Federal Budget 2020: Your five-minute easy guide
It is a Budget without precedent, for a year unlike any other. Here are the basics you should know about the 2020 federal Budget — and how it will affect you.
Victoria
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- How Australia will climb out of record $1 trillion debt pile
- Calculate how new tax changes will affect you
The federal Budget takes a deep look into how the COVID-19 global pandemic has affected Australians — and what is being done to get our economy running again.
Here’s a guide to what you need to know about the 2020 federal Budget.
ECONOMIC FORECAST 2020-2021
Net debt $703.2 billion
Unemployment 7.25 per cent
Real GDP growth -1.5 per cent
Wages growth 1.25 per cent
$17.8 BILLION IN TAX CUTS
* Up to $2745 in tax relief for low and middle-income earners, while households will get up to $5490.
* The 19 per cent tax rate threshold will be increased from $37,000 to $45,000. The 32.5 per cent tax threshold will be increased from $90,000 to $120,000.
* A capital-gains tax exemption will be created for granny flats provided a written agreement is in place.
* The ATO has been given an additional $15.1m to target crime in the tax and superannuation systems.
$1 BILLION ON EDUCATION AND TRAINING
* $1.2bn package for Australian businesses to employ 100,000 new apprentices and trainees.
* $326m provided for 12,000 new domestic university placements.
* $550m for universities to provide 50,000 new higher education short courses in agriculture, health, IT, science and teaching.
* The fringe benefits tax that applied to businesses retraining workers has been scrapped.
* The Smith Family charity will get $38m to help Australia’s poorest students finish high school.
ENVIRONMENT
* $249m boost for waste and recycling industry, with another $103m for a National Radioactive Waste Management Facility at Napandee, near Kimba, South Australia.
* Farmers and communities still struggling with the effects of the drought will be supported by $155.6m over four years.
* $233m in upgrades for Uluru, Kakadu, Christmas Island and Booderee National Parks, with * $47.4m over four years for ocean health initiatives
HEALTH AND WELFARE
* $12 billion for five million pensioners and the unemployed who will pocket $500 in bonus payments ($250 in December and $250 in March).
* Thousands of new mums will qualify for paid parental leave even if they’ve been stood down during the pandemic (Usually they must be in paid work to qualify).
* No new childcare initiatives but taxpayer spending on subsidies to soar to $9bn.
* Funding for 23,000 new home-care packages for older Australians.
* Elderly Australians with a disability who can’t get access to the NDIS will get help from a new $125m program.
* Aged-care homes will get $746.3m to help them manage COVID, including workforce retention bonuses, infection control and training for nurses.
* $7.6m for parents experiencing stillbirths or death of a child under 12 months.
* $60m for DV “safe places” initiative.
* $9m for research into cancer in children and young adults.
* Adult children will be allowed to stay on their parents’ private health fund accounts until the age of 31.
* Medicare-funded mental health consults will double from 10 to 20.
MORE BUDGET NEWS
YOUR FIVE-MINUTE GUIDE TO THE BUDGET
OPINION: WHY TREASURER’S ADVICE WILL LEAVE YOU BROKE
PENSIONERS TO POCKET EXTRA $500 TAX-FREE PAYMENTS
JOBS AND WORKERS
* $41 billion in spending on dole payments in 2020-21, expected to almost halve to $22bn a year later.
* Under reforms, new super accounts will no longer be created each time a worker starts a new job — instead the person’s super account will follow them to their next gig.
* JobKeeper is to end on March 28, 2021, but a “back-to-work” wage subsidy scheme called JobMaker is being launched for businesses employing Australians under 35 who have been forced onto welfare payments. Firms can access $200 per week for those under 30 and $100 for those aged 30 to 35.
* There is no change to the JobSeeker rate.
INFRASTRUCTURE
* $10 billion allocated in infrastructure spending, including $7.5 billion in road and rail projects spread across all states and territories.
* Australia’s domestic fuel security will benefit from $211m in funding while another $53m set aside for gas infrastructure
MANUFACTURING
* $1.5 billion allocated for manufacturing in six target areas: space, medicine, food and beverage, defence, resources tech, recycling and clean energy.
* $800 million aimed at helping businesses work online, including $29.2m to boost early business access to the 5G network.
* An additional 10,000 places have been created in the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme.
* $419.9m allocated for upgrade of government’s business register.
* The ATO will offer simplified GST accounting methods for businesses with turnovers under $50m.
* Fringe Benefits Tax to be removed for many businesses. Companies with turnovers of between $10m and $50m will be able to access up to 10 small business tax concessions.
TECHNOLOGY
* $4.5 billion investment in the NBN Co to replace copper lines and older hardware which will unlock download speeds of up to one gigabit per second for millions more fixed-line users, will take place over the next three years. High-speed 5G technology, which could compete with the NBN, also received a boost, with the government committing $29.3m for 5G trials in industries, including agriculture and manufacturing.
* $1.67bn has been earmarked for the government’s cyber security strategy $260m has been allocated for the digital identity system for businesses.
* The government will pay compensation of about $3bn to Australians and citizens of other countries “for damage caused” by our national space program.
MORE FEDERAL BUDGET NEWS:
WHY TREASURER’S ADVICE WILL LEAVE YOU BROKE
$103M BOOST TO BUILD RADIOACTIVE WASTE DUMPING GROUND
NEW PLAN TO HELP AUSSIE DIGGERS
NEW TOP COP SQUAD AND PLAN TO CATCH SPIES, WHITE COLLAR CRIMS
AUSSIES CAN STAY ON PARENT’S HEALTH PLAN FOR LONGER
VIRUS-HIT AGED CARE SECTOR GETS $2BN BOOST
PRIVATE SCHOOLS’ HUGE FUNDING BOOST OVER PUBLIC
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE VICTIMS LEFT BEHIND IN 2020 BUDGET
WHAT THE TREASURER SAID, AND WHAT HE REALLY MEANS