David & WillDavid Pemberthy and Will Goodings six to nine fine, double a breakfast. One thing we do like to do every federal budget and state budget the morning after is speak to some of the key groups affected by the big decisions that are taken by governments, both state and federal, and what we do is give them opportunity to come on, speak for a minute and rate the budget out of ten in their area of interest. We're going to start with Ross Womersley, the CEO of the ESA Council of Social Services. Ross, good morning to you. How did you see the federal budget?
Good morning you gentlemen are very funny.
Thank you, not always deliberately.
Oh excuse me. If you're a if you're a low income household across South Australia, you'll be You'll have welcomed the announcements around some of the health public education investments that have been made. However, and of course it was the three Days of Early Learning, which I think will be very helpful for young families, particularly working young families trying to hold life together. We do think that, like some of your listeners have been saying, it's a great shame that they didn't use the opportunity rather than imposing tax cuts or giving modest tax cuts to people that they actually increased income support. And you and I have talked about the need for that four years now and it would be vastly more life changing for those people who were trying to get buy on job seekers to have seen that. We also think that the six point eight billion dollars that there now will have spent on energy bill relief could have been better targeted and it could have funded energy upgrades on every social housing property across Australia and that would have also created a huge long term impact reducing demand for those households that really struggle with their with their energy come. So we think we think the government needs a big vision. The next government needs a big vision to protect the most vulnerable. There's some extra money coming to South Australia. Treasurer Mulligan will be pretty excited as at least three hundred million dollars extra coming into the South Australian budget. We hope he's going to spend that on things like public housing to ensure that the housing cristis that we've got going on yets addressed.
What do you say out of ten ross six and a half six and a half good thank you for that. Let's head to Andrew Kay, the CEO of the South Australian Business Chamber. Morning Andrew money will, how'd you say it?
This is the budget they didn't want to deliver. Needs the budget we didn't want to hear. It's a business here in South Australia. This budget was over quicker than the Adelaide Essendon game. There was complete absence of general business policy and it has to make us day if they're keeping their powder drive to try and move business over the next month and the lead up of the election, because seriously, what there was not much there? It was short term focused. You know, where was the vision for the tax reform to drive innovation and productivity. Even the instant asset right off for businesses of up to twenty k which was expected to be extended in this budget, wasn't there. That was the miss. There's one hundred and fifty dollars rebate for energy bills, which for businesses who've been getting twenty to thirty percent year on year increase for the last three or four years is almost insulting. That won't buy an espresso caps for the bordery copy machine. I think they'll be. They'll be drinking international ROAs out the back of the warehouse for the next few months.
Nothing wrong with international rights to Andrey, just as.
The premiere if I found its appointed where I am. But in the spirit of the week ahead, I'm giving it a four one for each day. It's going to take the sack of boys to knock over Queensland to bring home the sheedules.
Magnificent Andrew. Let's that part comes true, betiful part. The part about X for support for business comes through true as well. Andrew always replete with them, sporting metaphors and references which we always enjoy. Will Frogley is the CEO of the Master Builders Association here in South Australia. Well, any highlights or lowlights in the budget for you guys.
Look to be honest. I share a lot of the sentiment of Andrew. There's not many nasty surprises in the budget, but equally there's very little to get excited about either. There's a lot of talk about the cost of living squeeze, and rightly so, but there's also a less publicized cost of doing business squeeze, and there's precious little there in the budget. Would have liked to seen a lot more to support the businesses are really the ones that drive economic growth in this country and build for all Austrains. There's very little at all in the budget to help bring down business costs and you know, redish regulation and incentivize growth. So if you look at some of the key challenges for industry construction costs, build times and declining productivity, there's very little in there and the budget to help with those measures. Andrew mentioned the instant that set right off and also the energy bill relief. They're missed opportunities there for sure. And you know, in terms of insolvency, South Australia's performed by father beast in the country in construction, but if you look at other places around the country, it's particularly on the Eastern seaboard, it's been disasterisk. So there's a few good things in there in terms of sending for apprentices and modern methods of construction so modular and prefab to help speed up bill times. But the only real major project in there that is the one twenty five million for the Curtis Road level crossing removal. So really I'm pretty underwhelmed by this budget. I'd give it a five out of ten.
Good on your will, FRANKI thank you. Now on the health angle, dtr Ramyr Rahman, the Vice President of the Royal College of GPS doctor, Good morning to you, Good morning Will.
How are you going very well?
How did you see the budget from a health perspective.
Yeah, look, so the government certainly has demonstrated commitment to rebuilding Medicare and the commitment to practice specifically. So there's been a record injection of eight point five billion investment and this comes up to decades of Medicare underfunding. So there is a recognition of the value of general practice as well as general practitioners in the community and the funding primarily that we are welcoming a lot is specifically for training more GPS, incentivizing junior doctors to choose general practice as a specialization, as well as the Women's Health Package which has been a turnaround and a lot of women in the community clapping their hands for multiple medications that are going to be available on PBS and at cheaper rates as well. But we are concerned that the government's plan won't deliver the nine out of the ten bulk bield appointments that they are expecting. Patient rebates are still quite low to cover the cost of care, specifically for patients who are who've got complex and chronic conditions. There's an aging population as well, so certainly the money needs to be diverted to areas where it's going to make the most impact. So we're wanting to see an increase in the patient Medicare rebates for longer consultations. That's where the real medicine does happen, and that's where general practice sees a lot of the money that needs to be funded towards, and also increasing the patient Medicare rebates for mental health. You know, after COVID and the pandemic, we've certainly seen a rising mental health consultations and the patients are needing it, the.
GPS are calling for it, and how would how would you score it dog your own?
Oh gosh, that's a really tricky question specifically for health, and we've just got to yeah, I know, and we've just got to focus on the idea that you know, government needs to be hearing where the need is, where the money needs to be diverted for patients and for patient cares, and so longer consultations and mental health is where we're seeing the needing to see the increase for patient Medicare rebates.
They're good insight there.
You're free to make and hastened to add you're free to make a number up. There's nothing scientific or any random number that'll do.
Oh no, I think, well that would that would that would not be That would not be right of me. I think we've got to we've got to applaud what is coming towards health, but noting that Medicare has been underfunded for decades and we're really wanting to see those increase in passion Medicare rebates.
Okay, fair enough, thank you for that. And there's one of the great things about people of science. Never up for frivol or stupidity, are they? That's right, give it a big six point three, exactly right.
There's whatever one grip we really wanted to add this year given the drought conditions in South Australia and in other parts of the country, and that is to get a sense of what's in this budget for people making their living on the land and feeding the country in the process. Simon Maddox is the chair of the Primary Producers Association here in South Australia. Simon, good morning to you. How did you How did you guys see the budget?
Oh?
Look, I think it's pretty disappointing really, no doubt. One of the challenges is that South Australia and a bit of Western Victoria and drought and everybody else is dealing with flood and raids at the moment. The big package in this budget that South Australia is obviously money for Wyler that and the Curtis Raid update, and there's not much else specifically for primary producers, not a lot of relief for the challenges our guys are facing. There's obviously some commitment in the FEDS to improving trade environment and that's really important because a significant part of what Australian farmers produce is export, I think some seventy percent, so ongoing work in the trade area is really really critical, but it won't specifically help our guys currently. There's more money for Murray Daraling water buybacks, but again we don't know quite how much or what those costing tax payers because they don't disclose those figures for fear of impacting the market dynamics. There's a bit of money for pest management control, which is an ongoing issue for this country, and biasic the investments, but I think they're really big issues like fixing rural roads and stimulating regional housing and overcoming workforce challenges are missing. As Andrew tossed on earlier, I think we were looking forward to an extension of the instant asset right off. That's a really big issue for primary producers and there's nothing. There's nothing there for that, So it's a short term focused budget, not long term. I think the big takeaway for me was I think it's time to get into bamboo farming.
Do you think too that some of these South Australian farmers are stuck in the mega safe seats of Gray and Barker to pity you can't move some South Australian farms to these marginal seats in Queensland and New South Wales. It get all the attention.
Oh, there's there's no doubt we've got We've got a real challenge. There's a challenge even getting people in Adelaide to appreciate just quite how significant the drought and the impact has been for primary producers, not just in the North of the state, but in the southeast as well, a lot of producers have really been challenged by it. So look, there there's an ongoing program of work that the federal government has that works with the state government to support drought and drought impacts. But I think if we don't get some opening, good opening season range this year, then we're in a whole whole other world of pain.
So how would you score it from your perspective, Simon, Oh.
Look, I think specifically it's look, it's it's not a bad short term budget, but for agriculture, I'd be hard pest to go past to fall.
So Simon, thank you for that. Simon Maddox, the chair of the Primary Producers of SA
