Newsletters 2024

1. COST OF LIVING + HOUSING

• Commonwealth Rent Assistance maximum rates increase by 10% 
• $1.9bn in concessional loans for providers of social and affordable housing 
• $3 billion wiped from student HECS debt 
• Social security deeming rates frozen at current levels for another 12 months. 
• $300 energy rebate for households and $325 rebate to eligible small businesses. 
• Student placement payments for some areas of study

• No increase to key social support payments including Job Seeker or the Aged Pension
• No structural reform of the housing system including reforming tax concessions.   
• Some of the $6.2bn allocated to housing is repurposed funds 
• Nothing for average income households in the form of rental or property ownership assistance 
• Student placement payments do not go far enough either in dollar terms or professions covered

2. CLIMATE + ENERGY + TRANSPORT

• $22.7 billion package over the next ten years for the Future Made in Australia plan including for solar manufacturing, battery manufacturing, commercialisation of technologies, critical minerals production, and hydrogen production
• $154.5m over six years to implement the New Vehicle Efficiency Standards
• $100m to create an Active Transport Fund to build more bicycle and walking paths
• $115m for a zero-emissions bus depot in Macquarie Park

• Nothing for renters to electrify or to help households get off gas
• Over $44 billion in fuel subsidies (Fuel tax credit) over the forward estimates
• Petroleum resources rent tax only delivers $2.59 billion which is less than we will get from beer excise ($2.66) or spirits excise ($3.59 billion)
  $60 million over four years to support installation of EV charging at auto businesses only (to support them in selling EV models).
• Only $50 million over two years for the Green Climate Fund
• $32.6 million for carbon sequestration for heavy industry to move carbon dioxide to geological storage sites (aka carbon capture and storage)
  
  

3. ENVIRONMENT (Not a lot to see here....)

• $107 million transition support package for sheep industry to phase out live sheep exports

• No substantial additional funding for Environmental Protection Australia
  Very little for biodiversity and conservation
  
  

4.ECONOMY + TAXATION

• Surplus of $9.3 billion
• Stage 3 tax cuts – 13.6 million taxpayers receive a tax cut
• Inflation forecast back within RBA target range earlier than expected
• Investment in tertiary education reform - 80% of the population to hold a tertiary qualification by 2050

• Continued reliance on income tax
• Slow economic growth – just 1 ¾% growth this financial year, and 2% next
• Increasing levies (Agriculture levy, biosecurity levy)
  
  

5. SMALL BUSINESS

• $20,000 instant asset write off scheme extended by 12 months to 30 June 2025
• $325 energy rebate to eligible small businesses on 2024-25 bills
• $10.8 million over 2 years for a Debt Helpline and other services
• $20.5 million over 4 years for the Office of the Fair Work Ombudsman to support small business employers comply with changes to workplace laws
  
  

• Instant asset write off for small business threshold not raised, and no long-term provisions.
• No further relief to small businesses beyond the extension of existing measure
  
  

6. GENDER EQUALITY

• $1.1 billion over four years from 2025 to fund superannuation on Paid Parental Leave (12% superannuation – or about $106 a week)
• $925.2 million over five years to make the Leaving Violence Program permanent
• $55.6 million over four years Building Women’s Careers program to improve women’s access to traditionally male-dominated industries
  
  

• Not enough to address the national domestic violence crisis
• Didn’t abolish the activity test, which puts pressure on parents raising children to pursue employment search activities
• No indication of the quantum of funding for increased childcare workers wages
  
  

7. HUMAN RIGHTS

• $151.4 million over four years to accelerate progress under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap and delivering better outcomes for First Nations peoples
• $115.6 million over four years to address high migration backlogs in the federal courts
  
  
  

• No pathway to permanency for the 7,500 people failed by the Fast Track system
• Focus on increasing skilled migration but no increase in the humanitarian intake
• Budget provisions for the new Administrative Review Tribunal (ART), are inadequate at just $854.3 million over four years. This is less than what was previously provided to the AAT
  
  
  

8. HEALTH + MENTAL HEALTH + AGEING

• Maximum cost of PBS prescriptions frozen for two years (no one will pay more than $31.60 for a script. Pensioners and concession card holders will pay no more than $7.70)
• $3.0 million over two years from 2024–25 to fund removal of fees imposed on the pathology sector for certain accreditations
• $588.5 million over eight years to establish a national low intensity digital mental health service
• $49.1 million over four years for gynecology consultations with patients who have complex conditions such as endometriosis and pelvic pain
  
  

• Scale of funding for mental health services does not meet the need. In 2020, the Productivity Commission recommended governments invest an extra $2.4 billion per year nationally, to deliver priority mental health system reforms