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The 2024-2025 Federal Budget Wrap · She's On The Money

0:00
Speaker 1: Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud Yr
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Speaker 1: the Order Kerney Whoalbury and a waddery woman. And before
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Speaker 1: we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I
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Speaker 1: would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land
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Speaker 1: of which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country,
0:18
Speaker 1: acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming
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Speaker 1: through as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing
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Speaker 1: and the storytelling of you to make a difference for
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Speaker 1: today and lasting impact for tomorrow.
0:33
Speaker 2: Let's get into it.
0:34
Speaker 3: She's on the Money, She's on the Money.
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Speaker 4: Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast
1:00
Speaker 4: for millennials who want financial freedom. You guys might have
1:04
Speaker 4: noticed this episode is out a little bit late today,
1:06
Speaker 4: but that is intentional because we did record it this morning,
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Speaker 4: fresh off the back of the Australian federal budget getting
1:13
Speaker 4: handed down last night by Treasurer Jim Chalmers. That's such
1:17
Speaker 4: a political name, Like.
1:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's made really official. Yeah, he's like orient divine,
1:23
Speaker 2: sounds like a stage name. Jim Chalmers, sounds like he's
1:27
Speaker 2: in politics exactly.
1:28
Speaker 4: Your Future was written for you.
1:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, And to be honest, this is not the future
1:32
Speaker 2: they thought I'd have with this game. But that's okay
1:34
Speaker 2: because guess what we get to do.
1:36
Speaker 4: What do we get to do?
1:37
Speaker 2: Talk about my version of Eurovision? Which is the budget?
1:41
Speaker 2: Like I mean, lots of people would have like said, oh,
1:43
Speaker 2: isn't it your version of like the Errors Tour. No,
1:45
Speaker 2: there's no such thing as my version of the Errors Tour.
1:48
Speaker 2: The RAS Tour is gold level.
1:50
Speaker 4: Oh okay, can't reach to that.
1:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, but like Eurovision, I feel like it's comparable because
1:55
Speaker 2: people don't care about Eurovision either, So I just feel
1:59
Speaker 2: like it makes sense. But I'm very excited about this
2:02
Speaker 2: because we get to dive into breaking up what happened
2:05
Speaker 2: this year in the federal budget. We're going to do
2:08
Speaker 2: it in a really approachable way. So you go, oh,
2:10
Speaker 2: that makes sense as to why they might do that.
2:13
Speaker 2: But we aren't going to be getting into all of
2:15
Speaker 2: the nitty gritty. We are just going to be getting
2:17
Speaker 2: into the things that we think are important for our community. Sure,
2:21
Speaker 2: and also, we didn't want this to be too lengthy, Like,
2:24
Speaker 2: if you wanted it to be lengthy, why didn't you
2:26
Speaker 2: just plaunch the budget last night?
2:28
Speaker 1: Or you know.
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Speaker 4: Exactly exactly, so hopefully you can E L I five
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Speaker 4: explain like I'm five.
2:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, do we care?
2:37
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a Reddit term. That's really I'm really out
2:39
Speaker 4: of myself. Yeah, I probably I'm not on Reddit all
2:41
Speaker 4: the time.
2:42
Speaker 2: I am, I am, I was finance, I'm there, I
2:45
Speaker 2: live there. I mean, you and I probably on different
2:47
Speaker 2: sides of Reddit. But TLDR, why do we care about
2:51
Speaker 2: the federal budget?
2:52
Speaker 4: Basically is what I'm asking? Why do we care so
2:54
Speaker 4: much about it?
2:54
Speaker 1: So?
2:55
Speaker 2: The federal budget is essentially the government's plan for how
2:58
Speaker 2: it's going to collect and money for the coming financial year.
3:02
Speaker 2: It's a legit budget. It's not a different complex term.
3:05
Speaker 2: They're sitting down and they're doing their budget and their
3:07
Speaker 2: cash flow just like we do. And it's a pretty
3:10
Speaker 2: big driver for behind how we vote. So for you
3:14
Speaker 2: and I, we might look at it and go, well, actually,
3:17
Speaker 2: if this is what this government is proposing with the budget,
3:21
Speaker 2: do I align with that or not? Is this in
3:23
Speaker 2: line with my values? Do I still support this government?
3:26
Speaker 2: What does that mean? Because in some way, shape or
3:29
Speaker 2: form is going to impact us all irrespective of whether
3:33
Speaker 2: you care or not. I mean, there is a nice
3:35
Speaker 2: little energy bonus that's going to impact us all. So
3:37
Speaker 2: we do get some cash, so you should be interested.
3:41
Speaker 2: But the opposition is also going to announce their proposed budget,
3:46
Speaker 2: which is going to be able to counter what the
3:48
Speaker 2: budget that actually came out last night says. Right, so
3:51
Speaker 2: they might go, oh my gosh. For housing, this government
3:54
Speaker 2: said we were going to do X, Y and z,
3:56
Speaker 2: but we wouldn't do that, we'd do something else. Because
3:59
Speaker 2: essentially the oppositian want to get your votes as well,
4:02
Speaker 2: so they're trying really hard to get people on side
4:05
Speaker 2: with the budget. The budget's meant to be exciting. I
4:08
Speaker 2: don't know if you saw that, because, to be honest, well,
4:11
Speaker 2: they're not that good at marketing.
4:12
Speaker 4: Hey, that's okay. It's very hard to make the budget
4:15
Speaker 4: sound exciting.
4:16
Speaker 2: But I've been trying for literal years to make budgets
4:19
Speaker 2: sound exciting. And this budget it went from everything from
4:23
Speaker 2: taxing to banking. They talked about superannuation, they talked about
4:26
Speaker 2: green energy, infrastructure, they talked about health, they talked about defense,
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Speaker 2: women's safety, they talked about economic security and changes to
4:34
Speaker 2: hex's debts, which is very nice, cool and Australia's federal
4:38
Speaker 2: budget announcements. They impact literally everybody. So buckle up because
4:44
Speaker 2: we are going to break it down so that you
4:46
Speaker 2: feel really empowered by this. But also it's not so overwhelming.
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Speaker 4: Okay, I just really quickly want to ask you because
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Speaker 4: I'm coming with completely fresh I know, yeah, no questions please,
4:55
Speaker 4: but I just want to say it's all sounding very
4:58
Speaker 4: clear to me, but I do want to know. So
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Speaker 4: the budget is currently, this is implemented like, this is confirmed,
5:03
Speaker 4: and then the opposition will come in with a proposed
5:06
Speaker 4: different budget.
5:07
Speaker 2: Is that going to be nothing set in stone? Ok
5:10
Speaker 2: it's your fun part about the budget, right, So this
5:14
Speaker 2: is a budget that our current government is working towards.
5:17
Speaker 2: The opposition will put out what they think is a
5:19
Speaker 2: better option for the budget in the hopes that more
5:22
Speaker 2: people support them next time we vote. Okay, however, nothing
5:26
Speaker 2: set in stone is politics until it happens. Okay, until
5:31
Speaker 2: it happens. At the end of the day. How many
5:33
Speaker 2: times will we see governments promise things they never come
5:35
Speaker 2: to fruition?
5:36
Speaker 4: So true?
5:37
Speaker 2: Sorry Elbow, sorry elbow, sorry Albow. We still like you, Albow.
5:40
Speaker 4: Okay, So really quickly, VD, let's go through a quick
5:45
Speaker 4: wrap what was actually promised.
5:47
Speaker 2: Lots was promised, lots and lots. But let's divide this
5:50
Speaker 2: all up into little subdivisions. I feel like having some
5:54
Speaker 2: topics makes it easier to have a conversation. So first
5:58
Speaker 2: things first, because he lives, let's talk about the rising
6:02
Speaker 2: cost of living at the moment, and obviously that was
6:05
Speaker 2: hot topic when it came to what we're talking about
6:07
Speaker 2: last night in the budget. Definitely money win. Every single
6:11
Speaker 2: household in Australia is now going to get three hundred
6:14
Speaker 2: dollars off their energy bill, and then small businesses they
6:18
Speaker 2: are being extended a three hundred and twenty five dollars
6:21
Speaker 2: discount on their energy bills.
6:23
Speaker 4: Great, just once off. I'm assumed, like.
6:25
Speaker 2: Not consistently, it would be nice. It was consistent, it
6:28
Speaker 2: would be pretty nice across the country. This relief package,
6:31
Speaker 2: that's what they call it, a relief package, is worth
6:33
Speaker 2: about three and a half billion dollars, So that's a
6:36
Speaker 2: pretty big spend. But cousey, lives are high and pretty
6:40
Speaker 2: sure everyone's going to be pretty happy to have an
6:43
Speaker 2: extra three hundred dollars in their back pocket totally, and
6:45
Speaker 2: it is also rising in cost. Yeah, I feel like
6:48
Speaker 2: my energy bill is so much more expensive this year
6:51
Speaker 2: than it was last year. So I don't think this
6:54
Speaker 2: was a terrible idea. I think it was a really
6:55
Speaker 2: good idea.
6:56
Speaker 4: That's really cool. And I'm assuming like you probably google
6:58
Speaker 4: this that I should myself. But you this is going
7:00
Speaker 4: into the bank accounts or this is going like taking
7:02
Speaker 4: off the.
7:03
Speaker 2: So for you, it's just going to come off your
7:05
Speaker 2: balance of your bills, so it'll be a line item.
7:07
Speaker 2: And the same thing is true for small business owners.
7:09
Speaker 2: Probably for the best, I would spend that on absolutely
7:11
Speaker 2: ridiculous things. Yeah, Like, I'm glad they're not giving people
7:14
Speaker 2: cash because it'll be like the time the budget had
7:17
Speaker 2: those bonuses and everyone went out and bought flat screen TVs.
7:20
Speaker 4: Good for the economy though that.
7:22
Speaker 2: Happened, But at the moment, we're not trying to boost
7:24
Speaker 2: our economy because inflation is just rising and rising. Oh yeah,
7:28
Speaker 2: next topic I've got under Cozy Leaves BABS is rent.
7:32
Speaker 2: Rent is so so expensive and hard at the moment,
7:35
Speaker 2: And they proposed last night the one point nine billion
7:39
Speaker 2: dollars is going to be introduced to fund rent subsidies
7:42
Speaker 2: for welfare recipients. So I think that's very exciting. So
7:45
Speaker 2: that's going to happen over the next five years, so
7:48
Speaker 2: implemented from September this year. Australians who receive government assistants
7:53
Speaker 2: to pay their rent, so that's people who receive Scentlink,
7:56
Speaker 2: they're going to get an extra ten percent of rent assistance.
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Speaker 4: Okay, that's really cool.
8:00
Speaker 2: I think that's elite because we know that inflation last
8:04
Speaker 2: year was seven point one percent. We do know, and
8:07
Speaker 2: I could get into a whole conversation about the rising
8:09
Speaker 2: cost of rent. Rent was more than that. But at
8:12
Speaker 2: least this rise is higher than inflation, so that's important. Like,
8:17
Speaker 2: if they've only done five percent, they wouldn't even be
8:19
Speaker 2: keeping up with the rising cost of living. So at
8:22
Speaker 2: least they're doing a bit more than that. But as
8:24
Speaker 2: you know, rent is exorbitant at the moment. We're hearing
8:27
Speaker 2: stories of people raising the rent by fifty percent and whatnot,
8:31
Speaker 2: and so I think more needs to be done in
8:33
Speaker 2: this space. Last year, though notable, the government in their
8:37
Speaker 2: budget in twenty twenty three they boosted rent assistance payments
8:41
Speaker 2: by fifteen percent. So this is a five percent decrease
8:44
Speaker 2: on what happened last year, but still nothing to sneeze at,
8:47
Speaker 2: Like it's still good that's true. Better than zero, yeah, exactly, exactly.
8:52
Speaker 2: The same is true if we talk about tax cuts.
8:55
Speaker 2: So as you know, we've been talking on the show
8:58
Speaker 2: already that tax cuts or Stage three tax cuts were
9:02
Speaker 2: already announced. So under those changes, they just reiterated it
9:06
Speaker 2: last night in the budget. Essentially all taxpayers who earn
9:11
Speaker 2: more than eighteen thy two hundred dollars, which is like
9:13
Speaker 2: the baseline, they're going to pay less tax from July
9:17
Speaker 2: this year.
9:17
Speaker 4: Cool money win.
9:19
Speaker 2: So for example, those who earn between eighteen thousand and
9:22
Speaker 2: forty five thousand dollars, they're going to be paying three
9:26
Speaker 2: percent less tax on every dollar that they earn. Great
9:30
Speaker 2: in the coming year, which I think is really important.
9:33
Speaker 2: But I think they could have done more.
9:35
Speaker 4: M because it's only for that bracket, is it, No, it's.
9:38
Speaker 2: For all brackets. For every single Australian earning more than
9:42
Speaker 2: eighteen two hundred dollars is going to get a tax cut.
9:45
Speaker 2: Great bar. I'm of the opinion tax reach. I so
9:50
Speaker 2: like they got the tax cuts as well, and I
9:53
Speaker 2: would have you know, this is just me pitching to
9:55
Speaker 2: b PM. I would have liked to see a bit
9:58
Speaker 2: more of a step tax cuts. So those people on
10:03
Speaker 2: lower incomes got a higher tax cut than those on
10:05
Speaker 2: higher incomes.
10:06
Speaker 4: Yeah, that would make so much sense, right, I.
10:09
Speaker 2: Would have thought so, But that is not how it happened,
10:11
Speaker 2: My love, that it's not how it happened. But we're
10:13
Speaker 2: not getting into that at the moment because we still
10:15
Speaker 2: have so much to go through job seeker. So if
10:18
Speaker 2: you are on job seeker, anyone on income support payments
10:22
Speaker 2: who can work up to fourteen hours a week are
10:25
Speaker 2: going to be eligible for a higher job seeker payment
10:28
Speaker 2: compared to their current rate. So the budget forecast's unemployment
10:33
Speaker 2: is actually going to increase. So at the moment, current
10:36
Speaker 2: unemployment is sitting at three point eight percent and it's
10:40
Speaker 2: apparently going to increase to four and a half percent,
10:42
Speaker 2: which is genuinely a massive increase, Like that's not little,
10:47
Speaker 2: that's actually quite big. And essentially, the unemployment rate it
10:51
Speaker 2: measures the percentage of people who are looking for work
10:54
Speaker 2: but couldn't find any So not people who just don't
10:58
Speaker 2: work in general, Y, it's people who are looking for
11:00
Speaker 2: work but can't find a job, which I think kind
11:03
Speaker 2: of terrifying. That increasing just not fair. Medicine, PBS really
11:09
Speaker 2: expensive still under CASEY lives. I've popped it under here
11:12
Speaker 2: because they feel like the rising cost of medication is wild.
11:17
Speaker 2: The government has announced a one year freeze on the
11:20
Speaker 2: maximum amount that Australians with a Medicare card can pay
11:23
Speaker 2: for medicine on the PBS. That's pretty exciting. What does
11:27
Speaker 2: that mean you're looking at?
11:28
Speaker 4: I mean, I don't know why, but the whole sentence.
11:32
Speaker 2: It means that Australians with a Medicare card aren't going
11:34
Speaker 2: to pay more than thirty one dollars and sixty cents
11:37
Speaker 2: for a Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme prescription. Okay, so it's going
11:43
Speaker 2: to be capped so they can't increase the cost of
11:46
Speaker 2: our medication because obviously, if your medication, it's necessary. They're
11:50
Speaker 2: saying that the freeze is going to be extended for
11:53
Speaker 2: pensioners and other concession holders for five years. It's not
11:56
Speaker 2: for everyone, so right now it's a one year freeze
11:58
Speaker 2: for everyone, but pension isn't. Concession card holders they get
12:01
Speaker 2: it for five years and it will essentially ensure that
12:04
Speaker 2: people in that basket whom sixty percent of pbsscripts go to,
12:10
Speaker 2: they won't pay more than seven dollars seventy for a prescription.
12:14
Speaker 4: Oh fantastic.
12:15
Speaker 2: So that's okay, I think really really important.
12:17
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's great.
12:18
Speaker 2: Supermarkets, This is exciting. This is exciting because we keep
12:22
Speaker 2: being like, how are you guys? And I would swear that,
12:25
Speaker 2: like you have such insane profits, yet you're increasing the
12:31
Speaker 2: price of things that we can't live without, Like we're
12:34
Speaker 2: not talking about oh my god, the magnums of the
12:36
Speaker 2: supermarket are more expensive Covia talking like flour and bread
12:40
Speaker 2: and milk and things that are necessary. But the government
12:43
Speaker 2: has announced you know, Choice dot com dot a use
12:46
Speaker 2: in a familiar it's like a comparison website. Yeah, they
12:49
Speaker 2: are a customer advocacy group. They're going to start publishing
12:53
Speaker 2: quarterly reports on grocery prices, so a little bit of
12:58
Speaker 2: a deep dive. And essentially the idea with this is
13:02
Speaker 2: to keep an eye on the comparison costs of essentials
13:06
Speaker 2: as I said, bread, vegetables, milk, household products from woolies
13:10
Speaker 2: and from coals, the two main players here in Australia.
13:13
Speaker 2: And the first report will happen in June. Okay, not
13:16
Speaker 2: necessarily a cost thing for us, but they're going to
13:21
Speaker 2: be held more to account than they have ever been before,
13:24
Speaker 2: so I think that that is really important, and that's
13:27
Speaker 2: probably what I would put under the cozy Libs heading.
13:29
Speaker 4: Yeah, okay, that's really all sounds pretty promising.
13:32
Speaker 2: Three hundred bucks. I think that's what I stuck on.
13:36
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm still there. Actually about you? Do you want
13:39
Speaker 4: to tell me about education and students?
13:41
Speaker 2: All right? So, in exciting news for people who were
13:46
Speaker 2: students or our students, the government's decided to wipe three
13:50
Speaker 2: billion dollars in hextats. Cool honeywin. It's part of their
13:55
Speaker 2: overhaul of the student debt repayment system. It was essentially
13:58
Speaker 2: confirmed as a pre budget and anouncement last week. We're
14:01
Speaker 2: talking about it. However, last night it was confirmed and
14:04
Speaker 2: actually included in the budget. So essentially what has happened
14:08
Speaker 2: is every year, as we know, HEX debts increase in
14:12
Speaker 2: line with inflation, so there's technically no interest due on
14:16
Speaker 2: this debt, but it always increases with inflation, which essentially
14:20
Speaker 2: feels like interest anyway. To be honest, at this point,
14:24
Speaker 2: I think if I offered you an interest rate, you'd
14:26
Speaker 2: take that over the seven point one percent inflation that
14:29
Speaker 2: we got on our HEX debts last year. But under
14:32
Speaker 2: this system, the rate of indexation is going to be
14:35
Speaker 2: determined by whichever is lower, so whether it is indexation
14:40
Speaker 2: or inflation, so consumer price index, which is essentially inflation,
14:44
Speaker 2: or the wage price index, which I think is far
14:48
Speaker 2: more fair, and that's how much our wages go up
14:51
Speaker 2: each year. So they're going to pick the number that
14:53
Speaker 2: is lowest and increase our hex based on that instead
14:58
Speaker 2: of on inflation as a whole. Right, So currently the
15:02
Speaker 2: lower of these is inflation, so it's at three point
15:06
Speaker 2: six percent, but that scheme is going to be backdated
15:10
Speaker 2: because last year we paid seven point one percent, and
15:13
Speaker 2: that means that what's going to happen is they going
15:16
Speaker 2: to give us a refund Again. I know you're gonna
15:18
Speaker 2: ask if you're gonna get it in cash in your
15:20
Speaker 2: brank account. You are not, but it could be because
15:23
Speaker 2: it will be a refund that you get on your
15:25
Speaker 2: tax return this year. Oh, so it'll be something that
15:29
Speaker 2: is calculated at tax time. The other thing I want
15:32
Speaker 2: to talk about, and we've spoken about it on the
15:34
Speaker 2: show before, is my distain for people doing prack without
15:41
Speaker 2: being paid. They go and they do these unpaid placements,
15:44
Speaker 2: which I think is absolutely insane, and they have said
15:48
Speaker 2: now that nursing midwiffree, teaching and social work students will
15:52
Speaker 2: be eligible for weekly payments during mandatory practical placements.
15:57
Speaker 4: That's really cool.
15:58
Speaker 2: Very cool. I've got a bit of a to pick here, though,
16:01
Speaker 2: because they've said that students will be eligible to receive
16:03
Speaker 2: three hundred and twenty dollars a week payment from July
16:07
Speaker 2: next year, not this year, during their placement.
16:10
Speaker 4: That's very low.
16:12
Speaker 2: Yes, exactly what can you buy with that? That's well,
16:15
Speaker 2: that's not even minimum wage. That's so so I look
16:19
Speaker 2: at it and I go, oh, we were doing so well.
16:22
Speaker 2: You guys said it was going to be great. You
16:24
Speaker 2: said we're gonna start paying people for their time. And
16:28
Speaker 2: I calculated it. If you are working a prack, it
16:31
Speaker 2: is thirty nine hours a week, let's say. And all
16:34
Speaker 2: of these students are going to jump down my throat
16:36
Speaker 2: and be like, it's more hours than that. I know,
16:38
Speaker 2: but I had to pick a normal number, and I
16:41
Speaker 2: calculated it. If it was you know you, I've reached
16:43
Speaker 2: thirty eight hours a week, the hourly rate would be
16:46
Speaker 2: eight dollars and forty six cents back, which is still
16:48
Speaker 2: not en us to do anything.
16:50
Speaker 4: My god, I feel like it's less offensive to get
16:53
Speaker 4: zero dollars, do you.
16:54
Speaker 3: Know what I mean?
16:54
Speaker 2: It's actually better to go on to send a link.
16:56
Speaker 4: Yeah.
16:57
Speaker 2: I'm not saying that as a flippant like halh ah senink.
17:00
Speaker 2: I'm saying that as a we have people in caring
17:05
Speaker 2: professions that are bettering our society and we don't value them.
17:10
Speaker 2: And then you hand something like this down, which could
17:13
Speaker 2: have been stunning. Beck. You could have even said we're
17:16
Speaker 2: going to pay the minimum wage.
17:17
Speaker 1: Ye.
17:18
Speaker 2: Great, minimum wage means they can afford technically on minimum wage.
17:22
Speaker 2: This isn't an argument we're starting. They could afford to
17:25
Speaker 2: put a roof over their head and food on the table. Yeah,
17:27
Speaker 2: you can't do that with three hundred and thirty dollars.
17:30
Speaker 2: That amount of money is, from my perspective, a privileged
17:35
Speaker 2: amount of money, because if you're getting paid that, you
17:39
Speaker 2: might live at home, and then that money would be
17:42
Speaker 2: okay to earn. Right, Like, if you're living at home,
17:44
Speaker 2: three hundred and thirty bucks, if you're in the privileged
17:47
Speaker 2: position where you don't pay rent and you don't pay
17:48
Speaker 2: board and you don't have to put food on the table,
17:50
Speaker 2: well yeah, maybe you could get away with that amount
17:53
Speaker 2: of money per week. But a lot of people live
17:56
Speaker 2: out of home, a lot of people do not have
17:58
Speaker 2: that privilege. And you're saying that they have to do
18:00
Speaker 2: their thirty eight hours a week minimum prack plus part
18:03
Speaker 2: time jobs. That's unfair.
18:05
Speaker 4: That's really unfair.
18:06
Speaker 2: That's unfair. We're not talking about you know, accounting students here,
18:10
Speaker 2: and don't get me wrong, finance is very sexy. We're
18:12
Speaker 2: talking about people who want to care for others, who
18:15
Speaker 2: want to look after our society, and you're not putting
18:18
Speaker 2: them first.
18:20
Speaker 4: We need these people.
18:21
Speaker 2: Did we not learn anything through COVID that our frontline
18:24
Speaker 2: workers and our caring professionals were the most important. Yeah,
18:27
Speaker 2: we always knew it, but you never highlighted it. COVID
18:30
Speaker 2: really highlighted that. And this is how they're being repaid.
18:33
Speaker 4: And anyone thinking is that. I'm like, I'm hoping that
18:36
Speaker 4: it doesn't eat until like if you get like a
18:38
Speaker 4: youth allowance, what's it called, the one where you studying
18:42
Speaker 4: study your life, study assists, study assists. Sorry, I hope
18:44
Speaker 4: it doesn't eat into that at all.
18:46
Speaker 2: That I haven't looked up the semantics because I didn't
18:48
Speaker 2: want to get even more mad. But essentially that is
18:51
Speaker 2: expected to cost our government one point six billion dollars
18:54
Speaker 2: over the next ten years, and personally, I think it
18:56
Speaker 2: should be costing them.
18:57
Speaker 4: More fair enough. Take my three hundred from the energy
19:00
Speaker 4: bill and give it to them.
19:02
Speaker 2: So the next apprentices, So the government is going to
19:06
Speaker 2: spend two hundred and sixty five million dollars to boost workers'
19:10
Speaker 2: numbers in fields where there are a whole heap of
19:12
Speaker 2: skills shortages. So this includes some support for apprentices and
19:17
Speaker 2: traineeships in areas like construction. So for example, they're now
19:21
Speaker 2: saying that an apprentice will be paid five thousand dollars
19:24
Speaker 2: instead of the three thousand dollars they were being paid before.
19:27
Speaker 2: And employers are going to be receiving a five thousand
19:30
Speaker 2: dollars like hiring incentive to hire and train more people
19:33
Speaker 2: for these sectors, which kind of exciting, But the bonus
19:38
Speaker 2: was four thousand dollars last year, so it's not much
19:40
Speaker 2: of a step up, And to be honest, it's a
19:42
Speaker 2: big responsibility to take somebody on in an extra thousand dollars.
19:45
Speaker 2: Hopefully isn't the motivation to get them across the line,
19:48
Speaker 2: from my perspective on to bigger and better things. For
19:52
Speaker 2: students and education Beck. The government also announced a new target.
19:57
Speaker 2: They want eighty percent of Australia's working population to have
20:01
Speaker 2: tertiary qualifications by twenty fifty.
20:05
Speaker 4: Okay, that's a.
20:06
Speaker 2: Lot of pressure.
20:07
Speaker 4: It's a lot of pressure. How do they get there?
20:09
Speaker 2: So that's about a twenty percent increase on what is
20:12
Speaker 2: currently happening. And the government basically announced that three point
20:16
Speaker 2: eight billion dollars is going to be spent over the
20:18
Speaker 2: next ten years to achieve this goal. And essentially what
20:21
Speaker 2: they want to do is make TAFE and university courses
20:24
Speaker 2: more accessible, and they want to give TAFE and universities
20:28
Speaker 2: more funding if they provide dedicated support to people with
20:32
Speaker 2: diverse and disadvantaged backgrounds, which I am all for. But
20:37
Speaker 2: I'm also wondering why we are still prioritizing tertiary qualifications.
20:44
Speaker 2: Have we not proven that you don't need a qualification
20:47
Speaker 2: to be successful? Like how does that play into it?
20:51
Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't know, especially in twenty twenty four. Like,
20:54
Speaker 2: don't get me wrong, we still need our nurses and doctors, yes,
20:57
Speaker 2: to go to university, can't just hop into that job.
21:01
Speaker 2: But I feel like there's a lot more value in
21:04
Speaker 2: on the job experience these days, and like, I don't know,
21:07
Speaker 2: I agree, I don't know. But university access the budget
21:11
Speaker 2: includes thirty five million dollars back to boost free bridging courses.
21:16
Speaker 2: So these are prep programs that are planning to provide
21:19
Speaker 2: students with more pathways to university. So as you know,
21:22
Speaker 2: right now, there's like a standard pathway to get into
21:25
Speaker 2: UNI for someone who's just finished year twelve, and then
21:28
Speaker 2: there's like a mature age student access point. But they're
21:31
Speaker 2: now going to invest more in bridging courses which will
21:35
Speaker 2: teach students the basic skills that are required for undergraduate study.
21:39
Speaker 2: So about twenty five thousand students took prep courses in
21:43
Speaker 2: twenty twenty two and the government is trying to increase that.
21:46
Speaker 2: So they're going to roll out a fee free UNI
21:48
Speaker 2: Ready course next year. Cool, okay, yeah, which is kind
21:52
Speaker 2: of cool because I think university study isn't easy, and
21:56
Speaker 2: I think that a lot of people just go to UNI,
21:59
Speaker 2: but it's not in anything like school. If you've been
22:01
Speaker 2: it's very self driven, self motivated, like you've got to
22:05
Speaker 2: actually kind of learn how to study. So I think
22:07
Speaker 2: this is a very good idea because a lot of
22:09
Speaker 2: people would go into university and like fail a few
22:12
Speaker 2: courses or like a couple of semesters because they're just
22:15
Speaker 2: not prepared to do the work. And it's not because
22:18
Speaker 2: they're not motivated, it's because they just don't know how
22:21
Speaker 2: So I think this is a good idea. But also
22:24
Speaker 2: give it to the nurses, you know.
22:27
Speaker 4: Yes, scrape some cream off the top of everything. Give
22:30
Speaker 4: it to them.
22:31
Speaker 2: How about instead of university ready courses, we just don't
22:36
Speaker 2: charge nurses to go to school.
22:38
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's any frontline worker totally.
22:40
Speaker 2: Oh you want to be a paramedic, go ahead, my friend,
22:43
Speaker 2: you don't have to pay for that privilege because you're
22:45
Speaker 2: looking after us.
22:47
Speaker 4: I think you'd be a politician personally.
22:48
Speaker 2: I'm not going to be a politician because I'd be
22:50
Speaker 2: canceled quicker than Pauline Handsome.
22:53
Speaker 4: I don't know.
22:53
Speaker 2: But has she really been canceled because she's still still
22:57
Speaker 2: out and about questionable. Do you want something sexy about education?
23:02
Speaker 4: Yes? Please?
23:03
Speaker 2: Fee free tafe?
23:04
Speaker 4: Oh yeah I like that?
23:05
Speaker 1: Yeah?
23:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, cool? Cool. So we already know that a lot
23:07
Speaker 2: of tape courses are free, but the government's going to
23:10
Speaker 2: fund twenty thousand additional extra fee free tafe places over
23:14
Speaker 2: the next three years, and that's going to cost them
23:16
Speaker 2: about eighty nine million dollars. The other people that I
23:20
Speaker 2: want to talk about who don't get enough credit childcare workers.
23:23
Speaker 2: So the government's also going to put aside some funding
23:27
Speaker 2: to increase wages for childhood education and care workers, which
23:32
Speaker 2: very important, but they don't have the information on that
23:36
Speaker 2: at this point in time. They're like, hey, we'll just
23:38
Speaker 2: get back to you. But they are saying that purely
23:41
Speaker 2: because there's actually a case currently before the Fair Work
23:44
Speaker 2: Commission and they can't give us solid numbers yet. Okay,
23:48
Speaker 2: the fact that there's a case currently before the Fair
23:50
Speaker 2: Work Commission should tell you that they're not being paid
23:52
Speaker 2: properly to begin with. Yes, exactly, So this shouldn't be
23:55
Speaker 2: a little like, oh my god, we're finally budgeting for it.
23:58
Speaker 2: It's like, oh, no, you've got to fix what you
24:00
Speaker 2: best up. Yeah, unacceptable, But I think that that is
24:03
Speaker 2: going to cover our education and students section. Okay, I
24:07
Speaker 2: think it's enough for now. You're like, I'm done here.
24:10
Speaker 2: I'm going to go off you.
24:11
Speaker 4: That is so much information. Let's go to a really
24:13
Speaker 4: quick break and on the flip side, we're.
24:16
Speaker 2: Going to talk about health and housing and my spicy
24:19
Speaker 2: opinion on the fact that women had their own section
24:22
Speaker 2: of the budget. So don't go anywhere, guys.
24:28
Speaker 4: Welcome back everyone, all right, b D, let's jump straight
24:32
Speaker 4: back in. Yeah, let's talk about drugs.
24:33
Speaker 2: Yes, sick, because that's where we're at. We're going to
24:36
Speaker 2: talk about health.
24:37
Speaker 4: Okay, cool topic.
24:39
Speaker 2: Oh my god, I knew it would be. So we
24:42
Speaker 2: already spoke about the medicine freezing, which is sligh. We
24:46
Speaker 2: also spoke about Medicare. So the government has finally given
24:49
Speaker 2: us there's some more details on how they're planning to
24:51
Speaker 2: spend the one point two billion dollars that they planned
24:54
Speaker 2: to spend on strengthening Medicare services. So this was agreed
24:59
Speaker 2: late last year that they would actually increase the Medicare
25:03
Speaker 2: services slay, but they've now announced their plans to increase
25:07
Speaker 2: the number of Medicare urgent clinics. Which I think is
25:10
Speaker 2: really important is that like, that's not that's different to Yes,
25:13
Speaker 2: it's not an emergency department. They are essentially a center
25:16
Speaker 2: that is designed to reduce the burden of hospital emergency departments.
25:20
Speaker 2: So they're kind of like, let's go to the doctor
25:24
Speaker 2: because I broke my arm, Like that's not life threatening,
25:27
Speaker 2: but you could go to an urgent clinic and have
25:30
Speaker 2: that fixed without having to go to an emergency department
25:34
Speaker 2: where you know, someone could be having a catastrophic event. Right, Like,
25:38
Speaker 2: it's going to take the pressure of those emergency departments
25:42
Speaker 2: for real emergencies.
25:44
Speaker 4: Essentially, so much sense to have something between the two,
25:46
Speaker 4: because it's like either you're like you've got a cold
25:49
Speaker 4: or you're about to die, Like there's something in between them.
25:51
Speaker 2: And like, don't get me wrong, lots of people go
25:53
Speaker 2: to the emergency department because they don't have any other options. Yeah,
25:57
Speaker 2: but this will be that middle ground where it's like,
25:59
Speaker 2: you know, you've got to sick kid, and you're like,
26:01
Speaker 2: oh my gosh, what do I do? This feels like
26:02
Speaker 2: an emergency and you want to go to emergent. It'll
26:05
Speaker 2: be that little middle ground. So they're planning on spending
26:08
Speaker 2: two hundred and twenty seven million dollars over the next
26:11
Speaker 2: two years to fund a total of twenty nine new
26:14
Speaker 2: urgent care clinics, including in Regional Australia COOL which very
26:20
Speaker 2: important reproductive health. I feel like we talk about reproductive
26:24
Speaker 2: health all the time in this community and it's finally
26:28
Speaker 2: getting a little bit more attention. Beck. So the government
26:31
Speaker 2: they're going to be investing fifty six million dollars over
26:33
Speaker 2: the next four years to improve women's access to sexual
26:37
Speaker 2: and reproductive health care.
26:38
Speaker 4: Cool.
26:39
Speaker 2: I think that is definitely the bare minimum. Yes, absolutely,
26:43
Speaker 2: because it's yeah, I'll get onto this in a hot second.
26:45
Speaker 2: As to why I started, I have thoughts and feelings.
26:48
Speaker 2: But the other thing that is very cool is free
26:51
Speaker 2: menstrual hygiene products are going to be offered in rural
26:54
Speaker 2: and remote First Nations communities and it's going to cost
26:58
Speaker 2: the government twelve point five million dollars to roll out
27:00
Speaker 2: this game, and I think that is money well spent.
27:03
Speaker 2: And then funding is also being directed towards research around
27:07
Speaker 2: miscarriages and sexual and reproductive health, and that's gonna include
27:11
Speaker 2: I don't think this is a lot, but seven million
27:14
Speaker 2: dollars on miscarriage education and awareness and for women and
27:17
Speaker 2: families impacted by stilbirth and miscarriages. Now, seven million dollars
27:22
Speaker 2: is a lot of money, but in the government world,
27:26
Speaker 2: that is not a lot of money to roll out
27:28
Speaker 2: those schemes. And I just wonder if you're prioritizing that
27:33
Speaker 2: how far is seven million dollars is going to go?
27:35
Speaker 4: Yeah, sure, yeah, just because it's like maybe it's like
27:39
Speaker 4: the equivalent of seventy dollars in my world.
27:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's not a lot of s. And please don't
27:46
Speaker 2: get me wrong, there are a lot of things that
27:49
Speaker 2: are very very important to prioritize. But I think that
27:54
Speaker 2: miscarriage awareness and you know, talking about stillbirth is really
27:59
Speaker 2: really important. And seven million dollars just doesn't feel like
28:02
Speaker 2: it's gonna, you know, cut the mustard.
28:04
Speaker 4: It's just not a nus cut the mustard.
28:07
Speaker 2: I like that cup mustard. Is that a word? Sounds
28:09
Speaker 2: start a phrase? It is cup mustard?
28:11
Speaker 3: All right?
28:11
Speaker 2: COVID do you want to talk about COVID? Sure you're
28:13
Speaker 2: not over COVID, are you?
28:15
Speaker 1: No?
28:15
Speaker 4: Not yet?
28:16
Speaker 2: Going on five years back?
28:18
Speaker 4: My good is for some reason, I thought it was
28:19
Speaker 4: like two years ago.
28:20
Speaker 2: I know, it feels like five minutes ago. But it
28:22
Speaker 2: was called COVID nineteen because it happened in twenty nineteen
28:25
Speaker 2: and it's now twenty twenty four, isn't that what? Yeah,
28:28
Speaker 2: government's going to spend four hundred and ninety million dollars
28:32
Speaker 2: over the next four years to continue its National COVID
28:35
Speaker 2: nineteen vaccine program. About three hundred and thirty six million
28:38
Speaker 2: dollars is going to go towards delivering more PCR testing.
28:42
Speaker 2: I think that's important. Aged care, let's talk about that.
28:44
Speaker 2: The government is going to continue to invest two point
28:47
Speaker 2: two billion dollars in response to the recent Royal Commission
28:51
Speaker 2: into Aged Care Quality and Safety, which very important. More
28:56
Speaker 2: than half of this will be used to improve digital
28:59
Speaker 2: systems in the aged care sector because that is a
29:01
Speaker 2: massive stumbling block. Funding has also been set aside for
29:05
Speaker 2: an expected wage increase for aged care workers, so I
29:08
Speaker 2: think that's really really important. And then the last thing
29:12
Speaker 2: that came up in the budget that I think is
29:13
Speaker 2: of note is HIV. So over the next three years
29:17
Speaker 2: to support HIV care and treatment in Australia, forty four
29:20
Speaker 2: million dollars has been allocated, so most of it is
29:23
Speaker 2: going to be used on HIV prevention medication for those
29:26
Speaker 2: who don't have access to Medicare, which I think is
29:29
Speaker 2: really important.
29:30
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's really nice. Yeah, he's not a batble.
29:34
Speaker 2: It's not bad that.
29:35
Speaker 4: I haven't heard about yet the people that don't have medicare,
29:37
Speaker 4: you know what I mean. So I'm glad to hear
29:38
Speaker 4: that someone's thinking, yeah, I think it's really important. I
29:41
Speaker 4: also want to touch on here. I guess women's safety
29:44
Speaker 4: was definitely prioritized. So we'll segue into women now because
29:48
Speaker 4: we're talking about health, and in the budget last night,
29:52
Speaker 4: you know, information about prostate cancer came up, and then
29:55
Speaker 4: we obviously heard, you know a bit about reproductive health,
29:58
Speaker 4: but that was put under the bracket of women. Women
30:01
Speaker 4: have also been I guess segregated out and I think
30:04
Speaker 4: this is so important. So please don't get me wrong
30:06
Speaker 4: when we're talking about this, because you might go, oh,
30:09
Speaker 4: V you don't think women should have their own section
30:11
Speaker 4: in the budget.
30:12
Speaker 2: I do, and I don't. So Leaving violence was a
30:16
Speaker 2: topic that was discussed last night. Earlier this month, we
30:19
Speaker 2: know that our Prime Minister pledged nine hundred and twenty
30:23
Speaker 2: five million dollars to establish the Leaving Violence Program, which
30:27
Speaker 2: is genius. It followed a crisis meeting between the PM
30:30
Speaker 2: and state and territory leaders, which if you're on social
30:34
Speaker 2: media you would have seen people begging for this to happen.
30:37
Speaker 2: This has been something that I think took way too
30:41
Speaker 2: long for them to introduce. They announced that eligible participants
30:45
Speaker 2: will receive up to five thousand dollars in financial support
30:49
Speaker 2: to leave domestically violent relationships. And the program is also
30:53
Speaker 2: going to include support and planning services. And they're making
30:57
Speaker 2: a national plan essentially to support women. Say why this
31:01
Speaker 2: didn't happen earlier? Trying not to go off topic too much,
31:06
Speaker 2: But it's part of a ten year plan to end
31:08
Speaker 2: violence against women and children. So the plan for this
31:11
Speaker 2: was launched in twenty twenty two after the plan that
31:14
Speaker 2: was introduced in twenty ten failed to meet its goal. Okay,
31:17
Speaker 2: so last time we failed. And one of the key
31:20
Speaker 2: targets is to reduce the number of gender based violent
31:23
Speaker 2: deaths by twenty five percent.
31:25
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's good. Yeah, I mean how about one hundred percent?
31:29
Speaker 2: Like a hundred percent would feel right?
31:32
Speaker 4: Yeah? I feel like that's so funny. I mean I
31:34
Speaker 4: don't know, I don't understand any of it. But I'm like, why, hm,
31:37
Speaker 4: why just a quarter of the amount of women.
31:40
Speaker 2: That Why do we only care about a quarter?
31:43
Speaker 1: Yeah?
31:43
Speaker 4: And like, don't get me wrong, like I obviously don't
31:45
Speaker 4: know much about this stuff. Get I get that's right.
31:47
Speaker 2: I get that we're never going to be able to
31:49
Speaker 2: prevent one hundred percent right, like, and this isn't a
31:53
Speaker 2: conversation for now. We can't prevent one hundred percent, but like,
31:56
Speaker 2: I would have liked to see them try a little
31:59
Speaker 2: bit harder than twenty five percent. And I feel like
32:02
Speaker 2: we should be advocating for reducing one hundred percent. I
32:07
Speaker 2: know that we won't get there, and that goal is
32:10
Speaker 2: honestly unachievable. Perfect world it would be, but it is unachievable.
32:15
Speaker 2: But twenty five percent, it's like that just feels uninspiring,
32:18
Speaker 2: Like it just feels like anyway, moving on, the government's
32:22
Speaker 2: going to continue with their thirty five billion dollar five
32:26
Speaker 2: year investment to fund welfare payments for eligible single parents
32:29
Speaker 2: with children up to fourteen years old, that's under women.
32:35
Speaker 2: It's also going to progress a two hundred and fifty
32:38
Speaker 2: three million dollar four year program to boost funding for
32:41
Speaker 2: one hundred respect So I think that that is very,
32:44
Speaker 2: very important. They are the National Domestic Family and Sexual
32:48
Speaker 2: Violence Support Service, which we recommend on the podcast all
32:51
Speaker 2: the time when it comes to women's safety. Housing was discussed,
32:57
Speaker 2: so almost thirty two million dollars is going to be
32:59
Speaker 2: spent on an assistance package to support low income earning renters.
33:04
Speaker 2: So just over half of Australians who receive rental assistants
33:07
Speaker 2: are actually single women, and accommodation for women and children
33:11
Speaker 2: fleeing domestic and family violence will be built in as
33:14
Speaker 2: a part of the government's tenant billion dollar Housing Australia
33:18
Speaker 2: Future Fund. Cool important, I think, really important. But I
33:23
Speaker 2: was saying off air before we got here. I get
33:26
Speaker 2: so frustrated that we talk about women in their own category. Like,
33:32
Speaker 2: you know, we're talking about housing, and we're talking about
33:35
Speaker 2: students and mental health, and all of those things are categories.
33:39
Speaker 2: But somehow women becomes a category, but men doesn't. So
33:43
Speaker 2: their health and their discussions get lumped into health. But
33:46
Speaker 2: women somehow are put outside of that bracket and put
33:51
Speaker 2: outside of you know, the conversation about health, reproductive health,
33:57
Speaker 2: our lives in demetriosis. Why is that not just under
34:01
Speaker 2: health and as important as prostate cancer? Like, please, don't
34:04
Speaker 2: get me wrong, Like all of these things are important,
34:07
Speaker 2: but I don't think women should be a sub section
34:10
Speaker 2: of a budget.
34:11
Speaker 4: That's true, it's like the default, the average the norm
34:14
Speaker 4: is Yeah, like.
34:14
Speaker 2: By having a heading, yes, you're saying that we need
34:18
Speaker 2: to prioritize women more, But why don't we just do
34:21
Speaker 2: that as a default under health. Why don't we just
34:25
Speaker 2: do that under a default of safety. Why don't we
34:29
Speaker 2: do that under a default of mental health? Or students
34:32
Speaker 2: like I don't understand, especially if we're not going to
34:36
Speaker 2: call out men, why are we're calling out women? And
34:39
Speaker 2: demetriosis and reproductive health is a health issue, not just
34:42
Speaker 2: a women's issue. Yeah, reproductive health services better our entire world,
34:47
Speaker 2: not just the world for women.
34:49
Speaker 4: Exactly. Without it, exactly, we may cease to exist. Does
34:54
Speaker 4: this feel like a kind of like a box ticking,
34:57
Speaker 4: like a political sort.
34:58
Speaker 2: Of exercise, I mean yes and no, Like I feel like, yes, absolutely,
35:04
Speaker 2: people are going to use women and supporting women as
35:07
Speaker 2: a marketing campaign to get our votes, because you'll get
35:10
Speaker 2: my vote, like one hundred percent. I'm not saying that
35:13
Speaker 2: I don't support it. I unequivocally support it. However, it
35:17
Speaker 2: does feel a bit like they're trying to use this
35:19
Speaker 2: as leverage when in reality we aren't asking for more
35:24
Speaker 2: than men get. We are asking for equal. If men
35:28
Speaker 2: experienced endometriosis, it would have been studied, it would have
35:33
Speaker 2: been valued, it would have been a problem that we
35:36
Speaker 2: solved years ago. But it's not so it just to
35:40
Speaker 2: me it's insane that we're not prioritizing.
35:42
Speaker 4: No, it's like we're a different species. It's like we're
35:46
Speaker 4: a different I don't know, like it just kind of
35:47
Speaker 4: feels a bit alien that.
35:49
Speaker 2: They are acting like we are some kind of sub
35:51
Speaker 2: section to society and we're not a sub section. We
35:54
Speaker 2: are the main headline, bab Mike drop. But let's move
35:59
Speaker 2: on to other topics I want to talk about when
36:01
Speaker 2: it comes to the budget. First things first, to our
36:03
Speaker 2: First Nations communities. They need a lot more support, and
36:07
Speaker 2: obviously closing the gap was a very big topic that
36:11
Speaker 2: we talked about in the budget last night. The government
36:13
Speaker 2: is spending two point four billion dollars over the next
36:16
Speaker 2: five years to support First Nations communities, some of which
36:20
Speaker 2: is going towards the closing the gap targets. So right
36:24
Speaker 2: now there are seventeen targets to close the gap between
36:27
Speaker 2: First Nations people and non Indigenous Australians, which include supporting
36:31
Speaker 2: things around health and education and jobs, as well as
36:35
Speaker 2: initiatives that have the plan to reduce the rate of
36:38
Speaker 2: First Nations people in prison, which is very very important.
36:43
Speaker 2: Let's just call out here though that the government is
36:46
Speaker 2: not on track to meet these targets right now. Ah okay, well,
36:52
Speaker 2: which you said, so nice that you're planning all of
36:54
Speaker 2: that and you will continue to do that because that
36:57
Speaker 2: is really bloody important. Yes, but you're not on tra
37:00
Speaker 2: right now. So where is the readjusted budget to get
37:03
Speaker 2: you back on track? Didn't see that interesting point. The
37:07
Speaker 2: next is Northern Territory housing. So the federal and Northern
37:10
Speaker 2: Territory governments have announced a four billion dollar fund to
37:15
Speaker 2: build new homes to address overcrowding in the Northern Territory.
37:19
Speaker 2: They are planning on building two hundred and seventy homes
37:22
Speaker 2: a year every year for the next ten years, and
37:24
Speaker 2: some of that funding has been allocated to urgent repairs
37:27
Speaker 2: on existing homes. Ye cool, Smart digital hubs are going
37:32
Speaker 2: to be established, So the government said that they are
37:34
Speaker 2: going to allocate sixty eight million dollars to connect First
37:38
Speaker 2: Nations communities to Wi Fi, which a lot of us
37:42
Speaker 2: probably just take as a privilege and take for granted,
37:44
Speaker 2: but it is something that a lot of remote specifically
37:48
Speaker 2: remote communities don't have access to. And this rollout is
37:51
Speaker 2: going to include digital hubs to develop online safety and
37:54
Speaker 2: digital literacy. Skills within remote communities. Also call out here
37:59
Speaker 2: if you know someone who can help me, help them
38:02
Speaker 2: get more financial literacy. Call me bad Yeah, I mean
38:06
Speaker 2: call me, call me. I want to be involved. I'll
38:08
Speaker 2: do it for free, Like I will do it for free.
38:11
Speaker 2: Let me be involved. And then jobs. The government is
38:14
Speaker 2: developing a remote jobs program to employ an additional three
38:17
Speaker 2: thousand people in regional communities. The program's going to cost
38:21
Speaker 2: seven hundred and seventy seven million dollars over the next
38:24
Speaker 2: five years. Seven hundred and seventy seven. That's an angel number,
38:28
Speaker 2: So I'm hoping that that light goes really really well.
38:31
Speaker 2: Omen The jail to Job program very important. The government's
38:34
Speaker 2: announced seventy six million dollars for a program to be
38:38
Speaker 2: set up to help First Nations people transition into employment
38:42
Speaker 2: after serving time in prison. Important, really important, because that
38:47
Speaker 2: transition is often really rocky and means that a lot
38:50
Speaker 2: of First Nations people end up back behind bars because
38:53
Speaker 2: they don't have the right integration tool. So it's a
38:57
Speaker 2: volunteer program that's going to connect people with the services
39:01
Speaker 2: after their release. Really really important. Yes, And the last
39:04
Speaker 2: thing that's really important under the First Nations heading is health.
39:09
Speaker 2: Their health is significantly worse than non Indigenous Australians, and
39:15
Speaker 2: it's good to see that the budget has included twelve
39:18
Speaker 2: point five million dollars to provide First Nations women in
39:21
Speaker 2: remote communities with access to free period products. We discussed
39:26
Speaker 2: that before, but I think that it's the bare minimum.
39:29
Speaker 4: Yeah, I completely agree, and you know, I think it's
39:31
Speaker 4: a good start, but we've got heaps to go.
39:33
Speaker 2: I agree. Last topic that I'm going to discuss with
39:36
Speaker 2: you today is Disability Support so NDIS. The NDIS it
39:42
Speaker 2: was actually launched only in twenty thirteen, which I feel
39:45
Speaker 2: like it's been around for a really long time. But
39:47
Speaker 2: maybe that's because I assumed that we cared more about
39:51
Speaker 2: our community, true than we do anyway. NDIS was launched
39:55
Speaker 2: in twenty thirteen to provide financial support to eligible people
39:59
Speaker 2: with a disability. A review of that scheme was actually
40:02
Speaker 2: launched in twenty twenty two and a final report was
40:06
Speaker 2: handed down in December to identify a heap of flaws
40:09
Speaker 2: in the system which we knew existed, including concern over
40:13
Speaker 2: the quality of care that was being provided to NDIS recipients.
40:19
Speaker 2: So in response to this last night, the government announced
40:23
Speaker 2: that they are going to increase NDIS funding by one
40:26
Speaker 2: hundred and thirty million dollars. The federal government also introduced
40:31
Speaker 2: legislation to improve the NDIS back in March, and its
40:35
Speaker 2: proposal it's still before Parliament so it hasn't passed yet,
40:39
Speaker 2: hoping it does, and an NDIS committee and working group
40:43
Speaker 2: is going to be established to oversee all of this
40:46
Speaker 2: because right now there's not a lot of ownership over
40:49
Speaker 2: the process. So if we're going to send one hundred
40:52
Speaker 2: and thirty million dollars here to make sure that the
40:55
Speaker 2: care being provided to NDIS recipients is actually happening, there's
40:59
Speaker 2: going to be a working committee for that. Okay, more funding, Sexy,
41:04
Speaker 2: About one hundred and sixty one million dollars is going
41:07
Speaker 2: to be spent over the next four years to upgrade
41:09
Speaker 2: the NDIS technology, So like all of their IT systems,
41:13
Speaker 2: obviously that's really important, but the funding is actually aimed
41:17
Speaker 2: at better protecting the safety of NDIS participants from cybersecurity
41:21
Speaker 2: threats and reducing regulatory burden on NDIS providers.
41:26
Speaker 4: Okay, Okay, I like this.
41:29
Speaker 2: Next one a lot. I feel like it is not
41:31
Speaker 2: just about employment, but it's also about quality of life.
41:34
Speaker 2: The government has announced a two hundred and twenty eight
41:37
Speaker 2: million dollar plan for a new specialist Disability Employment service.
41:43
Speaker 2: So this is going to replace the existing Disability Employment
41:46
Speaker 2: Services program next year. So in July next year they're
41:49
Speaker 2: going to do that and the new program is going
41:51
Speaker 2: to be designed to increase the flexibility of support services
41:55
Speaker 2: to meet individual needs because at the moment it's a
41:57
Speaker 2: little bit too niche, like a lot of people aren't
42:00
Speaker 2: actually able to engage in that just doesn't work for them.
42:03
Speaker 2: And leaving on a bang Royal Commission. That's a big
42:07
Speaker 2: word or it's a big praise.
42:08
Speaker 4: It isn't pose never know what this means, but it's
42:11
Speaker 4: a scary.
42:11
Speaker 2: Term, right Yeah, Like you hear Royal Commission, you're like,
42:14
Speaker 2: that's big, big dog. That must be a very big inquiry.
42:17
Speaker 4: It's the biggest of the commission.
42:19
Speaker 2: So frustratingly, the budget didn't offer any real detail in
42:22
Speaker 2: response to the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and
42:26
Speaker 2: Exploitation of People with Disability. Okay, I was really disappointed
42:31
Speaker 2: with that. The Royal Commission released its final report last
42:34
Speaker 2: year in September, which included a total of two hundred
42:38
Speaker 2: and twenty two recommendations to make Australia safer and more
42:42
Speaker 2: inclusive for people who have disabilities, and I'm a bit
42:46
Speaker 2: disappointed to see that none of that was discussed last
42:49
Speaker 2: night because budgets should have been allocated towards it. So
42:53
Speaker 2: that was a bit disappointing. But we are expecting the
42:57
Speaker 2: federal government to issue a formal response in the middle
43:00
Speaker 2: of this year. But I really think it should have
43:02
Speaker 2: come up in the budget. Yeah, so I guess that's
43:05
Speaker 2: leaving it on the low, But overall, do I like
43:07
Speaker 2: what the budget has provided for us com se COMPSA.
43:11
Speaker 4: Okay, okay, no one mentioned dental, which I'm actually shocked
43:14
Speaker 4: and appalled still to this day that dental's not covered.
43:16
Speaker 4: But anyway, as a story for another.
43:17
Speaker 2: Time, I agree. Actually, like I didn't expect you to
43:20
Speaker 2: say that in that moment, so I'm a bit like,
43:22
Speaker 2: hold up, that is so true, but like, dental health
43:26
Speaker 2: is so innominantly expensive, but it impacts every other aspect
43:31
Speaker 2: of life totally. I've been living in pain, baby girl.
43:34
Speaker 2: The wisdoms can't come out till I have two three
43:36
Speaker 2: thousand dollars. That's insane and have that kind of money anyway,
43:39
Speaker 2: that's you know, maybe one day that'll happen. Oh my god. See,
43:42
Speaker 2: we will take this conversation off of you because we
43:44
Speaker 2: have really blown out the budget on time when it
43:47
Speaker 2: comes to talking about the budget. But as always, we
43:51
Speaker 2: would love it if you joined the conversation over on
43:53
Speaker 2: our Facebook group. We're obviously on Instagram you can blind
43:56
Speaker 2: us everywhere. So guys, we will see you on Friday
43:59
Speaker 2: for a little bit of a recap of our week.
44:01
Speaker 2: But till then, have a great week and thanks for
44:03
Speaker 2: listening to our budget combo.
44:05
Speaker 4: Bye guys.
44:13
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