KEY POINTS:
- Treasurer Jim Chalmers handed down his second budget on Tuesday night.
- Labor has made cost of living relief the centrepiece of its 2023-24 budget.
- The budget includes help for renters, aged care workers, and JobSeeker recipients.
The cost of a trip to the doctor will change for some, rent will drop for others, and single parents will receive a boost.
But visa costs are set to increase, and Australia’s ultra-wealthy are still set for a major tax break.
Contentious
Welfare recipients
Labor has reacted to outcry over the cost-of-living crisis with a modest boost to various working-age and student payments.
People who will receive a $20 weekly increase – or $2.86 per day – from late September are those on:
- JobSeeker
- Youth Allowance
- The Partnered Parents Payment
- Austudy
- ABSTUDY
- The Youth Disability Support Pension
- The Special Benefit Payment
The boost is bigger for people aged over 55, with women in that cohort particularly vulnerable to homelessness and poverty. They’ll receive an extra $92.10 each fortnight.
But the relief is still well below what welfare advocates have been demanding, with the Australian Council of Social Service calling for a weekly rate of $476.
There are many groups who will get more as JobSeeker payments are increased. Source: SBS News
Renters
Low-income renters struggling to meet rising rent prices will receive modest relief.
The Commonwealth Rent Assistance payment will increase 15 per cent, meaning a single person with no children will receive up to $90.39 each week - an extra $11.79 per week.
Small pharmacy owners
Some pharmacy owners have been angered by changes to the way people can buy medicine.
But the pharmacy lobby argues the hit will force many smaller businesses to shut their doors, and Health Minister Mark Butler accepts some will find the changes challenging.
However, around six million patients are in the "winners" section, given their medicine costs will halve and they’ll need to make fewer trips to the pharmacy.
Winners
Young and old GP patients
More Australians will find it easier and cheaper to see the doctor.
People aged under 16, pensioners, and other concession card holders will have bulk billing tripled for the most common types of GP visits.
That’ll mean free trips to the doctor for over 11 million people.
All telehealth consults up to 20 minutes in length with be included.
The single parent payment will continue until a child is 14-years-old, rather than eight.
Single parents struggling to make ends meet have received a lifeline, with the single parent payment to continue until a child is 14 years old, rather than eight.
That means around 57,000 parents will get another six years on a higher rate than JobSeeker, amounting to an extra $176.90 each fortnight.
Homeowners
It could soon be cheaper to put solar panels or double-glazed windows on your house.
Labor will establish a new $1.3 billion fund, creating low-cost loans for people renovating their homes to improve energy efficiency.
That includes $300 million specifically allocated to social housing upgrades, which Labor claims will cut energy costs for around 60,000 homes.
The government estimates that upgrading a house’s energy efficiency rating from one to three stars can reduce bills by around a third.
Family and sexual violence services
Under-pressure frontline services will get an extra $159 million over two years, via a national partnership with the states and territories.
A trial payment for women escaping family violence will be extended until early 2025, with other funds to be spread across the family court system, emergency accommodation services, and early intervention work.
Work will begin on a national perpetrator referral database, though what that looks like remains unclear.
A review into how the legal system handles sexual violence cases will also receive $6.5 million over four years.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers have delivered their second budget. Source: AAP / Mick Tsikas
Australia’s wealthiest are still set to benefit after Labor left intact the stage three tax cuts, set to cost more than $200 billion over ten years.
The tax cuts, introduced by the former Coalition government and supported by Labor, have been a point of contention with low-income families gripped by cost-of-living pressures.
But there’s no mention of them in the transcript of Tuesday’s speech, and Mr Chalmers says they weren’t a major point of discussion leading up to the budget.
Andrew Forrest could be one of the big winners from the budget.
The mining magnate could be one of the main beneficiaries of a $4 billion splurge on renewable energies.
The government has bet $2 billion on green hydrogen to drive a shift away from fossil fuels, in what the budget papers said was a necessary move to compete with overseas markets like the US.
That'll set up a new Hydrogen Headstart program, Australia's response to the Biden Administration's Inflation Reduction Act.
Mr Forrest - one of the country's main hydrogen proponents - has previously warned Australia was in danger of "missing the bus" on green hydrogen.
Losers
Visa applicants
Applying for a visa is about to get more expensive.
All application costs will rise at least 6 percentage points from July, except for applicants from the Pacific Islands.
Visa application costs are set to rise.
That means tourists will pay $40 more ($190 overall), a backpacking visa will cost $130 more ($640 overall), and students will pay $65 more ($715 overall).
There’ll also be a 40 percentage point increase for business innovation and investment visas.
The government says the changes will raise more than $100 million each year, which will fund improvements to the visa processing system.
Big super balances
Big super balances will be taxed at a higher rate, but not for a while.
Money in superannuation funds gets generous concessions, taxed at 15 per cent (or zero per cent, if it’s in a retirement pension account).
But Labor will raise that to 30 per cent for any dollar over $3 million from mid-2025.
It still amounts to a break compared to the top marginal tax rate of 45 per cent.
Multinational corporations
Loopholes for international corporations operating in Australia will also be closed.
From 1 January 2024, large international corporations will pay a minimum tax rate of 15 per cent.
Whenever a company manages to find a lower tax rate overseas, they’ll be taxed up to the 15 per cent domestically (for example, if they pay 13 per cent elsewhere, they’ll be charged an extra 2 per cent here).
Vapers and cigarette smokers will face major changes.
Nicotine products will be more expensive, less attractive, or illegal.
The budget includes a 5 per cent tax hike on cigarettes, taking the average price of a packet to roughly $50. The measure is expected to raise more than $3 billion in revenue.
, while all medically prescribed vapes will be flavourless and come in pharmaceutical-like packaging.
