Budget To Include 15% Aged Care Pay Rise

As budget day approaches, May 9, more information on its contents is being released.

• The government will fund a 15% pay rise for Australia’s 250k aged care workers which will take effect from July 1 and will be part of a $11.3bn package (over 4 years) in the budget. This will bring aged care to the fifth largest area of government spending.
• The budget is expected also to explain how swelling spending on the NDIS, aged care, welfare, health, defence and debt repayments is going to be managed.
• Treasurer Chalmers has confirmed that the budget will contain cost-of-living relief for the most vulnerable, including energy bill assistance. He maintains that spending measures won’t add to price pressures.
• There will be a 5% increase in the tobacco tax per year for the next 3 years starting on September 1. This is forecast to raise $3.3bn in revenue over 4 years.
• There will also be changes to the single parenting payment, increased childcare rebates & JobSeeker for over 55s, funding for protecting privacy and quantum technologies. Deloitte Access Economics is estimating that the share of government spending in the economy will trend higher.
  - The Australian