The Albanese Labor Government handed down a Budget it said that delivers for the Illawarra, South Coast and the Southern Highlands.
The region’s Labor MPs Alison Byrnes, Fiona Phillips and Carol Berry welcomed the Budget, stating it is all about all about getting local workers, families and businesses through the global oil shock and building an economy that works for more people.
We are delivering more tax relief for 13.3 million workers, helping more people realise the dream of home ownership and creating a fairer and more sustainable tax system for all Australians.
4.1 million workers in NSW will benefit from our new Working Australians Tax Offset.
These new tax cuts meant that, on top of Labor’s existing tax cuts and a new $1,000 instant tax deduction being introduced next financial year, an average Australian worker could benefit by up to almost $3,000 by 2028.
The Albanese Government is also reforming how capital gains tax and negative gearing work to help 75,000 extra homeowners into the market.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said this is all about putting homeowners first and will help more people in NSW get into the housing market.
“Right now, it’s too hard for too many Australians to get into the housing market and get ahead, but these reforms will help to address that,” he said.
This builds on the Government’s work over the last four years to build more homes, including investing over $14 million to Illawarra Community Housing Trust for 49 dwellings in Wollongong and Dapto.
The Albanese Government is also making health care more affordable and accessible, including making medicines cheaper and making Medicare Urgent Care Clinics a permanent feature of our health system.
“There have been over 100,000 visits to Medicare Urgent Care Clinics, and over 10 million scripts filled for cheaper medicines across the Cunningham, Gilmore and Whitlam electorates,” Alison Byrnes MP, Fiona Phillips MP and Carol Berry MP said.
The Budget also includes a $25 billion Commonwealth investment in public hospitals, which will flow through to hospitals like Wollongong, Shellharbour, Bowral, Shoalhaven and Eurobodalla hospitals.
The Budget also includes important relief for small businesses – the backbone of the Illawarra region’s economy.
Labor is making the $20,000 instant asset write-off permanent from next year so that small businesses have the confidence to invest.
This will mean more certainty, more cashflow and less compliance costs for 1.3 million businesses in NSW.
The Budget is also focussed on helping Australians get through the disruption caused by conflict in the Middle East.
“We have already slashed the fuel excise which is flowing through to residents in the Illawarra, South Coast and Southern Highlands at the bowser,” Treasurer Chalmers said.
“Now, we’re investing even more to ensure our cities, towns and regions have the fuel they need.”
Funding has also been delivered for programs like the Growing the Regions Fund, which deliver the infrastructure regions like ours need.
Our Budget is all about building a stronger, more resilient economy that works for more people, which will mean a better economy for people in the Illawarra, South Coast and Southern Highlands.
