General News
31 October, 2022
Federal Budget roads and infrastructure program a “godsend”
The Federal Government has handed down its first budget since taking office earlier this year, with the October 2022-2023 budget bringing cost of living relief to residents and new funding opportunities for local projects. Treasurer Jim Chalmers...
The Federal Government has handed down its first budget since taking office earlier this year, with the October 2022-2023 budget bringing cost of living relief to residents and new funding opportunities for local projects.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers delivered Labor’s budget last week, with a big focus on easing cost of living pressures without pressuring inflation and targeting investments to form a stronger and more resilient economy.
For local families, the budget is making child care more affordable — with Child Care Subsidy rates increasing up to 90 percent from July next year for families earning less than $530,000 each year.
Paid parental leave will also be expanded, with families to be able to access up to 26 weeks of paid leave in 2026 — the largest reform to the scheme since it was introduced in 2011.
The budget also sets out to create more affordable housing, with a target of one million homes from 2024 and support for 10,000 eligible first home buyers in regional areas by guaranteeing up to 15 percent of the purchase price.
The cost of medicine will also fall under this budget, with the maximum co-payment for Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme medications falling by nearly 30 percent.
With families and residents of the shire set to receive benefits, the community as a whole will also benefit through the continuation of the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure program.
The government has committed $250 million to the initiative, which under the Liberal/National Coalition saw $3.2 million worth of town hall upgrades, tree planting, upgrades to town entrance signage and road and footpath works undertaken.
Central Goldfields Shire mayor Chris Meddows-Taylor said the fund was a “godsend”, which supported local projects that otherwise couldn’t be afforded.
“One of the things we as a council lobbied really hard for was the continuation of this program,” he said.
“That fund for us is magic, it doesn’t require matching contributions like other grant programs and the funding can be used in a very wide area which gives us flexibility.
“Obviously the government have listened to how important that fund is for regional communities and it is an absolute godsend for us, it gives us discretionary money to do things that otherwise we haven’t been able to do.”
The budget includes details of the Growing Regions Program and Regional Precincts and Partnerships Program, which replace the previous government’s Building Better Regions Fund.
Cr Meddows-Taylor said it was unclear what the new programs would mean for the Central Goldfields Shire but said they could bring “great opportunities”.
“We just have to wait and see what comes out of those,” he said.
“There could be an opportunity to match our funds with state and federal funding into these new programs for local projects, but the details will have to come out on what exactly that means.
“Potentially, this could offer some great opportunities and we’ll be particularly looking at State Government investment in the Commonwealth Games and the legacy of the games, so these programs could certainly play a role in that.”
In what could be another significant win for the region, the rollout of the NBN will be extended fibre access to a further 1.5 million premises, including over 660,000 homes in regional Australia, according to the government.
Cr Meddows-Taylor said digital connectivity was a priority for the shire.
“We’ve done very well out of the State Government’s Connecting Victoria initiative, particularly with the recent announcement of new towers in the area and broadband improvements for Talbot,” he said.
“What we will do now is see what we can get from the Commonwealth Government, particularly in terms of digital connectivity and mobile blackspots — that area is so important.”