The Albanese government has trumpeted cost-of-living relief, housing, healthcare and clean energy measures in its budget, which it believes will deliver “a stronger economy and a fairer society”.
As a result of its planned spending the government claims broad sections of society will be better off. However, the projected surplus will be funded by cracking down on certain areas and decisions not to increase spending in other areas.
Here’s a breakdown of the 2023 federal budget winners and losers.
Winners
Low-income renters
In what is the only immediate benefit specific to renters in the budget, recipients of commonwealth rent assistance (CRA) – an existing program for which about 1.1 million low-income Australians are eligible – will receive more financial support.
The maximum rate of the CRA payment will increase by 15% from 20 September, subject to being passed in parliament. For a single CRA recipient with no dependants who does not share their rental home with anyone else, and who is receiving the maximum amount of assistance, their payment would increase from $157.20 a fortnight to $180.80.
Small businesses
The government will reward small business owners with a range of financial measures.
The instant asset write-off threshold will be temporarily increased to $20,000 from 1 July for a year. This means small businesses with an annual turnover less than $10m will be able to instantly deduct the entire cost of certain assets that cost less than $20,000, which are first used between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2024. The $20,000 threshold applies to each asset, so small businesses can take advantage of this measure to buy multiple assets.
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Not only that, small and medium-sized businesses will be encouraged to buy energy-efficient fridges, electric cooling systems, batteries and other assets that “support electrification and more efficient use of energy”. Companies with a turnover of less than $50m will be able to deduct an additional 20% of the cost of depreciating assets that are eligible under the small business energy incentive measure.
Small businesses also get energy bill relief as part of a scheme primarily directed at welfare recipients.
Welfare recipients – but not all
Base rates of support payments including jobseeker, youth allowance, the partnered parenting payment and Austudy will rise by $40 a fortnight from 20 September. The government had already announced it would extend eligibility for the higher single jobseeker payment for recipients aged over 60 to those aged 55 who have been on the payment for more than nine months.
Addressing rising household energy costs, the government will spend $3bn on direct bill relief – co-funded with state governments – to eligible households, including pensioners, seniors health card holders and family tax benefit A and B recipients. The government claims more than 5m households will have up to $500 deducted from their power bills next financial year.
In another measure announced before budget day, single parents will be able to claim the single parenting payment until their youngest child turns 14, up from eight – a measure estimated to provide 57,000 families with an extra $176.90 a fortnight.
Doctors, aged care workers and people needing healthcare
The government will spend $3.5bn to triple the bulk-billing incentive that GPs receive, meaning there will be more common consultation types which doctors can choose to bulk bill. Eight new Medicare urgent care clinics will be established to open for longer hours with no out-of-pocket costs – bringing the total across Australia to 58.
The government will also spend hundreds of millions to better coordinate healthcare, including on telehealth, the digitisation of records and increasing Medicare rebates for consults longer than 60 minutes.
Aged care workers will also benefit from a 15% pay rise.
Politicians
The government will splash an additional $159m over the next four years, and about $40m a year going forward, on themselves. Every parliamentarian will receive “additional frontline electorate staff resources”, as well as a boosted traveller expense allowance, which the government says will help politicians “be engaged and responsive to the increased needs of the community”.
Veterans
Services for veterans will be better funded, including $64.1m over the coming financial year for additional resourcing to tackle the backlog of claims for supports, as well as increased demand for complex case management, rehabilitation, pharmacy and health approvals. Another $2m will be spent over two years to continue the Department of Veterans Affairs mental health literacy and suicide intervention training program for the ex-service community.
Losers
Travellers
Leaving Australia? Whether you’re going on holiday or moving for good, you’ll have to pay an extra $10, as the government increases the passenger movement charge from 1 July 2024 from $60 to $70 a passenger.
Smokers
The tobacco excise will increase by 5% a year for three years from 1 September, as the government aims to encourage smokers to quit through this and other anti-smoking measures that will raise tax revenue by $3.3bn.
Middle-income renters
There’s not a great deal of immediate relief specifically for those in the rental market who don’t qualify for low income support payments but who are struggling to secure properties or facing rising rents. Incentives to boost the supply of build-to-rent schemes won’t deliver new supply to the market for several years.
Tax dodgers
The government will continue to fund a crackdown on businesses not paying goods and service tax (GST). These compliance activities will cost just under $600m over four years, but could boost tax revenues by about $10bn over the same period.
Commuters and train lovers
Despite an election pledge to prioritise a high-speed train along the east coast of Australia starting with a Sydney to Newcastle section, the budget contained no new funding for that rail track in the coming three financial years, nor for any other significant commuter rail projects around Australia.
Scammers
A national anti-scam centre will be established from this coming financial year, at a cost of $58m, to respond to a spike in online scams and fraud. The centre will share scam data across government and private sector, and “establish public-private sector Fusion Cells to target specific scam issues”. About $17m will be spent over four years to identify and take down phishing websites and investment scams.
Scammers sending phoney text messages have also been put on notice, with $10m allocated for an SMS sender ID registry to stop criminals impersonating government and industry names.
