MEDIA RELEASE: The South Australian Council of Social Service today released its pre-election report card on how well SA political parties are “covering the basics” in their election policy pitches.
The report card is based both on responses to policies proposed by SACOSS and on an assessment of overall policy in key areas of concern. The results were mixed with the Liberal Party performing better than the ALP on digital inclusion, and water for regional and remote areas, but Labor was ahead on public and preventative health. Most importantly, both parties performed poorly on rental affordability with the Liberals scoring 1.5 out of 5, and Labor 1.7.
The report card also assessed the other parliamentary parties on the SACOSS policy proposals that would require legislative change (as the cross-bench parties would potentially be voting on these proposals). The Greens supported all ten SACOSS legislative proposals, while SA-BEST scored 7.5 out of ten.
|
|
LIBERAL |
LABOR |
||||
|
|
Response to SACOSS Policies |
Other Policies |
Overall Score |
Response to SACOSS Policies |
Other Policies |
Overall Score |
|
Rental Affordability |
1.1 |
2 |
1.55 |
1.7 |
1.8 |
1.75 |
|
Digital Inclusion |
3.5 |
3 |
3.25 |
1.5 |
2 |
1.75 |
|
Concessions |
2 |
3 |
2.5 |
2.4 |
3 |
2.7 |
|
Public/Preventive Health |
1.8 |
4 |
2.9 |
2.9 |
4 |
3.45 |
|
Water |
3.5 |
3.5 |
3.5 |
2.1 |
3 |
2.55 |
|
Protection and Support |
2.4 |
3 |
2.7 |
2.5 |
2.6 |
2.55 |
SACOSS CEO Ross Womersley said:
“Scoring a report card like this is always tricky, and contentious, but the thing that stands out most in the lead-up to this is our rental affordability crisis. We need whoever forms the next government to focus more on addressing rental affordability.”
“On average, renters earn less than homeowners and are more likely to struggle with housing affordability, and in our assessment there is nowhere near enough help coming from the major parties’ election promises.”
“The Liberal Party can claim credit for stopping the long-term decline in the stock of public housing, and helped to get some people into home ownership. But there’s no plan there to build more public housing.
Labor has conceded it made the mistake of disinvesting in public housing previously and has come to the election finally promising some critical new real investment. But frankly, given the size of the crisis we face we will need much, much more to shorten the waiting list and have an impact on supply in the broader rental market.”
“By contrast, we were pleased to see the Greens and SA-BEST supporting significant investment in public housing, and we welcome the Greens' support for minimum energy efficiency standards for rental properties and a range of policies to support renters’ rights.”
“In the other policy areas, we recognised the good work being done by the government in developing a digital inclusion strategy and in moving to address chronic problems of water supply in remote communities. For Labor, we recognised their work in preserving and promising to boost the Health Performance Council as a key body for monitoring and improving the health system, and we particularly welcome their commitment to fund a voice for users of the health system.”
“We thank the parties for their comprehensive responses to SACOSS’ policy platform, and we were pleased to see a few surprises in the detail. The Liberal government’s promise to ask the Productivity Commission to investigate portable long service leave for our sector, while not a commitment to implementation, is an important step forward – though of course we also welcome Labor’s promise to work towards expanding portable long service leave into our sector.”
“Labor’s agreement to a full review of concessions was also good news, and goes beyond the government’s more limited review – but it is good that both parties recognise the problems and unfairness in the current system.”
You can view a summary of the SACOSS Report Card below, and find more detailed information here
Tuesday 15 March 2022
