Budget 2017: What it means for you

First-home buyers will be able to salary sacrifice for a mortgage deposit as part of Treasurer Scott Morrison’s second budget handed down on Tuesday night.

From Parliament House in Canberra, the Treasurer confirmed those looking to buy their first home will be able to salary sacrifice up to $30,000 into their superannuation account from July 1.

Small business owners, schools and first home buyers are among the winners of the Budget for 2017, with Mr Morrison promoting ‘fairness, security and honesty’.

Here’s Daily Mail Australia’s guide on how this Budget affects you.

If you’re looking to buy a home

Scott Morrison addressed the issue of housing affordability, and in particular, first home buyers getting into the property market.

Mr Morrison also confirmed a ‘ghost house tax’ being put on foreign investors who buy a house could help Australians trying to get into the property market.

Foreign buyers could be charged up to $5000 if they choose to leave a property vacant.

Last month, it was revealed house prices across Sydney had risen by a staggering 13.1 per cent in just 12 months, with the median cost for a home surging to $1.15 million.

If you have children at school  

Last week, the government revealed it would pump an extra $19 billion into schools over the next decade under a plan labelled ‘Gonski 2.0’.

All but 24 of Australia’s wealthiest schools will get the funding boost.

Total federal funding for private and public schools will rise from $17.5 billion this year to $22.1 billion by 2021 and $30.6 billion by 2027.

On those figures – and based on the Australian Bureau of Statistics total of 3,798,226 students enrolled in schools across the country in 2016 – the funding boost represents an increase of $1,211 per student per year by 2021.

But Catholic schools are up in arms about the funding, saying they will lose out and estimating fees at Sydney schools could rise by $5000 over the next five years.

But the government says its new funding plans are fair and will lead to Catholic schools getting an extra $1.2 billion by 2021.

Last week, Education Minister Simon Birmingham said it would be a ‘true, needs-based, sector-blind funding model’.  

If you’re a pensioner 

Scott Morrison has already promised a helping hand to reduce the cost of living pressures.

Aged pensioners, disability support pensioners, veterans and those on single parent payments will get a one-off payment to help with this winter’s power bills.

Singles will receive $75 by June 30 and couples $125.

There will also be a $350 million boost to help Defence force veterans battling mental health problems. 

If you’re a commuter 

Last week, the Turnbull Government announced a second international airport in Sydney would start operating within the next 10 years.

Billions have also been set aside for urban transport projects.

The airport will be built at Badgerys Creek to serve 2.2 million people in western Sydney.

The Labor Opposition stressed a train link would need to be installed to save the new airport from turning into a ‘complete joke,’ and more details were confirmed in Tuesday’s budget.

The government is committed to a 2026 operation date for the airport, which would have a 3700-metre runway and terminal capable of servicing 10 million passengers a year.

On-site works are expected to start in 2018 and the airport is expected to create 60,000 continuing jobs.

More road funding for congested capital cities, including Sydney and Melbourne, was also detailed in the budget, with funds set aside for urban transport projects.

The government also made provisions for the $1 billion Brisbane-Melbourne inland rail link.

The freight route would make it cheaper and faster to transport grain.

Medicare

The Turnbull Government has lifted its four-year freeze on Medicare rebates for some GP visits starting on July 1.

The standard Medicare rebate for a 20-minute doctor consultation has remained at $37.05 for four years.

The freeze has meant the amount doctors and medical specialists have been reimbursed has remained static since 2014, while costs of rent, staff and utilities have risen.

The rebate would have been almost $40 in 2017 without the freeze and patients will now see the Medicare rebate rise to up to $2 extra a visit.

Before the lift of the freeze, many surgeries were forced to pass the extra cost onto patients, hitting the most disadvantaged the hardest.

Last year, Labor accused the government of ‘privatising’ Medicare, in a successful scare campaign ahead of the July 2 election.

At the handing down of the 2016 Budget, Mr Morrison caused outrage after extending the freeze on all Medicare services until June 30, 2020.

The freeze was started by Labor in 2013 as a ‘temporary’ measure.

If you’re a media baron or a gambler

Free-to-air broadcasting annual licence fees estimated to raise around $130 million will be abolished.

Instead, broadcasters will pay new annual spectrum fees estimated to raise around $40 million.

There will be new restrictions to ban gambling advertisements from five minutes before the commencement of live sports coverage

If you’re anxious about a terrorist attack

The Australian Federal Police will receive an extra $321 million to step up the fight against terrorism, criminal gangs and drug rings.

The authority’s cash injection will be doled out over four years and is included in this year’s federal budget.

If you’re on welfare

Welfare recipients who persistently dodge their job-seeking obligations will be targeted through harsh punishments outlined in Tuesday’s budget.

The Turnbull Government has for weeks proclaimed ‘enough is enough’ for those who do the wrong thing, but has been silent on the proposed sanctions.

The Budget also contained funding for more trial sites for cashless welfare cards, after two test runs showed positive results for problem gambling and alcohol consumption.

The trials have introduced Cashless Debit Cards to ensure recipients cannot pay for liquor, gambling or withdraw cash with their welfare money, the ABC reported.

The current trials are costing taxpayers about $10,000 per participant.

If you’re a student at university 

Last Monday, Senator Birmingham revealed the budget would include $2.8 billion in cuts to universities across Australia.

The reforms will increase student fees and lower the threshold for graduates to begin repaying debts.

Students will have to pay up to $3600 more for a four-year university degree and start paying back their loans as soon as their income reaches $42,000.

Previously, students only had to start repaying the loan when earning above $56,000.

The most expensive degree, medicine over six years, will cost $71,900, up from $68,000.   

If you’re a big bank

Australia’s banks will be hit with a new tax to help raise $6 billion.

The revenue, to be collected over four years, will be reaped from a tax on financial transactions.

Source: Budget 2017: What it means for you | Daily Mail Online