14 May 2020. Today’s Budget provides for a $50bn COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund. Detailed in the first $15.9bn of the newly announced spend is significant investment in new building projects and industry training.
Key aspects from the 2020 Budget:
Housing and Infrastructure
- The government has committed to rolling out a home-building programme to build 8,000 new state houses over the next four to five years. This will be comprised of about 6,000 public houses and 2,000 transitional homes.
- The Budget also commits an additional $3bn to fund "shovel-ready" infrastructure projects, on top of the $12bn spend-up announced earlier this year. Ministers have already received nearly 2,000 applications for funding and will soon decide which projects to push ahead with after receiving advice from officials.
Training and Education
- Trades training for critical courses – such as building, construction and agriculture – will be made free for all ages over the next two years to help retrain people who have lost their jobs.
- About $1.6bn has been set aside for the entire Trades and Apprenticeships Training Package which will also help workplaces retain their trainees.
