Federal Budget preview: Adam Bandt Q&A

Mojo.com.au politics editor TESS IKONOMOU sat down with Greens MP Adam Bandt to discuss key community issues ahead of tomorrow's 2015-16 Federal Budget.

Health Cuts

Videos: Represent, SYN Media

The Federal Government is expecting to save $80 billion by making cuts to the states' health and education funds.

“I think you’re going to see a few of those [attacks on health], but it won’t be as feral as last year’s budget,” Mr Bandt said.

“The community and the Parliament has stood up to them and said we don’t want these things, or attacks on principles of equality in Australia.”

The Andrews Labor Government plans to invest a further $2.1 billion into the Victorian  health system.

Daniel Andrews and other state leaders are concerned that the proposed federal cuts will disable their ability to implement their own Budgets.  

 University Fees

The proposal to deregulate university fees by 2016 may result in the cost of degrees skyrocketing up to $100,000.

“I expect changes to universities, making university fees more expensive. They’ll persist with it,” Mr Bandt said.

“Big business and big lobby groups want to see further attacks on education.”

 The Federal Budget released in 2014 revealed a 20 per cent cut in funding to universities.

 Family Payments

The Federal Government has chosen not to implement recommendations made by the Productivity Commission to cut financial support for high-income earning families.

The Productivity Commission recommended that high-income families be entitled to a 20 per cent childcare subsidy, with families earning less than $60,000 a year getting an 85 per cent subsidy.

“No matter how much you earn, whether you’re at the top end of the scale, or at the bottom end of the scale in terms of income, I think you should have the right of affordable, accessible, and good quality childcare,” Mr Bandt said.

The family payments package may face difficulties getting through the Senate, as the funding needed to subsidise lower-income families will be reliant on cost-saving measures from the previous budget also being passed.

Tax cuts

Mr Bandt said there was nothing wrong with “asking the big banks who are making super profits to pay a bit more [and] cutting some of the subsidies that are going towards the mining sector".

“We put on the table tens of billions of dollars worth of savings measures that we would be quite happy to support.”

The Government has decided it will not proceed with a tax cut for larger companies.

Small businesses will be granted the promised tax cut of 1.5 per cent.

Videos: Represent, SYN Media