Fiji Labour Party Leader Mahendra Chaudhry says the National Budget 2024/25 does nothing to meet the expectations of ordinary people for relief from the soaring cost of living.
In a statement, Chaudhry says the Prime Minister gave an assurance that they were listening to the people's cry for relief, and the budget makes it clear that they did not listen at all.
He says it was just plain rhetoric to fool the people.
The FLP Leader adds except for cosmetic changes here and there, the suffering and hardship of the people at large will continue unabated.
Chaudhry says the 15 percent VAT imposed in the last budget remains, and the decision not to levy a dividend tax or rescind the 7-year tax holiday granted to Fiji Water signifies that the Coalition government is all about protecting the interest of the wealthy at the cost of the poor.
He says the increase in the minimum wage from $4 to $5 an hour is totally inadequate as it simply goes up by 50c from 1st August and a further 50c from 1st April 2025.
He further says in 2018, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Biman Prasad was agitating for a $5 an hour minimum wage.
Chaudhry asks how Professor Prasad now justifies keeping it at the same rate six years later, despite the enormous jump in living costs brought about largely by his imposition of a 15 percent VAT in the last budget.
He says the social welfare allowance remains the same at $125 a month, and all he has done is add the $25 a month bus fare subsidy to the welfare payment.
Chaudhry says these are the people in the lower rungs of society most affected by high costs of living, and worse still, the eligibility age has increased from 60 to 65 years.
He adds Prof. Prasad’s claims that his government respects the rights of workers and trade unions is yet another rhetoric and rather hypocritical.
The FLP Leader says Prof. Prasad has totally undermined the right of trade unions to collective bargaining by unilaterally imposing pay increases of between 7-20 percent for established civil servants and a $1 an hour increase for those on hourly pay.
Chaudhry says the proposed increases fall far short of the claims of the unions and are not likely to be accepted by them.
He says at the same time, the government has shamelessly gone ahead and endorsed the increase in pay and allowances recommended by the Parliamentary Emoluments Committee.
He adds it has simply ignored the huge public anger at this act of self-interest.
The FLP Leader says they welcome the budget announcement that the government has finally brought closure to the long dispute over the Fiji Mine Workers Union and the FNPF pensioners.
He says more needs to be done here to reimburse Fund members who were forced to withdraw their savings to survive the COVID crisis, which rightly should have been the State’s responsibility.
