What it means for you

The 2020-21 Australian Federal Budget was released on 6 October 2020 by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, outlining how the government plans to spend and save in the years ahead.

Note: the measures outlined in the Budget are yet to be legislated. 

 

 

Navigate below to read updates related to key areas for our customers:

EDUCATION

Skills development: Establishment of the $1 billion JobTrainer Fund as part of the JobMaker Plan, supporting up to 340,700 additional free or low-fee training places in areas of genuine need.

Apprenticeships:
 Investing a further $1.2 billion in Australia’s skills pipeline and boosting the number of new apprenticeships and traineeships through The Boosting Apprenticeships Wage Subsidy.

School leavers:
A further $299 million in funding to provide an additional 12,000 undergraduate places in 2021.

Short courses:
Supporting the delivery of 50,000 higher education short courses.

Disadvantaged students:
Investing $146 million in a range of educational programs to improve outcomes of disadvantaged students.

HEALTHCARE

COVID-19 testing: Over $750 million in funding.  

Rural health workforce: $50.3 million to expand the Rural Health Multidisciplinary Training Program. 

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): $3.2 billion in PPE, including 76 million masks, to protect healthcare and other frontline workers from COVID-19.

Hospitals: $1.1 billion to support hospitals through the National Partnership Agreement on COVID-19 Response.

Mental health:
More than $148 million in additional funding for mental health support.

Medicare: $112 million for ongoing access to essential health services through the continuation of Medicare rebated telehealth services.

Vaccines: Funding includes:

  • $1.7 billion to secure access to over 84.8 million doses of potential vaccines developed by the University of Oxford and the University of Queensland.
  • $123 million to join the international COVAX facility.
  • Funding of almost $6 million to support research and development of COVID-19 vaccines at Australian universities. 

AGED CARE

Aged care: $746.3 million to support senior Australians in aged care, workers and providers to respond to COVID-19. This includes:

  • $245 million for a COVID-19 Support Payment to assist providers with additional costs.
  • $205.1 million for the Workforce Retention Bonus Payment for frontline aged care workers.

 

More from the budget below:

Superannuation 

Early access: If affected by the economic impacts of COVID-19, individuals can access a further $10,000 of their superannuation up to 31 December 2020, on top of the access to $10,000 of their superannuation in 2019-20.

Account-based pensions: Superannuation minimum drawdown rates reduced by 50% for account-based pensions for 2020-21.

Super fund: Australians will automatically keep their superannuation fund when they change employers. 

Taxation

Personal income tax relief: Additional $17.8 billion in personal income tax relief. This includes Bringing forward Stage 2 of the Personal Income Tax Plan and a one-off additional tax benefit to low- and middle-income earners in 2020-21.

Businesses: From 6 October 2020 – 30 June 2022, businesses with turnover up to $5 billion will be able to deduct the full cost of eligible depreciable assets of any value in the year they are installed. 

If you’d like to know more about how the taxation and superannuation changes could affect you, our Senior Financial Planners can help. Arrange a consultation by calling 1300 654 193 or email support@snowstarcu.com.

Women in the workforce

Workforce participation: 2020 Women’s Economic Security Statement – a $240.4 million package to increase women’s workforce participation.

Expert advice: Additional $35.9 million in funding to expand the Boosting Female Founders initiative for access to expert mentoring and business advice.

STEM: $25.1 million to assist 500 women through Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Industry Cadetships or Advanced Apprenticeships.

First home buyers

First Home Loan Deposit Scheme: additional 10,000 places will be provided in 2020-21 to support the purchase of a new home.

More Information 

For more information on the Federal Budget, visit https://treasury.gov.au/

Source: Budget 2020-21. Budget Overview. The Treasury. https://budget.gov.au/2020-21/content/overview.htm.

This information is designed to assist our customers and is not reflective of any specific views or preferences.