PROTECTING AND CREATING JOBS

There are 367,500 more Australians in work now than pre-COVID.

Treasury predicted unemployment could reach 15%. In February it fell to just 4% - the equal lowest level in 48 years.

Prior to the pandemic, Australia had the lowest level of welfare dependency in 30 years (as at June 2019).

The Coalition Government’s plan to secure our recovery and create more jobs includes: tax relief for workers; investment incentives for businesses; subsidising apprenticeships; boosting skills; record infrastructure investment; and diversifying our economy.

TAX RELIEF

The Morrison Government has legislated tax relief so people keep more of what they earn.

In the 2020 Budget, the Government brought forward Stage Two of our legislated tax cuts by two years.

This means more than 11 million taxpayers received a tax cut backdated to 1 July 2020.

In the 2021 Budget, the Government extended the Low and Middle Income Tax Offset for an additional year.

These changes meant more than 7 million Australians received tax relief of $2,000 or more, compared to 2017-18.

In response to the growing cost of living pressures, the Government is providing a one-off $420 cost of living tax offset.

More than 10 million low-and-middle income earners will benefit, with individuals now receiving up to $1,500 and couples up to $3,000 in further tax relief from 1 July this year.

Our tax relief is part of a major reform to our tax system that will see around 95% of taxpayers face a marginal rate of no more than 30 cents in the dollar in 2024-25.

Our tax relief plan rewards hard work and creates jobs.

It means Australians will have more of their own money to spend on what matters to them, generating billions of dollars of economic activity and tens of thousands of new jobs.

ACCESSIBLE, AFFORDABLE CHILD CARE

Under Labor, child care fees increased 53% over six years.

Since we came into office, there are 280,000 more children in childcare. Support for families has reached record levels - $11 billion in 2022-23 - up from $6.2 billion in 2013‑14.

This improves child care access and affordability for more than 1.3 million children and their families.

It helps families, particularly women who want to return to work or work more. Women’s workforce participation is close to a record high (62.2% in March 2022).

The child care system is targeted, with those who earn the least receiving the highest level of subsidy. Those who work, train or study the most get the most support.

Approximately 90% of families using approved child care are eligible for a Child Care Subsidy of between 50% and 85%.

To complement the Child Care Subsidy:

  • We have increased the Subsidy by 30% for second and subsequent children in a family aged five or under in child care, up to a maximum rate of 95%.
  • We have removed the annual Subsidy cap of $10,655 for families earning over $190,015.

These changes mean 250,000 families will be on average $2,260 a year better off (in 2022-23). Around 50% of eligible families will receive the maximum 95% subsidy for their second or third child in care.

These changes will result in around 40,000 mums or dads being able to work an extra day per week.

Information about fees, vacancies, and quality ratings, and an easy to use fees estimator is available at: www.startingblocks.gov.au

MORE FLEXIBLE PARENTAL LEAVE

The Morrison Government is enhancing Paid Parental leave so families have more choice and flexibility.

Working parents can now share up to 20 weeks of Government funded fully flexible leave. Single parents also benefit with an additional two weeks leave.

Since the Government’s Paid Parental Leave scheme was introduced, more than 1.7 million people have received Parental Leave Pay, and an additional 750,000 people have received Dad and Partner Pay.

We have also extended the work test rules so more women are eligible for Government funded Parental Leave Pay.

HELPING FIRST HOME BUYERS

The Morrison Government is helping thousands more Australians achieve home ownership, and supporting thousands of jobs in the construction industry.

A re-elected Coalition Government will give first home buyers the ability to harness their superannuation to get into the property market. By 1 July 2023, the Super Home Buyer Scheme will allow first home buyers to invest up to $50,000 or up to 40 per cent of their superannuation (whichever is less) to help with the purchase of their first home.

It will mean Australians can buy their first home sooner by slashing the time taken to save a deposit. This will help young Australians with the cost of living and reduce mortgage stress, by boosting the deposit used to purchase the house and lowering repayments - saving thousands of dollars a year.

Allowing your super to work for you to purchase your first home and then being returned to your super at a later date achieves the best of both worlds - home ownership and retirement security.

Since 2019, the Morrison Government has supported more than 300,000 Australians purchase their home.

This was supported by initiatives like HomeBuilder, the First Home Super Saver Scheme and the Home Guarantee Scheme.

In the 2022 Budget, the Morrison Government is more than doubling the Home Guarantee Scheme to 50,000 places.

We’ve also expanded voluntary contributions to save for a home deposit under the First Home Super Saver Scheme from $30,000 to $50,000.

This enables first home buyers to save more quickly and build a larger deposit, with concessional tax rates.

This year’s Budget also supports first home buyers through:

  • Expanding the First Home Guarantee by providing 35,000 places each year, up from 10,000 per year – helping people build or buy a new home with a 5% deposit.
  • Expanding the Family Home Guarantee with 5,000 places each year – helping single parents purchase a home with a 2% deposit.
  • Establishing the Regional Home Guarantee with 10,000 places to support homebuyers in regional Australia.

BETTER HEALTH CARE

Federal funding for public hospitals has already doubled - from $13.3 billion under Labor (in 2012-13) to $27.2 billion (in 2022-23).

This means record numbers of hospital services, doctors and nurses.

More Australians are now seeing their doctor without having to pay.

The medicare GP bulk billing rate last year (12 months to June 2021) was 88.8%, up from 82.2% in 2012-13 (Labor’s last year in government).

The Morrison Government has made Medicare subsidised telehealth services permanent, enabling over 100 million consultations since COVID.

Since we came into government, approximately 2,900 new or amended medicine listings worth $16.5 billion have been added to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

These medicines help people suffering from cancer, heart disease, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, osteoporosis and chronic migraines.

Some of these cost thousands of dollars, but are now available for $6.80 (concessional) or $42.50 per script.

Recent listings on the PBS include new treatments for breast cancer, asthma, cystic fibrosis, and spinal muscular atrophy.

We have also listed COVID-19 treatments on the PBS.

The Government will be providing earlier access to cheaper medicines, by lowering the threshold for the PBS Safety Net from 1 July 2022. This will save over 2.4 million Australians over $80 per year.

And to reduce costs for Australians, the Government will also lower the PBS Medicines General Co-payment from 1 January 2023 by $10 per general script. This means the maximum price Australians will pay for PBS medicines drops from $42.50 down to $32.50 per script, a 24 per cent saving. Concession card holders pay only $6.80 per script.

We have taken steps to make private health insurance simpler and more affordable. This includes requiring insurers to categorise products as gold, silver, bronze or basic, and use standard definitions to make clear what’s covered and what isn’t.

All children aged 5 and older now have free access to a COVID-19 vaccine. All 12 and 13 year old girls and boys now also have free access to the Gardasil 9 Vaccine, to protect them from the HPV virus.

Our No Jab, No Pay policy is protecting children from preventable diseases. The immunisation rate for five-year-olds is now over 95% – the highest on record.

INVESTING IN SCHOOLS AND STUDENTS

Over the next 4 years, the Coalition Government will invest more than $180 billion in education - with record funding for schools and preschools.

Since coming to office, we have almost doubled school funding - from $13 billion in 2013, to $25 billion in 2022 (and to $33 billion in 2029).

This means funding per student is up by 65% over a decade.

Parents can see for themselves funding increases at their local school, at the Department of Education’s School Funding Estimator: https://www.dese.gov.au/school-funding/estimator

We are focused on enhancing outcomes for students, so that they can have the best start in life.

MORE AFFORDABLE, RELIABLE ELECTRICITY

The Morrison Government is committed to reducing power prices.

Household electricity prices in the National Electricity Market have fallen by 8%, and business electricity by 10-12% over the past two financial years. The ACCC now says that electricity costs are the lowest they have been in 8 years.

A number of new measures – a price safety net for customers, big stick legislation to stop energy companies ripping off consumers, new investments in power generation, transmission and technologies – will put more downward pressure on prices.

REDUCING CONGESTION

The Coalition Government’s $120 billion ten-year infrastructure roads, rail and airport pipeline will relieve congestion and make life easier for Australians.

We are investing in major highway safety upgrades, congestion busting road projects and important public transport rail projects to reduce travel times and improve safety.

KEEPING AUSTRALIANS SAFE ONLINE

The Coalition has stood up to the big social media companies and made Australia a world-leader in creating a safer online environment for kids, women and families.

In 2015, the Coalition established the world’s first eSafety Commissioner to protect children from cyber-bullying and harmful content.

To date, eSafety has helped with around 4,000 complaints about serious cyber-bullying of children and young people, 9,000 instances of image-based abuse and over 70,000 items of illegal and restricted content, including child sexual abuse material.

A new Online Safety Act has further strengthened protections against cyber bullying, imposed tough new penalties on social media companies and perpetrators, and enacted the world’s first scheme to take-down serious cyber-abuse of adults.

We also introduced new laws into the Parliament to hold social media companies more accountable for anonymous trolls online. The laws have been stalled by Labor.

We will invest $23 million to improve the capability of schools, teachers and students to deal with cyberbullying and other eSafety issues. We will require tech companies to install stronger parental controls on smartphones and tablet devices that are easier to locate and activate (particularly when first setting up a device) and harder for kids to deactivate or bypass.

Information current as at May 2022