Brumby's budget

Obviously it is important to limit job loss where possible and provide adequate safety nets where unemployment is unavoidable, but it is also vital we invest in skill development for the future and give young people and long term unemployed every opportunity to join the labour market as the economy picks up.

I was therefore pleased to see an announcement of $25 million to extend the Apprenticeship/Trainee Completion Bonus program for another 12 months. The program offers employees a cash incentive to take on an apprentice or trainee. By subsidising the cost, the Government will encourage the continued skill development of Victorian workers.

Those who do find themselves unemployed will need support from agencies like Anglicare Victoria but will also need government measures in place to ensure their physical and mental health does not suffer and they can afford basics such as housing, food and utilities.

Currently, about 37,000 people are on waiting lists for public housing in Victoria. We can only assume this number will rise as unemployment takes hold. The Victorian Government, in partnership with the Federal Government, has already committed to building 667 new public homes but obviously much more needs to be done.

Those who miss out on public housing are increasingly turning to privately run rooming houses. While some measures are in place under the health act to maintain a few basic health standards, rooming houses operate without specific and comprehensive minimum standards to ensure adequate protection and no system to register and regulate their management to prevent exploitative practices.

Without attention to these matters there is a crisis waiting to happen.

In other areas, the Brumby Government has committed $42 million to increase the water and sewage concession cap in line with rising prices. This will protect low income earners from huge increases in the cost of water but will not expand the concession eligibility.

Together with a range of other spending contained within the ‘A Fairer Victoria’ framework, the Brumby Government has patched up a number of holes in the state safety nets. But as long as there are people seeking emergency food parcels, going without medication due to cost or shivering through winter without adequate warm clothes more needs to be done.

It is important to acknowledge that many of us will ride out this economic crisis in relative comfort while others in the community suffer more acutely due to unemployment and associated pressures. The challenge we face as a community is to make sacrifices where we can and share the burden through tough times. For this reason I think it is important the federal government defer tax cuts to high income earners and compliment the State Budget by further investing in the Australian people so we can pull through difficult times together.