Low-income earners, JobSeeker recipients, small businesses and renters were among the big winners in Tuesday night’s budget.

Small Businesses

The Government introduced a number of incentives for small businesses in this year’s budget.

As of July 1, for one year, the Small Business asset write-off will increase to $20,000. This applies to each asset, which means that businesses can instantly write off multiple assets that costs less than $20,000.

The Small Business Energy Incentive will help up to 3.8 million SMEs save on their energy bills and upgrade their facilities.

The Energy Bill Relief Fund will also help around 1 million eligible small businesses, save up to $650 on their power bills, with a one-off reduction.

In an attempt to combat cyber threats, the Government will spend $23.4 million to fund a program  which will be delivered by the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia.

The Government plan to put $101.2 million over the next five years, to support Small Businesses to adopt AI and Quantum technologies to aid in business operations. A percentage of the funds will also go to the upgrade to the National AI Centre.

Startups/SMEs

To back innovators and start-ups, the Government will establish a new Industry Growth Program, which will help emerging businesses transition their ideas into ‘growing enterprise’. This will include both advice and an investment backing in order to ‘commercialise their ideas’.

Aged Care

The Government will invest $11.3 billion, for aged-care workers will benefit from a 15% pay increase.

Health

The government will spend $3.5 billion over the next five years to increase the incentives for General Practitioners to bulk-bill.

Eight new Medicare Urgent Care Clinics will open up with extended business hours and no out of pocket costs, making a total of 57 Australia-wide.

The cost of medicine for around 6 million eligible Australians will be reduced by up to 50%.

Targets for Women

As of 2024, $5 million will be invested into providing organisations “with appropriate expertise in supporting women in the workplace”, to aid women in historically male-dominated trades.

The $5 million is said to attract and retain women in male-dominated industries by providing support to ‘reduce cultural barriers to women’s participation’ as well as creating safe and inclusive workplaces through education and advice.

Veterans

An additional $2 million will be spent over the next two year period to aid the Department of Veterans Affairs to support suicide intervention training and mental health literacy programs for ex-service community.

$64.1 million over the next financial year will be used to aid in claims for support, case management, rehabilitation, pharmacy as well as health approvals.

Welfare/ Households

From September 20, JobSeeker, Youth Allowance, Partnered Parenting and Austudy payment will increase $40 a fortnight.

In order to address the rising cost of living, the government will spend $3 billion in energy bill relief to those who are eligible including; pensioners, seniors health card holders and family tax benefits recipients.

Single Parents will be able to claim ‘single parenting payments’ until their youngest child is 14 years of age, up on the previous age of 8, estimating an additional $176.90 a fortnight for approximately 57,000 families.

Childcare/ Parental Leave

The Government has committed to delivering cheaper childcare which will mean around 1.2 million families will benefit.

As of July 1, the Parental Leave Pay and Dad/Partner Payment will be combined, to a single 20 week payment

The government has pledged to increase Paid Parental Leave to be 26 weeks as of the year 2026.

Cyber Security

Costing $58 million to combat the rise in online scams and fraudulent behavior, the Government will establish a National Anti-Scam Centre.

Approximately $17 million will be spent over the next four-year period to identify and tackle fraudulent websites.

The Environment

In an effort to move towards Net Zero, the government has invested an addition $4 billion into Australia’s plan to become a ‘Renewable Energy Superpower’.

The plan includes funds to support hydrogen production, and a move towards powering Australia on ‘clean, cheap, reliable energy’.

The government has established a Net Zero Authority, to ensure that communities will benefit from the move to renewable energy sources.

For further information on the 2023 Federal Budget please click here for the full report.