Page 1621 - Week 05 - Thursday, 15 May 2014
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The 2014-15 budget reduces funding under the national affordable housing agreement, NAHA, from that indicated in the federal MYEFO last December. This will result in the loss of funding to the ACT under NAHA of $1.335 million over the forward years. This loss increases each year up to 2017-18.
The other impact upon public housing will result from the changes to the pension and benefit entitlements of people on low incomes whose main source of income is a pension or benefit from Centrelink. The budget freezes some rates, changes the indexation or changes the entitlement. Although the impact will not be immediately seen, over the longer term there is likely to be an effect on tenant incomes and therefore the rent they pay. There is likely to be a flattening or decrease of incomes and therefore a decrease in the ability of tenants to pay rents. This will flow through to the revenue that ACT Housing is able to recoup. The cessation of the round 5 NRAS allocations will also subdue the construction of affordable housing.
When it comes to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, abolishing the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples is a major retrograde step in my view. The federal government announced a major Indigenous advancement strategy around five major themes; jobs, land and economy, children and schooling, safety and wellbeing, culture and capability and remote Australia strategies. But under the name of Indigenous advancement, the federal government is removing $534 million over five years for these Indigenous programs.
There is little detail yet as to which programs will be cut or amalgamated but we do know that savings are expected from the first quarter of the coming financial year. Support through the national partnership on Indigenous early childhood is ceasing on 30 June, just six weeks away. This funding is a key part of the West Belconnen Child and Family Centre and will have a direct effect on their services.
When it comes to ageing, of course, pensions have received a lot of coverage in the press. An increase in eligibility to 70 years by 2035 and a tighter means test will mean that many more people will need to lengthen their working life. People may face unemployment between the ages of 65 and 70 with little support available from reduced job networks.
Workplaces will need to make adjustments to have many seniors in their workforce. This is going to be a massive cultural shift. We know already that workplaces are reluctant to hire older people. Some analyses I see suggest people over 50 have a significant challenge finding a new job. If we expect people to be working all the way to 70, we are going to need a massive effort to shift the culture when it comes to employing older workers.
Mr Wall: $10,000 for hiring someone over 50.
MR RATTENBURY: $10,000 is a one-off, Mr Wall. If we want to go down that path, we will start talking about some of the other things that got stripped out. My simple observation is that over the next 21 years business is going to need to take some cultural lessons as well and make sure they change their attitude, because at the moment the simple fact is they are not hiring older workers. We need a change in culture.
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