The Federal Budget was released last night: here's how families are winning

No doubt if you’re Australian, parent or not, you kept a close eye on the Federal budget that was released last night, by Treasurer Jim Chalmers.

It was the first time a surplus was passed down in 15 years, so you know what that means? Money injected back into the economy - and as the Prime Minister promised - this would help with rising cost of living prices.

So although the overarching winners appear to young people, due to increased Jobseeker payments and rental assistance, we thought we’d comb through the budget to discover which announcements would most benefit Aussie families. 

Here is how the Federal budget is assisting Aussie families, and how it could help you:

Strengthening Medicare and tripling bulk billing incentives

In this Budget, the Government is investing $5.7 billion over 5 years from 2022‑23 to strengthen Medicare and make it cheaper and easier to see a doctor.

A report on budget.com.au reads that, ‘Nearly 12 million Australians have been promised more free visits to the doctor under a boost to Medicare designed to convince general practitioners to bulk bill their patients.’

The report goes on to say that the increased incentives will be paid to GPs who bulk bill children under 16, pensioners and other concession card holders.

GPs will be able to claim the higher incentives for face-to-face consultations more than six minutes in length as well as certain telehealth consultations. This is welcome news to parents of young children, who can’t always see a doctor when they need to.

The tripling of the bulk billing incentive applies to:

- all face‑to‑face and telehealth general practices services between 6 and 20 minutes long

- all other face‑to‑face general practice consultations

- longer telehealth and general practice consultations where a patient is registered with their regular practice through MyMedicare.

Cheaper Child Care commences in July

From July this year, the Government is delivering Cheaper Child Care, cutting the cost of care for around 1.2 million families.

The report on budget.com.au reveals this announcement will make it easier for parents and carers, particularly women, to participate in the workforce and means more children can access the benefits of early education.

In short, it’s good news for families with children in childcare and a household income below $530,000.

For families earning less than $80,000, the subsidy for their first child will climb to 90 per cent.

For those on more than $80,000, that subsidy will progressively fall based on their income.

Changes to the Paid Parental Leave scheme

Great news for people with babies due in the second half of the year! The October Budget committed $531.6 million to deliver a more flexible and generous Paid Parental Leave scheme.

From 1 July this year, Parental Leave Pay and Dad and Partner Pay will combine into a single 20‑week payment. A new family income test of $350,000 per annum will see nearly 3,000 additional parents become eligible for the entitlement each year.

The Government has committed to increase Paid Parental Leave to 26 weeks by 2026.

Investing in our early childhood education and care workforce

The Government is investing $72.4 million to build and support the skills of the early childhood education and care workforce. This means more educators for our kids!

The Government will support early childhood educators to undertake professional development and provide financial assistance to educators and teachers to complete the required practical component of a Bachelor or Master's Degree in Early Childhood Education.

So, this is where the budget sits in 2024. Here's hoping that this will bring some much-needed relief to Australian families during this difficult time.