One Gippsland Welcomes Regional Reboot Budget

 One Gippsland has today welcomed the release of the 2021-22 Federal Budget, that includes a range of regional initiatives that will support Gippsland to thrive.

"This budget will assist our region to be healthier, more prosperous and connected," One Gippsland Chair and Mayor of Bass Coast Council, Cr Brett Tessari said.

Investments announced as part of the budget (including those that have been made in recent weeks) include:

Connectivity - Road and Rail
Gippsland Specific:

  • $10 million for the Mallacoota-Genoa Road Upgrade; and

  • $13.2 million for Princes Highway East.

Impacting Gippsland:

  • $307 million for Pakenham Roads upgrade;

  • $203.4 million for Monash Roads upgrade;

  • $1 billion to extend the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program; and

  • $1.0 billion for the Road Safety Program.


Connectivity - Digital
Impacting Gippsland:

  • $1.2 billion digital economy strategy: including tax breaks for businesses, digital cadetships trial and $500 million on government digital services;

  • $84.8 million for the Regional Connectivity Program: to support the delivery of reliable and affordable digital services in regional Australia; and

  • $12.0 million for AI capabilities: to deliver co-funded grants to support community and business-driven projects that build AI capabilities in regional areas.

Emergency Response
Impacting Gippsland:

  • $600 million for a National Recovery and Resilience Agency to support local communities hit by major disasters.

Education 
Impacting Gippsland:

  • $53 million for international education providers most affected by COVID-19 border closures; and

  • $506.3 million extension to the JobTrainer Fund: to support a further 163,000 new training places to upskill job seekers and meet skills shortages.

Food and Fibre (Agriculture)
Gippsland Specific:

  • $11.9 million over four years to support innovation in the forestry sector, including extending the work of the nine current Regional Forestry Hubs - including Gippsland.

Impacting Gippsland:

  • $160.0 million National Water Grid Connections: to establish funding pathway to deliver small scale water infrastructure projects;

  • $172.5 million for the Future Drought Fund;

  • $22.3 million water infrastructure business cases: including the Pakenham Cora Lynn Recycled Water Scheme for Agriculture;

  • $371 million: biosecurity package to protect agricultural and regional communities;

  • $100,000: small brewers and distillers will be able to claim a full refund on excise payments;

  • $5.3 million for a pilot Ag CAREERSTART program for school leavers to undertake farm placements;

  • $1.0 million to develop resources for agricultural employers to implement modern workforce management and planning practice;

  • $1.3 million for a research and development corporation to undertake research on community perceptions of agricultural work and the attraction and retention of agriculture sector workers;

  • $3.6 million to extend the Fair Farms program to support fair employment practices in the horticulture sector;

  • $25 million attracting Australian workers to modern agriculture: to support the agriculture sector to attract people to modern agriculture job opportunities;

  • $4.6 million building improvements in agricultural workforce practices: to support agricultural employers and businesses build workforce management and planning practices; and

  • $25.0 million to extend the On-farm Emergency Water Infrastructure Rebate Scheme by one year to 30 June 2022.

Health and Aged Care
Impacting Gippsland:

  • $65 million to boost bulk billing rebates: in rural, regional and remote areas

  • $17.7 billion Royal Commission into Aged Care response including:

    • $630.2 million to improve access to quality aged care services for consumers in regional, rural and remote areas including those with Indigenous backgrounds and special needs groups; and

    • $13.4 million to establish regional offices as the first phase of a nationwide rollout to improve advice to Government on issues impacting the delivery of aged care in regional and rural areas.

  • $11.2 million to continue the remote response to COVID-19 to support regional and remote Indigenous communities throughout Australia;

  • Telehealth subsidies: extended to the end of 2021; and

  • $354 million to support women’s health and wellbeing, including:

    • $6.6 million for Breast Cancer Network Australia to operate its helpline, rural and regional information forums and extending its consumer representative training program.

Tourism 
Gippsland Specific:

  • $10 million through the Regional Recovery Partnership: has been committed to seven community-based projects to boost the visitor economy, such as the East Gippsland Rail Trail.

Impacting Gippsland:

  • Support for the tourism and hospitality sectors through changes to temporary visa holder requirements; and

  • $1.8 billion to support the aviation and tourism sectors as part of the Government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.


Regional Recovery and Community Infrastructure
Impacting Gippsland:

  • $256.5 million over four years for round six of the Building Better Regions Fund; and

  • $6.1 million to establish the Rebuilding Regional Communities program; and

  • $28.2 million for round seven of the Stronger Communities Program.

Regional Business
Impacting Gippsland:

  • $0.6 million Public Service Hubs: to undertake a scoping study into establishing Australian Public Service Hubs in regional Australia;

  • Support to undertake an independent study to identify the regulatory barriers to business relocation into regional Australia;

  • $87.7 million in funding for the Agri-Business Expansion Initiative to help small businesses and farmers expand and diversify their export markets;

  • $550 million to remove red tape: and encourage business start-ups and foreign investment Tax allowances for companies to offset losses against previously taxed profits to generate a refund;

  • Extension of the instant asset write-off allowances for business;

  • Tax concessions for income earned from new patents developed in Australia. The patent box will apply to the medical and biotech sectors and we will consult on expanding it to the clean energy sector; and

  • First home deposit incentives receive an extra 20,000 allocated places, and the amount of voluntary contributions that can be released under the First Home Super Saver scheme rises from $30,000 to $50,000 from 2022.

Energy
Gippsland Specific:

  • $38.7 million Golden Beach: gas storage acceleration project to boost the east coast gas market across the entire supply chain.

Impacting Gippsland:

  • $539.2 million for four additional hydrogen hubs: to support carbon capture, use and storage projects.

Climate
Impacting Gippsland:

  • $209.7 million for the Australian Climate Service to anticipate, manage and adapt to climate impacts now and for the generations to come.


"In addition to the projects committed for Gippsland, we also welcome the broader funding committed across, health, education, digital connectivity and Food and Fibre (Agriculture) in the budget”

 “One Gippsland will be working with the Government to ensure the Gippsland region receives a fair slice of the pie," Cr Tessari concluded. 

Collective Position