Scott Morrison says he and Josh Frydenberg have “done their homework”, and will present a budget that will ease cost-of-living burdens on Australian families.
With an election due to be called at any moment following Tuesday’s budget, the government is under pressure to throw everything they can to ensure all Australians benefit from the suite of packages.
Both the Prime Minister and the Treasurer spent Sunday morning emphasising their understanding about the biggest issues being faced by Australians at the moment – ballooning petrol prices, rising inflation rates, and the mounting cost of living.
Mr Morrison said his government had “done the homework” and would present a budget that would help Australians.
“Because of what we’re seeing in Ukraine and the impacts on fuel prices, we know this is biting and we’ve done the homework and spent the time to get the right design on the packages to support Australians right now,” he said from Perth.
“We have got a cost of living package which works right across the Australian community, and the Treasurer will be outlining that on Tuesday night.”
Mr Frydenberg has remained tight lipped on just how the government will ease cost of living pressures, but has said it will be “temporary and targeted”.
“It will be focused on helping Australian families,” Mr Frydenberg said on Sunday.
“Petrol prices have been rising off the back of international events, and we recognise the need to provide cost of living relief to Australian families.”
It’s understood the government will unveil a temporary reduction of the petrol excise, which currently sits at 44.2 cents per litre.
The government has ruled out freezing the indexation.
Mr Frydenberg said additional cost-of-living measures will need to be balanced against the risk of rising interest rates and inflation.
“It’s all about getting the balancing act right,” Mr Frydenberg said.
Cash handouts and the extension of the Low and Middle Income Tax Offset are on the table, as are one-off cash payments to pensioners and other welfare recipients.
Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers told ABC Insiders that the budget needed to deliver on getting Australian families through “difficult times”, and not just be a path to winning the May election.
“It should be a budget that secures a better future for Australians … We don’t want this budget to be the political equivalent of spakfilla,” Mr Chalmers said.
Mr Chalmers said ahead of Labor’s budget reply on Thursday, he would be looking closely at whether there is “genuine cost of living relief” unveiled by Mr Frydenberg.
“If it’s responsible, we try and be constructive about it. But no amount of money sprayed around on the eve of an election will make Australians forget a decade of attacks on wages and job security,” he said.
“ … We need to recognise that cost of living pressures are right across the board.”
Mr Chalmers has said he would deliver a budget of his own later this year if Labor wins at the polls.
Labor is expected to announce at least one major policy when they deliver their reply on Thursday, but will save the remainder of their announcements for the election campaign.
“Our guiding light will be the quality of our spending,” Mr Charmers said.
“We’re looking for maximum community benefit and economic benefit (as opposed to) the government looking for maximum political benefit.”
New program targets older Aussies with a disability
Small businesses who employ senior Australians with a disability will be eligible for $10,000 under a new program to be unveiled in Tuesday’s budget.
The latest iteration of the ReStart program will cost the government an estimated $44m to help get Australians over the age of 50 living with a disability get into work.
Mr Frydenberg says it’s one of a “series of initiatives” to be unveiled in the Morrison government’s pre-election budget this Tuesday that will support small businesses and help drive Australia’s unemployment rate even lower.
“(ReStart) is important because these workers with a disability, as seniors, are very valuable members of our workforce,” Mr Frydenberg told Sky News on Sunday.
“And businesses are incentivised to take them on.”
The government has previously put money behind the ReStart program toxjmtzyw get senior Australians in work, but Mr Frydenberg is re-leading the push as the government seeks to get the unemployment rate down to less than four per cent.
Mr Morrison also unveiled on Sunday a$365m plan to extend support to an extra 35,000 apprentices and trainees to get into a job.
“These programs deliver certainty for businesses so they can go and hire another apprentice chef, another apprentice hairdresser, another apprentice plumber,” Mr Morrison said.
“It is about getting Australians skilled and into jobs straight away.”
