The 2021 federal budget missed an opportunity for large-scale reform, said the Australian Institute of Architects, with housing measures set to “benefit the few, not the many” and spending on the environment and the climate crisis “patently inadequate.”
In a largely critical statement, the Institute noted that while the budget was big on spending in a number of areas, it failed to adequately address key issues relating to the built environment.
“This global pandemic cast the strengths and weaknesses of our economic and social systems into stark relief, demanding a wholescale rethink of the structures we need to ensure a healthy future,” said CEO Julia Cambage.
“Against the backdrop of the global climate crisis, reforms that create a more sustainable, liveable built environment – in everything from our health facilities to how our schools and homes are designed and constructed – are urgently required.”
The Institute slammed the “relatively minor” new investment of $124.7m in boosting social and affordable supply and also criticized the new Family Home Guarantee policy, designed to allow single parents with dependent children to purchase a property with a deposit of just two percent.
“New measures such as the Family Guarantee and extension of the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme will benefit the few, not the many and fail to address need across the full continuum of the housing spectrum.”
In terms of the climate crisis, the government’s own assessment is that only 0.3 percent of spending is going towards addressing climate change and, the Institute notes, less than one percent is being spent on the environment more broadly.
“This is patently inadequate by any standard given the scale of the looming disaster, the early signs of which were so apparent in the Black Summer bushfires and more recent floods,” said Cambage.
“While we welcome the new National Disaster Recovery Agency as something we called for in line with many other important recommendations from the Bushfire Royal Commission’s final report, it is abundantly clear that industry will need to continue to do the heavy lifting in moving towards carbon neutrality.
“The budget focus on improving disaster resilience has little to excite or surprise. Full of re-announcements and missing vision, the Institute is at a loss to see how these initiatives, individually or combined, will prepare Australia to respond to the challenges of natural disasters and climate change and to deliver a carbon neutral future.”
The Institute welcomed the $1.7bn investment in childcare, compulsory super for casual workers, as well as funding for family and domestic violence prevention and support.
But said these efforts “did not deliver a structural shift towards treating these matters as essential services and drivers of productivity rather than some form of ‘social welfare’.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese will deliver the budget reply speech on 13 May, which is expected to focus on entrepreneurship and the “Start Up Year” program, renewable energy and childcare.
