The 2024-2025 Federal Budget Wrap

the Order Kerney Whoalbury and a waddery woman. And before we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country, acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and the storytelling of you to make a difference for today and lasting impact for tomorrow.

Errors Tour. No, there's no such thing as my version of the Errors Tour. The RAS Tour is gold level.

into the things that we think are important for our community. Sure, and also, we didn't want this to be too lengthy, Like, if you wanted it to be lengthy, why didn't you just plaunch the budget last night?

line with my values? Do I still support this government? What does that mean? Because in some way, shape or form is going to impact us all irrespective of whether you care or not. I mean, there is a nice little energy bonus that's going to impact us all. So we do get some cash, so you should be interested. But the opposition is also going to announce their proposed budget, which is going to be able to counter what the

budget that actually came out last night says. Right, so they might go, oh my gosh, for housing, this government said we were going to do X, Y and z, but we wouldn't do that, we'd do something else. Because essentially the oppositian want to get your votes as well, so they're trying really hard to get people on side with the budget. The budgets meant to be exciting. I don't know if you saw that, because, to be honest, well, they're not that good at marketing.

budget announcements. They impact literally everybody. So buckle up because we are going to break it down so that you feel really empowered by this. But also it's not so overwhelming.

So true? Sorry elbow, sorry elbow, sorry albow. We still like you, Albow.

last night in the budget. Definitely money win. Every single household in Australia is now going to get three hundred dollars off their energy bill, and then small businesses they are being extended a three hundred and twenty five dollars discount on their energy bills.

it was last year. So I don't think this was a terrible idea. I think it was a really good idea. That's really cool.

Good for the economy though that happened, But at the moment, we're not trying to boost our economy because inflation is just rising and rising. Oh yeah, next topic I've got under Cozy Leaves BABS is rent. Rent is so so expensive and hard at the moment, And they proposed last night the one point nine billion dollars is going to be introduced to fund rent subsidies for welfare recipients. So

I think that's very exciting. So that's going to happen over the next five years, so implemented from September this year. Australians who receive government assistants to pay their rent, so that's people who receive Scentlink, they're going to get an extra ten percent of rent assistance.

you know, rent is exorbitant at the moment. We're hearing stories of people raising the rent by fifty percent and whatnot, and so I think more needs to be done in this space. Last year, though notable, the government in their budget in twenty twenty three they boosted rent assistance payments by fifteen percent. So this is a five percent decrease on what happened last year, but still nothing to sneeze at, Like it's still good, that's true. Better than zero, yeah, exactly, exactly.

The same is true if we talk about tax cuts. So as you know, we've been talking on the show already that tax cuts or Stage three tax cuts were already announced. So under those changes, they just reiterated it last night in the budget. Essentially all taxpayers who earn more than eighteen thy two hundred dollars, which is like the baseline, they're going to pay less tax from July

this year. Cool money win. So for example, those who earn between eighteen thousand and forty five thousand dollars, they're going to be paying three percent less tax on every dollar that they earn. Great in the coming year, which I think is really important. But I think they could have done more.

is actually going to increase. So at the moment, current unemployment is sitting at three point eight percent and it's apparently going to increase to four and a half percent, which is genuinely a massive increase, Like that's not little,

that's actually quite big. And essentially, the unemployment rate it measures the percentage of people who are looking for work but couldn't find any So not people who just don't work in general, Y, it's people who are looking for work but can't find a job, which I think kind of terrifying. That increasing just not fair. Medicine, PBS really expensive still under CAUSEY lives. I've popped it under here because they feel like the rising cost of medication is wild.

The government has announced a one year freeze on the maximum amount that Australians with a Medicare card can pay for medicine on the PBS. That's pretty exciting. What does that mean you're looking at?

for everyone, but pension isn't. Concession card holders they get it for five years and it will essentially ensure that people in that basket whom sixty percent of pbsscripts go to, they won't pay more than seven dollars seventy for a prescription. Oh fantastic. So that's okay, I think really really important. Yeah, that's great. Supermarkets, This is exciting. This is exciting because

we keep being like, how are you guys? And I would swear that, like you have such insane profits, yet you're increasing the price of things that we can't live without, Like we're not talking about oh my god, the magnums of the supermarket are more expensive COVID talking like flour and bread and milk and things that are necessary. But the government has announced you know, Choice dot com dot a use in a familiar it's like a comparison website. Yeah,

they are a customer advocacy group. They're going to start publishing quarterly reports on grocery prices, so a little bit of a deep dive. And essentially the idea with this is to keep an eye on the comparison costs of essentials. As I said, bread, vegetables, milk, household products from woolies and from coals, the two main players here in Australia.

And the first report will happen in June. Okay, not necessarily a cost thing for us, but they're going to be held more to account than they have ever been before, so I think that that is really important, and that's probably what I would put under the cozy Libs heading.

actually included in the budget. So essentially what has happened is every year, as we know, HEX debts increase in line with inflation, so there's technically no interest due on this debt, but it always increases with inflation, which essentially feels like interest anyway. To be honest, at this point, I think if I offered you an interest rate, you'd take that over the seven point one percent inflation that

we got on our HEX debts last year. But under this system, the rate of indexation is going to be determined by whichever is lower, so whether it is indexation or inflation, so consumer price index, which is essentially inflation, or the wage price index, which I think is far more fair, and that's how much our wages go up each year. So they're going to pick the number that is lowest and increase our hex based on that instead

of on inflation as a whole. Right, So currently the lower of these is inflation, so it's at three point six percent, but that scheme is going to be backdated because last year we paid seven point one percent, and that means that what's going to happen is they going to give us a refund Again. I know you're gonna ask if you're gonna get it in cash in your brank account. You are not, but it could be because it will be a refund that you get on your

tax return this year. Oh, so it'll be something that is calculated at tax time. The other thing I want to talk about, and we've spoken about it on the show before, is my distain for people doing prack without being paid. They go and they do these unpaid placements, which I think is absolutely insane, and they have said now that nursing midwiffree, teaching and social work students will be eligible for weekly payments during mandatory practical placements.

I calculated it. If you are working a prack, it is thirty nine hours a week, let's say. And all of these students are going to jump down my throat and be like, it's more hours than that. I know, but I had to pick a normal number, and I calculated it. If it was you know you, I've reached thirty eight hours a week, the hourly rate would be eight dollars and forty six cents back, which is still not en us to do anything.

okay to earn. Right, Like, if you're living at home, three hundred and thirty bucks, if you're in the privileged position where you don't pay rent and you don't pay board and you don't have to put food on the table, well yeah, maybe you could get away with that amount of money per week. But a lot of people live out of home, a lot of people do not have that privilege. And you're saying that they have to do their thirty eight hours a week minimum prack plus part time jobs. That's unfair.

this is how they're being repaid. And anyone thinking is that.

And employers are going to be receiving a five thousand dollars like hiring incentive to hire and train more people for these sectors, which kind of exciting, But the bonus was four thousand dollars last year, so it's not much of a step up, And to be honest, it's a big responsibility to take somebody on in an extra thousand dollars. Hopefully isn't the motivation to get them across the line, from my perspective on to bigger and better things. For

students and education Beck. The government also announced a new target. They want eighty percent of Australia's working population to have tertiary qualifications by twenty fifty. Okay, that's a lot of pressure.

diverse and disadvantaged backgrounds, which I am all for. But I'm also wondering why we are still prioritizing tertiary qualifications. Have we not proven that you don't need a qualification to be successful? Like how does that play into it? I don't know. I don't know, especially in twenty twenty four. Like, don't get me wrong, we still need our nurses and doctors, yes, to go to university, can't just hop into that job.

But I feel like there's a lot more value in on the job experience these days, and like, I don't know, I agree, I don't know. But university access the budget includes thirty five million dollars back to boost free bridging courses. So these are prep programs that are planning to provide students with more pathways to university. So as you know, right now, there's like a standard pathway to get into UNI for someone who's just finished year twelve, and then

there's like a mature age student access point. But they're now going to invest more in bridging courses which will teach students the basic skills that are required for undergraduate study. So about twenty five thousand students took prep courses in twenty twenty two and the government is trying to increase that. So they're going to roll out a fee free UNI

Ready course next year. Cool, okay, yeah, which is kind of cool because I think university study isn't easy, and I think that a lot of people just go to UNI, but it's not in anything like school. If you've been it's very self driven, self motivated, like you've got to actually kind of learn how to study. So I think this is a very good idea because a lot of people would go into university and like fail a few courses or like a couple of semesters because they're just

not prepared to do the work. And it's not because they're not motivated, it's because they just don't know how So I think this is a good idea. But also give it to the nurses, you know.

So the government's also going to put aside some funding to increase wages for childhood education and care workers, which very important, but they don't have the information on that at this point in time. They're like, hey, we'll just get back to you. But they are saying that purely because there's actually a case currently before the Fair Work

Commission and they can't give us solid numbers yet. Okay, the fact that there's a case currently before the Fair Work Commission should tell you that they're not being paid properly to begin with. Yes, exactly, So this shouldn't be a little like, oh my god, we're finally budgeting for it. It's like, oh, no, you've got to fix what you best up. Yeah, unacceptable, But I think that that is going to cover our education and students section. Okay, I

think it's enough for now. You're like, I'm done here. I'm going to go off you.

the number of Medicare urgent clinics. Which I think is really important is that like, that's not that's different to Yes, it's not an emergency department. They are essentially a center that is designed to reduce the burden of hospital emergency departments. So they're kind of like, let's go to the doctor because I broke my arm, Like that's not life threatening, but you could go to an urgent clinic and have that fixed without having to go to an emergency department

where you know, someone could be having a catastrophic event. Right, Like, it's going to take the pressure of those emergency departments for real emergencies.

be that little middle ground. So they're planning on spending two hundred and twenty seven million dollars over the next two years to fund a total of twenty nine new urgent care clinics, including in Regional Australia COOL which very important reproductive health. I feel like we talk about reproductive health all the time in this community and it's finally

getting a little bit more attention. Beck. So the government they're going to be investing fifty six million dollars over the next four years to improve women's access to sexual and reproductive health care.

And then funding is also being directed towards research around miscarriages and sexual and reproductive health, and that's gonna include I don't think this is a lot, but seven million dollars on miscarriage education and awareness and for women and families impacted by stilbirth and miscarriages. Now, seven million dollars is a lot of money, but in the government world, that is not a lot of money to roll out

those schemes. And I just wonder if you're prioritizing that how far is seven million dollars is going to go?

to go towards delivering more PCR testing. I think that's important. Aged care, let's talk about that. The government is going to continue to invest two point two billion dollars in response to the recent Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, which very important. More than half of this will be used to improve digital systems in the aged

care sector because that is a massive stumbling block. Funding has also been set aside for an expected wage increase for aged care workers, so I think that's really really important. And then the last thing that came up in the

budget that I think is of note is HIV. So over the next three years to support HIV care and treatment in Australia, forty four million dollars has been allocated, so most of it is going to be used on HIV prevention medication for those who don't have access to Medicare, which I think is really important.

but that was put under the bracket of women. Women have also been I guess segregated out and I think this is so important. So please don't get me wrong when we're talking about this, because you might go, oh, V you don't think women should have their own section in the budget.

long for them to introduce. They announced that eligible participants will receive up to five thousand dollars in financial support to leave domestically violent relationships. And the program is also going to include support and planning services. And they're making a national plan essentially to support women. Say why this didn't happen earlier? Trying not to go off topic too much, But it's part of a ten year plan to end

violence against women and children. So the plan for this was launched in twenty twenty two after the plan that was introduced in twenty ten failed to meet its goal. Okay, so last time we failed. And one of the key targets is to reduce the number of gender based violent deaths by twenty five percent. Yeah, that's good.

But twenty five percent, it's like that just feels uninspiring, Like it just feels like anyway, moving on, the government's going to continue with their thirty five billion dollar five year investment to fund welfare payments for eligible single parents with children up to fourteen years old, that's under women. It's also going to progress a two hundred and fifty three million dollar four year program to boost funding for one hundred respect So I think that that is very,

very important. They are the National Domestic Family and Sexual Violence Support Service, which we recommend on the podcast all the time when it comes to women's safety. Housing was discussed, so almost thirty two million dollars is going to be spent on an assistance package to support low income earning renters.

So just over half of Australians who receive rental assistants are actually single women, and accommodation for women and children fleeing domestic and family violence will be built in as a part of the government's tenant billion dollar Housing Australia Future Fund. Cool important, I think, really important. But I was saying off air before we got here. I get

so frustrated that we talk about women in their own category. Like, you know, we're talking about housing, and we're talking about students and mental health, and all of those things are categories. But somehow women becomes a category, but men doesn't. So their health and their discussions get lumped into health. But women somehow are put outside of that bracket and put outside of you know, the conversation about health, reproductive health, our lives in demetriosis. Why is that not just under

health and as important as prostate cancer? Like, please, don't get me wrong, Like all of these things are important, but I don't think women should be a sub section of a budget.

a women's issue. Yeah, reproductive health services better our entire world, not just the world for women exactly. Without it, exactly, we may cease to exist. Does this feel like a kind of like a box ticking, like a political sort of exercise, I mean yes and no, Like I feel like, yes, absolutely, people are going to use women and supporting women as a marketing campaign to get our votes, because you'll get my vote, like one hundred percent. I'm not saying that

I don't support it. I unequivocally support it. However, it does feel a bit like they're trying to use this as leverage when in reality we aren't asking for more than men get. We are asking for equal. If men experienced endometriosis, it would have been studied, it would have been valued, it would have been a problem that we solved years ago. But it's not so it just to me it's insane that we're not prioritizing.

we talked about in the budget last night. The government is spending two point four billion dollars over the next five years to support First Nations communities, some of which

is going towards the closing the gap targets. So right now there are seventeen targets to close the gap between First Nations people and non Indigenous Australians, which include supporting things around health and education and jobs, as well as initiatives that have the plan to reduce the rate of First Nations people in prison, which is very very important. Let's just call out here though that the government is

not on track to meet these targets right now. Ah okay, well, which I said, so nice that you're planning all of that and you will continue to do that because that is really bloody important. Yes, but you're not on tra right now. So where is the readjusted budget to get you back on track? Didn't see that interesting point. The

next is Northern Territory housing. So the federal and Northern Territory governments have announced a four billion dollar fund to build new homes to address overcrowding in the Northern Territory. They are planning on building two hundred and seventy homes a year every year for the next ten years, and some of that funding has been allocated to urgent repairs

on existing homes. Ye cool, Smart digital hubs are going to be established, So the government said that they are going to allocate sixty eight million dollars to connect First Nations communities to Wi Fi, which a lot of us probably just take as a privilege and take for granted, but it is something that a lot of remote specifically remote communities don't have access to. And this rollout is going to include digital hubs to develop online safety and

digital literacy skills within remote communities. Also call out here. If you know someone who can help me help them get more financial literacy. Call me bad Yeah, I mean call me, call me. I want to be involved. I'll do it for free, like I will do it for free. Let me be involved. And then jobs. The government is developing a remote jobs program to employ an additional three

thousand people in regional communities. The program's going to cost seven hundred and seventy seven million dollars over the next five years. Seven hundred and seventy seven that's an angel number, So I'm hoping that that light goes really really well. Omen The jail to Job program very important. The government's announced seventy six million dollars for a program to be set up to help First Nations people transition into employment

after serving time in prison. Important, really important, because that transition is often really rocky and means that a lot of First Nations people end up back behind bars because they don't have the right integration tool. So it's a volunteer program that's going to connect people with the services after their release. Really really important. Yes, And the last thing that's really important under the First Nations heading is health.

Their health is significantly worse than non Indigenous Australians and it's good to see that the budget has included twelve point five million dollars to provide First Nations women in remote communities with access to free period products. We discussed that before, but I think that it's the bare minimum.

with a disability. A review of that scheme was actually launched in twenty twenty two and a final report was handed down in December to identify a heap of flaws in the system which we knew existed, including concern over the quality of care that was being provided to NDIS recipients. So in response to this last night, the government announced that they are going to increase NDIS funding by one

hundred and thirty million dollars. The federal government also introduced legislation to improve the NDIS back in March, and its proposal it's still before Parliament so it hasn't passed yet, hoping it does, and an NDIS committee and working group is going to be established to oversee all of this because right now there's not a lot of ownership over

the process. So if we're going to send one hundred and thirty million dollars here to make sure that the care being provided to NDIS recipients is actually happening, there's

going to be a working committee for that. Okay, more funding, Sexy, About one hundred and sixty one million dollars is going to be spent over the next four years to upgrade the NDIS technology, So like all of their IT systems, obviously that's really important, but the funding is actually aimed at better protecting the safety of NDIS participants from cybersecurity threats and reducing regulatory burden on NDIS providers. Okay, Okay,

I like this next one a lot. I feel like it is not just about employment, but it's also about quality of life. The government has announced a two hundred and twenty eight million dollar plan for a new specialist Disability Employment service. So this is going to replace the

existing Disability Employment Services program next year. So in July next year they're going to do that, and the new program is going to be designed to increase the flexibility of support services to meet individual needs because at the moment it's a little bit too niche, like a lot of people aren't actually able to engage in that just doesn't work for them. And leaving on a bang Royal Commission that's a big word or it's a big praise.

I was really disappointed with that. The Royal Commission released its final report last year in September, which included a total of two hundred and twenty two recommendations to make Australia safer and more inclusive for people who have disabilities, and I'm a bit disappointed to see that none of that was discussed last night because budgets should have been allocated towards it. So that was a bit disappointing. But we are expecting the federal government to issue a formal

response in the middle of this year. But I really think it should have come up in the budget. Yeah, so I guess that's leaving it on the low, But overall, do I like what the budget has provided for us com se COMPSA okay.

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