The rising cost of living has had a huge impact on most families, adding plenty of pressures in day-to-day life. Kylea Tink, North Sydney’s Independent Federal MP, shares what she’s looking at the Government to deliver to help in the upcoming Federal Budget on 14 May.
It has been a tough year for many Australian families, with inflation pushing the costs of housing, groceries, education, energy and more through the roof.
As North Sydney’s Independent Federal MP, I’ve been pushing hard for the government to help take the pressure off household budgets with its upcoming Federal Budget.
Here’s what I’m looking to the Government to deliver on 14 May:
1. Cheaper, more accessible childcare
Every child has a right to education, but for many families across Australia and particularly on the north shore, early childhood education is simply too costly to make financial sense. Despite the government’s cheaper childcare package and the recent increase in the award rate for aged-care workers, local families on an average household income are paying $23,000 per year to put one child in day care five days a week.
These costs are preventing parents—most often mothers—from working when they would like to; deterring families, in some instances, from having more children; placing an expensive burden on older members of the family as they step in to help with care; and, perhaps worst of all, leading to missed opportunities for children to benefit from early education.
The Federal Government must urgently act to deliver cheaper, more accessible childcare for all. To that end, I have been advocating for the abolition of the Activity Test and for the government to address the scarcity of childcare workers (and therefore the number of childcare places available) by ensuring early educators are also paid appropriately for their skilled and valuable work.
Care and support should be a public service – not an economy. I am calling on the Government to deliver a more people-centred approach to childcare, which will benefit families and our economy in the long run.
2. Revise HECS/HELP University Student Loans
Early last year, my North Sydney Electorate Office heard from a number of young Australians who, due to record high levels of inflation, simply couldn’t see themselves ever being able to pay off their student loans.
The way Australia has been indexing HECS/HELP debt is flawed. I have had a number of conversations with Education Minister Jason Clare about this over the past year, and am pleased the Government now plans to change the way HECS debts are indexed, and to retrospectively apply these changes — essentially forgiving $3 billion in student debt that resulted from last year’s record indexation. However there is still much to do here including getting the Government to change the date that the HECS indexation is applied and ensuring the “cost” of degrees is fair.
Tertiary education is an investment in our future. I will be reviewing this month’s Budget documents to ensure this HECS reform is appropriately funded, and that we are establishing a system that can sustainably support greater productivity and community prosperity for future generations.
3. Invest more to reduce Domestic Violence & support women
We’re barely a third of the way through this year, and already, thirty-five women have been killed by men’s violence. Australia faces a domestic violence crisis and the Government simply hasn’t done enough to effectively end violence against women.
Following its recent National Cabinet Meeting, the Federal Government has allocated $925 million over 5 years to permanently fund a program that had previously only been in the pilot phase to help women and their children leave dangerous situations, but the reality is, this is just a sliver of what is really required to support the frontline services that support women and children fleeing violence.
Women’s rights are human rights, and we must do better to ensure a better world for our community and our kids. I will continue to look for both short- and long-term responses to the domestic violence crisis in this year’s Federal Budget, including: more funding for Mary’s House and Women and Children First; and a more holistic approach to putting an end to violence against women in the long term, including by working with the states on stronger bail laws and the Staying Home Leaving Violence program.
4. Boost Centrelink payments
More than 3.3 million Australians are currently living below the poverty line, with sole parent families, women and people with disability all experiencing poverty at above average levels. In the face of today’s cost-of-living crisis, we simply aren’t doing enough to support people in need.
Data shows that almost 3 in 4 Centrelink recipients are eating less or skipping meals due to increasing costs of living, and 3 in 5 are unable to afford the medicine or medical care they need.
I have asked the Government to consider increasing social services payments including the Aged Care Pension, unemployment and parenting payments. Ultimately, the system that should be helping these people to get through tough times and supporting them to find suitable employment is broken, and the Government has a very real opportunity to address this in the 2024-25 Budget.
5. Fairer corporate taxation
The Government’s challenge this month will be to deliver a balanced budget — one that meets the needs and ambitions of Australian citizens without putting the nation too far in debt. Often, we are told that we “can’t afford” the progress we want to see. But there certainly are ways for the upcoming Federal Budget to deliver both the support and services Australians need, as well as a stronger, fairer, more future-proof economy.
Believe it or not, the Australian Government currently collects more money from students through HECS than from multinational fossil fuel companies through the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT).
This Federal Budget is an opportunity for us all to look more closely at Australian Government revenue, and kick off a much bigger conversation about whether we are taxing individual Australians and large, highly profitable multinationals, fairly.
If you’d like to know more about the 2024-25 Federal Budget and what it means for North Sydney households, please join Kylea and her team for a post-Budget briefing 6:30pm Tuesday 21 May at Willoughby Bowling Club. Register here.
🖇 This sponsored post is brought to you by Kylea Tink Independent Federal Member for North Sydney. North Shore Mums does not have any political affiliations.
🖇 Authorised by Kylea Tink. Level 10, 2 Elizabeth Plaza, North Sydney NSW 2060.
