COVID response ACOSS has written twice to the Prime Minister and National Cabinet outlining key steps to reduce the impact of Omicron and protect people who are vulnerable in our community. This includes ensuring people have free access to RATs, setting up a Rapid Response Group and ensuring people on low incomes receive booster shots, as there is evidence people on higher incomes are receiving boosters at a faster rate compared with people on lower incomes: https://www.acoss.org.au/media-releases/?media_release=national-cabinet-must-urgently-address-crippling-omicron-inequities People with Disability People with Disability (PWD) and other disability peaks organisations have called for urgent reform to protect people with disability from COVID, including provision of RATs, PPE and ensuring carers are COVID-free by changing isolation requirements. Read their statement here: https://pwd.org.au/disability-sector-slams-national-cabinets-omicron-response/ JobSeeker & others on income support The number of people receiving JobSeeker rose for the first time since August 2020 to 900,000 people in January. People receiving JobSeeker, now just $45 a day, don't have enough money to cover basic goods, let alone when the cost of basics soars as we've seen over the past 12 months. Ipsos polling late last year showed that in five must-win marginal seats across the country, 65 to 74 a cent of voters agreed that Jobseeker payments should be above the poverty line. A majority also said they would change their vote to a party that committed to raising JobSeeker above the poverty line. Abolish cuts to Pandemic Leave Disaster Payment On 18 January, the Federal Government cut the Pandemic Leave Disaster Payment from $750pw to $450pw for people who lost between 9 and 19 hours paid work per week, and abolished it entirely for people who lost only one day's work. Given the added costs people face of isolating if they have COVID, including purchasing RATs and PPE, the Federal Government must immediately reverse these cuts, and extend eligibility to people receiving income support. Basic facts on tax and public expenditure in Australia:
- Australia is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, measured by median household wealth.
- Australia's personal income tax revenue (at 11.5% of GDP in 2017) is lower than the average for wealthy nations (17.4% of GDP) when we take account of social insurance taxes.
- The Stage 3 tax cuts cost at least $16 billion a year. Recent analysis from the Parliamentary Budget Office indicates that around two thirds of this will go to individuals on $120,000 or more, and only one third will go women.
- An average fulltime worker pays 24.1% of their overall income in income tax, lower than an average American worker (24.4%)
- The 2021 Budget projects negative growth in Commonwealth budget expenditures per person, of minus 0.7% per year from 2022 to 2024.
See the community sector's call for a budget guarantee here:
