The Commission of Audit released its huge report, containing its recommendations for the Federal Budget moving forward with a view towards an overall goal of a budget surplus of 1% GDP (around $15 billion) in 10 years time. The Commission of Audit report is, and we must stress this part, a recommendation of economic policy to the Abbott Government ahead of its first federal budget, which will be delivered on the 13th of May. The recommendations are scary, and in some cases undercut promises already made by the Abbott Government. But what does it mean for you?
If you’re sick, disabled, old, young, in school, looking to go to school, a middle class family, or unemployed, you’re going to get stung. The report has recommended putting a halt on areas it refers to as the fastest growing areas of spending. This encompasses aged pensions, Medicare and pharmaceutical benefits, hospitals, school funding, higher education, family tax, defence and foreign aid.
The recommendations around Medicare are, in particular, something of an anomaly. After the Government foreshadowed the end of bulk billing, with a stated $6 co-payment for GP visits, the Audit has completely contradicted that statement, recommending the co-payment, instead, be set at $15 per visit to your GP, which is more than double the Abbott Government’s previously stated benchmark.
Are you single, under 30, and out of work? You’re in trouble. The youth unemployment rate sits at 12.5%, and the Commission of Audit is fed up with you. Under the Audit’s recommendations, if you receive benefits for more than 12 months, you will be forced to move to areas with higher employment. A rather glib interpretation of this is that if you can’t manage to find a job after a year out of University (even at the best of times, this is a tough ask), you’re probably going to be shipped off to the mines.
And speaking of University, it’s going to cost you more, and you’ll be repaying it sooner. The Audit recommends increasing the interest payable on all HECS/HELP debts, whilst lowering the minimum salary for repayment from the current $51,309 all the way down to $32,354.
As for the fight against global warming, you can all but forget it for the next few years. The Clean Energy Finance Corporation, the Climate Change Authority, and Low Carbon Australia Limited will all be totally abolished under the report’s recommendations.
One of the few controversial sectors to surprisingly avoid the knife of the Audit is the ABC and SBS. No cuts of any kind to the national broadcasters were included in the recommendations; though the need for greater efficiencies in both was stressed.
As always, in tough economic times you’re much better off being a middle-aged, upper class wealthy white man than you are being anything else. For the youth of the nation, it’s a damning glimpse at the budgetary pain to come, as the Government puts the screws into the middle class in order to prevent an economic crisis that, frankly, I’m not convinced really exists.
The Federal Budget is revealed on Tuesday, May 13th 2014. You start feeling the Abbott pinch from July 1st.
Photo: Mark Metcalfe via Getty Images.
