Labor’s budget has been met with outrage from the top end of town.
Predictably, the rich are up in arms about the modest increase in tax they will have to pay due to changes to capital gains tax (the tax on profits from investments) and changes to family trusts.
Tech startups are complaining they will pay too much tax if their company makes millions and they decide to sell. Wealthy investors and the Liberal Party have tried to fan fears that small businesses will be hit as well.
But it’s not sympathy for aspiring tech billionaires or the rich that means the budget has been badly received. Labor’s budget has done nothing to provide the urgent cost-of-living relief that’s needed.
Inflation is heading back up to 5 per cent pushing up prices; interest rate increases are squeezing anyone with a home loan.
Anthony Albanese says his housing measures were a hard decision that will “make a difference”. They won’t.
Rents are increasing. Since the beginning of the pandemic, national rental prices are up 55 per cent compared to wage growth of 25 per cent.
Labor is unwilling to upset the establishment and is determined to keep the rich on side. So it will allow investors to continue to negatively gear any property they already held before the budget.
The changes will do nothing to make housing more affordable and bring prices down. Sydney is now the second most expensive city for housing in the world, with Melbourne ninth worst.
Labor’s failures are feeding support for One Nation. Opinion polls are now showing One Nation overtaking Labor as the most popular party. Its racist policies are being fuelled by Labor and the Liberals.
One Nation’s racism scapegoats migrants for the housing crisis by banning non-residents from owning homes. But Labor has already caved into racism by banning non-residents from buying existing properties.
Under Angus Taylor the Liberals are trying to out-do One Nation, calling for a ban on all welfare payments, including access to the NDIS, for any non-citizen.
This would exclude about 1.2 million permanent residents, some who have lived here for decades.
It’s not migrants or non-residents buying up multiple properties, it’s wealthy domestic investors.
For decades they have been allowed to rake in wealth through governments subsidising their property investments via negative gearing and capital gains tax handouts. But Labor won’t tax the rich to get these billions back.
To effectively fight One Nation’s racism, we have to fight the racism of Labor and the Liberals.
And we have to fight the cost-of-living crisis by fighting Labor’s cuts.
Labor’s budget also failed to extend the funding for pay rises for childcare workers, who face pay cuts of up to 15 per cent when it runs out in November.
Childcare workers are set to walk out of work on 15 July to oppose Labor’s wage cut. Every union should support their action.
With inflation running at 5 per cent, the Fair Work Commission’s minimum wage 4.75 per cent increase is another real wage cut.
Rank-and-file teachers in Victoria are pushing to vote No to a wage-cutting deal that would see them fall further behind, having suffered below-inflation pay rises since 2020.
Nurses in SA are staging rolling strikes for higher pay. Teachers in the ACT are striking on 11 June. This is how we can fight the cost of living crisis.
Welfare not warfare
Labor is pouring billions into military spending. That money could be used to fund wages rises, housing, NDIS and welfare. Laughably, Defence Minister Richard Marles has tried to pretend that buying second-hand nuclear submarines from the US is a cost saving. But the $368 billion price tag hasn’t changed!
The AUKUS deal should be scrapped. But Labor is tied to US imperialism.
It said an Australian spy plane, military personnel and air defence missiles sent to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in March would simply help defend it against Iranian missiles and drones.
But the UAE launched its own major attack on Iran in April, the Wall Street Journal has revealed. Albanese claims Australia is not involved in offensive action against Iran. But if Australia is gathering surveillance for the UAE, it is very likely that it has been used to attack Iran.
Albanese is complicit in Israel and the US’s wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.
The convergence on Pine Gap in July is a chance to target the joint military base that links Australia with US imperialism and the genocide in Gaza, and demand that Australia cuts ties with Israel.
Labor is running the capitalist system that is feeding militarism, racism and the rise of One Nation. The struggles over the next period will be crucial.
We need more socialists to help build the fights for real wage increases, to oppose Labor’s racism and militarism–and to fight against the whole system of war and profit.
