Federal Budget ignores health, education, housing

Last week's Budget is one of the most cynical, corrupt and 
politically reactionary budgets of all time. But despite all the 
carefully targeted largesse, it appears the majority of the 
electorate has not been fooled by the Government's cynical vote 
buying.

The Government ignored the wishes of the majority that more money 
be spent on Medicare, public education, housing, the environment 
and other public services.

The question is not one of money, but of priorities. The Howard 
Government is pursuing a definite ideological path, abandoning 
its responsibility for the wellbeing of society.

It is shifting from social and collective responsibility, where 
people contribute through a central taxation system according to 
their ability to pay, to user pays and a flat tax system. 
Collective social responsibility is replaced by individual greed. 
Basic human rights become privileges and private gain replaces 
public benefit.

The majority of people do not support this approach. It is 
politically reactionary and highly destructive of society.

According to a post-budget opinion poll in The Age, 65 percent of 
people would prefer better funding of health and education to tax 
cuts.

Neither will the Australian people forget the children overboard 
lies, the detention of refugee children in brutal conditions and 
the lies used to justify the invasion of Iraq. Nor will they 
abandon their desire for a decent education system, Medicare and 
other services.

The task now is to make sure the Howard Government is thrown out 
of office in the coming elections and that progress is made in 
uniting all the left, progressive and democratic forces to 
present the electorate with a genuine alternative that is in the 
interests of the people.

The less you have, the less you get

Those on less than $52,000 a year receive no tax cuts. It's only 
the rich and those in higher income brackets who apparently need 
government assistance. The tax cuts start on incomes over $52,000 
and will be phased in over two years ignoring the fact that 75 
percent or more workers earn less than $52,000 per annum.

Those on $55,000 will receive cuts of $6.92 per week, rising to 
$42.21 for those on $80,000 or more. And those on incomes over 
$95,000 stand to make even bigger gains through changes to the 
taxation of superannuation.

Flat tax

The Government's tax changes are another step towards achieving a 
flat tax regime. The process of reducing higher marginal tax 
rates was commenced by former ALP Treasurer Paul Keating. The aim 
is to move to a flat rate of 30 cents in the dollar. This has 
already been achieved for company profits.

The GST is part of the process of flattening the tax rate. It 
hits everyone on the same rate in the dollar regardless of their 
income and what percentage of it they spend on goods and 
services.

The more the tax system is flattened the regressive and unfair it 
becomes.

Family handouts

Even the handouts to families and the maternity payment, while 
being of assistance, are not what is required, particularly by 
working class women on low wages and in casual employment.

Apart from two $600 handouts, (timed to be paid out just before 
the elections) there will be the $3000 (rising to $5000) 
maternity payment and an easing of the loss of benefits if a 
mother takes up part-time work.

The underlying thinking behind this approach is that the husband 
is the principle breadwinner and a "woman's place is in the 
home". Family benefits were to enable her to stay there — what 
the extreme right-wing Catholic Action used to promote as a 
"home-makers' allowance".

These latest changes directly counter the push for paid maternity 
leave and undermine attempts to protect the right of women to 
return to their job after taking family leave.

There is more money for childcare places but much of this money 
will go to private childcare institutions. There will be more 
childcare places but no new measures to make them affordable. 
There is no thought of building up publicly owned long day and 
after school care.

As for pensioners, the unemployed and struggling students, there 
is no relief.

Costello showed his true colours in a radio interview when it was 
pointed out that pensioners don't gain anything through the tax 
cuts. He claimed that they don't need relief — they don't pay 
taxes he said. He forgot to mention that pensioners and all 
others are now paying huge additional taxes by way of the GST.

There is nothing for the unemployed. As Anouk Ride from the 
Australian Council for Social Services (ACOSS) points out "A 
single person on part unemployment benefit earning $10,000 a year 
through work loses around 75 cents for every extra dollar they 
earn."

HECS and TAFE fees

HECS and TAFE fees will continue to rise, putting university and 
job training out of reach of many more people, not just school 
leavers but adults seeking retraining, women looking to re-enter 
the workforce and those wishing to learn English as a second 
language.

The health budget is noteworthy for what it does not do. There 
are no measures to ensure universal access to bulk billing. It 
leaves in place the $2.5 billion plus annual private health 
insurance rebate; does not provide for public dental care; 
provides no guarantees of GP's rebates being indexed and leaves 
uncapped the ever-increasing out-of-pocket costs of specialists.

While a few dollars are thrown to aged care, costs will rise by 
around $15 per week.

Scorched earth policies

The prize for dishonesty and doing nothing goes to the 
Environment budget statement. The government claims that it will 
spend $2.37 billion on the environment during 2004-05. If only! 
Unfortunately many of the items listed have little to do with 
tackling pressing issues such as logging of old growth forests, 
salination, water usage, reviving rivers, greenhouse gas 
emissions, pollution and alternative energy.

Militarisation

The government is to spend more than $45 million a day on 
military spending. Apart from the items listed under defence 
expenditure, there are millions more hidden away in various 
guises throughout the budget. They are dressed up as anything 
from aid to environmental protection.

The main aim is the further integration of Australia's military 
with that of the US — participation in the US Star Wars program, 
purchase of equipment from the US that is not even appropriate 
for the defence of Australia and being equipped and trained to 
fight US wars in any corner of the globe.

Homelessness and poverty

The unaffordability of housing is the single biggest factor 
contributing to homelessness and poverty. Shelter SA reports that 
in South Australia some people are paying up to 75 percent of 
their income on rent. Tens of thousands of people do not have 
access to affordable housing. There are similar problems in other 
states, yet the government continues to cut spending on public 
housing and force people into the unaffordable, for-profit 
private rental market.

Short-term gains, long-term losses

There are around 850,000 children in Australia whose parents 
cannot find a job and will not receive one cent from the tax 
cuts. The budget is not neutral for them or for the hundreds of 
thousands of other low income workers and their families.

The $14.7 billion of tax cuts for those on more than $52,000 a 
year, the one-off handouts to families and the criminal military 
spending is money that is needed for the benefit of the whole of 
society — for Medicare, public education, public transport, 
public housing, social welfare, community services, 
infrastructure and all the other essential services that the 
government claims we cannot afford.

The budget is not just a gift to the rich. It is theft from the 
community.