The budget makes big promises, but what do locals think?

On Tuesday, May 14, 2024, the Albanese government tabled a budget which it says will provide cost of living relief and a "Future Made in Australia".

"We are backing more good jobs and fair wages in Parkes by investing in the energy and skills for a future in Australia," duty senator for the Parkes electorate Deborah O'Neil said.

"It's about the two things that have driven our government for two years - acting on cost of living and making our future here."

Championed in the budget are tax cuts for every Aussie, $300 energy rebates, kickstarting construction on new homes, cutting the price of medication and a big investment in renewables.

We spoke to members of the community and the local member about what they thought.

Sydney University School of Rural Health student Jan Morgiewicz said a lot of students in Dubbo are feeling relieved about the changes to student debt.

Changes to HECS or HELP debt indexation will mean debts grow at the rate of either the consumer price index or the wage price index, depending which is lower. The change will be backdated to June 2023.

"I've heard so many stories of people who've finished their degree and gone into the workforce and started paying off their debt and then all of a sudden they look at how much they owe and after the indexation it's actually increased," he said.

"People feel like they're just under a pile of debt, they're never gonna get out of... So any steps to change how the indexation's working is good and it should help a lot of people."

Another change set to benefit local students is the $320-a-week prac payment for students doing placement for their teaching, nursing, midwifery and social work courses.

Mr Morgiewicz said the payment is a great idea, but he was disappointed it wouldn't help more students.

"Teachers and nurses and social work students do such fantastic work and 100 per cent deserve this placement payment," he said.

"But I think it neglects a load of other students that have to do long placements, like physios or pharmacists or medical students who are equally struggling with placement poverty.

"Medical students have to complete some of the longest hours of any of those groups and us missing out was very disappointing to see."

He said he thinks measures like the tax cut, energy rebate and changes to rental assistance are a "step in the right direction" for young people.

Gargi Ganguly, board member of Orana Residents of Indian Sub-Continental Heritage, agreed these cost-of-living relief measures would help people in the Dubbo community.

"The relief to the vulnerable members of our community is really welcomed," she said.

"The rent assistance supplement increase is a great thing but I wish there was a way of broadening it to those not on rent assistance but struggling with the high cost of rentals."

She also welcomed a new government program which will allow 3,000 Indian graduates and early-career professionals to live and work in Australia for up to two years

Ms Ganguly said this could help areas like Dubbo where there is a need for more workers but she thinks the government needs to do more to support potential population growth.

"I am concerned that this will put an additional burden on housing stock," she said.

"So we need to do more - perhaps be more agile in planning and investing in affordable housing - which needs to have buy-in from local government, planners and community."

Mel Gray, convener of Health Rivers Dubbo, said she welcomed the government's investment in the environment and renewable energy but said she was concerned that money was still being injected into the fossil fuel industry.

"The science is clear, governments all over the world must move away from burning dangerous fossil fuels and transition to safer, cleaner energy sources," she said.

As part of the government's plan to bolster environmental protection, the government is establishing the first independent national environmental protection agency.

Ms Gray welcomed the announcement. She said another positive is funding to buy back water and to provide assistance to help river towns adjust to "a future with less irrigation".

"[It] is a refreshing change from the decade of delay under the previous government," she said.

"A lot of the heavy lifting to revive inland rivers still lies with the states.

"In NSW there is an opportunity for the Minns government to overhaul water rules so that inland rivers can connect, which would provide certainty for the community and the potential for a sustainable irrigation industry."

Member for Parkes Mark Coulton said while the debt relief, rebates and tax cuts will be helpful for people in the electorate, regional areas as a whole have been forgotten.

"The Prime Minister said when he was elected two years ago, 'no one would be held back, no one would be left behind', but that's only if you live in a capital city and not in regional Australia," he said.

"The really meaty things that you would look for in a budget - infrastructure projects, incentive for businesses to invest - it's just not there."

Mr Coulton said he was also concerned that the inland rail project was not mentioned in the budget.

"We've got communities that have already invested quite a few million dollars in preparation for this project to be connected through and they've been left high and dry," he said.

"Farmers between Narromine and Narrabri have varying views on the project but one thing that is uniting them is uncertainty of whether this project is going to go ahead and when.

"I personally think the project will be completed but the longer it's delayed the harder it will be to do that."

The federal budget also includes a $774 million First Nations economic empowerment program, which the government hopes will advance Closing The Gap targets.

But Mr Coulton said the best way to support Indigenous people would be to invest more broadly in the regions where they live.

"We've got the second highest percentage of Aboriginal people after the Northern Territory in the whole of Australia," he said.

"Indigenous constituents have exactly the same issues as everyone else - they want a medical service that they can go to, they want to be able to educate their kids, they want to have a road that they can drive on when they need to go somewhere.

"The attack on the bush from this government is having just as big - if not a bigger - impact on indigenous people as anyone else."