Expecting a messy and confused Budget
May 13, 2008 by Christine Milne
There is an old political adage that the Budget is the clearest possible view of a government’s soul - laying bare its priorities for all to see.
So, now that the day of the Rudd Government’s first Budget has arrived, what can we expect?
From all that we’ve seen and heard thus far, and from regular interaction with the Government and Ministers, I fear that we can expect a Budget that is messy and confused, a Budget that isn’t brave enough to take the hard decisions that need to be taken, a Budget that gives with one hand and takes with the other by undermining its own actions.
We’ll be heading in to the lock-up this afternoon and responding with what we see as the top issues tonight, and I will be delivering the Budget reply speech for the Greens on Thursday night. Obviously, I will be prioritising climate change and oil depletion, and looking at how dealing effectively with those fundamental challenges will also help our economy across issues as diverse as inflation, public health and rural and regional development. And I will not hold the punches on irresponsible spending such as the tax cuts, private health rebate and, of course, fossil fuel subsidies.
Any ideas and feedback, of course, are most welcome in the meantime. I apologise in advance if I do not have the time to respond to them as they come, but rest assured that we will look and consider them all as we construct our response.
UPDATE (from Tim H): Christine put out this Pre-Budget statement yesterday that you might like to read, to see some of her priorities.
The cuts, as far as I can tell, are in the wrong places such as the CSIRO and Bureau of Statistics budgets. The NFF have come out saying that the CSIRO and other relevant bodies need the resources to be able to ensure Australia’s biosecurity and that the horse flu epidemic was an example of our evidence based quarantine system breaking down. Now, Rudd has promised evidence based policy but it’s going to be very hard to get the evidence analysed properly when the BoS is already operating on shoestring budgets and facing further cuts.
The luxury car tax increase is a bit funny. It is true that there are luxury cars which are more fuel efficient than Commodores or Falcons of similar build but the small cars are generally more fuel efficient than both (the Toyota Echo/Yaris, for example). I would’ve preferred to see a car tax which taxes based on fuel efficiency so that there are both upfront and ongoing price signals (fuel tax) as to the cost of running a car. The rich will buy luxury cars regardless of the tax; they can afford it. What this does is hit the upper-middle class motorists who would buy the fuel efficient BMW over the Commodore/Falcon but will not do so now that they’re more costly. It’s probably going to make very little difference to the budget and to car emissions but the political message it sends is “class warfare” rather than “responsible purchasing”.
Frankly, driving a car needs to reflect the costs involved to society and the environment. The fuel excise needs to be reindexed as the very first step towards transport equity and environmental considerations. People will stop driving when it becomes more expensive and less convenient than catching the train. Increased global oil prices will go some way to fixing this but the money will be pocketed by oil companies rather than made available to governments to spend on alternative transport infrastructure. For this reason, we need to look at increasing the price of fuel and making that money directly available to state and local governments for public and active transport infrastructure, similar to the USA’s Highway fund.
Cannot agree with higher fuel prices,even though I dont drive a car myself,and get enthusiastic,about motorised bicycles and matters developed, and, can be seen at KeeleyNet.com, like the lastest there from a ancient,now, alternative living mag,using a motor mower engine etc,. to be part of a highly efficient,electric motor assembly. I know Renew Magazine and others do similar stuff,but, there doesnt seem to be a more open sourced government Organization.The lack of scientist,and people with well trained technical skills is really beginning to bite..in the conventional as well as off beat. I doubt this present Government will Budget well for anyone,accept themselves,as usual.I think even the contributor before me,maybe more generalist about policy ,than specialist as lay or technical science skills, are concerned ,and not with tools in hand. I think the Government could assist ,very cheaply,by having a site where technology already in use is displayed and links to developing technologies etc. linking in such sites as KeeleyNet.com . Vortex Generators to put on all road vehicles seems a worthy thing to support somehow,as it will be,to experiment with that concept in windmill configurations,train and train development. To me the ALP have never really been intentionally supporting even alternative attitudes to consumption,as can be seen about plastic bags. Whereas,the EXAIR Vortex Tube technology has to be once again considered a technology of this age of energy and other matters uncertain. Visiting on line a craft magazine devoted to plastic bag recycling,that has been really in its infancy and has critics. Gives me a sense of certainty in what I have said. The ALP is in outer space about all the potentials for re-industrialisation, because being a representative really is a form of unproductive madness today. And apologies to Greens here, but no apologies to GetUp.
As one of the most affluent societies in the world, we do not need tax cuts. Such a pity they weren’t “non core promises”. The cuts will be a mini boom to retailers (more imported flat screen HDTV’s on hire purchase to watch Home and Away, Big Brother and the footy) which in turn will put pressure on inflation resulting in interest rate rises. Perhaps they will result in Kevin’s “the hangover we had to have”.
Actually Sam, I suspect the rich/upper middle rich are in the minority of vehicular fuel users. A bigger culprit will probably be the company car and/or fuel card. The recipients of these have absolutely no incentive to save fuel. Think of the number of company/ public service / etc. vehicles on our roads, and then ask how many of these are small? Most are large 6 cylinder 4 litre machines carrying one person 95% of the time (and 42% of statistics are made up on the spot, but you get the drift).
McFarm, one thing the Greens were talking about at the Brisbane City Council was discounted season passes for CBD businesses as an incentive to have them reduce the number of parking spaces provided for cars and thus have their office workers catch public transport to get to work. The freed up car spaces could then be converted to bike parking or even extra storage space.
There are some legitimate users of cars in CBD offices such as engineers who have to go on site and assorted public servants. The average office worker sits behind a desk all day and doesn’t need a car all to themselves on call 24 hours a day.
As for professionals in the suburbs, there are plenty of doctors, lawyers, etc. who don’t necessarily have a company car but still drive to get to work. These will be the hardest people to get on to public transport but I’m sure they can afford an increase in fuel excise.
BCC have got some Toyota Priuses (Prii?) in their fleet which is admirable but there are a lot of staff in the BCC whose driving is catered for. I’d like to see all public servants and elected Councillors given season passes and have a fleet of cars on site for use during the day. That way the Councillors can see first hand just how woeful the public transport is in their city. Councillors in areas like Richlands, Pullenvale and McDowall would be lining up for the transport funds in a flash.
The most terrifying thing I’ve heard so far is that the $18 billion budget surplus will be invested in fixing “infrastructure bottlenecks” - i.e. massively increasing our coal export capacity. Let’s lose the political doublespeak and call a spade a spade.
I was among 16 people tried today for taking direct action at the point of expansion (the third coal loader at Kooragang Island in Newcastle) - and if Wayne Swan keeps on removing Australia’s “infrastructure bottlenecks” nothing more than a mass NVDA mobilisation will stop this madness. What is Australia going to do when the world coal demand goes down (as it has to)?
When will we start putting the global interest ahead of the national interest? Let’s identify the real bottlenecks to human progress - poor public transport, armed conflict, global trade injustice, and the tragedy of climate change.