$410.5 million over six years to roll out the extended income management measures. $53.6 million over 4 years will provide complementary services (financial counselling, education, counselling and budgeting along with a matched savings payment of up to $500. Assuming figures of 20,000 people captured by these measures across the Territory this represents a rough expenditure of $3,000 per person per year to administrate the scheme (including $4.4 million capital expenditure for the expansion of the system).

A further $17.4 million will be provided to continue the trial of voluntary income management in the Kimberley and metro Perth. Whilst voluntary the scheme will be amended to be mainly consistent with the NT scheme.

Various saving measures around targeting those that owe debts to Centrelink will be brought in these will save $1.7 billion through better retrieving debt, targeting organised crime and sharing of data.

$1.9 million over 4 years to introduce a bulk information process to Centrelink by community Housing Organisations.

Anglicare Tasmania’s report “Caught in the Safety net” identified that reporting issues for people were often the cause of them being “breached” by Centrelink. This measure, whilst small and administrative in nature presumably will be of benefit to residents and community Housing alike.

$2.7 million over 4 years is provided to continue funding adventure playgrounds for five high rise public housing complexes in Melbourne. The playgrounds will have a support worker.

Whilst the budget seems mostly quiet on housing and homelessness it is important to remember that many of the massive housing measures announced in the 2009/10 budget enter their second year of mainly four year funding periods.

$43.2 million for the productive ageing strategy announced by Minister Elliot earlier this year.

Many of the aged care initiatives in this budget were already announced, in some form or another, at the COAG meeting last month, while others are new. They include:

• $211m over four years re-allocated to workforce development, including clinical training and placement for nurses in aged care
• $21m over four years for additional enrolled nursing training places and nursing scholarships
• $19m over four years to develop and test nurse practitioner models in aged care
• $99m over five years for additional primary care places for older Australians I aged care
• $300 expansion of zero real interest loans to assist aged care providers build or expand homes
• $122m over four years to expand access to multipurpose services, particularly providing more flexible places in rural and regional areas
• Re-direct $248m over four years from high lebvel residential to high level community aged care, with a saving of $9m due to lower cost of community care
• $22m over four years to enhance protection of aged care bonds and strengthen reporting requirements on their use
• $10 over four years to increase the viability supplement paid to eligible community care providers
• $7m over four years to establish provider benchmarking system
• $500k over two years for research into aged care staffing and quality of care

There were no initiatives in the budget, such as providing for residents to contribute to the cost of their accommodation that would support the viability of aged car providers, or providing more flexibility for ageing Australians to choose the services they need.

$29.2 million over five years will be provided to establish the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples.

$6.6 million over two years for the continuation of the National Indigenous Violence and Child Abuse Intelligence Taskforce. This will focus on communities with a high risk of exposure to organised crime, family violence and child abuse.

$9.2 million for increased police presence in the northern territory as part of the NT emergency response.

$15.4 million over 4 years to support to implement the Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander Education Action Plan. This sets out national targets for educational outcomes set out in the Closing the Gap initiative.

$48.3 million will be redirected from the Indigenous Communities Strategic Investment Programme into the new National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples. The remaining funding will be $78 million over 4 years.

The School enrolment and Attendance trial in the NT will be extended for one year at a cost of $3.4 million. This programme allows the removal of income support from families whose children do not attend school if they can normally be expected to.

$46 million over three years to set up a Remote Service Delivery National Partnership Flexible funding Pool through FaHCSIA. This will enable the government to respond to local needs identified through the Local Implementation Plans.
CDEP

$44.3 to align CDEP in the Torres Strait with national reforms implemented on 1 July 2009. From 1 July 2010 all CDEP participants will need to be registered with Job Services Australia. Current participants will be grandfathered until 30 June 2012. The funding for this comes from existing national community development funding and by freezing the indexation of the national CDEP for 2010/11 and 2011/12 ($5.8 million)

$3 million will be cut from CDEP in 2010/11 for redirection.

$1.8 million in 2010-11 for Domestic Violence Training for rural Areas to continue providing incentives and support payments for practice nurses and Aboriginal health workers in regional and rural areas to undertake training to help them recognise the signs of domestic violence, and to assist them to provide appropriate referrals to available resources in the community.

$6.9 million to Aboriginal Hostels Limited for essential repairs and maintenance.

$34.9 million over four years for the Indigenous legal aid services. At this stage it looks like this will be greatly funded by future cuts to the Family Relationship Support Programme.

$56 million will be transferred from the Home Ownership on Indigenous Land programme to the Home Ownership Programme which should lead to about 250 additional concessional loans for Indigenous people. This measure has no immediate cost implication though it will earn a projected $18 million on the interest from the loans over five years.

The COAG Health Services — aligning services in rural and remote areas — more efficient arrangements program ($8.4m) will cease to be funded from July 1 2010. The program will be taken up by the establishment of Local Hospital Networks and Medicare Locals under the National Health and Hospitals Network reforms.

The Government will redirect unallocated funding from a number of its grant programs. Savings will be redirected to support other Government priorities in the Health and Ageing portfolio. No existing commitments will be affected. This measure will provide savings of $88.9 million over four years.

$5.5 million in 2010-11 to continue the mental health component of the Mental Health — increased mental health services for drought-affected communities measure announced in the 2007-08 Budget. This component supports mental health professionals and community leaders to respond to the psychological impact of drought.

$466.7 million over two years to establish the key components of the personally controlled electronic health (e-health) record system for Australia. This secure online system will enable improved access to health care information, commencing in 2012-13. State and Territory governments will also need to continue their planned or expected investments in core health information systems. The States and Territories will also need to provide the complementary investments to build their capacity in readiness for connection to this national system.

$35.2 million over four years to jointly fund, with the States and Territories, the continuation and expansion of the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (the Commission) to become an independent agency and support improvements in safety and quality in health care. The Commission will help develop national clinical safety and quality guidelines and standards, and a national system of accreditation for care in hospitals, primary health care and mental health.

$416.8 million to establish a nation-wide network of Primary Health Care Organisations to be known as Medicare Locals, and improve access to after hours primary care. Medicare Locals will be responsible for improving the delivery of primary care in local communities by better connecting hospital, general practices, allied health, aged care and Indigenous health services, making it easier for patients to get the care they need, after hours.

• $126.3 million over four years will be provided to establish high quality, integrated after-hours care services, coordinated by Medicare Locals.
• $58.5 million over five years to establish personal multidisciplinary care packages for patients with severe mental illness.

$13.0 million over two years to increase funding for the Mental Health Nurse Incentive program. The program funds community-based general practices, private psychiatric practices and other similar organisations to engage mental health nurses to assist in providing coordinated clinical care for people with severe mental health disorders. (Announced by COAG)

$25.5 million over four years to establish new Early Psychosis Prevention and Intervention Centres (EPPIC) in partnership with states and territories. This measure will build on the EPPIC model currently operating in Victoria.

$78.8 million over four years to establish up to 30 new Headspace sites, to provide additional funding to existing sites and expand telephone and web-based mental health services for young people. This investment will support an additional 20,000 young people a year once the new sites are established. (Announced by COAG)

$27.8 million over four years to fund anti-tobacco social marketing campaigns to groups within the community that have been harder to reach by traditional methods.

$16.7 million to assist in addressing male health challenges in Australia. This includes:

• $3.0 million for the Australian Men’s Sheds Association. Men’s sheds provide a valuable meeting place in the community setting;
• $6.9 million to establish the first Australian longitudinal study into the social, economic and behavioural determinants of health that affect the length and quality of life of Australian men;
• $6.0 million to promote the role of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men in their communities, and encourage them to actively participate in their children’s and families’ lives, particularly during the antenatal period and in early childhood;
• $0.4 million for regular bulletins on male health to further build the evidence base in male health and inform health professionals, policy developers and consumers;
• $0.4 million to develop health promotion materials targeting males at key transition points in life; and
• $50,000 to support GPs to better engage with and support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males through the Andrology Australia forum in June 2010.

$2.0 million in 2010-11 to the Professional Services Review (PSR) to expand the number of investigations of inappropriate practice by health care professionals.

$21.2 million to support the implementation of the government’s Paid Parental Leave. This includes $18 million to Centrelink, Social security appeals tribunal and Fair Work Ombudsman to ensure that employers meet their requirements and provide appeal options for employers; and $3.2 million for promotion of the scheme.

$4.5 million will be saved from the Family Relationship Services Programme through improvement in efficiency in counselling services. This will occur over three years from 2011/12. Further cuts are planned of up to $12 million as the new contracts are re-negotiated though these are unclear as they are not detailed in the budget papers.

$7.7 million will be provided to continue the family support to families living in drought affected areas.

$4.7 million form within Centrelink’s resourcing will provide two mobile offices (aka the Drought Buses).

$9 million over 4 years will be provided to continue the Family Relationship Services for Carers Programme.

Family Tax Benefit A will have participation requirements tightened for families with young people 16 – 20 years. As part of the “earn or learn” strategy young people will be required to be in fulltime education or training. This measure will deliver net savings of $31.2 million over five years despite a cost to Centrelink in the meantime of $52.9 million.

$59.4 million over 4 years to improve existing infrastructure of child Care Centres funded under the budget based funding. These are CCC where the market doesn’t provide places – often low income areas, remote and Indigenous communities. The money will improve infrastructure and staff qualifications.

$31.1 million will be withdrawn from the Child care services support programme over 4 years by increased efficiencies . The inclusion support subsidy will move from existing multiple supplier model to a national one supplier model creating more efficiency.

Abolition of the Neighbourhood model Occasional Care – saving $12.6 million over 4 years.

Abolition of the Family Day Care (FDC) start up payment. This is worth $1,500 per service and $5,000 in remote areas. Whilst the government reasons that this hasn’t helped the recruitment of FDC workers FDC is a crucial part of the range of child care services and can be especially appropriate for Indigenous children, those in remote areas and those with disabilities. It can also be a vital form of employment for some people especially women. This measure will save $14.8 million over 4 years.

$0.7 million will be used to provide greater scrutiny of those large providers of long day care in the wake of the ABC failure. Also as a consequence of the ABC collapse a loan of $15 million has been made to GoodStart to assist with taking over the 678 services.

$20 million for a hardship fund for students aged 25 and under whose main residence is in a rural or remote area and who is experiencing hardship in attending tertiary education. This measure appears to only be funded for one year.

$5.5 million over five years to continue the Jobs and Training Compact (this includes combining the Youth Pathways and connections Programmes). This measure will specifically enable Centrelink to register and refer up to 6,000 extra young people that are at the highest risk of disengagement.

$531.6 million will be targeted at retaining and upskilling the nursing workforce.

$39.1m will be redirected from the supporting nurses back into the workforce measure which will be subsumed by the National Health and Hospitals Network (NHHN) reforms.

$5.3 million over four years to establish a rural locum scheme for allied health professionals.

$28.8 million over four years to establish a rural locum scheme for nurses. The scheme will allow nurses in rural areas to take leave and undertake continuing professional development.

$390.3 million over four years (including capital costs of $1.4 million), to introduce a new practice nurse grants initiative, which will replace existing incentives for general practices to engage practice nurses.

$6.5 million over four years to provide 100 additional clinical placement scholarships per year for allied health students who, as part of their studies, undertake clinical placements for up to six weeks in rural and remote communities.

$144.5 million over four years to enhance and expand the existing Specialist Training program enable medical specialist trainees to rotate through an expanded range of settings beyond traditional public teaching hospitals.

$660 million in vocational education over four years including:

• $200m Critical Skills Investment fund for up to 39,000 additional training places in sectors facing high skills demands
• $79m extension to Apprentice Kickstart for 22,500 new apprenticeship commencements aimed at small to medium businesses
• $243m offer to States and Territories to provide a guaranteed entitlement to a training place for all Australians under the age of 25 years
• $120 million for numeracy, literacy and language courses for those in the workplace and job seekers, including in a range of community settings.

Savings of $8 million will be achieved by reducing the funds in the Job Capacity Account in 2011/12 for one year. Job seekers will need to access the Employment Pathway Fund instead.

Savings of $383.4 million over four years will be achieved through changes to the assessment for the Disability Support Pension. Job Capacity Assessments will be “refined” to provide a greater focus on the person’s capacity for future work and those not meeting the criteria for DSP will be referred to an alternative form of income support. The criteria themselves will not change. This comes on the background of an expectation of a return to “full employment” by the end of the year.

$0.5 million for disability and carer peaks to engage with stakeholders re the proposed National Disability Strategy and National Carer Strategy and on the Productivity Commission’s inquiry into a long term disability care and support scheme. This will include money for people with disabilities and their carers to attend consultations.

$6.2 million over 4 years to establish a policy and co-ordination unit in FaHCSIA to develop and further the National Disability Strategy

$1 million over four years to amend eligibility criteria to make Special Disability Trusts more accessible

$7.4 million to fund a two year trial of 70% loading on selected service fees and outcome fees available to Disability Employment Services providers. This measure is aimed at helping providers support those with moderate intellectual disability to attain work of more than 15 hours per week. A further $26.2 million to Disability Employment Services to help deliver the IT system that these services require, this cost will be met from within the Department (DEEWR). $0.5 million will be provided to pilot new arrangements to streamline arrangements for young people with a disability to transition form school to employment assistance.

$26.5 million over 4 years to deliver National Find and Connect Service. This will be available for those placed in care and former child migrants during the 20th century. It will have a website and phone lines with counselling and support where required. Its primary focus will be relocating people’s family and origin for reunification where possible. It seems likely at this stage that the service will be tendered out to find a suitable provider.

An additional $102.7 million for "greening" up to 600,000 dwellings.

The National school chaplaincy programme will be extended for one year at a cost of $47 million while consultation on future options occurs.