Labor Promises $10B for Social Housing in Budget Reply
Australian Opposition leader Anthony Albanese has promised a $10 billion (US$7.7 billion) housing fund to build 30,000 social and affordable housing as part of Labor’s response to the 2021 Budget.
In his Budget reply speech, Albanese said the Labor Party was committed to lifting wages, fixing age care, addressing the housing crisis, championing equality for women, and more.
“What a missed opportunity if our economy comes out the other side with nothing to show for this transformational moment but the biggest debt and deficit of all time,” Albanese said.
He attacked the Tuesday budget for merely showing “the sorry tale of 8 years of Liberal neglect” and presenting a trillion-dollar debt plan.
By Justin Hendry on May 13, 2021 6:38AM
Opinion: Real change remains some way off.
At the heart of the federal government’s second pandemic budget is a desire to transform Australia into a leading digital economy with a $1.2 billion package that promises to improve public sector service delivery and spur private sector investment.
Initiatives like $200 million for the nascent myGov overhaul, $50 million for a national artificial intelligence centre and $100 million to expand the consumer data right are just some of the ways it plans to do this.
But in the hundreds of pages of budget papers there is a distinct feeling the government is doing just enough to get by throwing money at immediate problems – that align with its jobs and growth narrative – while continuing to neglect long-talked about reforms.
The SMSF Association also welcomed the extension of the two-year safe harbour exemption to five years for residency rules as two years was too short in the context of modern work arrangements.
“Regarding residency rules, we argued in our submission that the existing two-year safe harbour exemption under the central management and control test is too short in the context of modern work arrangements, where executives and other staff are often expected to commit to an overseas placement for more than two years, and that this period should be increased to five years.
“The removal of the active member test significantly simplifies the residency rules for both SMSFs and small APRA funds,” Maroney said.
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The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) has welcomed the push from the Government’s reaffirmed commitment to increasing the superannuation guarantee (SG) to 12%, which was announced in the Federal Budget earlier this week, and said it was
an important step towards providing adequate retirement savings, particularly for women and younger Australians.
ASFA also supported the package of additional measures aimed at boosting women’s retirement savings and increasing flexibility for retirees to make contributions and access income streams which included:
Abolishing the $450 a month earnings threshold for the payment of the SG;
The removal of the work test (for those aged 67 to 74) for superannuation contributions;
The Government has delivered on its pre-Budget announcement around the $450 superannuation guarantee threshold and removal of the work test for older Australians.