Federal Budget 2022

A cash splash for some and tax headaches for others - how do you shape up following the federal budget?

“This is not sustainable for pubs and clubs. Many of the measures that propped up the arts sector will be terminated in the coming financial year, the budget acknowledges. The phasing out of the offset is the latest in a three-stage plan to reform tax brackets, due to be completed in the 2024-25 financial year. Expenses under the arts and cultural heritage sub-functions are forecast in the budget to decrease by 10.6 per cent in real terms from this financial year to 2022-23. Much speculation had been made in the lead-up to the budget that the so-called beer tax could be cut. Tuesday night’s budget confirmed that the government will not extend the low and middle income tax offset for a third year. That follows the cost of petrol rising above $2 a litre in the wake of the war in Ukraine. The treasurer also announced that the size of the Defence workforce would be expanded at a cost of $38 billion. The government expects that the cost of petrol will tumble within a fortnight of handing down the budget after slashing the fuel excise. A one-off cash payment at the centre of weeks of speculation leading up to the budget will ultimately not reach everyday, working Australians. The expansion will broaden the income test to include a household income threshold of $350,000 per year. For the first time, single parents will also now be able to access the full 20 weeks of leave.

An additional $62.4m will also be provided to continue support to projects that enable better student educational outcomes through the National School Reform ...

In many cases, these families have not only lost their homes, but all their possessions and their livelihoods.” “No funding has been allocated for capital works in public schools, and no additional funding has been allocated for preschools,” she said. "We were particularly pleased to see significant new investment in initiatives to improve regional connectivity. “This budget is incredibly disappointing, but not surprising given the blatant preference for private schools and private VET providers that the Morrison Government continues to show at the expense of public schools and TAFEs.” “I want to thank the Minister for Education and Youth, Stuart Robert, for his robust advocacy in securing funding for these measures and for $1.37m to assist students of Independent schools in flood ravaged areas. The National Catholic Education Commission also welcomed the Budget, saying the extension of the Non-Government Reform Support Fund for a further year will enable Catholic schools to continue to implement agreed national and state-based reform initiatives set out in the National School Reform Agreement, and other emerging priorities.

Industry researchers say 2022 Budget ends COVID support far too early, as an especially dire picture emerges for film and television and for regional arts.

But Ben Eltham says the fall in regional arts funding is “bizarre”: “I live in a regional community now, and that stuff’s important. While there is a small amount of money yet to come in the RISE fund, the visual arts sector had been largely ineligible for that program until late last year when eligibility criteria were changed. Dr Helen Rusack, a Senior Lecturer in Arts Management at Edith Cowan University, said Australia ranks 27th out of the 33 OECD countries in cultural expenditure. Overall film and television funding drops from $195 million to $150 million and remains at about that level in the forward estimates. Forward projections for arts and cultural development are just $2.36 to $2.4 million a year between 2023-24 and 2025-26. I struggled to find [news coverage] beyond Twitter. … There’s a delayed effect for people understanding how much has been cut from the Budget.” “Some people in the sector don’t like RISE because they feel too much has gone to commercial stuff, but I think it’s been a reasonable stimulus,” he says. “You can clearly see that they think COVID’s over, and no more support is there,” she says. “One of the 22 recommendations of the report was that the Government develop a national cultural plan to assess the medium and long-term needs of the sector,” says Benton. “Now it’s finishing, but the sector is still in trouble. Many freelance and casual artists and cultural workers meanwhile were shut out of the JobKeeper program. Audiences are not back to 2019 levels: not even close.