Speaker 1: Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud Yr
Speaker 1: the Order Kerney Whoalbury and a waddery woman. And before
Speaker 1: we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I
Speaker 1: would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land
Speaker 1: of which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country,
Speaker 1: acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming
Speaker 1: through as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing
Speaker 1: and the storytelling of you to make a difference for
Speaker 1: today and lasting impact for tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Let's get into it.
Speaker 3: She's on the Money, She's on the Money.
Speaker 4: Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast
Speaker 4: for millennials who want financial freedom. You guys might have
Speaker 4: noticed this episode is out a little bit late today,
Speaker 4: but that is intentional because we did record it this morning,
Speaker 4: fresh off the back of the Australian federal budget getting
Speaker 4: handed down last night by Treasurer Jim Chalmers. That's such
Speaker 4: a political name, Like.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's made really official. Yeah, he's like orient divine,
Speaker 2: sounds like a stage name. Jim Chalmers, sounds like he's
Speaker 2: in politics exactly. Your Future was written for you. Yeah,
Speaker 2: And to be honest, this is not the future they
Speaker 2: thought I'd have with this game. But that's okay because
Speaker 2: guess what we get to do. What do we get
Speaker 2: to do? Talk about my version of Eurovision? Which is
Speaker 2: the budget? Like I mean, lots of people would have
Speaker 2: like said, oh, isn't it your version of like the
Speaker 2: Errors Tour. No, there's no such thing as my version
Speaker 2: of the Errors Tour. The RAS Tour is gold level.
Speaker 4: Oh okay, can't reach to that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but like Eurovision, I feel like it's comparable because
Speaker 2: people don't care about Eurovision either, So I just feel
Speaker 2: like it makes sense. But I'm very excited about this
Speaker 2: because we get to dive into breaking up what happened
Speaker 2: this year in the federal budget. We're going to do
Speaker 2: it in a really approachable way. So you go, oh,
Speaker 2: that makes sense as to why they might do that.
Speaker 2: But we aren't going to be getting into all of
Speaker 2: the nitty gritty. We are just going to be getting
Speaker 2: into the things that we think are important for our community. Sure,
Speaker 2: and also, we didn't want this to be too lengthy, Like,
Speaker 2: if you wanted it to be lengthy, why didn't you
Speaker 2: just plaunch the budget last night?
Speaker 4: Or exactly, you know, exactly exactly, So hopefully you can
Speaker 4: E L I five explain like I'm five.
Speaker 2: Yeah, do we care?
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a Reddit term. That's really I'm really out
Speaker 4: of myself. Yeah, I probably. I'm not on Reddit all
Speaker 4: the time.
Speaker 2: I am, I am, I was finance, I'm there, I
Speaker 2: live there. I mean, you and I probably on different
Speaker 2: sides of Reddit. But TLDR, why do we care about
Speaker 2: the federal budget?
Speaker 4: Basically is what I'm asking? Why do we care so
Speaker 4: much about it?
Speaker 1: So?
Speaker 2: The federal budget is essentially the government's plan for how
Speaker 2: it's going to collect and money for the coming financial year.
Speaker 2: It's a legit budget. It's not a different complex term.
Speaker 2: They're sitting down and they're doing their budget and their
Speaker 2: cash flow just like we do. And it's a pretty
Speaker 2: big driver for behind how we vote. So for you
Speaker 2: and I, we might look at it and go, well, actually,
Speaker 2: if this is what this government is proposing with the budget,
Speaker 2: do I align with that or not? Is this in
Speaker 2: line with my values? Do I still support this government?
Speaker 2: What does that mean? Because in some way, shape or
Speaker 2: form is going to impact us all irrespective of whether
Speaker 2: you care or not. I mean, there is a nice
Speaker 2: little energy bonus that's going to impact us all. So
Speaker 2: we do get some cash, so you should be interested.
Speaker 2: But the opposition is also going to announce their proposed budget,
Speaker 2: which is going to be able to counter what the
Speaker 2: budget that actually came out last night says. Right, so
Speaker 2: they might go, oh my gosh, for housing, this government
Speaker 2: said we were going to do X, Y and z,
Speaker 2: but we wouldn't do that, we'd do something else. Because
Speaker 2: essentially the oppositian want to get your votes as well,
Speaker 2: so they're trying really hard to get people on side
Speaker 2: with the budget. The budgets meant to be exciting. I
Speaker 2: don't know if you saw that, because, to be honest, well,
Speaker 2: they're not that good at marketing.
Speaker 4: Hey, that's okay. It's very hard to make the budget
Speaker 4: sound exciting.
Speaker 2: But I've been trying for literal years to make budgets
Speaker 2: sound exciting. And this budget it went from everything from
Speaker 2: taxing to banking. They talked about superannuation, they talked about
Speaker 2: green energy, infrastructure, they talked about health, they talked about defense,
Speaker 2: women's safety, they talked about economic security and changes to
Speaker 2: Hex's debts, which is very nice, cool and Australia's federal
Speaker 2: budget announcements. They impact literally everybody. So buckle up because
Speaker 2: we are going to break it down so that you
Speaker 2: feel really empowered by this. But also it's not so overwhelming.
Speaker 4: Okay, I just really quickly want to ask you because
Speaker 4: I'm coming with completely fresh I know, yeah, no questions please,
Speaker 4: but I just want to say it's all sounding very
Speaker 4: clear to me, but I do want to know the
Speaker 4: budget is currently, this is implemented like this is confirmed,
Speaker 4: and then the opposition will come in with a proposed
Speaker 4: different budget.
Speaker 2: Is that going to be nothing set in stone? It's
Speaker 2: your fun part about the budget, right, So this is
Speaker 2: a budget that our current government is working towards. The
Speaker 2: opposition will put out what they think is a better
Speaker 2: option for the budget in the hopes that more people
Speaker 2: support them next time we vote. Okay, however, nothing set
Speaker 2: in stone is politics until it happens. Okay, until it happens.
Speaker 2: At the end of the day. How many times will
Speaker 2: we see governments promise things they never come to fruition?
Speaker 2: So true? Sorry elbow, sorry elbow, sorry albow. We still
Speaker 2: like you, Albow.
Speaker 4: Okay, So really quickly, VD, let's go through a quick wrap.
Speaker 4: What was actually promised.
Speaker 2: Lots, was promised lots and lots. But let's divide this
Speaker 2: all up into little subdivisions. I feel like having some
Speaker 2: topics makes it easier to have a conversation. So first
Speaker 2: things first, because he lives, let's talk about the rising
Speaker 2: cost of living at the moment, and obviously that was
Speaker 2: hot topic when it came to what we're talking about
Speaker 2: last night in the budget. Definitely money win. Every single
Speaker 2: household in Australia is now going to get three hundred
Speaker 2: dollars off their energy bill, and then small businesses they
Speaker 2: are being extended a three hundred and twenty five dollars
Speaker 2: discount on their energy bills.
Speaker 4: Great, just once off. I'm assumed, like.
Speaker 2: Not consistently, it would be nice. It was consistent, it
Speaker 2: would be pretty nice across the country. This relief package,
Speaker 2: that's what they call it, a relief package, is worth
Speaker 2: about three and a half billion dollars, So that's a
Speaker 2: pretty big spend. But cousey lives are high and pretty
Speaker 2: sure everyone's going to be pretty happy to have an
Speaker 2: extra three hundred dollars in their back pocket totally, and
Speaker 2: it is also rising in costeh. I feel like my
Speaker 2: energy bill is so much more expensive this year than
Speaker 2: it was last year. So I don't think this was
Speaker 2: a terrible idea. I think it was a really good idea.
Speaker 2: That's really cool.
Speaker 4: And I'm assuming like you probably google this that I
Speaker 4: should myself. But this is going into the bank accounts
Speaker 4: or this is going like taking off the.
Speaker 2: So for you, it's just going to come off your
Speaker 2: balance of your bills, so it'll be a line item.
Speaker 2: And the same thing is true for small business owners.
Speaker 2: Probably for the best, I would spend that on absolutely
Speaker 2: ridiculous things. Yeah, Like, I'm glad they're not giving people
Speaker 2: cash because it'll be like the time the budget had
Speaker 2: those bonuses and everyone went out and bought flat screen TVs.
Speaker 2: Good for the economy though that happened, But at the moment,
Speaker 2: we're not trying to boost our economy because inflation is
Speaker 2: just rising and rising. Oh yeah, next topic I've got
Speaker 2: under Cozy Leaves BABS is rent. Rent is so so
Speaker 2: expensive and hard at the moment, And they proposed last
Speaker 2: night the one point nine billion dollars is going to
Speaker 2: be introduced to fund rent subsidies for welfare recipients. So
Speaker 2: I think that's very exciting. So that's going to happen
Speaker 2: over the next five years, so implemented from September this year.
Speaker 2: Australians who receive government assistants to pay their rent, so
Speaker 2: that's people who receive Scentlink, they're going to get an
Speaker 2: extra ten percent of rent assistance.
Speaker 4: Okay, that's really cool.
Speaker 2: I think that's elite because we know that inflation last
Speaker 2: year was seven point one percent. We do know, and
Speaker 2: I could get into a whole conversation about the rising
Speaker 2: cost of rent. Rent was more than that. But at
Speaker 2: least this rise is higher than inflation, so that's important. Like,
Speaker 2: if they've only done five percent, they wouldn't even be
Speaker 2: keeping up with the rising cost of living. So at
Speaker 2: least they're doing a bit more than that. But as
Speaker 2: you know, rent is exorbitant at the moment. We're hearing
Speaker 2: stories of people raising the rent by fifty percent and whatnot,
Speaker 2: and so I think more needs to be done in
Speaker 2: this space. Last year, though notable, the government in their
Speaker 2: budget in twenty twenty three they boosted rent assistance payments
Speaker 2: by fifteen percent. So this is a five percent decrease
Speaker 2: on what happened last year, but still nothing to sneeze at,
Speaker 2: Like it's still good, that's true. Better than zero, yeah, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 2: The same is true if we talk about tax cuts.
Speaker 2: So as you know, we've been talking on the show
Speaker 2: already that tax cuts or Stage three tax cuts were
Speaker 2: already announced. So under those changes, they just reiterated it
Speaker 2: last night in the budget. Essentially all taxpayers who earn
Speaker 2: more than eighteen thy two hundred dollars, which is like
Speaker 2: the baseline, they're going to pay less tax from July
Speaker 2: this year. Cool money win. So for example, those who
Speaker 2: earn between eighteen thousand and forty five thousand dollars, they're
Speaker 2: going to be paying three percent less tax on every
Speaker 2: dollar that they earn. Great in the coming year, which
Speaker 2: I think is really important. But I think they could
Speaker 2: have done more.
Speaker 4: M because it's only for that bracket, is it, No, it's.
Speaker 2: For all brackets. For every single Australian earning more than
Speaker 2: eighteen two hundred dollars is going to get a tax cut.
Speaker 2: Great bar. I'm of the opinion tax reach. I so
Speaker 2: like they got the tax cuts as well, and I
Speaker 2: would have you know, this is just me pitching to
Speaker 2: b PM. I would have liked to see a bit
Speaker 2: more of a step tax cuts. So those people on
Speaker 2: lower incomes got a higher tax cut than those on
Speaker 2: higher incomes.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that would make so much sense, right, I.
Speaker 2: Would have thought so, But that is not how it happened,
Speaker 2: My love, that it's not how it happened. But we're
Speaker 2: not getting into that at the moment because we still
Speaker 2: have so much to go through job seeker. So if
Speaker 2: you are on job seeker, anyone on income support payments
Speaker 2: who can work up to fourteen hours a week are
Speaker 2: going to be eligible for a higher job seeker payment
Speaker 2: compared to their current rate. So the budget forecasts unemployment
Speaker 2: is actually going to increase. So at the moment, current
Speaker 2: unemployment is sitting at three point eight percent and it's
Speaker 2: apparently going to increase to four and a half percent,
Speaker 2: which is genuinely a massive increase, Like that's not little,
Speaker 2: that's actually quite big. And essentially, the unemployment rate it
Speaker 2: measures the percentage of people who are looking for work
Speaker 2: but couldn't find any So not people who just don't
Speaker 2: work in general, Y, it's people who are looking for
Speaker 2: work but can't find a job, which I think kind
Speaker 2: of terrifying. That increasing just not fair. Medicine, PBS really
Speaker 2: expensive still under CAUSEY lives. I've popped it under here
Speaker 2: because they feel like the rising cost of medication is wild.
Speaker 2: The government has announced a one year freeze on the
Speaker 2: maximum amount that Australians with a Medicare card can pay
Speaker 2: for medicine on the PBS. That's pretty exciting. What does
Speaker 2: that mean you're looking at?
Speaker 4: I mean, I don't know why, but the whole sentence.
Speaker 2: It means that Australians with a Medicare card aren't going
Speaker 2: to pay more than thirty one dollars and sixty cents
Speaker 2: for a Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme prescription. Okay, so it's going
Speaker 2: to be capped so they can't increase the cost of
Speaker 2: our medication because obviously, if your medication, it's necessary. They're
Speaker 2: saying that the freeze is going to be extended for
Speaker 2: pensioners and other concession holders for five years. It's not
Speaker 2: for everyone, so right now it's a one year freeze
Speaker 2: for everyone, but pension isn't. Concession card holders they get
Speaker 2: it for five years and it will essentially ensure that
Speaker 2: people in that basket whom sixty percent of pbsscripts go to,
Speaker 2: they won't pay more than seven dollars seventy for a prescription.
Speaker 2: Oh fantastic. So that's okay, I think really really important. Yeah,
Speaker 2: that's great. Supermarkets, This is exciting. This is exciting because
Speaker 2: we keep being like, how are you guys? And I
Speaker 2: would swear that, like you have such insane profits, yet
Speaker 2: you're increasing the price of things that we can't live without,
Speaker 2: Like we're not talking about oh my god, the magnums
Speaker 2: of the supermarket are more expensive COVID talking like flour
Speaker 2: and bread and milk and things that are necessary. But
Speaker 2: the government has announced you know, Choice dot com dot
Speaker 2: a use in a familiar it's like a comparison website. Yeah,
Speaker 2: they are a customer advocacy group. They're going to start
Speaker 2: publishing quarterly reports on grocery prices, so a little bit
Speaker 2: of a deep dive. And essentially the idea with this
Speaker 2: is to keep an eye on the comparison costs of essentials.
Speaker 2: As I said, bread, vegetables, milk, household products from woolies
Speaker 2: and from coals, the two main players here in Australia.
Speaker 2: And the first report will happen in June. Okay, not
Speaker 2: necessarily a cost thing for us, but they're going to
Speaker 2: be held more to account than they have ever been before,
Speaker 2: so I think that that is really important, and that's
Speaker 2: probably what I would put under the cozy Libs heading.
Speaker 4: Yeah, okay, that's really all sounds pretty promising.
Speaker 2: Three hundred bucks. I think that's what I stuck on.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm still there. Actually about you? Do you want
Speaker 4: to tell me about education and students?
Speaker 2: All right? So, in exciting news for people who were
Speaker 2: students or our students, the government's decided to wipe three
Speaker 2: billion dollars in hextats. Cool honeywin. It's part of their
Speaker 2: overhaul of the student debt repayment system. It was essentially
Speaker 2: confirmed as a pre budget and anouncement last week. We're
Speaker 2: talking about it. However, last night it was confirmed and
Speaker 2: actually included in the budget. So essentially what has happened
Speaker 2: is every year, as we know, HEX debts increase in
Speaker 2: line with inflation, so there's technically no interest due on
Speaker 2: this debt, but it always increases with inflation, which essentially
Speaker 2: feels like interest anyway. To be honest, at this point,
Speaker 2: I think if I offered you an interest rate, you'd
Speaker 2: take that over the seven point one percent inflation that
Speaker 2: we got on our HEX debts last year. But under
Speaker 2: this system, the rate of indexation is going to be
Speaker 2: determined by whichever is lower, so whether it is indexation
Speaker 2: or inflation, so consumer price index, which is essentially inflation,
Speaker 2: or the wage price index, which I think is far
Speaker 2: more fair, and that's how much our wages go up
Speaker 2: each year. So they're going to pick the number that
Speaker 2: is lowest and increase our hex based on that instead
Speaker 2: of on inflation as a whole. Right, So currently the
Speaker 2: lower of these is inflation, so it's at three point
Speaker 2: six percent, but that scheme is going to be backdated
Speaker 2: because last year we paid seven point one percent, and
Speaker 2: that means that what's going to happen is they going
Speaker 2: to give us a refund Again. I know you're gonna
Speaker 2: ask if you're gonna get it in cash in your
Speaker 2: brank account. You are not, but it could be because
Speaker 2: it will be a refund that you get on your
Speaker 2: tax return this year. Oh, so it'll be something that
Speaker 2: is calculated at tax time. The other thing I want
Speaker 2: to talk about, and we've spoken about it on the
Speaker 2: show before, is my distain for people doing prack without
Speaker 2: being paid. They go and they do these unpaid placements,
Speaker 2: which I think is absolutely insane, and they have said
Speaker 2: now that nursing midwiffree, teaching and social work students will
Speaker 2: be eligible for weekly payments during mandatory practical placements.
Speaker 4: That's really cool.
Speaker 2: Very cool. I've got a bit of a to pick here, though,
Speaker 2: because they've said that students will be eligible to receive
Speaker 2: three hundred and twenty dollars a week payment from July
Speaker 2: next year, not this year, during their placement. That's very low. Yes,
Speaker 2: exactly what can you buy with that? That's well, that's
Speaker 2: not even minimum wage. That's so so I look at
Speaker 2: it and I go, oh, we were doing so well.
Speaker 2: You guys said it was going to be great. You
Speaker 2: said we're gonna start paying people for their time. And
Speaker 2: I calculated it. If you are working a prack, it
Speaker 2: is thirty nine hours a week, let's say. And all
Speaker 2: of these students are going to jump down my throat
Speaker 2: and be like, it's more hours than that. I know,
Speaker 2: but I had to pick a normal number, and I
Speaker 2: calculated it. If it was you know you, I've reached
Speaker 2: thirty eight hours a week, the hourly rate would be
Speaker 2: eight dollars and forty six cents back, which is still
Speaker 2: not en us to do anything.
Speaker 4: My god, I feel like it's less offensive to get
Speaker 4: zero dollars, do.
Speaker 2: You know what I mean? It's actually better to go
Speaker 2: on to send a link.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I'm not saying that as a flippant like hah ah, Senink.
Speaker 2: I'm saying that as a we have people in caring
Speaker 2: professions that are bettering our society and we don't value them.
Speaker 2: And then you hand something like this down, which could
Speaker 2: have been stunning. Beck. You could have even said we're
Speaker 2: going to pay the minimum wage.
Speaker 1: Ye.
Speaker 2: Great, minimum wage means they can afford technically on minimum wage.
Speaker 2: This isn't an argument we're starting. They could afford to
Speaker 2: put a roof over their head and food on the table. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you can't do that with three hundred and thirty dollars.
Speaker 2: That amount of money is, from my perspective, a privileged
Speaker 2: amount of money, because if you're getting paid that, you
Speaker 2: might live at home, and then that money would be
Speaker 2: okay to earn. Right, Like, if you're living at home,
Speaker 2: three hundred and thirty bucks, if you're in the privileged
Speaker 2: position where you don't pay rent and you don't pay
Speaker 2: board and you don't have to put food on the table,
Speaker 2: well yeah, maybe you could get away with that amount
Speaker 2: of money per week. But a lot of people live
Speaker 2: out of home, a lot of people do not have
Speaker 2: that privilege. And you're saying that they have to do
Speaker 2: their thirty eight hours a week minimum prack plus part
Speaker 2: time jobs. That's unfair.
Speaker 4: That's really unfair.
Speaker 2: That's unfair. We're not talking about you know, accounting students here,
Speaker 2: and don't get me wrong, finance is very sexy. We're
Speaker 2: talking about people who want to care for others, who
Speaker 2: want to look after our society, and you're not putting
Speaker 2: them first. We need these people. Did we not learn
Speaker 2: anything through COVID that our frontline workers and our caring
Speaker 2: professionals were the most important. Yeah, we always knew it,
Speaker 2: but you never highlighted it. COVID really highlighted that. And
Speaker 2: this is how they're being repaid. And anyone thinking is that.
Speaker 4: I'm like, I'm hoping that it doesn't eat into like
Speaker 4: if you get like a youth allowance, what's it called,
Speaker 4: the one where you studying study your life, study assists,
Speaker 4: study assists. Sorry, I hope it doesn't eat into that
Speaker 4: at all.
Speaker 2: That I haven't looked up the semantics because I didn't
Speaker 2: want to get even more mad. But essentially that is
Speaker 2: expected to cost our government one point six billion dollars
Speaker 2: over the next ten years, and personally, I think it
Speaker 2: should be costing them more fair enough.
Speaker 4: Take my three hundred from the energy bill and give
Speaker 4: it to them.
Speaker 2: So the next apprentices, So the government is going to
Speaker 2: spend two hundred and sixty five million dollars to boost workers'
Speaker 2: numbers in fields where there are a whole heap of
Speaker 2: skills shortages. So this includes some support for apprentices and
Speaker 2: traineeships in areas like construction. So for example, they're now
Speaker 2: saying that an apprentice will be paid five thousand dollars
Speaker 2: instead of the three thousand dollars they were being paid before.
Speaker 2: And employers are going to be receiving a five thousand
Speaker 2: dollars like hiring incentive to hire and train more people
Speaker 2: for these sectors, which kind of exciting, But the bonus
Speaker 2: was four thousand dollars last year, so it's not much
Speaker 2: of a step up, And to be honest, it's a
Speaker 2: big responsibility to take somebody on in an extra thousand dollars.
Speaker 2: Hopefully isn't the motivation to get them across the line,
Speaker 2: from my perspective on to bigger and better things. For
Speaker 2: students and education Beck. The government also announced a new target.
Speaker 2: They want eighty percent of Australia's working population to have
Speaker 2: tertiary qualifications by twenty fifty. Okay, that's a lot of pressure.
Speaker 4: It's a lot of pressure. How do they get there?
Speaker 2: So that's about a twenty percent increase on what is
Speaker 2: currently happening. And the government basically announced that three point
Speaker 2: eight billion dollars is going to be spent over the
Speaker 2: next ten years to achieve this goal. And essentially what
Speaker 2: they want to do is make TAFE and university courses
Speaker 2: more accessible, and they want to give TAFE and universities
Speaker 2: more funding if they provide dedicated support to people with
Speaker 2: diverse and disadvantaged backgrounds, which I am all for. But
Speaker 2: I'm also wondering why we are still prioritizing tertiary qualifications.
Speaker 2: Have we not proven that you don't need a qualification
Speaker 2: to be successful? Like how does that play into it?
Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't know, especially in twenty twenty four. Like,
Speaker 2: don't get me wrong, we still need our nurses and doctors, yes,
Speaker 2: to go to university, can't just hop into that job.
Speaker 2: But I feel like there's a lot more value in
Speaker 2: on the job experience these days, and like, I don't know,
Speaker 2: I agree, I don't know. But university access the budget
Speaker 2: includes thirty five million dollars back to boost free bridging courses.
Speaker 2: So these are prep programs that are planning to provide
Speaker 2: students with more pathways to university. So as you know,
Speaker 2: right now, there's like a standard pathway to get into
Speaker 2: UNI for someone who's just finished year twelve, and then
Speaker 2: there's like a mature age student access point. But they're
Speaker 2: now going to invest more in bridging courses which will
Speaker 2: teach students the basic skills that are required for undergraduate study.
Speaker 2: So about twenty five thousand students took prep courses in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty two and the government is trying to increase that.
Speaker 2: So they're going to roll out a fee free UNI
Speaker 2: Ready course next year. Cool, okay, yeah, which is kind
Speaker 2: of cool because I think university study isn't easy, and
Speaker 2: I think that a lot of people just go to UNI,
Speaker 2: but it's not in anything like school. If you've been
Speaker 2: it's very self driven, self motivated, like you've got to
Speaker 2: actually kind of learn how to study. So I think
Speaker 2: this is a very good idea because a lot of
Speaker 2: people would go into university and like fail a few
Speaker 2: courses or like a couple of semesters because they're just
Speaker 2: not prepared to do the work. And it's not because
Speaker 2: they're not motivated, it's because they just don't know how
Speaker 2: So I think this is a good idea. But also
Speaker 2: give it to the nurses, you know.
Speaker 4: Yes, scrape some cream off the top of everything. Give
Speaker 4: it to them.
Speaker 2: How about instead of university ready courses, we just don't
Speaker 2: charge nurses to go to school.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's any frontline worker totally.
Speaker 2: Oh you want to be a paramedic, go ahead, my friend,
Speaker 2: you don't have to pay for that privilege because you're
Speaker 2: looking after us.
Speaker 4: I think you'd be a politician personally.
Speaker 2: I'm not going to be a politician because I'd be
Speaker 2: canceled quicker than Pauline Handsome.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 2: But has she really been canceled because she's still still
Speaker 2: out and about questionable. Do you want something sexy about education?
Speaker 4: Yes?
Speaker 2: Please? Fee free tafe? Oh yeah I like that?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Yeah, cool? Cool. So we already know that a lot
Speaker 2: of tape courses are free, but the government's going to
Speaker 2: fund twenty thousand additional extra fee free tafe places over
Speaker 2: the next three years, and that's going to cost them
Speaker 2: about eighty nine million dollars. The other people that I
Speaker 2: want to talk about who don't get enough credit childcare workers.
Speaker 2: So the government's also going to put aside some funding
Speaker 2: to increase wages for childhood education and care workers, which
Speaker 2: very important, but they don't have the information on that
Speaker 2: at this point in time. They're like, hey, we'll just
Speaker 2: get back to you. But they are saying that purely
Speaker 2: because there's actually a case currently before the Fair Work
Speaker 2: Commission and they can't give us solid numbers yet. Okay,
Speaker 2: the fact that there's a case currently before the Fair
Speaker 2: Work Commission should tell you that they're not being paid
Speaker 2: properly to begin with. Yes, exactly, So this shouldn't be
Speaker 2: a little like, oh my god, we're finally budgeting for it.
Speaker 2: It's like, oh, no, you've got to fix what you
Speaker 2: best up. Yeah, unacceptable, But I think that that is
Speaker 2: going to cover our education and students section. Okay, I
Speaker 2: think it's enough for now. You're like, I'm done here.
Speaker 2: I'm going to go off you.
Speaker 4: That is so much information. Let's go to a really
Speaker 4: quick break and on the flip side, we're.
Speaker 2: Going to talk about health and housing and my spicy
Speaker 2: opinion on the fact that women had their own section
Speaker 2: of the budget. So don't go anywhere, guys.
Speaker 4: Welcome back everyone, all right, b D, let's jump straight
Speaker 4: back in. Yeah, let's talk about drugs.
Speaker 2: Yes, sick, because that's where we're at. We're going to
Speaker 2: talk about health.
Speaker 4: Okay, cool topic.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, I knew it would be. So we
Speaker 2: already spoke about the medicine freezing, which is sligh. We
Speaker 2: also spoke about Medicare. So the government has finally given
Speaker 2: us there's some more details on how they're planning to
Speaker 2: spend the one point two billion dollars that they planned
Speaker 2: to spend on strengthening Medicare services. So this was agreed
Speaker 2: late last year that they would actually increase the Medicare
Speaker 2: services slay, but they've now announced their plans to increase
Speaker 2: the number of Medicare urgent clinics. Which I think is
Speaker 2: really important is that like, that's not that's different to Yes,
Speaker 2: it's not an emergency department. They are essentially a center
Speaker 2: that is designed to reduce the burden of hospital emergency departments.
Speaker 2: So they're kind of like, let's go to the doctor
Speaker 2: because I broke my arm, Like that's not life threatening,
Speaker 2: but you could go to an urgent clinic and have
Speaker 2: that fixed without having to go to an emergency department
Speaker 2: where you know, someone could be having a catastrophic event. Right, Like,
Speaker 2: it's going to take the pressure of those emergency departments
Speaker 2: for real emergencies.
Speaker 4: Essentially, so much sense to have something between the two,
Speaker 4: because it's like either you're like you've got a cold
Speaker 4: or you're about to die, Like there's something in between them.
Speaker 2: And like, don't get me wrong, lots of people go
Speaker 2: to the emergency department because they don't have any other options. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but this will be that middle ground where it's like,
Speaker 2: you know, you've got to sick kid, and you're like,
Speaker 2: oh my gosh, what do I do? This feels like
Speaker 2: an emergency and you want to go to emergent. It'll
Speaker 2: be that little middle ground. So they're planning on spending
Speaker 2: two hundred and twenty seven million dollars over the next
Speaker 2: two years to fund a total of twenty nine new
Speaker 2: urgent care clinics, including in Regional Australia COOL which very
Speaker 2: important reproductive health. I feel like we talk about reproductive
Speaker 2: health all the time in this community and it's finally
Speaker 2: getting a little bit more attention. Beck. So the government
Speaker 2: they're going to be investing fifty six million dollars over
Speaker 2: the next four years to improve women's access to sexual
Speaker 2: and reproductive health care.
Speaker 4: Cool.
Speaker 2: I think that is definitely the bare minimum. Yes, absolutely,
Speaker 2: because it's yeah, I'll get onto this in a hot second.
Speaker 2: As to why I started, I have thoughts and feelings.
Speaker 2: But the other thing that is very cool is free
Speaker 2: menstrual hygiene products are going to be offered in rural
Speaker 2: and remote First Nations communities and it's going to cost
Speaker 2: the government twelve point five million dollars to roll out
Speaker 2: this game, and I think that is money well spent.
Speaker 2: And then funding is also being directed towards research around
Speaker 2: miscarriages and sexual and reproductive health, and that's gonna include
Speaker 2: I don't think this is a lot, but seven million
Speaker 2: dollars on miscarriage education and awareness and for women and
Speaker 2: families impacted by stilbirth and miscarriages. Now, seven million dollars
Speaker 2: is a lot of money, but in the government world,
Speaker 2: that is not a lot of money to roll out
Speaker 2: those schemes. And I just wonder if you're prioritizing that
Speaker 2: how far is seven million dollars is going to go?
Speaker 4: Yeah, sure, yeah, just because it's like maybe it's like
Speaker 4: the equivalent of seventy dollars in my world.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's not a lot of s. And please don't
Speaker 2: get me wrong, there are a lot of things that
Speaker 2: are very very important to prioritize. But I think that
Speaker 2: miscarriage awareness and you know, talking about stillbirth is really
Speaker 2: really important. And seven million dollars just doesn't feel like
Speaker 2: it's gonna, you know, cut the mustard. It's just not
Speaker 2: a nus cut the mustard. I like that cup mustard.
Speaker 2: Is that a word? Sounds start a phrase? It is
Speaker 2: cup mustard?
Speaker 3: All right?
Speaker 2: COVID do you want to talk about COVID? Sure you're
Speaker 2: not over COVID, are you?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 4: Not yet?
Speaker 2: Going on five years back? My good is for some reason,
Speaker 2: I thought it was like two years ago. I know,
Speaker 2: it feels like five minutes ago. But it was called
Speaker 2: COVID nineteen because it happened in twenty nineteen and it's
Speaker 2: now twenty twenty four, isn't that what? Yeah, government's going
Speaker 2: to spend four hundred and ninety million dollars over the
Speaker 2: next four years to continue its National COVID nineteen vaccine program.
Speaker 2: About three hundred and thirty six million dollars is going
Speaker 2: to go towards delivering more PCR testing. I think that's important.
Speaker 2: Aged care, let's talk about that. The government is going
Speaker 2: to continue to invest two point two billion dollars in
Speaker 2: response to the recent Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality
Speaker 2: and Safety, which very important. More than half of this
Speaker 2: will be used to improve digital systems in the aged
Speaker 2: care sector because that is a massive stumbling block. Funding
Speaker 2: has also been set aside for an expected wage increase
Speaker 2: for aged care workers, so I think that's really really important.
Speaker 2: And then the last thing that came up in the
Speaker 2: budget that I think is of note is HIV. So
Speaker 2: over the next three years to support HIV care and
Speaker 2: treatment in Australia, forty four million dollars has been allocated,
Speaker 2: so most of it is going to be used on
Speaker 2: HIV prevention medication for those who don't have access to Medicare,
Speaker 2: which I think is really important.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's really nice. Yeah, he's not a batble.
Speaker 2: It's not bad that.
Speaker 4: I haven't heard about yet the people that don't have medicare,
Speaker 4: you know what I mean. So I'm glad to hear
Speaker 4: that someone's thinking, yeah, I think it's really important. I
Speaker 4: also want to touch on here. I guess women's safety
Speaker 4: was definitely prioritized. So we'll segue into women now because
Speaker 4: we're talking about health, and in the budget last night,
Speaker 4: you know, information about prostate cancer came up, and then
Speaker 4: we obviously heard, you know a bit about reproductive health,
Speaker 4: but that was put under the bracket of women. Women
Speaker 4: have also been I guess segregated out and I think
Speaker 4: this is so important. So please don't get me wrong
Speaker 4: when we're talking about this, because you might go, oh,
Speaker 4: V you don't think women should have their own section
Speaker 4: in the budget.
Speaker 2: I do, and I don't. So Leaving violence was a
Speaker 2: topic that was discussed last night. Earlier this month, we
Speaker 2: know that our Prime Minister pledged nine hundred and twenty
Speaker 2: five million dollars to establish the Leaving Violence Program, which
Speaker 2: is genius. It followed a crisis meeting between the PM
Speaker 2: and state and territory leaders, which if you're on social
Speaker 2: media you would have seen people begging for this to happen.
Speaker 2: This has been something that I think took way too
Speaker 2: long for them to introduce. They announced that eligible participants
Speaker 2: will receive up to five thousand dollars in financial support
Speaker 2: to leave domestically violent relationships. And the program is also
Speaker 2: going to include support and planning services. And they're making
Speaker 2: a national plan essentially to support women. Say why this
Speaker 2: didn't happen earlier? Trying not to go off topic too much,
Speaker 2: But it's part of a ten year plan to end
Speaker 2: violence against women and children. So the plan for this
Speaker 2: was launched in twenty twenty two after the plan that
Speaker 2: was introduced in twenty ten failed to meet its goal. Okay,
Speaker 2: so last time we failed. And one of the key
Speaker 2: targets is to reduce the number of gender based violent
Speaker 2: deaths by twenty five percent. Yeah, that's good.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean how about one hundred percent?
Speaker 2: Like a hundred percent would feel right?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 4: I feel like that's so funny. I mean I don't know,
Speaker 4: I don't understand any of it. But I'm like, why, hm,
Speaker 4: why just a quarter of the amount of women.
Speaker 2: That Why do we only care about a quarter?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 4: And like, don't get me wrong, like I obviously don't
Speaker 4: know much about this stuff. Get I get that, that's right.
Speaker 2: I get that we're never going to be able to
Speaker 2: prevent one hundred percent, right, Like, and this isn't a
Speaker 2: conversation for now. We can't prevent one hundred percent, but like,
Speaker 2: I would have liked to see them try a little
Speaker 2: bit harder than twenty five percent. And I feel like
Speaker 2: we should be advocating for reducing one hundred percent. I
Speaker 2: know that we won't get there, and that goal is
Speaker 2: honestly unachievable. Perfect world it would be, but it is unachievable.
Speaker 2: But twenty five percent, it's like that just feels uninspiring,
Speaker 2: Like it just feels like anyway, moving on, the government's
Speaker 2: going to continue with their thirty five billion dollar five
Speaker 2: year investment to fund welfare payments for eligible single parents
Speaker 2: with children up to fourteen years old, that's under women.
Speaker 2: It's also going to progress a two hundred and fifty
Speaker 2: three million dollar four year program to boost funding for
Speaker 2: one hundred respect So I think that that is very,
Speaker 2: very important. They are the National Domestic Family and Sexual
Speaker 2: Violence Support Service, which we recommend on the podcast all
Speaker 2: the time when it comes to women's safety. Housing was discussed,
Speaker 2: so almost thirty two million dollars is going to be
Speaker 2: spent on an assistance package to support low income earning renters.
Speaker 2: So just over half of Australians who receive rental assistants
Speaker 2: are actually single women, and accommodation for women and children
Speaker 2: fleeing domestic and family violence will be built in as
Speaker 2: a part of the government's tenant billion dollar Housing Australia
Speaker 2: Future Fund. Cool important, I think, really important. But I
Speaker 2: was saying off air before we got here. I get
Speaker 2: so frustrated that we talk about women in their own category. Like,
Speaker 2: you know, we're talking about housing, and we're talking about
Speaker 2: students and mental health, and all of those things are categories.
Speaker 2: But somehow women becomes a category, but men doesn't. So
Speaker 2: their health and their discussions get lumped into health. But
Speaker 2: women somehow are put outside of that bracket and put
Speaker 2: outside of you know, the conversation about health, reproductive health,
Speaker 2: our lives in demetriosis. Why is that not just under
Speaker 2: health and as important as prostate cancer? Like, please, don't
Speaker 2: get me wrong, Like all of these things are important,
Speaker 2: but I don't think women should be a sub section
Speaker 2: of a budget.
Speaker 4: That's true, it's like the default, the average the norm
Speaker 4: is Yeah, like.
Speaker 2: By having a heading, yes, you're saying that we need
Speaker 2: to prioritize women more, But why don't we just do
Speaker 2: that as a default under health. Why don't we just
Speaker 2: do that under a default of safety. Why don't we
Speaker 2: do that under a default of mental health? Or students
Speaker 2: like I don't understand, especially if we're not going to
Speaker 2: call out men, why are we're calling out women? And
Speaker 2: demetriosis and reproductive health is a health issue, not just
Speaker 2: a women's issue. Yeah, reproductive health services better our entire world,
Speaker 2: not just the world for women exactly. Without it, exactly,
Speaker 2: we may cease to exist. Does this feel like a
Speaker 2: kind of like a box ticking, like a political sort
Speaker 2: of exercise, I mean yes and no, Like I feel like, yes, absolutely,
Speaker 2: people are going to use women and supporting women as
Speaker 2: a marketing campaign to get our votes, because you'll get
Speaker 2: my vote, like one hundred percent. I'm not saying that
Speaker 2: I don't support it. I unequivocally support it. However, it
Speaker 2: does feel a bit like they're trying to use this
Speaker 2: as leverage when in reality we aren't asking for more
Speaker 2: than men get. We are asking for equal. If men
Speaker 2: experienced endometriosis, it would have been studied, it would have
Speaker 2: been valued, it would have been a problem that we
Speaker 2: solved years ago. But it's not so it just to
Speaker 2: me it's insane that we're not prioritizing.
Speaker 4: No, it's like we're a different species. It's like we're
Speaker 4: a different I don't know, like it just kind of
Speaker 4: feels a bit alien that.
Speaker 2: They are acting like we are some kind of sub
Speaker 2: section to society and we're not a sub section. We
Speaker 2: are the main headline, babe, Mike drop. But let's move
Speaker 2: on to other topics I want to talk about when
Speaker 2: it comes to the budget. First things first, to our
Speaker 2: First Nations communities. They need a lot more support, and
Speaker 2: obviously closing the gap was a very big topic that
Speaker 2: we talked about in the budget last night. The government
Speaker 2: is spending two point four billion dollars over the next
Speaker 2: five years to support First Nations communities, some of which
Speaker 2: is going towards the closing the gap targets. So right
Speaker 2: now there are seventeen targets to close the gap between
Speaker 2: First Nations people and non Indigenous Australians, which include supporting
Speaker 2: things around health and education and jobs, as well as
Speaker 2: initiatives that have the plan to reduce the rate of
Speaker 2: First Nations people in prison, which is very very important.
Speaker 2: Let's just call out here though that the government is
Speaker 2: not on track to meet these targets right now. Ah okay, well,
Speaker 2: which I said, so nice that you're planning all of
Speaker 2: that and you will continue to do that because that
Speaker 2: is really bloody important. Yes, but you're not on tra
Speaker 2: right now. So where is the readjusted budget to get
Speaker 2: you back on track? Didn't see that interesting point. The
Speaker 2: next is Northern Territory housing. So the federal and Northern
Speaker 2: Territory governments have announced a four billion dollar fund to
Speaker 2: build new homes to address overcrowding in the Northern Territory.
Speaker 2: They are planning on building two hundred and seventy homes
Speaker 2: a year every year for the next ten years, and
Speaker 2: some of that funding has been allocated to urgent repairs
Speaker 2: on existing homes. Ye cool, Smart digital hubs are going
Speaker 2: to be established, So the government said that they are
Speaker 2: going to allocate sixty eight million dollars to connect First
Speaker 2: Nations communities to Wi Fi, which a lot of us
Speaker 2: probably just take as a privilege and take for granted,
Speaker 2: but it is something that a lot of remote specifically
Speaker 2: remote communities don't have access to. And this rollout is
Speaker 2: going to include digital hubs to develop online safety and
Speaker 2: digital literacy skills within remote communities. Also call out here.
Speaker 2: If you know someone who can help me help them
Speaker 2: get more financial literacy. Call me bad Yeah, I mean
Speaker 2: call me, call me. I want to be involved. I'll
Speaker 2: do it for free, like I will do it for free.
Speaker 2: Let me be involved. And then jobs. The government is
Speaker 2: developing a remote jobs program to employ an additional three
Speaker 2: thousand people in regional communities. The program's going to cost
Speaker 2: seven hundred and seventy seven million dollars over the next
Speaker 2: five years. Seven hundred and seventy seven that's an angel number,
Speaker 2: So I'm hoping that that light goes really really well.
Speaker 2: Omen The jail to Job program very important. The government's
Speaker 2: announced seventy six million dollars for a program to be
Speaker 2: set up to help First Nations people transition into employment
Speaker 2: after serving time in prison. Important, really important, because that
Speaker 2: transition is often really rocky and means that a lot
Speaker 2: of First Nations people end up back behind bars because
Speaker 2: they don't have the right integration tool. So it's a
Speaker 2: volunteer program that's going to connect people with the services
Speaker 2: after their release. Really really important. Yes, And the last
Speaker 2: thing that's really important under the First Nations heading is health.
Speaker 2: Their health is significantly worse than non Indigenous Australians and
Speaker 2: it's good to see that the budget has included twelve
Speaker 2: point five million dollars to provide First Nations women in
Speaker 2: remote communities with access to free period products. We discussed
Speaker 2: that before, but I think that it's the bare minimum.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I completely agree, and you know, I think it's
Speaker 4: a good start, but we've got heaps to go.
Speaker 2: I agree. Last topic that I'm going to discuss with
Speaker 2: you today is Disability Support so NDIS. The NDIS it
Speaker 2: was actually launched only in twenty thirteen, which I feel
Speaker 2: like it's been around for a really long time. But
Speaker 2: maybe that's because I assumed that we cared more about
Speaker 2: our community, true than we do anyway. NDIS was launched
Speaker 2: in twenty thirteen to provide financial support to eligible people
Speaker 2: with a disability. A review of that scheme was actually
Speaker 2: launched in twenty twenty two and a final report was
Speaker 2: handed down in December to identify a heap of flaws
Speaker 2: in the system which we knew existed, including concern over
Speaker 2: the quality of care that was being provided to NDIS recipients.
Speaker 2: So in response to this last night, the government announced
Speaker 2: that they are going to increase NDIS funding by one
Speaker 2: hundred and thirty million dollars. The federal government also introduced
Speaker 2: legislation to improve the NDIS back in March, and its
Speaker 2: proposal it's still before Parliament so it hasn't passed yet,
Speaker 2: hoping it does, and an NDIS committee and working group
Speaker 2: is going to be established to oversee all of this
Speaker 2: because right now there's not a lot of ownership over
Speaker 2: the process. So if we're going to send one hundred
Speaker 2: and thirty million dollars here to make sure that the
Speaker 2: care being provided to NDIS recipients is actually happening, there's
Speaker 2: going to be a working committee for that. Okay, more funding, Sexy,
Speaker 2: About one hundred and sixty one million dollars is going
Speaker 2: to be spent over the next four years to upgrade
Speaker 2: the NDIS technology, So like all of their IT systems,
Speaker 2: obviously that's really important, but the funding is actually aimed
Speaker 2: at better protecting the safety of NDIS participants from cybersecurity
Speaker 2: threats and reducing regulatory burden on NDIS providers. Okay, Okay,
Speaker 2: I like this next one a lot. I feel like
Speaker 2: it is not just about employment, but it's also about
Speaker 2: quality of life. The government has announced a two hundred
Speaker 2: and twenty eight million dollar plan for a new specialist
Speaker 2: Disability Employment service. So this is going to replace the
Speaker 2: existing Disability Employment Services program next year. So in July
Speaker 2: next year they're going to do that, and the new
Speaker 2: program is going to be designed to increase the flexibility
Speaker 2: of support services to meet individual needs because at the
Speaker 2: moment it's a little bit too niche, like a lot
Speaker 2: of people aren't actually able to engage in that just
Speaker 2: doesn't work for them. And leaving on a bang Royal
Speaker 2: Commission that's a big word or it's a big praise.
Speaker 4: It is supposed never know what this means, but it's
Speaker 4: a scary.
Speaker 2: Term, right yeah, Like you hear Royal Commission, you're like,
Speaker 2: that's big bigg that must be a very big inquiry.
Speaker 2: It's the biggest of the commission. So frustratingly, the budget
Speaker 2: didn't offer any real detail in response to the Royal
Speaker 2: Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability. Okay,
Speaker 2: I was really disappointed with that. The Royal Commission released
Speaker 2: its final report last year in September, which included a
Speaker 2: total of two hundred and twenty two recommendations to make
Speaker 2: Australia safer and more inclusive for people who have disabilities,
Speaker 2: and I'm a bit disappointed to see that none of
Speaker 2: that was discussed last night because budgets should have been
Speaker 2: allocated towards it. So that was a bit disappointing. But
Speaker 2: we are expecting the federal government to issue a formal
Speaker 2: response in the middle of this year. But I really
Speaker 2: think it should have come up in the budget. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so I guess that's leaving it on the low, But overall,
Speaker 2: do I like what the budget has provided for us
Speaker 2: com se COMPSA okay.
Speaker 4: Okay, no one mentioned dental, which I'm actually shocked and
Speaker 4: appalled still to this day that dental's not covered. But anyway,
Speaker 4: as a story for another.
Speaker 2: Time, I agree. Actually, like I didn't expect you to
Speaker 2: say that in that moment, so I'm a bit like,
Speaker 2: hold up, that is so true, but like, dental health
Speaker 2: is so innominantly expensive, but it impacts every other aspect
Speaker 2: of life totally.
Speaker 4: I've been living in pain, baby girl. The wisdoms can't
Speaker 4: come out till I have two three thousand dollars. That's
Speaker 4: insane and have that kind of money anyway, that's you know,
Speaker 4: maybe one day that'll happen.
Speaker 2: Oh my god. See, we will take this conversation off
Speaker 2: of you because we have really blown out the budget
Speaker 2: on time when it comes to talking about the budget.
Speaker 2: But as always, we would love it if you joined
Speaker 2: the conversation over on our Facebook group. We're obviously on Instagram,
Speaker 2: you can bind us everywhere. So guys, we will see
Speaker 2: you on Friday for a little bit of a recap
Speaker 2: of our week. But till then, have a great week
Speaker 2: and thanks for listening to our budget combo. Bye guys.
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