Bill Shorten’s proposed Budget should he be elected includes free cancer scans, tax cuts for low-income workers and 150,000 new apprenticeships.
The Opposition leader unveiled his flashy new Budget in Canberra on Thursday night.
He promised the Labor party would essentially offer the same tax cuts to middle-income earners while also promising people earning under $40,000 they would be in a better position under his party.
Mr Shorten has also introduced policies on climate change, and is offering $1 billion for TAFE and apprentices, ensuring 150,000 Australians will go to TAFE with no upfront fees.
Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten kisses wife Chloe after delivering the 2019-20 Federal Budget Reply speech
Bill Shorten’s pitch to be prime minister starts with billions of extra dollars for health and education, and bigger personal income tax cuts for workers
He also guaranteed universal access to pre-school or kinder for every three and four year old for 15 hours a week, 40 weeks a year.
Mr Shorten appealed to a younger demographic while assuring the older generation that negative gearing on properties would remain an option.
‘But you cannot have property investors playing with loaded dice against our young people, generation Y and the millennials,’ he said.
‘Instead of patronising millions of young Australians with lectures about cutting back on smashed avo, why don’t we tell them the truth – getting together a 20% deposit plus stamp duty is so much, much harder than it was 20 or 25 years ago.’
Opposition leader Bill Shorten stands with his wife Chloe Shorten after delivering his budget reply speech
The Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg watch Opposition leader Bill Shorten deliver his budget reply speech
He’s promising $1.2 billion to make almost all cancer scans free and another $1 billion to create 150,000 apprenticeships.
The Labor leader’s budget-reply speech included a promise for six million free X-rays, mammograms, ultrasounds, and PET and CT scans.
‘For so many people, cancer makes you sick and then paying for the treatment makes you poor,’ Mr Shorten told parliament on Thursday night.
‘If we win the election, not only will we provide new MRI machines to communities where they are needed most.
‘But Labor will guarantee that every single MRI machine in Australia that meets a national quality standard is covered by Medicare for cancer scans.’
The speech has taken on even greater relevance this year, as it comes just weeks out from an election which Labor is widely tipped to win.
Mr Shorten also promised to match the coalition’s $1080 tax cut for 4.5 million middle income earners.
But he’s gone further for people earning below $45,000 a year, with the lowest income workers getting $350 a year compared to the coalition’s $255.
‘To give these workers the tax cut they deserve, Labor will increase the offset for low-income and part-time workers,’ Mr Shorten said.
Mr Shorten also promised to match the coalition’s $1080 tax cut for 4.5 million middle income earners
The coalition promised to create 80,000 apprenticeships to fill the skills shortage, but Mr Shorten will almost double that with a $1 billion promise.
‘Australia now has 150,000 fewer apprentices and trainees than when Labor left government in 2013,’ Mr Shorten said.
‘This investment will provide 150,000 additional apprentice incentives in areas of skill shortages.’
Labor will also provide $433 million to immediately cover specialist consultations for cancer patients.
‘Over the next four years, this will mean an additional three million appointments are bulk-billed – with no out-of-pocket costs,’ Mr Shorten said.
Labor will also provide $433 million to immediately cover specialist consultations for cancer patients
The coalition has regularly attacked Labor after it stopped putting new medicines on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme when the budget went strongly into deficit.
So Mr Shorten has promised to guarantee that every drug recommended by the independent experts will be listed on the PBS.
Ahead of the speech, Prime Minister Scott Morrison accused Labor of building an alternative budget on ‘lies and higher taxes’.
‘That’s what Bill Shorten is about, telling lies about what the government has done, and funding anything he talks about with higher taxes,’ he told reporters.
The coalition has targeted income tax cuts as a key plank in its campaign to win a third election.