Policy Forum Pod

Budgets are a central tool of government, offering not just economic policy but defining social and environmental policies for the years ahead. The 2023 budget moves in “the direction of fairness,” but is it moving fast enough? In this episode, we speak to Professor Paul Burke and Associate Professor Elise Klein about the impact budget priorities have on people’s daily lives, the values that underlie it, and unpacking the choices that have been made. Discussion centred on the care economy, the level of welfare payments and the revenue needed to support our most vulnerable. Associate Professor Elise Klein says the government was in a position to do something bold after voters asked for action on poverty, inequality, and climate action. A government “going from terrible to being less terrible is still terrible,” she says, adding that a lot of people are being left behind in life-and-death situations because of the decisions of this Government in this budget. In order to have more money to spend t