Federal Budget 2022: Your five-minute guide to the Morrison Government’s Budget

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has delivered his fourth Federal Budget, lauding the state of Australia’s economy.

“Despite having faced the largest economic shock since the Great Depression, our debt to GDP levels, even when they peak, are still low by international standards, below all major advanced economies and less than half that in the United States and Japan,” Mr Frydenberg said.

DON’T MISS! Sixteen-page special Budget wrap with Wednesday’s edition of The West Australian.

Here’s everything you need to know about how this year’s Budget affects you in a short, five-minute guide:

COST OF LIVING

• One-off $420 cost of living tax offset for more than 10 million low and middle income earners. Individuals already receiving the offset will get up to $1500 and couples up to $3000 in their 2021-22 tax returns. Estimated to reduce tax receipts by $4.1b over the forward estimates.
• One-off cost of living payment of $250, set to benefit six million Australians, mainly pensioners but also carers, veterans, job seekers, eligible self-funded retirees and concession card holders. Cost to government of $1.5b.
• Greater than tipped cut to fuel excise for the next six months, halved to 22 cents a litre and taking up to a fortnight to flow through to the bowser. Two-car families who fill up once a week could save about $30 a week or about $700 over the next six months. CommSec estimates it has been costing the average family an extra $66.20 per month to fill up, compared with the start of the year.

HOMES AND SKILLS

• Also tipped, the Home Guarantee Scheme has been more than doubled to 50,000 places per year. Eligible single parents get home deposits as low as 2 per cent, while first home buyers get deposits as low as 5 per cent. RateCity warns property prices are expected to fall over coming years while interest rates will rise.
• A $2b injection to affordable housing through the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation. But the budget’s overall ‘housing and community amenities’ spending category dipped by $210 million in 2022-23.
• A $2.8b allocation to increase trade apprenticeship take up and completion rates. New apprentices will get $5000 payments and employers who take them on will receive up to $15,000 in wage subsidies.
• A $3.7b investment in skills, supporting an additional 800,000 training places. For every $100 a small business spends on training their employees, they will get a $120 tax deduction. Overall spending on the ‘vocational and industry training’ subcategory fell, however, reflecting the end of temporary COVID-19 supports.
• For every $100 small businesses spend on digital technologies like cloud computing, eInvoicing, cyber security and web design, they will get a $120 tax deduction. Capped at $100,000 per year.

OTHER SIGNIFICANT MEASURES

• Cheaper medicines for 2.4 million Australians with reduced Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme Safety Net thresholds from $1542.10 to $1457.10 for general patients and from $326.40 to $244.80 for concessional patients.
• More than $345 million allocated to embed pharmacy services within residential aged care facilities to improve medication management for the elderly.
• Huge ongoing spending on defence as geopolitical tensions mount, including increasing the total workforce by 18,500 personnel by 2040 at a cost of at least $38b.
• Biggest ever investment in intelligence and cyber capabilities, with about $1b per year allocated over the next decade, doubling the size of the Australian Signals Directorate.
• More than $12b to be spent on road funding in the coming year.
• For the regions, $7.4b allocated to dams and projects to improve water security and expand irrigation. Telecommunications improvements totalling $1.3b over six years from 2021-22, plus $19.4 million to establish up to 20 child care services in areas of no or limited supply in 2022-23.
• Programs targeting family, domestic and sexual violence against women and children totalling $1.3b over six years from 2021-22.