The final federal budget before what is anticipated to be a closely contested federal election includes a range of tax cuts for many Australian workers and some funding for education and early childhood services but fails to address the ever-growing inequality across the country.
Simply put, it is those in the greatest need of support who have yet again been left behind.
The federal government has ignored calls from a chorus of people, including many businesses, to raise the rate of the Newstart allowance. Newstart has not increased in real terms for almost 25 years and there has been increasing community awareness about the significant challenges faced by a recipient trying to survive on just $278 a week.
ACOSS CEO Cassandra Goldie told ABC that raising Newstart should have been the priority of the budget if the government was serious about helping low-income Australians.
Organisations including ACOSS, Refugee Council of Australia and the Federation of Ethnic Communities Councils of Australia have also highlighted the proposed budget measure of forcing skilled migrants to wait four years for welfare payments.
On Wednesday morning, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told reporters: 'They come as skilled migrants and of course they come here on the basis they are going to be employed. It's only right they should be working here until they become entitled to that benefit (welfare).'
This proposal is in stark contrast to all the evidence about the best way to create and promote social cohesion — and will only serve to generate further hardship among already marginalised communities.
"The government clearly has its eyes on trying to remain in power next year. It is deeply disappointing that this is at the expense of some of the most marginalised members of the community."
Jesuit Social Services delivers the African Australian Inclusion Program in partnership with NAB, to provide paid work opportunities to skilled African Australians who face barriers to corporate employment in Australia.
Through this initiative the organisation has seen first-hand some of the challenges skilled people can face, including applying for hundreds of jobs and not receiving a single interview.
Many of these people have much to offer Australia but find it extremely difficult to get a foot in the door. They should be supported and nurtured, not have their experiences compounded by making it harder for them to receive government assistance.
Six months after the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory handed down its landmark final report and recommendations, the federal government has failed to come to the party by matching the territory government's funding commitments.
The territory government has accepted the intent of all 227 recommendations contained in the report, which aim to overhaul the territory's troubled child protection and youth justice systems.
This is an opportunity for the Northern Territory to lead the nation in evidence-based reform, including a commitment to steer young people away from the justice system wherever possible and a youth detention model based on best practice.
But while the territory government last month pledged $229 million towards reforming the system, the federal budget does not contain funds towards implementing the royal commission's recommendations.
This is particularly disappointing as the federal government instigated the royal commission following revelations about the abuse and mistreatment of young people in Darwin's Don Dale detention facility, but is now expecting the territory to implement the recommendations by themselves.
Housing is the other big loser in this year's budget. There is no extra funding for social housing or homelessness services despite the number of people needing assistance from homelessness services increasing year on year.
Homelessness Australia, the national peak body for homelessness, labeled the budget as 'short-sighted and heartless', and accompanying analysis by the peak body found that there has been a 16 per cent decline in federal spending on housing and homelessness over the five years to 2018-19.
'We need the government to bolster the services that do the heavy lifting, and to build more housing that people on the lowest incomes can afford; it's as simple, and as difficult, as that,' says Homelessness Australia Chair Jenny Smith.
Through more than 40 years of working with people involved with the criminal justice system, we at Jesuit Social Services know that many people who experience contact with the system have experienced homelessness or insecure living arrangements.
Increasing the supply of social housing to ensure that vulnerable people, including those exiting the prison system, have access to a safe place to sleep and a roof over the heads is vital in helping people to turn their lives around and prevent further offending.
With this budget, the federal government clearly has its eyes on trying to remain in power next year. It is deeply disappointing that this is at the expense of some of the most marginalised members of the community.
Julie Edwards is the CEO of Jesuit Social Services.
Main image: Jesuit Social Services staff member works with a client of one of the organisation's settlement programs.