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The Guardian
26-03-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
From mental health to threatened species: the glaring omissions in the 2025 federal budget
While much of the federal budget conversation will centre around what's in it for you – and for good reason – what's not in the budget is equally as important. And, given it's a small, pre-election budget, there are quite a few omissions. Here's who is missing out on a piece of the pie this time around. While the surprise of tax cuts sweetened the budget news for many, those on income support payments were overlooked. In particular were those on jobseeker payments, which remain on levels below the poverty line. The government's own Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee released its 2025 report earlier in March recommending the jobseeker rate be increased to 90% of the aged pension. But despite a number of advocacy groups pushing for a boost to the payments, it was nowhere to be seen in Tuesday's release. Another area hurting the bottom lines of many Australians is housing – whether they're renting or buying. Unlike last year's budget, this one did not raise the commonwealth rent assistance rates, which helped shave off around 1.3% in rental increases across the country. Peak health bodies pointed to the lack of initiatives in the budget to support mental health. Dr Elizabeth Moore, the president of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, said there had been no meaningful investment in growing the psychiatry workforce and matching mental health funding to the level of community need. The executive director of the Australian Association of Psychologists, Tegan Carrison, said the government's claim the budget contains the largest investment in Medicare since its creation 'continues to ignore one of the key aspects of health – mental health'. The peak medical body, the Australian Medical Association, highlighted the lack of investment in preventative health, adding it was particularly disappointed in the lack of a sugar sweetened beverage tax, despite the recommendations of the parliamentary inquiry into diabetes. The Public Health Association of Australia said the budget maintains the 'decades-long tradition of spending on treatments and hospitals, rather than investing in preventive health measures that stop people getting sick in the first place'. In the face of commonwealth spending on public hospitals increasing by 12% in one year, CEO and adjunct professor Terry Slevin said, 'The only rational response is to reduce demand by investing in making people healthier, through real commitments in prevention.' Despite being widely canned by the university sector, students, Labor and the Greens since its implementation, the jobs-ready graduates (JRG) scheme will have to wait until the next term of government for any reform. The scheme, introduced by the Morrison government in 2021, increased fees for some courses, including humanities, to fund fee cuts in other courses as well as 39,000 extra university places. Universities Australia estimates JRG has reduced university funding by about $800m a year and driven arts degrees to $50,000. Its CEO, Luke Sheehy, said the budget was a 'missed opportunity' to address the student funding system. 'JRG has unfairly altered fees for students and reduced funding to universities,' he said. 'We want to work with the next federal government as a priority to set new funding rates and it's imperative that the next federal budget funds this work properly and fully.' Innovative Research Universities executive director, Paul Harris, said JRG remained the 'elephant in the room' that needed to be addressed. 'The primary driver of student debt is the cost of doing a degree and these costs are still rising for Australian students,' he said. The arts sector is often overlooked in federal budgets and Labor's 2025 budget did not reverse that trend. There was one major announcement – $8.6m to extend the Revive Live program, which supports the continuation of Australia's live music venues and festivals. The National Association for the Visual Arts was supportive of the package but said future budgets should provide 'comprehensive, equitable support for all art forms'. The Save Our Arts campaign suggested the government could look at increasing local content quotas for multinational streaming services with Australian subscribers as well as new laws to protect Australian creatives from AI. The Australian Conservation Foundation calculated that less than one cent out of every dollar allocated went to protecting nature. Foundation chief executive, Kelly O'Shanassy, said there was no new funding for threatened species beyond a $3m commitment from existing resources for a captive breeding program for the endangered Maugean skate. 'With rampant habitat destruction and the accelerating impacts of climate change, numerous ecosystems are on the brink and people's livelihoods are at risk, yet investment in nature protection and climate action remains a tiny fraction of commonwealth spending,' O'Shanassy said. The budget included $250m over five years for a 'saving Australia's bushland' program, promised to help meet a target of protecting 30% of land by 2030. The Biodiversity Council said it was estimated 20 times that amount would be needed to meet the 30% goal. It said estimates suggested $2.3bn a year would be needed to protect the country's more than 2,000 threatened species from extinction. The federal government provided $14m in funding for the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, which is responsible for privacy and freedom of information in the government, in Tuesday's budget, but the portfolio documents for the agency reveal that while there will be a slight boost in base funding in this current financial year at $40m, that is reduced in the next few years, down to $26m in 2028-29. The commissioner, Elizabeth Tydd, revealed in Senate estimates in February the organisation had already shed 23% of its workforce, going from 200 staff to 138. The current headcount is 179, according to the document, and will go down to 176 in the next financial year. This comes despite increased responsibility for the agency, including overseeing the government's digital ID – for which the agency received $5.3m in funding for – but also the extra roles of investigating the growing number of privacy breaches affecting Australians, and dealing with the workload of reviewing freedom of information decisions.
The Guardian
20-03-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Australia news live: ACCC plan to tackle supermarket gouging; Greens call for workplace racial equality agency
Greens call for workplace racial equality agency Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Sarah Basford Canales Greens urging Albanese government to lift income supports above poverty line The Greens are urging the Albanese government to lift income support payments in next week's federal budget, adding it is the last opportunity before Australians go to the polls to 'to turn [Labor's] platitudes into meaningful action'. The minor party's social services spokesperson, Penny Allman-Payne, wrote to the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, yesterday in a last-minute bid to raise rates above the poverty line. The government's own Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee released its 2025 report earlier this month recommending the jobseeker rate be increased to 90% of the aged pension. As Guardian columnist, Greg Jericho, outlined on Thursday, the current base rate of the age pension is $1,047.10 or $1,144.40 with supplements. If jobseeker was raised to 90% of the base rate, it would cost the government $3.5bn and to raise it to 90% of the total including supplements would cost $5.2bn. Welfare support payments received a minor boost on Thursday after indexation came into effect. Those receiving jobseeker payments over 22 and without children received a $3.10 fortnightly increase to $789.90 while couples on jobseeker will now get $1,149 after a $4.60 increase. Greens senator Penny Allman-Payne. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP The jobseeker base rate was raised by $40 a fortnight in Labor's 2023 federal budget, coming into effect in September that year. Allman-Payne wrote: This budget is your government's last opportunity before the federal election to turn platitudes into meaningful action, by raising the rate of all Centrelink payments to above the poverty line. On behalf of the millions of people in this country who continue to struggle on poverty payments, we implore you to do so. Share Krishani Dhanji The Greens have called to establish a workplace racial equality agency to document experiences of racism in workplaces and improve racial equity. The agency would collect data and public information on indicators such as representation in the workforce and in governing bodies, record instances of racism, and would try to improve equality in hiring practices, pay and workplace training. The minor party says they would put forward almost $100m to support the agency in the medium term and it comes on the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The deputy Greens leader, Mehreen Faruqi, says the agency will help 'provide the proactive focus needed to eliminate racism in workplaces': Systemic and entrenched racism in workplaces is not going to go away by itself, it needs concerted effort. As Dutton and the Liberals mirror Trump to ramp up their attacks on diversity and inclusion in the workplace, we must double down on strong action for racial equity to address deep-seated racism. Share Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I'm Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then my colleague Emily Wind will take you through the day. Australia's rapidly changing relationship with the United States is the subject of two of our top stories this morning. First, former chief of the defence force Chris Barrie has warned that 'the vandals in the White House' are no longer reliable allies and urged the Albanese government to reassess its strategic partnership with the US. At the same time, some of America's biggest tech companies such as Apple, Meta, Google, Amazon and Elon Musk's X have lodged a formal complaint urging the Trump administration to target 'coercive and discriminatory' Australian media laws. Closer to home, meanwhile, the long-awaited competition watchdog's report into the big supermarkets says the retailers raised prices in the cost-of-living crisis to help them become among the most profitable in the world. In a 441-page report released last night, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission made 20 reform recommendations to the federal government, including forcing Coles, Woolworths and Aldi to publish all prices on their websites, and notify shoppers when package size changes in a bid for transparency around 'shrinkflation'. Reaction coming up. Share
