General

The government will extend the First Home Owners boost for another six months. The following table summarises the extension of the First Home Owner grant: Contract date for purchase (inclusive) First Home Owner grant for established homes First Home Owner grant for new home 1 July 2009 – 30 September 2009 $14,000 $21,000 1 October […]

The government has proposed to means test the 30% private health insurance rebate for middle to high income earners according to age. This is going to be achieved through introducing a three tier system with a parallel increase in the Medicare Levy Surcharge rate to penalise taxpayers who do not have eligible private health insurance. […]

Reform of family payments from 1 July 2009 From 1 July 2009, as a cost reduction measure, the FTB –A payment rates will be indexed by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) consistent with other family payment such as FTB-B and the Baby Bonus. Currently the maximum rates of FTB-A for children under the age of […]

Commonwealth Seniors Health Card (CSHC) — income test The government will remove the inclusion of gross tax-free superannuation pension income in the proposed amendment to the definition of income used for determining eligibility to the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card. The government will proceed with the inclusion of income that is salary sacrificed to superannuation in […]

New carer supplement – first payment is to be made by 30 June 2009 with subsequent payments from 1 July 2010. A $600 pa carer supplement will be payable to eligible carers. All Carer Payment recipients will receive $600 pa. Carer Allowance recipients will receive $600 pa for each person they are caring for. Where […]

Paid Parental Leave from 1 January 2011 A government funded Paid Parental Leave scheme will be introduced. The parental leave payment will be equal to the federal minimum wage (currently $543.78 per week), and can be for up to 18 weeks. The primary carer must have earned less than $150,000 (income test yet to be […]

Income tested aged care fee to be charged from date of entry The income tested fee for residential aged care will be charged from the day of entry, removing the current 28 day delay. This will align the residential income tested fee with other aged care fees payable from the day of entry into the […]

Increase in pension taper rate from 20 September 2009 From 20 September 2009 the income test taper will increase from 40 to 50 cents in the dollar for a single pensioner and from 20 to 25 cents in the dollar for each member of a couple above the allowable income free thresholds. This threshold is […]

New pension supplement from 20 September 2009 A new pension supplement will be introduced which will be an amalgamation of the former GST pension supplement, Pharmaceutical Allowance, Utilities Allowance and Telephone Allowance. The new supplement will be available to all income support payments with the exception of Newstart allowance, Special benefit and Sickness benefit recipients. […]

Increase in government support pension amount from 20 September 2009 The single base pension will be increased to 27.7 per cent of Male Total Average Weekly Earnings (MTAWE), from its present 25 per cent of MTAWE. This means that from 20 September 2009 the single basic pension rate will be increased by $30 per week. […]