The 2023-24 Budget - so far

Some of the key announcements that may impact you.

With the cost of living on the top of everyone’s minds and Labor warning of “incredibly weak” economic growth over the next 5 years, we are all very interested to hear the full list of announcements on May 9. Whilst nothing has been confirmed we are keenly interested in any impacts or changes to Superannuation that have been speculated on so far.

Some measures have already been announced with the below being a selection that may impact you or your family.

The LMITO – “The Lamington” Tax Offset will come to an end

The Low to Middle Income Tax Offset that was introduced in 2018-19 Federal Budget will finally come to an end. Since being introduced at a rate of up to $530 to up to $1500, the offset will be scrapped.

Crackdown on e-cigarettes

The budget will include $234 million to fund new measures to ban the importation of most vapes, introduce plain packaging and limit where they are able to be distributed. These measures are in response to the serious behavioral issues that vaping and e-cigarettes are causing in school aged children all over the country.

Emergency services communications upgrade

As natural disasters are only going to increase in frequency and severity the upgrades to Australia’s Emergency Warning Communications are set to save lives. The government says the national messaging system — to be developed and tested over the next 18 months and be operational by 2024 — will deliver instant, prioritised emergency messages to all mobile devices in a specific area, regardless of the person’s service provider.

Cheaper medicines and more scripts

The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) will receive a shake up with Australians allowed to buy twice as many common medicines for the price of one script, reducing their need for doctor visits. This will help relieve the demand for GPs but Pharmacists are concerned the changes could lead to medicine shortages.

Long COVID Research

The Medical Research Future Fund will receive a further $50 million for research into post-acute sequelae of Covid-19 (PASC) — commonly known as Long Covid.

Action against SMS Scammers

$10 million will be announced to launch the country’s first SMS Sender ID registry to help prevent scammers appearing to send messages from Government branded names – myGov or Linkt. 

WA Black Spot program Boost

WA will receive $12.6 million to improve the dangerous road crash sites identified in the federal government’s Black Spot program. 24 locations have been identified around the state with measures to include improvements to traffic signals and roundabouts aimed at reducing serious injuries and deaths on WA roads. Queensland will also receive $21.7 million for 28 sites.

These are just some of the announcements made so far. The full budget will be handed down, in detail, on Tuesday 9 May at 7.30pm, and a summary of the details that will impact you available the following day.