Salvos acknowledge budget initiatives, recognise there is still a long way to go

The Salvation Army acknowledges the Albanese government’s recognition that Australians are doing it tough with its 2025 Budget released last night.

The announced measures to address the cost-of-living crisis such as income tax cuts for all taxpayers and one-off energy rebates will ease some pressure on households struggling with rising prices.

The Salvos also welcome actions taken by the government to combat ongoing issues surrounding housing, homelessness and family and domestic violence. The doubling of funding for homelessness services, the $9.3 billion to states and territories to help with homelessness and crisis support and the $2.5 million to provide emergency accommodation for women and children experiencing family, domestic and sexual violence will make an incredible difference to these very important community issues.

The announced investments in health, including bulk billing incentives and lowering of costs of pharmaceuticals should also offer much-needed relief to those already struggling.

“Over the past few years, we have seen an alarming increase in those seeking the Salvos help as crippling inflation, housing shortages and unaffordable medical costs have impacted even those who have jobs and yet can’t stay financially afloat,” The Salvation Army’s Major Bruce Harmer said.

“We have seen people forfeiting their medications to put meals on the table or unable to fill their tanks with petrol to get themselves and their children to work and school. In our work supporting the most marginalised and vulnerable in our society, we know that housing has moved beyond a given to a luxury for too many. Any efforts to ease these burdens are a welcome step in what is sure to be a long journey.”

“While we appreciate the government’s efforts in this budget, we also know that more needs to be done and it will take all Australians working together to achieve our goal of leaving no one behind.”

Across Australia last year, through The Salvation Army’s network of over 400 centres and 2,000 services in areas such as homelessness, family and domestic violence, youth, drug and alcohol rehabilitation, financial hardship and much more, the Salvos provided:*

• Assistance to one person every 17 seconds
• More than 1.76 million sessions of care to over 250,000 people in need
• Over 1.1 million bed nights to those who needed accommodation
• More than 1.5 million meals to those who accessed our homelessness services.

The Salvos recently distributed the Social Justice Stocktake, where more than 16,000 people from all demographics across every state and territory were surveyed, showing that 71 per cent of respondents identified housing affordability and homelessness in their community as the number one issue of concern, and over half the respondents identified access to health care as a social justice issue.

To discover more about the top issues concerns in local electorates around the country from the Social Justice Stocktake, visit salvationarmy.org.au/socialjusticestocktake.