Election Special: A Labor Government and What it Means to You!

26 May

Here at Take Back Control, we do not believe in letting the government dictate terms, we believe that the sole person responsible for your future, for your finances, health and life comes down to numero uno. YOU!

However, it pays to be educated and knowledgeable in what the newly elected government is promising to do to “re-shape” Australia and how it could effect you.

Hence the election special, where the most important policies will be listed below that would affect you on a personal level and my analysis of the policies as well.

Furthermore, let’s take a look at the policies of the Labour government, which have been promising to tackle some of the main issues we are seeing right now in the Australian economy, environment and healthcare. Issues such as; cost of living, without seeing wages rising on the same level as inflation, climate change devastating nations around the world and the disorganisation of our public healthcare system, which has been decimated since Covid-19.

Let’s take a look at the key policies Labor plans to roll out;

Home Ownership:

“Help to Buy” is a government policy to help first home owners get into their home sooner with 10,000 availabilities per year.
If you are a single income earner, earning less that $90,000 per annum, or a couple earning less than $120,000 per annum, you would be eligible.
You need a minimum of a 2% deposit of the purchase price to be eligible for the policy
The government policy means they would “buy-in” to your home with you, where the government will buy up to 40% equity in your home. (Means that you buy and own 60% and the government buys and owns the other 40%) [1]

Equality for women:

Cheaper child care to support working mum’s
Closing the gender pay gap and also creating equal pay for those working the same jobs and hours across sectors.
Policies to give women the opportunity of choice who suffer from domestic violence.

Childcare:

Lifting the Maximum childcare subsidy rate to 90% for the first child with families earning up to $530,000 [2]

Taxes:

Taxes for individuals earning between $45,000-$200,000 will be cut to 30% by 2024
Multi-national companies will be cracked down on with regards to “tax avoidance.”

Education:

20,000 additional University places added around Australia per year
465,000 fee free Tafe courses
10,000 new energy apprenticeships (to improve energy efficiencies and renewable energy)

Climate Change and Powering Australia:

See a reduction in power bills to average Australian homes of $275 per year by 2025
Creating 600,000 jobs in regions to improve renewable energy efficiencies. ($76 Billion invested for this)
Electric car discount to be applied
Reduce carbon emissions by 40-45% of 2005 levels by 2030
Protections to be put in place for key environmental ecosystems (great barrier reef etc.)

NDIS- Disability Care:

Stopping cuts to individual plans
Pricing structures to be re-visited
Completing a full evidence based overhaul, looking at the operations and design of the scheme

Australian Public Sector Boost:

Improve job security, through opening up more full-time roles in leu of contracted/temporary roles.
Improved working environments and pays

How to Take Back Control by understanding the policies from Labor?

The most important policies that will effect every Australian come down to climate change policies, the energy policies and taxes policies.

Climate change is not just an old folks tale anymore, it is real and the IPCC just released some damning evidence, that if we do not do something more about it now, it is going to get a whole lot worse. The climate policies from Labor are definitely better than the Coalition, however, according to the IPCC, more still needs to be done. [3]

Linked with the climate change policies comes the energy policies, whereby we will see a much faster transition to renewable energy, further improvements to the grid as a whole, which according to Labor, will improve power bills on average by $275 per year. Decreasing cost of living, which is a main goal of the Labor government.

Illustrated in their acceptance of the tax cuts that will see more money in your back pocket at the end of financial year by 2024, if you earn between $45,000 and $200,000. Subset by cracking down on multi-national companies who may be “avoiding” tax, which is set to add $1.89 billion to the bottom line of the budget by 2024.

Two policies in particular are going to have major effects for our future, one for the better, one potentially for the worse:

Housing affordability is a huge problem, however, that affordability is about to get worse…

The “Help to Buy” policy, again was better than the coalitions “take from your super” policy, however it is still just a short-term fix that will more than likely compound on the issues. Not to mention, will also decrease the equity people have in their own homes, which will affect house prices significantly 10-15 years from now.

Just think of this, if you had a stake in the housing market, would you want to see it go down or up?

You would want to get your money’s worth wouldn’t you? At the very least, if not want to see some gains as well. The government will now have a stake in the Australian housing market, therefore, it will be betting on the housing sector going up and up and up…

Making affordability worse, until there is potential for the government to own even more of a stake in your grandchildren’s home than your grandkids themselves. Of course, you can buy back that equity, which would be super important, however most first home buyers generally will also sell that home within the first ten years. Which is not enough time to buy back the equity and you will find they may not be able to upgrade to a second home as quickly, due to the government owning 30-40% of their home. I have no answer for the short term pain that is felt by aspiring home owners, but I don’t see any good coming from this policy, only further wealth inequality.

Education is a pillar of every country, and to see that it is getting the funds and attention that is needed for a more innovative and improved Australia is reassuring. More still needs to be done in the education sector to improve the job’s crisis that is only growing, however, it is a step in the right direction.

Overall, these policies are going to be good for the “average Australian,” however, there is definitely more that could be done, and it starts with you!

As stated above, you are the only one who has true control of your future, the government will not be the one to carry you the whole way, therefore, you need to look at changing your philosophy/values surrounding particular areas of your life.

There are still holes in every government policy, there will always be, because not everyone can be kept happy, there are too many clashing ideals and belief’s for that to ever happen. Therefore, you are the only one who can bring about that happiness and improve your life for the better.

Until Next Time,

Take Back Control

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References:

[1] - https://www.alp.org.au/policies/helping-more-australians-into-home-ownership

[2] - https://www.alp.org.au/policies/cheaper-child-care

[3] - https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-working-group-3/