Click here to view the full National Commission of Audit Recommendations
The sun has risen on first day after the release of the National Commission of Audit (NCOA) report on the efficiency of the Commonwealth Government. Despite the frenzy of cries of disadvantage reacting to specific recommendations, my bet is that the sun will continue to keep rising. The only people at risk of imminent injury are people who try to lift the entire report in one movement.
I read several kilos of the Report last night while I watched the TV news reports tallying up how much I am going to lose when my share of the ‘kick in the guts’ is delivered. But the overall message of this document is actually positive. Australia is not yet a fiscal basket case and if some things are changed we will avoid the distress some other developed countries find themselves in.
Australia is not yet a fiscal basket case and if some things are changed we will avoid the distress some other developed countries find themselves in.
Put specific recommendations aside, there is a lot of good common sense. The Report draws focus on massive inefficiency and duplication of activity across tiers of Government – poor fiscal management where taxpayer’s money on the expense line is being wasted on what a small business operator or a pensioner would call a profligate scale. This report is all about trimming this out of the expense line of the Government’s profit and loss statement.
In return, a massive dividend is on offer. If some of these measures are adopted, the budget bottom line could improve in our time by $60-70 billion per annum. Please re-read the last sentence. That’s a lot of money – and a very big pot of gold to benefit the country to be reinvested in its future.
There are some gutsy moves.
- Giving States the power to levy income taxes could put an interesting cat amongst the pigeons and cause mass migration to ‘tax haven’ States.
- Pension and retirement measures feature heavily. For existing pensioners and retirees there is good news. The most significant changes are designed to take full effect by 2027-28 when the pension age is expected to rise to age 70 and the access age for private super will rise to 62 (then ultimately 65). The Report is raising the ladder to access the Government pension and gaining early access to private superannuation for Gen X and Gen Y. Pain for current and imminent retirees looks limited.
- The most immediate health care initiative is the $15 medicare co-payment and extension of the existing obligation for high income earners to obtain private health insurance for basic services.
- The Government’s Paid Parental Leave policy takes a hit with a proposal to limit it to average weekly earnings. However there is a proposal to reinvest the saving in expanded access to childcare to services including nanny style at home care.
- Family Tax Benefit B would get removed completely and Family Tax Benefit A becomes more tightly means tested.
- Exporters will be disappointed with the proposed removal of the Export Markets Development Grant and significant reforms to the administration and allocation of grants and research and development which looks to a key target of efficiency reform.
Not all of these measures will succeed. They may not be designed to succeed in their present form. Australia has a poor record of adopting recommendations from reports by eminent Australians. The authors who assume the burden of responsibility – whom I have no doubt are passionate enthusiasts for our country – must surely push some measures to the limit in the expectation that a less severe mid-point will ultimately be chosen in the tug-of-war of the political process. A ‘kick in the guts’ is much more likely to be a dull ache.
