TREASURER Josh Frydenberg’s 2021 Federal Budget saw a massive $17.7 billion investment in the aged care sector, which was lauded by the peak Catholic healthcare body.
The aged care package was the single biggest package in the budget. Catholic Health Australia supported the aged care move, calling it a “landmark moment” and a welcome response to the Royal Commission in Aged Care.
CHA is part of the Australian Aged Care Collaboration, which congratulated the Federal Government on accepting 126 of the Royal Commission’s 148 recommendations in this year’s budget. They said the suite of measures would enable more Australians to be cared for in their home, increase the number of care minutes and provide more training for carers and the incentives for them to stay.
“This is a landmark moment for older Australians,” CHA chief executive officer Pat Garcia. “In the last 12 months, aged care has exploded onto the public consciousness because of the COVID pandemic, the findings of the aged care Royal Commission and the Aged Care Collaboration’s 50,000 petitioners across the country. The budget announcement is a welcome recognition of the community’s changing priorities and a legacy defining moment for the Morrison government.”
Mr Garcia said the aged care sector was ready to work with the Federal Government to implement these reforms immediately.
“These are large commitments, and we urge the Government to deliver on the timetable for reform,” he said.
Aged care was not the only big winner. Infrastructure and NDIS saw major spending packages and low and middle-income earners can look forward to another $1080 cashback at tax time. Catholic education was another big winner with injections into Early Childhood learning and gender equity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander girls.
Queensland Catholic Education Commission executive director Dr Lee-Anne-Perry said key elements from the budget included recorded education spending of $24.4 billion, including $14.7 billion for non-government schools.
Other welcome measures included a proposed four-year agreement for $2 billion in funding for a new national agreement on kindergarten funding, $16.6 million to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to attend boarding schools, and $20 million to continue the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on students with disability.
Dr Perry said it was pleasing to see the proposal for a four-year agreement on kindergarten funding.
“QCEC and the Catholic sector nationally has lobbied the government for some time to move away from year-to-year funding and provide long term certainty for the early childhood sector,” Dr Perry said. “The Catholic sector relies on our strong partnerships with both federal and state governments to ensure our schools and kindergartens can continue to deliver high quality education and can expand to meet demand in high-growth areas. The budget measures announced by the Treasurer ensure our sector can move forward with confidence.”
Caritas Australia weighed in on the budget’s limited aid commitments to the Asia Pacific region.
“Over the past year we have welcomed vital injections of cash and support to fight COVID-19, particularly in the Pacific and Asia where cases and deaths are rising alarmingly,” Caritas Australia chief executive officer Kirsty Robertson said. “This rapid response was crucial, and in many cases lifesaving, but we can’t afford to decrease the overall assistance now. At a time of increasing hunger, unemployment and poverty globally, we need to step up and prevent further loss of life, and not just from COVID-19. If not now, when?”
Ms Robertson said Caritas Australia supported the government’s two-year package outlined in the budget for India and its commitment of 10,000 doses of vaccines a week to the Pacific and Timor Leste.
But the aid organisation was disappointed the government has not increased funding to Africa and the Middle East regions, where communities are facing similar challenges.
“Over the last year, we have seen a devastating impact on people’s lives and livelihoods on communities that we work with,” Ms Robertson said. “We should stand by our neighbours and provide adequate support to vulnerable populations.”
The budget strongly supported domestic vaccine creation and distribution, earmarking an extra $1.9 billion on vaccine strategy over the next five years. This includes an undisclosed pool for mRNA vaccine production in Australia, which has never been done before. Another $1.5 billion would go to other pandemic spending like improved testing and contact-tracing capabilities.
A social services coalition including Catholic Social Services Australia, Anglicare Australia, UnitingCare Australia and the St Vincent de Paul Society National Council said the Federal Government’s response to the issues facing the country did not go far enough.
Between them, the organisations employ over 90,0000 staff and engage over 100,000 volunteers, serving millions of Australians annually. Many of the vulnerable people they support were lifted out of poverty by critical government subsidies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of that support has now expired and has not been addressed in the budget.
St Vincent de Paul Society’s National Council chief executive officer Toby oConnor said social service providers were constantly seeking a just, compassionate and fair society, and assess government decisions – including the Federal Budget – based on whether they achieve that goal.
Catholic Social Services Australia chair Francis Sullivan said this was the time to make systemic change that could alter the lives of people living with entrenched poverty and disadvantage and help all Australians by strengthening the economy. “Sadly, the initiatives announced last night don’t deliver that systemic change,” he said.
Farmers had mixed reactions to the budget with many praising subsidies but concerned about a lack of support on much-needed labour.
Farmers were set to benefit from the instant asset write-off extended until June 2023. Another $200 million was put into a national soil strategy, which includes rebates for farmers that share soil testing results, as well as another $370 million for fighting pests and diseases. The government will waive $15 million in debt owed by more than 5,000 farmers receiving the Farm Household Allowance from Centrelink.
But the industry saw no answer to the shortage in farm workers and the re-opening date of the international border set for mid-2022.
