The Federal Government handed down the annual budget on Tuesday 8 May. The budget sets out the Government’s spending priorities for the 2018-19 financial year. 

National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) funding

One of the key features of the budget was the Government’s commitment to fully fund the NDIS. 

The Government has included $43 billion for the NDIS and promised that “every dollar and every cent committed to delivering the NDIS is in place and always will be”. The Budget also includes $92.1 million to ensure support continues for people who are not eligible for the NDIS and $64.3 million for an NDIS Jobs and Market Fund to help grow the disability workforce and assist providers.

There is also funding for the continuation of the Disability Employment Services program while providers transition to the new system.

Here are the details of other key areas of the budget.

Tax cuts

The Government introduced a series of tax cuts which will be introduced in three steps.

The first step will provide a tax rebate to people on ‘low and middle’ incomes. This means tax payers earning $37,000 or less will save up to $200 on tax at the end of the financial year, and people earning between $48,000 and $90,000 will get a saving of up to $530 come July 2019. 

The next steps include changing the tax bracket from $87,000 to $90,000; and then combining tax brackets so that people between $41,000 and $200,000 will all pay a tax rate of 32.5 per cent.

The cost of the tax cuts is $13.4 billion.

Older Australians

The Government introduced a wide range of new measures for older Australians. These include:

• $1.6 billion for 14,000 new level 3-4 home care places over four years;
• $227.4 million to fund an increase to the Pension Work Bonus which will allow people on the pension to earn up to $7,800 each year without losing any of their pension entitlements;
• $11 million to expand the Pension Loan Scheme so that people can boost their retirement income by using equity in their home to borrow money to cover their living expenses;
• $189.7 million to help mature workers develop new skills to help them stay in work or to find new work;
• $61.7 million to fix the My Aged Care website;
• $29.2 million to support strategies to help older people stay independent for longer;
• $22.9 million to encourage and increase physical active in older Australians; and
• $253.8 million to set up a new Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission from 1 January 2019.

Infrastructure

The budget includes $75 billion over ten years for new infrastructure programs including the Bruce Highway, the M1 Pacific Motorway in Queensland, the Pacific Highway Coffs Harbour Bypass in New South Wales and Melbourne Airport Rail Link.

Health

The government has committed an additional $30.2 billion for public hospitals, but the additional funding won’t start until 2021.

The budget includes $33.8 million for suicide prevention support services such as Lifeline and beyondblue.

There is also funding to improve the health of women and children in their first 2,000 days of life.