It's all about the choices you make - - The Australian Independent Media Network

It's all about the choices you make - - The Australian Independent Media Network

It’s all about the choices you make

• June 14, 2014
  
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  Written by:
  Kaye Lee
  

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  Category: Politics
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  permalink
  
  
  
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  Tagged under:
  
  
  budget cuts, Coalition spending, featured, paid parental leave, RBA gift, school chaplaincy program
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  Kaye Lee
  

The excuse for the draconian cuts made by Abbott and Hockey is
that there is a budget emergency and a debt crisis.  I in no way concur
with this appraisal of our economy or our future outlook but, that
aside, as those of us who are not independently wealthy know, if you
have limited funds then prioritising expenditure is most important.  The
following article is to give you some perspective on how our money
could be better spent.


In a display of largesse, Tony Abbott chose to gift $16 million to
the profitable Cadburys factory, $10 million to his beloved Manly Sea
Eagles, and $5 million to Rupert Murdoch’s Brisbane Broncos.  This money
could have paid for:

• The Climate Change Authority which was allocated $6.2 million in the 2012-13 financial year
• The National Preventative Health Agency which will be abolished, saving $6.4 million over five years.
• The Alcohol and Other Drugs Council of Australia which has an annual budget of $1.6 million from the federal Health Department.
• The Advisory Panel on Positive Ageing which is to be scrapped – at a saving of just over $1 million a year.
• The Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA) despite allocating $140,000 just two weeks ago in its 2014-15 Budget.
• The Government will achieve savings of $6.4 million over four years by ending the Get Reading! Programme
• The Government will achieve savings of $4.4 million in 2014-15 by
  ceasing funding for Building Australia’s Future Workforce — Connection
  Interviews and Job Seeker Workshops
• The Government will achieve savings of $3.9 million over two years
  from 1 July 2014 by ceasing funding for the Experience+ Career Advice
  initiative

Joe Hockey’s $8.8 billion gift to the Reserve Bank of Australia could have funded:

• Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS)
  co-payments and safety net thresholds which will increase by $5 (from
  $37.70 to $42.70) and for concessional patients by 80 cents (to $6.90)
  in 2015. PBS safety net thresholds will the increase by 10 per cent
  annually. The saving is $1.3 billion.
• The threshold on Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) will drop by
  10%, to $50,638 in 2016, at a repayment rate of 2%, saving $3.2 billion
  over 4 years.
• Family Tax Benefit Part B (FTB-B), which will be cut for families
  when their youngest child turns six.  Currently about 60 per cent of
  families with children under the age of 16 receive the payment, and the
  changes will save the Government $1.9 billion over five years.
• All Family Tax Benefit payments will be frozen and remain at current
  rates for two years, saving the Government $2.6 billion over four
  years.

Kevin Andrews $245 million school chaplaincy program and $20 million in marriage counselling vouchers could have been spent on:

• Indigenous legal aid which will have $13.4 million stripped from its budget over the next three years
• Community Legal Centres
   -  additional $30 million set to be stripped from community legal
  centres, legal aid commissions, and family violence prevention services.
• The Commonwealth Human Rights Education Programme saving $1.8 million over four years.
• the HECS HELP benefit, which was intended to provide an incentive
  for graduates of particular courses to take up related occupations or
  work in specified locations will end from 2015-16. This measure will
  achieve savings of $87.1 million over three years.
• Australian Research Council funding will be cut by 3.25%, saving $74.9 million over three years.
• Funding to the Australia Institute for Teaching and School Leadership will be reduced, saving $19.9 million over five years.
• The Better Schools Centre for Quality Teaching and Learning will end, saving $21 million over 5 years.
• $14.7 million from Child Care Early Learning Projects
• Live Animal Exports — Business Assistance Supply Chain and Official
  Development Assistance (Improved Animal Welfare Programme) saving of
  $2.3 million

Tony Abbott’s Paid Parental Leave Scheme, costing $22.2 billion could pay for:

• The GP co-payment, to apply from July next year, will raise $3.5bn over four years.
• The changes to Newstart which will save the Government $1.2 billion over the four-year forward estimates period.
• Australian foreign aid spending is being cut by $7.6 billion over the next five years
• $1.8 billion over four years by tearing up the 2011 health reform
  agreement and 2007 public hospital funding arrangements, which saw any
  increased expenditure split 50/50 between state and federal governments.
  Instead it will move to a CPI and population growth model for any
  additional funds.
• The government also outlined intentions to index pensions and
  equivalent payments by the Consumer Price Index, estimated to save $449
  million over five years.
• Apprentices will lose grants offered under the $914 million program Tools for your Trade
• The Seniors Supplement will be abolished from July 1 this year, for a saving of $1.1 billion.
• The Dependent Spouse Tax Offset, which until now was available to
  people with dependent spouses of age 60 or older, will be discontinued, a
  decision which will save the Government $320 million.
• The Mature Age Worker Tax Offset will also be abolished, saving $750 million
• The Government has also abolished the Pensioner Education Supplement, for a saving of $281 million,
• They will not proceed with the planned pilot of Supporting Senior
  Australians: Housing Help For Seniors, a $173 million program that was
  to encourage older Australians to downsize to smaller dwellings.
• The Government will save $1.7 billion over six years – by almost
  halving its expenditure on the Commonwealth Home Support Program.
• The Government will save $89.6 million over four years by reducing
  the Medicare Benefits Schedule rebate for all optometry services from 85
  per cent to 80 per cent commencing from 1 January 2015. This measure
  will also remove the charging cap that currently applies to optometrists
  accessing the Medicare Benefits Schedule, enabling them, in the future,
  to set their own fees in a similar manner to other health providers.
• The government has estimated it will save $12.7m by ordering medical
  specialists to review veterans who are receiving military compensation
  payments for economic loss because of an inability, or reduced ability,
  to work because of injury or illness.
• The government has deferred the establishment of 13 Partners in
  Recovery organisations which help people with severe mental illness by
  coordinating clinical, housing, education, employment, income and
  disability services to save $53.8m.
• The Government will achieve savings of $10.0 million over five years
  from the Office of Water Science research programme, with the programme
  terminating on 30 June 2016 and a further $20.9 million over four years
  by closing the National Water Commission in December 2014.
• $390 million saved by deferring the National Partnership Agreement for adult public dental services until July 2015.
• $367.9 million saved by axing the National Partnership Agreement on Preventive Health
• $2.9 million by axing the National Tobacco Campaign. Dept of Health to develop online and social media campaign.
• The National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples disbanding will save $15 million over the next three years
• Funding for Indigenous languages has been cut by almost 10-million dollars over four years.
• The Government will achieve savings of $196.8 million over nine
  years by terminating the Australia Network contract with the Australian
  Broadcasting Corporation.
• The Government will achieve savings of $201.0 million over three
  years from 2015-16 by ceasing reward funding to States and Territories
  under the National Partnership Agreement on Improving Public Hospital
  Services.
• $115.4 million is saved by abolishing GP Education and Training
  Limited, shifting its functions into Health, and ceasing the
  Pre-vocational GP Placements Scheme.
• The Government will achieve savings of $38.4 million over five years by ceasing the Displaced Persons Programme from 2013-14.
• The Government will achieve net savings of $120.0 million over six
  years from 2015 by ceasing the Ethanol Production Grants Programme on 30
  June 2015.
• The Government will achieve savings of $134.3 million over five years by abolishing the First Home Saver Accounts scheme
• $229 million saved over 4 years by axing the Dental Flexible Grants Programme.
• A cut of $173.7 million over 3 years to the Research Training Scheme from 2016
• Tightened eligibility criteria for the child care providers to
  access the community support program will save $157.1 million over 3
  years.
• $29.8 million saved over four years by cancelling the Improving Educational Outcomes program
• $31.1 million saved by reducing funding for Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency
• $9.9 million saved by axing funding for the nursing and allied health scholarships in Tasmania.
• $2.3 million cut in contribution to the World Health Organisation

This list of cuts is by no means exhaustive, just a comparison of how
the Coalition chooses to spend our money.  If we look at the hundreds
of billions they intend to spend on defence in the coming years, we
could have free health, needs-based funding for education, real NBN, an
increase in research spending, a decrease in university fees, and an
increase in Newstart, pensions, and foreign aid as well as taking action
on climate change.  It might cost us a few planes and submarines and
Tony might have to cut back on a few of the war games he has been
planning.  How would you prefer the money be spent?