Hobsons Bay residents said to benefit from the 2023-24 Federal Budget outlined on Tuesday, May 9.
Gellibrand MP Tim Watts said the federal budget has directly addressed concerns faced by the community.
“It better shares the opportunities in our society and across the country and lays the foundations for a stronger and more secure economy,” he said.
Thriving Suburbs is a program to be introduced which will be a merit-based and locally driven grants program, that addresses shortfalls in priority community infrastructure in urban and suburban communities.
The Urban Precincts and Partnerships Program will fund both the development of precincts through facilitating planning, design and consultation and the delivery of larger scale precinct projects, open to local government and not-for-profit organisations.
More than 7000 premises in Gellibrand will have access to higher internet speeds with a 2.4 billion investment in NBN.
Hundreds of common medicines are set to be made cheaper, by allowing millions of Australians to buy two months worth of medicine for the price of a single prescription.
The change applies to more than 300 PBS medicines for chronic conditions where a GP assesses a patient’s condition as stable.
It is estimated that this change will benefit more than 39,368 people in Gellibrand.
The higher bulk billing incentive will support GP’s to bulk bill around 85,158 eligible Australians at the 41 practices already bulk billing in Gellibrand.
The base rate of income payments like JobSeeker Payments, Austudy and Youth Allowance is increasing for eligible people, benefiting around 6,370 people in Gellibrand.
The NDIS Budget initiatives also include $73.4 million to better support participants to manage their plan within budget so they can access their support in a flexible way to better achieve their goals, which will help around 4,135 NDIS participants in Gellibrand.
About 5460 households in Gellibrand will benefit from a 15 per cent boost to the maximum rates of Commonwealth Rent Assistance.
Mr Watts said this budget directly outlines the cost-of-living crisis facing residents in the west.
“The budget provides cost-of-living relief for the people in Melbourne’s West that need it most, invests in key drivers of sustainable growth and sustainably funds the services Australians rely on,” he said.
Jennifer Pittorino
