The new year brings with it a raft of changes to federal and state laws, with pensioners, backpackers and students among those affected.
* BACKPACKER TAX
Working holiday-makers will have to pay 15 per cent tax from the first dollar they earn and forgo 65 per cent of any superannuation earned when they leave the country. They can no longer claim any tax-free threshold.
* PENSIONS
The amount of assets (excluding the family home) someone can have before pensions are hit is increasing but pensions will cut out more quickly for those with assets exceeding $375,000 for homeowner couples, $450,000 for single non-homeowners, and $575,000 for non-homeowner couples.
* EDUCATION
- New VET student loan program begins, replacing the old VET FEE-HELP scheme. Students can get loans up to $5000, $10,000 or $15,000 depending on costs for a limited range of vocational courses.
- Industry Skills Fund, offering grants to help small businesses train staff, closes.
- The period students from regional and remote areas have to work to get the Youth Allowance is cut from 18 months to 14 months.
- Extra funding to schools for students with disabilities.
- Six research block grant schemes for universities is consolidated into two simpler programs.
* HEALTH
- Mepolizumab (trade name: Nucala) for the treatment of severe asthma listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
- Price cut for PBS prescriptions of Thiamine hydrochloride, used for treating vitamin B1 deficiency.
- Changes to Child Dental Benefits Schedule give children aged between two and 17 access to basic dental services, capped at $700 over two years.
- Increase to amount paid to pharmacists dispensing medicines to Remote Area Aboriginal Health Services.
* CHILDCARE
- Trial program offering subsidies on nanny fees closes to new applications.
* EMPLOYMENT
- New trial of a Launch into Work program offering training, work experience, and mentoring to prepare disadvantaged job seekers for employment.
* ENVIRONMENT
- Green Army program ends.
- New grants available for councils, community and environmental groups to improve local parks.
* AGED CARE
- Changes to aged-care provider funding, including increasing supplements for rural, remote and specialty services.
- Specialist dementia care units in 31 regions to be set up.
* WELFARE
- Tougher compliance measures for people receiving welfare payments, including more data matching with tax office information about income.
- All newly arrived migrants have to wait two years before becoming eligible for a range of welfare payments, even if they are family of Australian citizens or permanent residents.
* PASSPORTS
- $20 increase to adult passport fees and $10 for children and seniors.
- $54 increase for priority processing of passport applications.
