Budget: what about the real crises?

The federal government has taken a once-in-a-generation or, even more ominously, a once-in-a-lifetime, bonanza and completely wasted the opportunity to really prepare Australia to meet the future.

The budget has done nothing meaningful to address the real crises that beset Australia.

We have cities running out of water. Where is the funding to start to look at the desperately needed national water reticulation infrastructure?

We have cities choking to death. Where is the funding to fix public transport and urban roads infrastructure?

Did anyone mention global warming? Where is a cent of the windfall directed to the problem that future generations will have to live or die with?

We have an energy crisis. Where is the money to support the innovation required in energy conservation and new forms of energy?

We have a national road infrastructure that even 30 years ago was a disgrace. Where is the money to really sort this out rather than the limp-wristed Band-Aid-on-a-mortar-wound approach perpetuated by this budget?

We have a crisis in public education with an ageing infrastructure that compromises kids' education and an ageing teaching population, up to 40 per cent of whom will head into retirement in the next 10 years. Where is the funding to fix the infrastructure and prepare the next generation of teachers?

We still have a big underclass in Australia. There are 40,000 kids under the age of 20 classified by governments as being at risk. Where is the funding to address this?

We have an ageing population crisis. The Future Fund will ensure that the bloated Canberra bureaucracy and members of parliament will be able to enjoy overseas holidays and good red wine until their death. Where is the Future Fund for the balance of the ageing population who don't have enough time to make up their retirement nest-egg shortfalls?

We can hope Opposition Leader Kim Beazley addresses these problems, but Labor's tendency to navigate by looking into the rear view mirror suggests that this is a vain hope.

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Education the loser in spending war

What happened to the clever country?

The budget shows the Federal Government will spend much more on soldiers than scholars in the years ahead.

Defence has overtaken education as the third biggest area of federal expenditure following welfare and health.

And that pecking order is set to become entrenched.

Defence and education have been neck and neck as a proportion of federal spending for the past five years but Tuesday's budget has ensured defence will streak ahead.

Spending on defence will be $17.9 billion next financial year compared with spending of $16.3 billion on education, the budget papers show.

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Budget blind to child care crisis

The Federal Government continues to be blind to the crisis in long day care and has again done nothing in this Budget to help the many working families where women want to, or need to, return to work.

And the Howard Government has done nothing to build a secure, stable childcare workforce which would be trusted by parents - the LHMU Childcare Union said today.

"John Howard and his Ministers must face up to the fact that while they don't provide the funds there will never be enough available places in Australian childcare centres for all the mothers who want to return to work," Jeff Lawrence, LHMU Childcare Union National Secretary said.

The Federal Budget has failed to address the crucial issue of access to childcare leaving about 250,000 Australian families on waiting lists for childcare they can't afford.

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Budget fails education

With a record surplus budget, the Howard Government has squandered an opportunity to invest in the country's most valuable natural resource, our students in public schools and TAFE colleges.

Maree O'Halloran, NSW Teachers' Federation President, said today:

"The Howard Government's commitment to education can be measured by the number of times it was mentioned by the Treasurer in his budget speech, ie, zero.

"Between 2005 -2008, the Howard Government is giving almost three quarters of the federal recurrent education budget to approximately 30% of students in private schools. The Howard Government continues to show contempt for the 70% of students enrolled in public schools.

"As well, there are no provisions which will seriously address the skills shortage facing Australia. John Howard's comment on AM this morning that the establishment of Australian Technical Colleges is meant to do that is disingenuous. What is needed is more government investment in an already well established and productive TAFE system.

"The results of a national pre-budget poll conducted by the Australian Education Union showed that 73% of those surveyed indicated a preference for greater investment in education rather than tax cuts and 90% said that additional funding should go to public schools.

"It is a national disgrace that the Howard Government, awash with funds, continues to fail public education."

Sydney: thousands join May Day march

Working families from the Blue Mountains were amongst thousands who gathered in central Sydney last Sunday to send a message about the new workplace laws.

“We’re here today to protect out rights at work, which are under threat from the Howard government’s new workplace laws,“ said Blue Mountains Unions Council President, Kerry Cook, who marched beneath the Blue Mountains Unions Council banner with a score of people who travelled to the city for the day.
The Secretary of the peak council of unions across the state, John Robertson from Unions NSW, welcomed the Mountains contingent to the rally in Hyde Park.

“Working families from the mountains are joining communities across the state, all focussed on dumping these laws,” said Robertson.