高清福利片

Some short-term measures have been welcomed but a lack of long-term planning has been highlighted by experts from the Business School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, and the School of Architecture, Planning and Design.

Housing affordability moves 鈥榮ymbolic鈥櫬�

Professor Nicole Gurran, director of the Henry Halloran Trust in the School of Architecture, Design and Planning, said the housing measures announced in last night鈥檚 Budget were 鈥渄isappointing鈥� and 鈥渓argely symbolic鈥�.聽

鈥淲hile extending support for low-deposit, first-home loans may be popular, it鈥檚 poor policy and will do nothing to address the systemic barriers driving falling home ownership,鈥� Professor Gurran said.聽

鈥淲orse, some households may be enabled to take on high loans just when interest rates are predicted to rise.

鈥淭here are no real measures to support new supply.聽

鈥淓xtending the amount available for non-profit providers to borrow via the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation will support an estimated 10,000 new social housing units but the grant funding required to service these loans remains missing in action.聽

鈥淔urther, despite the Commonwealth鈥檚 professed concern about supply constraints, private-sector housing approvals have reached all-time highs 鈥� while new social housing construction continues to fall.

鈥淐alls to extend the Commonwealth Rental Housing Assistance subsidy appear to have been ignored, leaving around half a million recipients in housing stress.鈥�

Workforce changes could worsen women鈥檚 load

Professor Marian Baird, head of the Discipline of Work and Organisational Studies and co-director of the Women and Work Research Group at the Business School,聽had mixed views about the Budget鈥檚 impact on working women and their families.

鈥淭he Budget鈥檚 change to the Paid Parental Leave scheme risks entrenching gendered care divisions further, even while trying to be more flexible,鈥� Professor Baird said.聽

鈥淭he removal of the Dad and Partner Pay Scheme and folding that into the PPL scheme means there is now no way to 鈥榥udge鈥� men to take parental leave. As the payment is at the National Minimum Wage level and not at income replacement, and as there is already cost-of-living pressures on households, it is likely that new fathers will not share the parental leave with their partners because they will lose too much income.聽

鈥淭he change in the income test from the woman鈥檚 individual income of $151,000 to a household income threshold of $350,000 per year is significant - it is potentially good for some couples, but may also exclude other women from accessing the PPL scheme.鈥�

Flood-affected areas still need urgent help

James Bennett-Levy,聽 Professor of Mental Health and Psychological Wellbeing at the University Centre for Rural Health in Lismore, said there was a need for a comprehensive and swift response on housing to flood-affected residents, and climate change generally, "otherwise people in the regions are vulnerable to future disasters".

鈥淎 tsunami of mental health problems may be expected from the northern NSW floods. Now there is further re-traumatisation and new flood-affected communities, one month after the February floods," said Professor Bennett-Levy. "Government needs to take immediate steps to minimise mental health impacts by focusing on housing.聽

鈥淭he University of Sydney鈥檚 University Centre for Rural Health (UCRH), based in Lismore, is the first centre in the world to have undertaken a study of a flood-affected community five years before the community was inundated by an even more major flood event. UCRH has so far published six journal articles from studies of the 2017 northern NSW floods.聽聽

鈥淭he biggest predictor of mental health problems was displacement from home for more than six months 鈥� an estimated 15,000-25,000 northern NSW residents are currently displaced. Inundation of home or business also predicted very high PTSD rates.聽聽

鈥淔ederal and state governments can play a key role in minimising these impacts. The first, most important task, is to restore a sense of safety and hope to our traumatised communities.聽 How can governments do this? Rapid commitment and monetary support to resolving the northern NSW housing crisis is a key first step.鈥�

Lack of support for allied health in residential aged care

Cathie Sherrington, Chief Investigator of the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in the Prevention of Falls Injuries and Professor in the Faculty of Medicine and Health, said the changes to residential aged care fell well short of the Royal Commission recommendations.

鈥淚t is pleasing to see improved medication management in residential care but it is disappointing to see no investment in allied health services in residential care,鈥� Professor Sherrington said.

鈥淭he Royal Commission identified mobility impairment and falls as major issues in our aged care facilities and anecdotally, these are now worse as COVID restrictions have limited activities.聽

鈥淩esearch has found benefits of physiotherapist-led exercise programs in improving mobility and preventing falls but current funding models do not enable facilities to invest in such programs.鈥�

Small increases in mental-health funding relative to need聽

笔谤辞蹿别蝉蝉辞谤听Ian Hickie, the co-director (health and policy) at the聽Brain and Mind Centre, said the difficult issues are not being considered pre-election.

鈥淒espite the Government having presented mental health and suicide prevention spending as a priority area, the amount of new spending or actual increases by the Commonwealth remain small, relative to need,鈥� Professor Hickie said.聽

鈥淎dditional resources for university-based training and much larger research investments have largely been ignored. Compared to other biomedical areas, mental health remains rather neglected.

鈥淲hile there are a number of important new and small-scale mental health initiatives in the 2022-23 Budget papers, there is a lack of substantive reform-orientated announcements. Presumably, this reflects the reality that the Commonwealth has not yet been able to complete the process of Australian and State agreements that underpin a new national package and that is required to distribute the $2.3b in funding outlined in last year鈥檚 Budget papers.聽

鈥淚t leaves the hard issues 鈥� related to new regional governance structures, serious Medicare reform, investment in the new national children鈥檚 mental health strategy, widespread utilisation of new digital technologies and more radical workforce training and reform 鈥� until after the election.鈥澛�

Medicare is 'guaranteed' but what about critical dental care?

笔谤辞蹿别蝉蝉辞谤听Heiko Spallek, Head of School and Dean,聽Sydney Dental School, welcomed the Treasurer鈥檚 undertaking that 鈥楳edicare is guaranteed鈥� but said it was disappointing that the care of Australians鈥� teeth continues to be neglected.聽

鈥淥ral health and timely access to quality dental care are critical determinants of population health and the downstream cost of running our health and hospital system,鈥� Professor Spallek said.

鈥淲hile the federal Budget delivered an extension to the National Partnership Agreement for adult dental services, we need to acknowledge that the public dental system is failing the most vulnerable members of our communities. For example:

1. Government has not delivered any of the recommendations from the Royal Commission into Safety and Quality in Aged Care that affect the oral health of seniors.聽
2. Although the Medicare Child Dental Benefits Schedule helps eligible children receive dental treatment, it is insufficiently promoted, under-utilised, and treatment under general anaesthetics is excluded.

鈥淧roper investment in dental care can be substantial but there is a consistent failure to recognise the potential economic benefits. For instance, there are more than聽, accounting for one in four potentially preventable hospitalisations.聽

鈥淚f we acknowledge that oral health is a fundamental component of health and physical and mental well-being, we as a society need to address this issue.鈥�