wales and CEO of the Australian Council of Social Service, writes today that despite diagnosing the economy’s problems, the government hasn’t provided all the help needed.
“Instead, it tinkers at the edges while ignoring the gaping hole in Australia’s safety net. Genuine repair requires a substantial boost to the incomes of more than one million people trying to survive on JobSeeker, Youth Allowance and related payments of $55 or less a day,” she says.
The government had dismissed the recommendations of its own Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee – made up of economists, social security experts, advocates and business groups – to substantially raise the JobSeeker and Youth Allowance rates. In rejecting the recommendation, it said it could not adopt every “good idea” in the budget.
“Making sure people have enough money to eat three times a day is not a ‘good idea’. It is a basic responsibility of government,” Goldie writes.
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Margaret Easterbrook
Business Editor
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Cassandra Goldie, UNSW Sydney
The government says it is serious about improving living standards but it has failed to provide targeted and long-term relief for the people who need it the most.
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Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
In this podcast were joined by shadow treasurer Angus Taylor and Treasurer Jim Chalmers to discuss the third Albanese government budget.
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Gwilym Croucher, The University of Melbourne
A change to university funding is on the cards, but the Job-ready Graduates scheme is staying put for now.
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Christopher Ziguras, The University of Melbourne
For the last 40 years or so, successive federal governments have focused on developing the international education sector. The Albanese government is now signalling a new approach.
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Ian Parmeter, Australian National University
The longer the war drags on, the more it has highlighted the fact that Israel has no long-term strategy for living side-by-side with its Palestinian neighbours.
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Mary Gagen, Swansea University
On a regional scale, global warming exceeded the Paris agreement’s upper climate target in the northern hemisphere.
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Mona Nikidehaghani, University of Wollongong
An ACCC taskforce may well prove effective in controlling unfair overcharging and NDIS costs. But the scheme’s pricing model could also use a redesign.
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Belinda Smaill, Monash University; Kate Fitch, Monash University
Workers tunnelling through mountains and redirecting rivers, powering and irrigating the nation. We think of the Snowy scheme as a successful nationbuilding project – but it wasn’t always that way
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Ray Nickson, University of Newcastle; Alice Neikirk, University of Newcastle
Long a taboo subject within the profession, judges or magistrates bullying lawyers continues to be a problem in courtrooms, and more needs to be done to stamp it out.
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Jakob Weis, University of Tasmania; Andrew Bowie, University of Tasmania; Christina Schallenberg, CSIRO; Peter Strutton, University of Tasmania; Zanna Chase, University of Tasmania
Iron-rich dust feeds phytoplankton. They are a key form of life in the Southern Ocean, which acts as a climate shock absorber.
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Politics + Society
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Benjamin Wilson Mountford, Australian Catholic University; Robert Fletcher, University of Missouri-Columbia
While Western Australia’s secession movement foundered, it sparked a series of debates around London’s obligations to overseas Britons, Britannic identity, and the future of imperial relations.
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Health + Medicine
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Kevin Dew, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington; Alex Broom, University of Sydney; Chris Cunningham, Massey University; Elizabeth Dennett, University of Otago; Kerry Chamberlain, Massey University; Richard Egan, University of Otago
New research highlights common threads in cancer survivors’ stories, including the effort it takes to navigate the health system, even for a diagnosis, and the struggle to fund unsubsidised treatments.
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Theresa Larkin, University of Wollongong
Our blood is red because of something called haemoglobin, which helps carry oxygen around our bodies.
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Peter Breadon, Grattan Institute; Anika Stobart, Grattan Institute
The budget sets the foundation for a new approach to community-based mental health care, eases cost-of-living pressures and aims to keep people out of hospital. Will they work? And what’s missing?
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Science + Technology
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Kylie Walker, Australian National University
If we’re going to prime a future-ready Australia, we need more research and development funding, and a diverse, highly skilled workforce. Are this year’s commitments in the right places?
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Environment + Energy
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Jaana Dielenberg, Charles Darwin University
Most Australians don’t need to be persuaded of the benefits of rules that require owners to stop their pet cats roaming outside their properties. Only 8% of those surveyed were against this policy.
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Raven Cretney, University of Waikato; Christina Hanna, University of Waikato; Iain White, University of Waikato
New research has mapped public submissions to the National Adaptation Plan. With a cross-party inquiry getting under way, four imagined futures are emerging that present a way forward.
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Arts + Culture
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Wendy Marie Cumming-Potvin, Murdoch University
Defining allyship can be challenging. Some people disagree about who an ally is. Others disagree about what an ally does.
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Catherine Campbell, University of South Australia
Symphonie of the Bicycle is a tribute to the value of laughter and comedy, and the power of theatre in these ruthless times.
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Books + Ideas
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Michelle Hamadache, Macquarie University
A psychiatrist and revolutionary, Frantz Fanon wrote fiercely against racism and colonialism. His ideas continue to inform political movements yet his misogyny and embrace of violence are problematic.
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Tony Hughes-d'Aeth, The University of Western Australia
The intriguing stories in Ceridwen Dovey’s Only the Astronauts bring obscure historical footnotes to life.
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Business + Economy
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Kate Griffiths, Grattan Institute
The budget projects deficits way out into the future with scarcely any measures in place to contain them.
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