2019 Federal Budget – Leaving struggling families and children behind

This week, the Federal Government demonstrated a disturbing lack of commitment to struggling Australian families and children. We are deeply concerned by the Federal Government’s lack of vision for how it will support Australian children, young people and families experiencing disadvantage.

Despite growing calls from all sides of politics, the Government has again stayed silent on raising Newstart and Youth Allowance.

Instead
of ensuring that individuals with a disability are supported to access the National
Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), the Government has taken $1.6 billion from
the NDIS in an attempt to return the budget to surplus sooner.

At
a time when unprecedented numbers of children are entering out-of-home care, we
are disappointed that the Government has not invested sufficiently in
prevention and early intervention initiatives to help families that are
struggling to stay together.

What’s the big picture?

We
welcome several initiatives, including:

• $528
  million to fund a Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and
  Exploitation of People with a Disability
• $328
  million for women and children fleeing family violence and;
• $263.3
  million to improve access to youth mental health services across the national
  headspace network

What’s needed?

We
believe that the Government is not doing enough to stop the cycle of social
disadvantage. We want a new Government to commit significant funding, in
partnership with the states and territories, to adequately and consistently
fund early intervention and prevention services that are proven to be effective
in keeping families together.

We
are disappointed that there is still inadequate funding provided to social and
public housing initiatives and that there is no increase to Commonwealth Rental
Assistance.

Having
a safe and secure place to call home is the first step to achieving stability
and enabling independence.  

Of
particular concern is the Government’s decision to expand the use of cashless
debit cards. This program unfairly targets First Nation communities, and is out
of step with the body of evidence that highlights that cashless debit cards
have little to no impact on improving outcomes for vulnerable communities.

All
in all, this week’s budget shows that the Government is out of step with the
expectations of a community that wants to see a strong safety net for all
individuals and families experiencing hardship.

In
the lead up to the federal election, we call on our next government to
prioritise children and families by ensuring that their needs are factored into
government decision making.

What are the nuts and bolts?

Overall, the budget forecasts a $4.2 billion deficit this
year, before a $7.2 billion surplus by 2019-2020. Specific measures announced in
the 2019 Federal Budget included:

Disability:
    

• Funding
  to support the work of the Royal
  Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with
  Disability – $527.9 million over the four years from 2022-2023

Tax:

• Person Income Tax Plan – immediate tax relief for
  low and middle income earners of up to $1,080 for singles or up to $2160 for
  dual income families. The Government’s seven-year tax plan will reduce revenue
  by $158 billion
• Expanding
  access to the instant asset write-off for small and medium sized businesses

Family
Violence:

• $328 million for women and children fleeing family violence over four years. Funding includes: $64 million to support the 1800RESPECT hotline; $75 million to provide emergency accommodation for women and their children escaping domestic and family violence; $110 million to improve a range of domestic and family violence support services; $35 million to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people affected by violence, including women and children in remote areas; $7 million to expand the Recognise, Respond and Refer pilot program for referral

• Family Advocacy and Support
  Services –
  $7.8 million over three years to employ dedicated men’s socials support workers
  in FASS locations to work with male victims and alleged perpetrators of family
  violence involved in family law matters

Preventing
and Responding to Child Sexual Abuse:

• National museum and
  memorial for Victims and Survivors of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse – $2.5 million in 2019-2020
  for 1) stakeholder consultation on potential options and formation of a
  national museum or memorial for victims and survivors of institutional child
  sexual abuse; and 2) to undertake preparatory work for a national orphanages
  museum, including engagement with states and territories on funding
  arrangements

• National Public Register of
  Child Sex Offenders
  – $7.8 million over 4 years from 2019-2020 to the Australian Criminal
  Intelligence Commission to establish and host a publicly available National
  Public Register of Child Sex Offenders

Mental
Health:

• $43.9
  million over seven years from 2018-19 for a new Perinatal Mental Health and Wellbeing Program to support the mental
  health of expectant and new parents by improving access to mental health
  support and treatment services and increasing community awareness of the mental
  health issues experienced by parents

• $109.7
  million to extend the Early Youth
  Psychosis Services program for an additional two years from 2019-2020
  (previously announced)

• $263.3
  million over seven years from 2018-2019 to improve access to youth mental
  health services across the national
  headspace network

Welfare:

• Introduction
  of new data matching technology to prevent over payments for working income
  support recipients

• Energy Assistance Payment – small one-off payment of
  up to $125 for low income households to help with their rising energy bills.
  Costs a total of $284.4 million over two years, this will automatically be paid
  to all pensioners and carers (pending passage of legislation)

• Extension of the Cashless
  Debit Card –
  additional funding of $128 million will see a further 22,500 people transition
  onto the card