ACT Greens Member for Brindabella Johnathan Davis MLA has welcomed a pre-budget announcement from the Chief Minister Andrew Barr MLA outlining a number of measures be funded in today’s 2023-24 ACT Budget aimed at tackling the cost of living crisis.
ACT Greens Member for Brindabella Johnathan Davis MLA has welcomed a pre-budget announcement from the Chief Minister Andrew Barr MLA outlining a number of measures be funded in today’s 2023-24 ACT Budget aimed at tackling the cost of living crisis.
Mr Davis led a recent Assembly Committee Inquiry into the cost of living crisis, which made 52 recommendations to the ACT Government aimed at tackling the cost of living crisis. Today’s pre-budget announcement responds to a number of those recommendations.
“I was pleased to lead the Assembly’s Select Committee into Cost of Living Pressures, and even more pleased to see some of our recommendations inform the 2023-24 ACT Budget,” Mr Davis said.
“The committee received 35 submissions from peak bodies, organisations and individuals – submissions that outlined the breadth and depth of this inequality crisis, and the much needed solutions to help our community.”
“Today’s pre-budget announcement from the Chief Minister demonstrates that the ACT Government is listening to the advice of the committee, and validated the work of the peak bodies, organisations and individuals who made submissions and informed the committees work.”
“I’ll be analysing the budget closely after it is presented in its entirety at 5:00pm today, hopeful to see even more investment informed by the Committee’s recommendations,” Mr Davis concluded.
BACKGROUND
On Thursday 9th February 2023, the ACT Legislative Assembly resolved to established a Select Committee into Cost of Living Pressures in the ACT. Johnathan Davis MLA was appointed to chair the Committee. The Committee handed down its report on Thursday 11th May 2023 to ensure that the recommendations informed the development of the 2023-2024 ACT Government Budget.
Below is a brief summary of the Committee’s recommendations, as they relate to today’s pre-budget announcement.
Recommendation 43: The Committee recommends that the ACT Government:
· Explore establishing the Utilities Concession scheme as a percentage-based scheme;
· Identify barriers to eligible persons receiving the Utilities Concession; and
· Improve access to the scheme for eligible participants.
The ACT Government has announced an expansion of the Utilities Concession eligibility criteria to include anyone with a Commonwealth Health Care Card. This means 12,000 more households will benefit from this support, taking the total number of eligible households to 43,800. Additionally, the ACT Government has funded a one-off increase of $50 to the Utilities Concession, raising the amount from $750 to $800 in 2023-24, to help further relieve cost of living pressures for the aforementioned 43,800 households.
Recommendation 17: The Committee recommends that the ACT Government improve the ACT Taxi Subsidy Scheme.
The ACT Government has announced improvements to the Taxi Subsidy Scheme including increasing the cap by 15% and removing the requirement to apply for additional trips. This will ensure Canberrans with disability or mobility restriction who are unable to use public or community transport can continue to access an affordable alternative to get out and about in the community.
Recommendation 7: The Committee recommends that the ACT Government increase funding for Legal Aid ACT by at least $250,000 annually and support it to index its means test as a proportion of the Henderson poverty line into the future.
The ACT Government has announced it will increase the means (income) test for access to Legal Aid assistance to better align with cost of living, to support more Canberrans to access legal representation if needed.
