Anglicare WA responds to the Federal Budget: a budget without a vision

Anglicare WA CEO Mark Glasson appeared on ABC Radio Perth with Gary Adshead and WA Mornings with Nadia Mitsopoulos to discuss the Federal Budget, what it means for Australians, and what needs to happen next. 

While the Federal Budget offered something modest for everyone, such as energy rebates and tax cuts, it lacked a long-term vision to help people who need it most, such as people surviving on JobSeeker which is significantly insufficient, contributing to persistent poverty for many Australians. 

Mr Glasson stated to Mr Adshead, “There are things in [the budget] such as reducing student debt, expanding Medicare, the PBS, the urgent care clinics—all of those things are good things and we need to celebrate those, but the critical structural issue we have around cost of living has just been waived through and that is disappointing.” 

In particular, the lack of targeted relief and no increases to JobSeeker means our most vulnerable Australians are being left behind.  The Opposition’s response to the Federal Budget with the offer of a fuel excise instead of tax cuts is no more promising. 

Speaking with Ms Mitsopoulos, Mr Glasson said that we needed to expect more from both parties as “we’re in a bidding war [for votes] and none of it is addressing the issue.” 

 “We need genuine discussions about how we’re going to fund the world that we want, and no one wants to have that discussion.  They just want to buy us with trinkets.” 

“I think that we need to look after the most vulnerable, so we’ve got to make a commitment to JobSeeker and people on government support payments.  We’ve got to recognise that those people are contributors to our community and have the same rights as everyone else.” 

Mr Glasson also advocated reforming tax systems to provide greater housing investment, and better protections for renters.   

To learn more about Anglicare WA’s federal election priorities for affordable cost of living, please click here.