The first Budget by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, handed down this week, has lifted the lid on a range of new public sector initiatives with funding for centres, units, registers, and offices winning the nod for support next year.
Highest on the list is the proposed Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability to be run by the Attorney-General’s Department at a cost of $527.9 million over five years.
Also high on the list is the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission’s new Public Register of Child Sex Offenders at a cost of $7.8 million over four years and the Department of Infrastructure, Regional Development and Cities’ $5.9 million to establish a new Office of Road safety.
The Department of the Environment and Energy is to be the recipient of $25 million over four years to establish the Harry Butler Environmental Education Centre at Murdoch University and a further $100 million to set up an Environment Restoration Fund to service grants for projects restoring and protecting threatened or migratory species and their habitats.
The Office of the eSafety Commissioner is to receive $10 million for a new Online Safety Grants Program to support the delivery of online safety education and training projects for children and the Attorney-General’s Department another $1.2 billion over three years to fund legal aid programs in the States and Territories through a new national ‘mechanism’
The Fair Work Ombudsman is also to be funded with $9.2 million over four years to establish a new unit dedicated to tackle sham contracting by employers misrepresenting employment relationships with workers.
More information on the new initiatives supported in the Budget can be found in Budget Paper No. 2.
