What does Treasurer Josh Frydenberg's first Budget mean for you? We pulled out some fast facts ICYMI.
Cut it out
The most common tax rate (this covers 94 per cent of us) will drop from 32.5 per cent to 30 per cent, which means people earning between $45,000 and $200,000 will pay less tax.
This isn’t due to come into effect until 2024, though, so try your best not to earn over 200k by that point.
Head first
Almost half a billion dollars is being invested in mental health.
Headspace will get $373 million over the next few years, including $111 million to build 30 extra centres by 2021 and $152m to reduce wait times across the network.
There's $5.2 million allocated over four years to look into the excessive rate of suicide in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities (at least 35 indigenous people took their own life in the first three months of 2019).
An additional $2 million will go towards a program called Young Ambassadors for Mental Health, whereby young people who’ve lived with mental illness will educate the community about their experiences.
Skilling time
This is pretty much an updated list of goodies from the 2018 Budget, but either way, it’s welcome.
Positive news for the vocational education and training (VET) sector: around $200 million will be spent on the creation of 80,000 new apprenticeships over the next five years. Employers taking on apprentices will receive $8,000 per apprentice (up from $4000), while apprentices will get $2,000.
The Government will spend $67.5 million on a trial of new, school-based VET training hubs in high youth unemployment sites, plus $8.5 million for 400 new training scholarships.
Always greener?
The Landcare Program will receive an extra $137.4 million to dedicate to sustainable farming and habitat protection, among their other initiatives.
Meanwhile, after $444 million was awarded to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation last year, no funding was given this year.
Make a move
Unis and uni students also missed out on new funding, but a new incentive was introduced, in the form of $93.7 million to encourage 4,720 local and international students to study at a regional uni or VET centre (successful applicants would be eligible for a $15,000 a year scholarship).
Another win for International students: they can get an extra year on their visa if they choose to live and study in a regional area.
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