Budget 2022 live updates: federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg delivers budget speech with cash payments and tax relief – latest news

More from the conga line of stakeholders and experts after the budget – the line seems to be almost running out now, with most voices having had their say.

Ian Henschke, from National Seniors, was upset the government didn’t do more to let pensioners get back into the workforce without their pension being affected. He called it a “missed opportunity” and said:

I don’t understand why they didn’t listen to us.

Helen Dalley-Fisher, of the Equality Alliance, claimed the budget had “forgotten” Australian women. She was critical that the women’s budget statement had less money than it did last year, and was critical the Coalition didn’t start paying superannuation on paid parental leave.

Annie Butler, the secretary of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Foundation, claimed aged care workers had been “let down” with no word on wage increases in the sector. She noted some “announcements around the edges” on training more people to go into the sector, including a $50m pledge to train 15,000 workers, but questioned how successful that program would be. She asked:

What is the point of training more people to go into a sector in complete crisis until the core issues are fixed?

Fix the staffing crisis.

Quite the gear change at the procession of stakeholders addressing reporters at Parliament House in Canberra, with the oil and gas industry giving its response before making way for the Australian Conservation Foundation.

The chief executive of the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association, Andrew McConville, said the sector could “reinvigorate Australia’s economy” and ensure the reliability of the energy supply. He voiced support for initiatives to support low-emissions technologies and said innovation and cost-competitiveness was important in the global “war for capital”.

Freya Cole, of the Australian Conservation Foundation, then stepped up to the microphones to declare that Australians were “living through a climate and extinction crisis”. She criticised the projected reduction in climate spending and criticised fossil fuel subsidies.

The director of aged care at the United Workers Union, Carolyn Smith, said that despite providing some money for training there was “nothing extra for staff, wages or home care packages” in the budget.

Teresa, a home care worker from Newcastle, noted the 22 cent cut to the fuel excise – but said her fuel allowance is just 72 cents a litre, while petrol currently costs $2 a litre. Home care workers don’t take residents on shopping and other trips as a result of the cost squeeze.

Uniting Care said there were “a few welcome” measures in the budget, backing the women’s safety package and the one-off payments for pensioners.

But the charity said it was disappointed there was no sign of adding superannuation to paid parental leave or wages increases for aged care workers – two reforms Uniting Care said they would be pushing both major parties to commit to before the election.

Georgie Beatty, from the National Union of Students, said the $250 payments going to concession card holders “won’t even make next week’s rent”. She said students who travel great distances to get to class would be happy at the cut to the petrol excise, but “it’ll need much more than that … not band aid solutions”.

The president of the Australian Medical Association, Dr Omar Khorshid, slammed the government for a “lack of vision” on healthcare. He was heavily critical that the Coalition had still not taken any action on resolving the ongoing hospital funding crisis “blame game” between the federal and state governments, an issue several state premiers have been livid about for years.

Khorshid claimed GPs would be “let down” by the budget, but he was also calling on Labor to outline its health policies soon. He said he was waiting for the opposition to come to the table on health funding too, and that he was “very interested to talk to Labor and hear their vision”.

The leader of the Greens, Adam Bandt, says Australia needed a budget that tackled the climate crisis, the inequality crisis and the housing crisis – but tonight’s document did none of those things.

Addressing reporters at Parliament House, Bandt said jobseekers were being left in poverty. He said pensions needed to increase by $250 a week, “not $250 an election”:

This budget will not keep you safe from the climate crisis, will not put an affordable roof over your head.

Bandt said the government had never correctly predicted wage growth and there was “no reason to believe they’ve got it right now”.

Ian Yates, the chief executive of the Council on the Ageing Australia, welcomed the cost-of-living relief for millions of older Australians. He said this year’s budget commitments on aged care did not rate alongside last year’s budget package.

Yates said he was disappointed by the absence or oral and dental health programs aimed at older Australians. He hoped pledged would be forthcoming by the parties in the upcoming federal election campaign.

Innes Willox, of the Australian Industry Group, said the government’s budget had to “walk a high wire” balancing act between dealing with short-term uncertainty and making long-term change.

He welcomed a focus on skills and apprenticeships, but was critical that the number of skilled migrant places wasn’t increased further – saying this was “deeply troubling” to business, claiming labour shortages was “the number one issue” some firms have.

Medicines Australia called it a “steady as she goes budget”, and praised “some great new listings of new innovative medicines”. The body also noted there needed to be continued investment in health.

Andrew McKellar, chief executive of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the budget was a “mixed bag”. ACCI backed the new national skills agreement, praising it as a “significant step forward”, but said it could have been “better designed”. McKellar echoed Willox in calling for higher skilled migration figures, saying future governments must set more ambitious benchmarks. He also backed the “very positive” tax deductions for training employees in digital skills.

Michele O’Neil, president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, savaged the government for not doing more on wages growth.

Nothing in this budget delivers real wages increases for working people. One off payments are not the same as wage increases,” she said:

That’s workers’ wages going backwards under the Morison government… all we have is one off payments that will be quickly eaten up.

O’Neil also rubbished Frydenberg’s claims earlier today that the looming 3.75% unemployment rate would lead to wages growth. She said that was “a theory that’s been disproven”:

What we see now is a break between what used to be a connection between the unemployment rate and people’s wages. That’s because we’ve got so many more people now in insecure work.

The PwC chief economist, Jeremy Thorpe, told reporters in Canberra the government had provided “additional, targeted and limited support” because it needed to be seen to be addressing cost of living pressures – which he said was “understandable, and relatively restrained”.

Asked whether this would add to inflationary pressures, he said one benefit of the halving of petrol excise is it will have a deflationary impact that should flow through to the rest of the economy.

John Falzon, from progressive thinktank Per Capita, said the budget was like the “last lolly bag” at a party, that “promises everything but contains next to nothing”.

Falzon criticised the government for “one-off fixes that are no fix at all”, warning that a worker earning $68,000 faces real pay cuts of $600 (due to inflation outstripping wage growth).