A soft budget - if you overlook the nasty bits still there from last year – with more giveaways than takeaways inevitably fanned talk of a possible double dissolution this year.
With this budget, this government has sent a clear message that it does not trust the Australia Council to do its bidding – and that it will now pursue its own funding agenda for the arts.
A national domestic violence crisis hotline is still under-funded and unable to keep up with demand, after the 2015 federal budget delivered only a few short-term measures on domestic violence.
Since the foundation of the Australia Council arts funding has been administered at arms length. The fine print of this year’s Budget is set to change that.
Environment minister Greg Hunt hasn’t asked for any more money for the Emissions Reduction Fund. So what is actually in the budget, as far as climate change is concerned?
The Federal Budget 2015 makes little mention of emissions reductions or renewable energy, but does feature funding boosts for drought assistance and the Great Barrier Reef. What else is in?
Charis Palmer, The Conversation; Emil Jeyaratnam, The Conversation, and Diana Hodgetts, The Conversation
The Commission of Audit set the high water mark for reform designed to protect Australia against an economic downturn. One year on, little of it has made it into policy.
Joe Hockey’s first budget was a declaration of ideological belief. The second is about political survival and depends on breathing life back into the economy – the ideological urgency can wait.
Hal Kendig, Australian National University and Andrew Podger, Australian National University
The government has dropped plans to index age pensions to CPI and opted instead to tighten income and assets test. These are welcome changes but more needs to be done.
There were no truly nasty surprises in last night’s Budget for the arts – but clear discomfort was expressed with the “arms-length” approach that hitherto has guided the allocation of arts funding.