Winners
Farmers
Farmers always win. There’s $328.4 million over four years to help “bust congestion” in the regulation of farm exports. There’s $50 million to help upgrade on-farm water infrastructure. And then there’s $17.4 million spent on Relocation Assistance to Take Up a Job -- a cunning plan to get young Australians to ignore the horror stories of exploitation and underpayment and work as fruit pickers.
Family Court
Australia’s chronically backlogged, under-funded Family Court system will get a much-needed injection of cash. The budget allocates $132.1 million over four years to expedite family law matters in the Federal Circuit Court, which includes $35.7 million for additional resources and judges. On top of that, the budget provides $2.5 million over two years to maintain special court lists for family law matters arising as a result of the pandemic. This could represent a shift for the Coalition, which has long toyed with a complete overhaul of the Family Court system.
Gas
Gas industry executives have had the ear of the Morrison government ever since March, and we’re now all too familiar with the term “gas-fired recovery”. The industry’s big budget win is therefore little surprise -- $52.9 million to help strengthen the industry and unlock new gas reserves.
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