What are Labor’s election promises?
Normally this time of year we give everyone a run-down on the May budget handed down by the government.
This year we thought it made more sense to focus this month’s newsletter on an overview of the (new) Federal Government’s election promises. This isn’t to say things wont change and the promises need to be passed as law through parliament but it will provide us with some indications of what is likely to come up.
There were plenty of promises across a number of industries and as such we may not have picked them all up.
Aged Care
A key area of focus for Labor. It promised more nurses, higher nurse pay & those nurses to spend more time with patients.
Childcare
Labor promised more generous subsidies for families with children in childcare. They are looking at a long-term goal of a 90 per cent subsidy to all families & increasing the income threshold to $530,000 from $354,305 currently.
Defence
Anthony Albanese has said that they will not let Defence spending fall below a target of 2 per cent of GDP. They are also looking to review military resourcing & strategy.
Education
Labor has identified a number of key industries with skill shortages (such as the aged care sector). As such they have promised to create an additional 20,000 new university places focussing on the industries with these skill shortages. They are also looking to offer more enrolments for students from regional & remote areas, First Nations students & those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
They are also looking to pay for the cost of 465,000 TAFE spots in the next four years including 45,000 new places. Furthermore, Labor plans to add 10,000 new apprenticeships for people training in renewables or other clean-energy jobs.
They will also spend $50 million upgrading IT systems, workshops & labs nationally.
Electric Vehicles
Labor is promising to provide tax breaks for the purchase of electric vehicles. If businesses provide electric vehicles to employees through an arrangement there would also be savings in those circumstances.
Farming
Labor has promised a range of initiatives as follows:
· To scrap the existing agriculture visa system and replace it with a new scheme
· To pay the travel costs of Pacific workers travelling to Australia to work in agriculture
· To ban farmers from exporting live sheep
· To provide an extra $500m in funding to help the agricultural sector diversify & enter new markets
· To divert 450 gigalitres of water from the Murray Darling Basin to the environment
· To provide extra funding & resources to Australia’s biosecurity system
Health
Labor has promised to lower the cost of medicines to a maximum cost of $30 as well as funding 50 urgent care clinics to support hospital emergency departments. It will also match the Coalition’s continuous glucose monitoring device & Seniors Health Card expansion promises.
Housing
Labor’s key policy focus is a shared equity scheme for 10,000 recipients where the government would buy 30 or 40 per cent of the property. They also promised creating a $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund with the returns being used to build 30,000 new social & affordable houses.
Infrastructure
Its hard to gain a complete understanding of Labor’s plans with infrastructure although they said they are likely to proceed with most of the Coalition infrastructure projects that are underway although said they are abolishing the Regionalisation Fund & the Community Development Grants Program.
Pensioners
Labor matched the Coalition’s policy on freezing deeming rates for pensioners & other payments for two years as well as expanding the eligibility for the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card.
Taxes & Tax Cuts
Labor did announce that it will support the final stage of the tax cuts, meaning everyone earning between $45,000 & $200,000 will be paying 30 per cent in tax from 2024. That is, the 37 per cent tax bracket will be scrapped.
They also promised to match the Coalition’s proposal to lower the age when people can use the money from selling their house into their superannuation.
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