This Federal Budget is all about delivering targeted cost of living relief while continuing Labor's strong record of responsible economic management.

I know many in our community have been doing it tough. That's why I'm proud to be part of a Federal Government that is supporting people in our community.

 

Delivering Cost of Living Relief 

• New tax cuts for every tax payer, on top of our tax relief that's already rolling out.
• More power bill credits, with every household receiving an additional $150 on top of the $700 already delivered in partnership with the Cook WA Labor Government.
• Even Cheaper Medicines, meaning no PBS script will cost more than $25 from 1 January 2026. For concession card holders and pensioners PBS prescriptions will remain frozen at $7.70 until 2023.
• Cutting Student, TAFE, and Apprenticeship debt by 20%.

 

 

Strengthening Medicare

• More Bulk Billing for all Australians, investing $8.5 billion so that all Australians can see a GP for free.
• Additional hospital funding of $1.8 billion to cut waiting lists, reducing emergency waiting time, and manage ambulance ramping.
• 50 additional Medicare bulk billed urgent care clinics on top of the 87 already opened - including one open now in Gosnells.
• More Doctors and Nurses with $662.6 million to train 2,000 new GPs a year and hundreds of scholarships for nurses and midwives.
• $729.9 million for Women's Health, including new PBS listings for endometriosis medicine and menopause treatments, and more bulk billing.

 

 

Making it Easier to Buy and Rent a Home

• Supporting 55,000 new social and affordable homes through the Housing Australia Future Fund and the Social Housing Accelerator.
• Expanding our Help to Buy program helping 40,000 Australian households into their own homes.
• Supporting housing supply with foreign buyers banned from purchasing existing dwellings for two years from 1 April 2025.
• Boosting the construction workforce with up to $10,000 in financial incentives encouraging people into housing construction trades and apprenticeships. 

 

 

Investing in Every Stage of Education

• Guaranteeing three days of Government subsidised childcare for every child.
• Fully funding every public school meaning an additional $1.6 billion for public schools in Western Australia.
• Making Free TAFE permanent, locking in 100,000 Free TAFE places every year.

 

 

Building a Stronger Economy

• Banning non-compete clauses for low and middle-income workers.
• Developing a national occupational licence for electrical trades to allow electricians to move where they're needed most.
• Building a Future Made in Australia, unlocking billions of dollars of investment in new technologies and building on our $22.7 billion Future Made in Australia agenda.
• Extending $150 energy bill relief to around 1 million small businesses.
• Providing over $17.1 billion for road and rail projects to improve our cities, regions, and local community.
• $3 billion to finish the rollout of the NBN across Australia.

 

 

How our 2024-25 Budget delivered for our community

With Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher

 

Tax Cuts from 1 July

• From 1 July 2024 every Australian tax payer will receive a tax cut, with people in our community saving an average of $1,489.
  
• Thanks to Labor: 
  • A nurse working in Armadale on $74,000 will get a tax cut of $1,524.
  • A part-time shop assistant in Gosnells on $32,000 will get a tax cut of $414.
  • A high school teacher on $84,000 will get a tax cut of $1,779.

Click here to find out how much you'll save under Labor's Better Tax Cuts.

 

Cost of Living Support 

• $3.5 billion in energy bill relief, meaning local households and small businesses will get $700 off their electricity bills, and small businesses a $725 credit.
• WA Student Assistance Payment of $150 for Kindergarten & Primary Students and $250 for Secondary Students.
• $18.6 million to increase the Carers Payment work hours limit to 100 hours over a four week period.
• An increase to the Medicare levy low-income threshold.

 

Building Local Infrastructure 

• An additional $575 million for the METRONET Thornlie-Cockburn Link and High-Capacity Signalling Program.
• $93.4 million to continue Tonkin Highway Upgrades.
• More than $640 million to build and maintain WA's local roads.
• A new $100 million Active Transport Fund to build new bicycle and walking paths.
• $21 million for the National Road Safety Data Hub.

 

Strengthening Healthcare

• $2.8 billion nationally to strengthen Medicare, including keeping pathology bulk billed for the 58,608 locals that accessed services last year.
• $4 billion to deliver more cheaper medicines, building on the more than $2 million that locals have already saved.
• A further $227 million to open 29 more Medicare Urgent Care Clinics, including one in Burt. This is on top of the 58 clinics already delivered around Australia, which offer walk-in care, seven days a week over extended hours, completely bulk billed.
• Health and hospital funding of $3.5 billion, including $1.2 billion for WA's public hospitals, making our hospitals the best funded per capita in Australia.
• Investing $1.89 billion into health and medical research.
• Expanding mental healthcare through a $361 million investment.
• A further $468.7 million to support people with disability, including the more than 4,600 people on the NDIS in our community.

 

A Future Made in Australia

• Releasing the Future Gas Strategy to to support the WA resources industry.
• Combined Federal & State funding of $67 million to support the development of Westport, which will supercharge WA's future trade growth.
• $22.7 billion plan for a Future Made in Australia to attract investment, support our resources industry and back in Australian innovation.
• $470 million to build the world's first fault tolerant quantum computer in Australia, and make us a tech manufacturing powerhouse.
• Investing $566.1 million to power our economy with new geoscience mapping.

 

Helping Families 

• Extending Paid Parental Leave to 26 weeks by 2026.
• $1 billion for social & emergency housing for women an children escaping domestic violence.
• Paying superannuation on Paid Parental Leave, helping 180,000 families a year.
• Launching the Early Years Strategy, which sets out an overarching vision for children in Australia, along with clear goals to ensure children aged 0-5, and their families, can learn, grow and thrive.
• $1.9 billion to increase rent assistance by 10 per cent for 7,110 households in our community.

 

Commitment to Gender Equality

• $925.2 million to establish the Leaving Violence program, including financial support for those escaping domestic violence.
• Adding consultations for Endometriosis, PCOS and Pelvic Pain to Medicare with a $41.9 million boost.
• $55.6 million for the Building Women’s Careers program to expand support for women training in clean energy and other key industries.
• $1 Billion for social and emergency housing for women and children escaping domestic violence nationally.

 

Keeping Australia Safe

• An extra $50.3 billion over the next decade in Defence funding.
• $330 billion for the Defence Integrated Investment Program, creating thousands of jobs for Western Australia.
• Keeping Australia secure with an additional $569.4 million in border protection, making Border Force the best funded it has ever been.
• $71.6 million to combat the growing threat of foreign interference.

 

Supporting Students and Apprentices 

• Slashing HECS/HELP debt for 16,616 local students, apprentices and trainees. Click here to calculate how much you'll save.
• $91 million to create a clean energy workforce by upgrading training facilities, supporting teachers and trainers, and expanding access to the New
  Energy Apprenticeship Program.
• FEE-FREE Uni Ready courses to prepare local students for university through a $350 million investment.
• $1000 incentive payments for local apprentices, along with an additional $1000 rebate to cover the costs of tools and equipment
• $319.50 per week payments for teaching, nursing, midwifery, and social work students on mandatory practical placements.
• $88.8 million for 20,000 more Fee-Free TAFE places nationally, building on the 33,946 students already enrolled in WA.
• $777 million to fully fund WA public schools in line with the School Resourcing Standard.
• Working with the higher education sector to increase the supply of student accommodation, to ease housing pressure.
  

 

Protecting Our Environment and Agriculture

• $519.1 million for the Future Drought Fund to help farmers and regional communities prepare for the next drought and build climate resilience.  
• Protecting WA's water security with an extra $536 million investment.
• Over $500 million from the state Government to bolster WA's clean energy transition.
• $107 million to assist producers and processors with the transition away from live animal exports.

 

More Affordable Housing

• $1.1 billion in social and affordable housing initiatives for Western Australia.
• Increasing the first home buyers stamp duty exemption threshold in WA to $450,000.
• $32 billion in new housing initiatives, including $1 billion to get homes built sooner, with funding for states to provide roads, services and parks, essential for additional housing supply. 
• $11.3 billion to build 1.2 million new homes nationally by the end of the decade.

 

Supporting Veterans and Families 

• $222 million additional funding for veteran and family entitlements, to be made available through simplified and harmonised compensation legislation.
• $186 million for more DVA staff, building on the extra 500 funded in last year's Budget, to ensure claims are processed faster.
• $48.4 million for Veterans' Home Care and Community Nursing Programs.
• Click here, to find out more about how we are supporting veterans and families.