FEDERAL BUDGET - WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR:
THE BIG PICTURE
* Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg say it will be a "jobs budget" with the aim of boosting the recovery which has already begun after a short-lived recession
* Economists expect a smaller budget deficit of around $60 billion for 2021/22 compared to the $108.5 billion estimated in the mid-year budget review
* Debt edging towards $1 trillion
* Unemployment rate of 5.6 per cent in March
* JobKeeper expected to cost $12.5 billion less than estimated, due to quicker recovery
* High iron ore price will boost revenue coffers
THE GROUNDRULES
* Keep in place a tax to GDP ratio at or below 23.9 per cent
* Budget repair won't commence until unemployment sub-five per cent
* Spending that lifts productivity
* Structural reform to boost economic growth
* Improving service delivery and funding national security measures
HIP POCKET
* Another 12 months of the low and middle income tax offsets
* Not expected to bring forward timing of income tax cuts
* Changes to superannuation to help women boost their retirement savings
INFRASTRUCTURE
* Multi-billion-dollar road and rail budget, including $1.3 billion boost for Western Australia
* Commonwealth to share the cost of 2032 Olympic Games with the Queensland government
BUSINESS
* Incentives to attract global talent and business to Australia
* $1.2 billion digital economy strategy including tax breaks for businesses, digital cadetships trial and $500 million on government digital services
* Craft brewers and distillers to benefit from excise refunds
* Companies to benefit from simplified liquidation and restructuring rules
* $4 million for the Australian Communications and Media Authority to run the news media bargaining code involving the major tech platforms
HEALTH/AGED
* $10 billion response to aged care royal commission expected
* More spending on mental health
* Disability spending boosted
* Telehealth subsidies extended to the end of 2021
* $8 million federal contribution to Canberra compensation scheme for victims of loose-fill asbestos
CLIMATE
* $565 million plan for low emissions technology partnerships
WELFARE
* Expanded childcare subsidies worth $1.7 billion. Families with more than one child under the age of five in childcare will have 95 per cent of their out-of-pocket expenses for second and subsequent children paid for, from mid-2022. Also removal of the $10,560 cap on the child care subsidy
* Measures to boost the childcare workforce
* JobSeeker payments to fall to $14.7 billion by 2024/25 from $32 billion forecast in December
RURAL/REGIONAL
* $371 million biosecurity package to protect agricultural and regional communities
* $10 billion reinsurance pool set up by July 2022 to subsidise high premium costs in north Queensland due to a high volume of disaster events
* $600 million for a National Recovery and Resilience Agency to support local communities hit by major disasters
* Sixth round of the Building Better Regions Fund for shovel-ready infrastructure projects outside major capitals, worth $250 million
* Northern Australia to receive business grants and improvements to digital services
Australian Associated Press
