PAYTON. FOUNDATION. CHANGING LIVES.

Yes, they could always do more, but what’s good about this Federal Budget for vulnerable people?

1. Fuel excise will halve, dropping petrol prices by 22.1c per litre – for 6 months
2. $250 one-off tax exempt payment for people on welfare, veterans and concession card holders
3. Tax breaks for low income earners (under $37,500) can get up to $3000 offset.
4.  $1.1B over 4 years to help women suffering from family, domestic and sexual violence as well as early intervention for young men.
5. $1.7B for flood victims
6. $636M over 6 years for the Rangers program.  Rangers are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders skilled in conservation work and bring experience, intergenerational knowledge sharing and formal conservation qualifications to managing country.
7. $316M over 5 years to build the Ngurra cultural precinct in Canberra which will allow Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to tell their stories, and provide a national resting place for repatriated remains.
8. $7.7M to extend the Indigenous home ownership program
9. Home guarantee scheme places to double up to 50,000.  This saves the borrower getting mortgage insurance for loans over 80% of the property value.  So that’s more single parents being able to buy a house with 2% deposit or first home buyers needing just 5%.
10. $2B will be added to NHFIC to lend to Housing Associations at low interest to build more affordable housing.
11. Just one grant of $3M to the homelessness sector – Young Australian of the year Daniel Nour’s organisation – Side Street Medics.
12. $7.3M for the disability sector including $1.2M for Autism.
13. They’ve made it easier for some regional community foundations to register for tax deductible (DGR) status.
14. Afghan refugee intake will double over the next 4 years.
15. Foreign aid will increase 2.5%

The Government has a difficult task to balance taxes, infrastructure and defense with the welfare needs of their citizens. We aren’t here to offer an opinion about whether or not they got the balance right or the initiatives are worthy. Your vote at the upcoming election will determine who makes these decisions for the next 3-4 years.

That said, we can’t rely on Government to look after all the needs. It’s up to us to deal with the needs in front of us. If you want to help vulnerable people but don’t know where to start or who to trust, talk to us.