The Federal Government released its budget for 2025-26 on Tuesday, March 24, with a focus on cost of living, health care and education.
Cost of living
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Taxable incomes between $18,201 and $45,000 are currently taxed at a rate of 16 per cent, which will be dropped to 15 per cent in July 2026 and 14 per cent in July 2027.
At a glance, a worker on $79,000 — the annualised income of the average weekly earnings as of November 2024 — will receive a tax cut of $536 per year in the 2027-28 financial year.
Two energy rebates of $75 will be applied to every household and about one million small businesses, taken off their electricity bills through to December 31, 2025.
Under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, the maximum co-payment on PBS medicines, including those newly added to the list, will be lowered from $31.60 to $25, remaining at $7.70 for pensioners.
Funding has been committed to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to monitor behaviour in the supermarket and retail sector, as well as to fresh produce suppliers to better enforce the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct.
Health care
An investment of almost $8 billion will be made into bulk-billing, particularly through the Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program.
General practices will be encouraged to bulk-bill by providing a 12.5 per cent loading payment on Medicare rebates when all patients are bulk-billed.
Bulk-billing eligibility will expand to all Australians from November 1, 2025.
Fifty more Medicare Urgent Care Clinics will be established, but the new locations are not near Echuca-Moama. The closest clinics are in Shepparton and Bendigo, and are already in operation.
A package of almost $730 million to support women’s health will include larger Medicare rebates and more bulk-billing for long-acting reversible contraceptive insertion and removal.
More oral contraceptive pills and menopause hormone therapies will join the PBS, and 11 new endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics will open, though Murray PHN is currently serviced by Bendigo Community Health Service.
Education
An investment of $5 billion is being made into a universal early childhood education and care system, providing every child with subsidised early education at least three days a week.
The majority of this investment is for increasing the wages of early educators through the Worker Retention Payment, covering a 10 per cent wage increase in the first year and a further five per cent in the second year.
Some 160 new or expanded facilities will be supported Australia-wide.
Investment will be made into 100,000 permanent places each year from January 1, 2027.
Student debt will be cut by 20 per cent, coming into effect before indexation applies on June 1, 2025.
Regional investment
Eight-hundred major bank branches in regional and remote locations have been committed to staying open until at least July 31, 2027.
An investment of $20 million will be made into the Buy Australian campaign, encouraging support to Australian-made products.
The National Broadband Network rollout will be completed, with 622,000 premises to be connected through a $3 billion commitment.
Budget responses
Federal Member for Nicholls Sam Birrell has criticised the budget, particularly its promises before the federal election, likely for May.
“This is a budget for the upcoming election, not for Australia’s future,” Mr Birrell said.
“The tax cut amounts to 70 cents a day delivered in a year’s time, it does nothing to address the financial strain being felt by so many households after three years of high inflation and interest rates under Labor.”
Mr Birrell believes funding for the ACCC does not address issues in the supermarket and retail sector.
He also criticised the Buy Australian campaign and ambiguity around the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
“Our policy, including additional powers, including divestiture to constrain the market power of supermarkets, provides a real solution for food producers and consumers,” Mr Birrell said.
“An opportunity has been missed to reduce the regulatory burden on small business and get the engine room of the Australian economy running strongly again.
“This is the same government that tried to get our growers to pay for the biosecurity risk posed by their competitors’ imported products.
“The budget also contains unstated amounts for more water buybacks in the Murray-Darling Basin, which is a further threat to our competitiveness.”
Regional Cities Victoria, chaired by City of Greater Shepparton Mayor Shane Sali, has welcomed some budget commitments, seeking greater support for regional Victoria.
Investment into health, education, housing, the NBN, banking and supermarket accountability has been encouraged, while Cr Sali is cautious about inequity for regional Victoria.
“Many regional Victorians look at the tens of billions being spent to ease growth pains in metro-Melbourne and wonder about the potential of that level of investment in growing and better connecting our regional cities,” Cr Sali said.
“Regional Victorians rely on our cities as ‘hubs’ for access to education, health, financial, transport and social services, as well as retail, sport and recreation, and cultural amenities.
“Governments need to look beyond metro areas. Collectively, we must raise aspirations for our regional cities.
“There is so much opportunity outside Melbourne to give rise to new and emerging industries, create more jobs, more affordable housing and stronger communities.”
To view the budget, head to budget.gov.au
Cadet Journalist