The 2024 Budget

[jave808]

Well, the budget has been released and news reports are going nuts repeating the promises made ad nauseam.

Good: $300 energy rebate and Rent Assistance.

Bad: No welfare increases. No real answer to the housing problem.

The energy rebate will be welcome by a lot of Aussies but I think it's really only to appease the naysayers about Albo's election promise for every Australian to save $250 on their electricity bill by 2025.

Rent Assistance is good, but sadly it will probably be eaten up by greedy landlords.

The poor are still poor. People are still living in their car/tent and have to decide whether they eat a meal or get medication. It shouldn't be this way. Our country is better than that to treat its citizens like this.

Feel free to comment about how the budget will affect you. But no nasty stuff! We are all a team here at B@A. (Well, that's how I feel we are.)

[Abruraspingi]

I'm against the $300 electricity payment. This will only add to inflation where we should be looking at lowering the deficit.

We have all the resources on Earth so electricity should be basically free in Australia. Instead we export resources just to buy them back at an inflated price. LNG is the best example.

Realistically we are taxed around 60% of our income and it's way to high. Just look at how high tax on fuel and alcohol is, not to mention GST on everything. We should be lowering taxes in order to lower inflation, interest rates and spur on growth. A rule of thumb is for every $7 Billion in deficit brings about a .25 percent increase in interest rates. Lowering taxes will help pay off the deficit the government keeps building by bringing in more tax revenue.

We wouldn't have a cost of living crisis if taxes weren't high and we didn't have to pay in excess for things. To give everyone this $300 the government would have to borrow money like they always do. Imagine what the government could do with the money instead of getting $300 of my own money back.

Setting up a sovereign wealth fund would be the smarter idea. Just look at how well the Future Fund has done, we should have more like it just like Alaska, Macau and Norway. This could be used for infrastructure in Australia such as potable water or electricity supplies including the Sun Cable Project. From there we could create even bigger projects such as Project Boomerang.

It's insane that the government thinks they are helping with cost of living by increasing the cost of living.

Don't get me started on housing. At least I'll be paying less tax next year

[jave808]

I'm against the $300 electricity payment. This will only add to inflation where we should be looking at lowering the deficit.

We have all the resources on Earth so electricity should be basically free in Australia. Instead we export resources just to buy them back at an inflated price. LNG is the best example.

Realistically we are taxed around 60% of our income and it's way to high. Just look at how high tax on fuel and alcohol is, not to mention GST on everything. We should be lowering taxes in order to lower inflation, interest rates and spur on growth. A rule of thumb is for every $7 Billion in deficit brings about a .25 percent increase in interest rates. Lowering taxes will help pay off the deficit the government keeps building by bringing in more tax revenue.

We wouldn't have a cost of living crisis if taxes weren't high and we didn't have to pay in excess for things. To give everyone this $300 the government would have to borrow money like they always do. Imagine what the government could do with the money instead of getting $300 of my own money back.

Setting up a sovereign wealth fund would be the smarter idea. Just look at how well the Future Fund has done, we should have more like it just like Alaska, Macau and Norway. This could be used for infrastructure in Australia such as potable water or electricity supplies including the Sun Cable Project. From there we could create even bigger projects such as Project Boomerang.

It's insane that the government thinks they are helping with cost of living by increasing the cost of living.

Don't get me started on housing. At least I'll be paying less tax next year

Totally agree with you on a Sovereign Wealth Fund. We are basically giving away our natural resources.

I'm in two minds about the $300 rebate. It will help those with large bills - but only by $75 per quarter! That's not much if you have a $1k bill.

On X (the old Twitter), I follow an well-known economist and he's basically said what you've said. He also added that the budget was just to get votes. And we all know how votes are loved by politicians. I wouldn't be surprised if Labor bomb out next election.

[Abruraspingi]

Who is the economist you follow?

Unfortunately the government is great at spending wasting of people's money, especially for buying votes

[jave808]

Who is the economist you follow?

Unfortunately the government is great at spending wasting of people's money, especially for buying votes

Scott Phillips on X.

Yep, governments can sure spend money. HOW they spend it is the problem.

[Abruraspingi]

Cheers, I'll look him up.

Haha first thing I see "More money = less inflation... Wassup?"
 

[Abruraspingi]

Thanks Jave, the more I read from Scott the more I like him. It's all common sense stuff as well.

I've mostly read tweets but I have some articles and other things lined up once I have a chance

[aymii]

exactly ..   especially when the average person forced to stay home due to medical reasons or etc is spending at least  2 k a year to stop frostbite cheaper to own a cat with the average cost on that is less than 2k. in my line of work  I know too many people who will not eat dinner to feed their pets..  ..
 I never forget a few years ago  ( in my count of time ) a little kid went awol from home in the bush .. she survived the night cos the family dog followed her and kept her warm .. always struck me that old saying dogs and humans have an ancient promise to look after each other .. dogs just never have forgotten it..   
Id like to HOPE that if there is other life in the universe they look after children and elders far better than the people who control this world we currently live in..



..

I'm against the $300 electricity payment. This will only add to inflation where we should be looking at lowering the deficit.

We have all the resources on Earth so electricity should be basically free in Australia. Instead we export resources just to buy them back at an inflated price. LNG is the best example.

Realistically we are taxed around 60% of our income and it's way to high. Just look at how high tax on fuel and alcohol is, not to mention GST on everything. We should be lowering taxes in order to lower inflation, interest rates and spur on growth. A rule of thumb is for every $7 Billion in deficit brings about a .25 percent increase in interest rates. Lowering taxes will help pay off the deficit the government keeps building by bringing in more tax revenue.

We wouldn't have a cost of living crisis if taxes weren't high and we didn't have to pay in excess for things. To give everyone this $300 the government would have to borrow money like they always do. Imagine what the government could do with the money instead of getting $300 of my own money back.

Setting up a sovereign wealth fund would be the smarter idea. Just look at how well the Future Fund has done, we should have more like it just like Alaska, Macau and Norway. This could be used for infrastructure in Australia such as potable water or electricity supplies including the Sun Cable Project. From there we could create even bigger projects such as Project Boomerang.

It's insane that the government thinks they are helping with cost of living by increasing the cost of living.

Don't get me started on housing. At least I'll be paying less tax next year

Totally agree with you on a Sovereign Wealth Fund. We are basically giving away our natural resources.

I'm in two minds about the $300 rebate. It will help those with large bills - but only by $75 per quarter! That's not much if you have a $1k bill.

On X (the old Twitter), I follow an well-known economist and he's basically said what you've said. He also added that the budget was just to get votes. And we all know how votes are loved by politicians. I wouldn't be surprised if Labor bomb out next election.

[Mike Mitchell]

Rent Assistance is good, but sadly it will probably be eaten up by greedy landlords.

My rent is going up by $30 a week!   I gotta get out of this place if it's the last thing I ever do.

[Dingo]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3mgapAcVdU

[chooka03]

I haven't thought about the budget much as I try not to worry about things that I have no control over.
I'm happy to get electricity bill relief but it should have been means tested! I can't believe they handed that out to EVERYONE.

I agree with the comments around exporting our gas. It's utterly ridiculous that you hear things like "gas shortage" and "import terminal" when discussing Australian gas! Utterly ludicrous!

Australian resources should be for Australians first and it should be cheap!

As for housing..... it's all about supply. We need WAY more houses to be built, less immigration until infrastructure catches up and I think less generous tax concessions for wealthy property investors.
Housing should be a basic right, not a money making exercise for investors. I have the same attitude about electricity.
Rents will not come down without much, MUCH more supply but the big end of town will protect themselves from house prices falling. :/
I'd be ok if the value of my home fell if it means young Australians can get into the market and start a family instead of being trapped in a vicious rent cycle.

[Abruraspingi]

We can't just build more houses, it's just not physically possible. From 2010 Australia had a housing boom and we built more dwellings than than almost every other country in the world, it's just not possible to build more dwellings than what we already have.
https://www.oecd.org/housing/data/affordable-housing-database/housing-market.htm

With saying that most new apartments have had serious defects with some needing to be demolished. It's insane.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-24/more-than-half-newly-registered-apartments-defects-nsw/103379978
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/these-apartments-were-built-just-five-years-ago-now-they-re-being-demolished-20231121-p5elqp.html

On top of that we've had a construction apocalypse where many builders have collapsed.

When it comes to resources Australia should be keeping 10-20% of what is mined for our own purposes. That would mean for electricity we'd only have to pay for new connections and maintenance (basically free electricity especially since it could be covered by taxes or just get private industry to pay). The problem is 86% of mining companies in Australia are foreign owned so they don't care because they have no stake in Australia.

[Mike Mitchell]

@Dingo:  Thank you, that's exactly what I had in mind. 

@Chooka: Why Qatar Earns $76 Billion from Gas While Aussies Get Scammed c/o Punter's Politics

https://youtu.be/x-nNpSaLxO8?si=xCelvyMZHenh_Z-5

@Abruraspingi: On top of that Aussies build the world's largest homes on a median average. This is fine until you see first-home buyers trying to replicate what mum and dad have after accumulating 30 years of wealth. This was a problem back in the eighties when I was still building houses and the average home was 25 sqm bigger than those in the US. That's 2.5 bedrooms! That figure is now 35 sqm. One of the last houses my late brother Laurie built had 5 bedrooms, 3 dining rooms, a rumpus room and a study. It was effing huge.
The other thing I've noticed is that too many builders are trying to build houses outside their skill set and making rudimentary errors.
A common problem seems to be balconies with proper floors. They become a catchment area when it rains. They should be capable of disposing of all the water even in a deluge but inexperienced builders leave them flat. So they send water into the attached room, the walls on either side of the deck and the ceiling space behind it.
The builders can't deal with the "odd" shapes included in new designs.
These builders should stop building and get back on the tools where they belong.
Perhaps governments should use far stricter rules to license builders.