What the Budget
means to you
A deficit of $19.4 billion for this financial year, followed by a higher-than-expected deficit of $18 billion in 2013/14.
- The economic growth outlook has been downgraded - to 2.75 per cent in 2013/14, from three per cent previously.
- Unemployment could reach 5.75 per cent in both 2013/14 and 2014/15.
Housing
- Seniors who downsize their family home will have up to $200,000 of the sale proceeds quarantined from the Centrelink means test for the age pension.
- The budget does not include any changes to negative gearing, capital gains tax or first-home buyers accounts.
Healthcare
- The threshold for the extended Medicare safety net will be raised to $2000, meaning people will have to spend more before getting government relief for their out-of-pocket medical expenses.
- $226 million over four years for cancer care, $92.2 million to expand the Breast Screen Australia program and $42.1 million over four years for bone marrow transplants.
Education
- Tax deductions for self-education expenses, including conferences, workshops and tuition, will be capped at $2000 a year.
- Schools would receive first intalment of Gonski reforms of $473 million in extra money from the Commonwealth next financial year, if all states sign on.
- More than $25 million to be spent over six years on developing the national curriculum - including the four priority Asian languages of Hindi, Japanese, Mandarin, and Indonesian - and changes to the NAPLAN testing regime.
Families
- Baby bonus abolished from March 1, 2014. But eligible Family Tax Benefit recipients will get payment $2000 for first child and $1000 for subsequent children, to be paid in installments.
- The indexation of the childcare rebate will be frozen, meaning the maximum amount that can be claimed for each child each year will remain $7,500.
Savings & Super
Imposing a 15 per cent tax on earnings above $100,000 from retirement accounts. Those earning more than $300,000 a year to pay 30 per cent contributions tax instead of the 15 per cent paid by everyone else.
- Technical amendment to the Low Income Superannuation Contribution - which provides up to $500 for people earning less than $37,000 to compensate them for tax paid on super.
- The Superannuation Complaints Tribunal will receive $2.6million over four years.
Small business
Small and medium businesses will have access to an extra $700 million in funding for innovation.
- This includes $350 million for a taxpayer-backed venture capital fund, which will be known as Venture Australia, tasked with stimulating innovation and entrepreneurial activity among new small firms.
- $238.4 million provided to establish a range of industry innovation precincts, designed to help manufacturers.
- No new broad tax relief measures for the nation's 3 million small business owners.
LATEST NEWS
Comment
It takes no brains to kick Treasury
ROSS GITTINS When it comes to forecasting the economy the econocrats are on a hiding to nothing.
Gillard's budget boost
MARK KENNY Julia Gillard has arrested a three-month decline in her standing with voters, to be back level with Tony Abbott as preferred prime minister, although Labor would still be beaten if an election were held now.
A super-nasty problem awaits the Coalition
PETER MARTIN Accepting the bulk of Wayne Swan's budget cuts will only get Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey so far.
$20,000 less super under Abbott: Labor
JONATHAN SWAN A 30-year-old on an average salary will have $20,000 less in their superannuation accounts by the time they retire under Tony Abbott's budget plan, according to Labor's calculation of Treasury figures.
The silliest bit of the budget nonsense
MICHAEL PASCOE Pet projects and bizarre accidents aside, some budget decisions are just stupid.
Abbott promises to scrap carbon tax, keep assistance package
STEPHANIE PEATLING Tony Abbott has committed a Coalition government to keeping the household assistance package linked to the carbon tax promising there will be no "nasty surprises and lazy excuses" under a government he lead.
Abbott pledge at odds with claim
MICHAEL GORDON Tony Abbott's pledge that carbon tax will go, but the compensation will stay, sits uncomfortably with the central claim of his budget reply - that Australia faces a ''budget emergency'' thanks to five years of Labor mismanagement.
Smart politics from a leader who's growing up
PETER HARTCHER Opinion Tony Abbott came on Thursday not to demolish the Labor government as a tribal leader but to chide it as an adult alternative prime minister.
Labor sets booby-trap as it heads for door
MARK KENNY Gillard and Swan have tried to use this budget to make it as hard as possible for Abbott to enjoy a clean run to the election.
Budget
You missed the best news in the budget
MICHAEL PASCOE The vast majority of the media have missed the good news in the budget and Wayne Swan - a man who would have trouble selling free beer - apparently isn't capable of explaining it.
Forecasts don't lie - but you can't trust them
TIM COLEBATCH Why can't we believe the budget forecasts? Why were they so wrong over the past decade? Does Wayne Swan decide the forecasts, as the Liberals want us to think, or does Treasury?
ABC eyes Stewart's Daily Show formula
JONATHAN SWAN The ABC will design news and current affairs shows for young people as part of a range of ideas made possible by $90 million of new government money.
Budget strikes right balance: Swan
Judith Ireland, Jonathan Swan Treasurer Wayne Swan has defended his sixth budget, arguing it strikes a balance between the "austerity freaks" and the "green types".
OK ladies, lie back and think of Wayne ...
JACQUELINE MALEY It's always creepy when Treasurers talk about sex. It's like seeing your Dad hit the dance floor at your 21st birthday party. It represents the hideous collision of two separate realities you would much rather keep compartmentalised.
Backbencher slams Treasurer's surplus 'obsession'
JONATHAN SWAN Labor MP Joel Fitzgibbon has attacked the Prime Minister and Treasurer's "obsession" with a surplus, saying they would have been better to under-promise and over-deliver.
Economists
Budget 'step in the right direction'
GLENDA KWEK The federal budget will have a benign impact on the economy as most of its cuts will only kick in after a few years, economists say.
Tax
Big banks enjoying hefty offshore deductions
ERIC JOHNSTON CBA and NAB were among the biggest beneficiaries of a tax deduction linked to offshore banking units last year, as Canberra is looking to clamp down on the structure.
Nothing sweet in these numbers
MARK KENNY Middle income families, parents to be, and even smokers will lose out in Wayne Swan’s sixth budget designed to repair the debt-ridden bottom line and convince voters of Labor’s economic credentials.
Economy expected to muddle through
Peter Martin Australia's economic future is strong but uncertain, according to the Treasurer. The massive resource investment boom is shifting to a boom in production and exports. The rest of the economy is "transitioning towards broader sources of growth".
Boat arrivals cost blows out by $3.2b
BIANCA HALL The asylum seeker budget has blown out by more than $3.2billion since the government's February forecast.
Worker visas to cost more
DANIEL HURST The application charge for skilled foreign worker visas will increase by $900 to raise nearly $200 million over four years.
Pensioners
Budget upside for family home downsizers
John Collett and Madeleine Heffernan The government will trial a measure costing $112.4 million to help seniors downsize, without reducing the age pension.
Big plans for arts but little extra money
JACQUELINE MALEY Funding for the arts and cultural heritage will decrease over the next two years.
Budget
Loopholes to close on big end of town
Clancy Yeates with Peter Ker Multinational businesses are the prime targets of a sweeping plan to close down corporate tax loopholes, but local banks are also in the government's sights.
Drop puts concessions on hold
TIM COLEBATCH The budget has taken back the small tax cut promised for 2015 to compensate us for the shift to an emissions trading scheme saying carbon prices will be so low it will not be needed.
Jobless can earn $19 more a week
STEPHANIE PEATLING Unemployed people will be able to earn an extra $19 a week before their welfare payments are reduced, as part of the government's attempt to appease those calling for an overhaul of the welfare system.
Carbon price slide hits green schemes
Heath Aston More than halving of the carbon price to just $12 a tonne will cost the budget $2.1 billion before Australia links with the European emissions trading scheme in 2015.
Budget 2013
Mining tax revenue slumps
PETER KER Revenue targets for the Gillard government’s mining tax have been downgraded yet again.
Q&A
Ross Gittins answers budget questions
The Q&A with Ross Gittins has now ended. Thanks to all those who took part.
Reopening old wounds comes at a price
DAVID WROE The Australian Defence Force's compensation bill for victims of sexual and other abuse in the military will reach $84 million – more than double the $40 million the government originally forecast.
New funding to propel innovation, jobs
CLANCY YEATES Small businesses will receive an extra $700 million in funding for innovation.
Treasurer Wayne Swan's budget speech 2013
Treasurer Wayne Swan delivers his sixth budget in Canberra tonight.
COMMENT
Labor sets a booby-trap as it heads for the door
MARK KENNY Gillard and Swan have tried to use this budget to make it as hard as possible for Abbott to enjoy a clean run to the election.
The forecasts don't lie - but that doesn't mean you can trust them
TIM COLEBATCH Why can't we believe the budget forecasts? Why were they so wrong over the past decade? Does Wayne Swan decide the forecasts, as the Liberals want us to think, or does Treasury?
Cornered Labor chooses brave way out
ROSS GITTINS Opinion This is the weirdest budget you or I are ever likely to see. That doesn't make it bad - just very strange.
Labor to leave with at least some dignity
PETER HARTCHER Opinion "I don't make mistakes," said the British motor racing commentator Murray Walker. "I make prophecies which immediately turn out to be wrong."
OK ladies, lie back and think of Wayne ...
JACQUELINE MALEY It's always creepy when Treasurers talk about sex. It's like seeing your Dad hit the dance floor at your 21st birthday party. It represents the hideous collision of two separate realities you would much rather keep compartmentalised.
Wedging, hedging
MICHAEL GORDON Opinion This is not a give-away budget, but its purpose is to force Tony Abbott to nominate what he will take away.
Lies, damned lies ... and budgets
ADELE FERGUSON The brutal reality is Treasurer Wayne Swan's budget is predicated on politics rather than economics and that means the numbers have been bent to fit the spin.
Budget 2013
More pain than gain as repair job starts
TIM COLEBATCH This is like no other pre-election budget.
Budget
Resource price cycle taking Swan for a ride
MALCOLM MAIDEN The Coalition says Labor has been over-spending. Labor says it's a victim of economic circumstance. Neither is completely wrong, nor completely right.
Drip-feed for promised cash
JEWEL TOPSFIELD Anyone hoping for a massive injection of federal funds in the first couple of years will be sorely disappointed.
Courageous effort is a year too late
MARK KENNY In some important ways, this is the budget Wayne Swan might well have delivered last year.
Sketch
Swan goes for broke
JACQUELINE MALEY The entire budget experience was shrouded with an air of finality.
A document to take into battle
THE AGE Opinion For Swan, he may reflect, post September 14, that his best budget was his last.
FAMILIES
Baby bonus out but $2.4b in savings is in
MATT WADE The Gillard government has dumped the baby bonus, one of the Howard government's signature reforms, and replaced it with a less generous scheme.
Cost of help for families to top $25b
STEPHANIE PEATLING Government assistance to families to help them with the soaring cost of childcare will top $25 billion over the next four years.
2013 Federal Budget: Changes for families
MATT WADE With the scrapping of the baby bonus, changes to the paid parental leave scheme and family payment supplements, here is an overview of what some of the changes will look like for families.
Abbott's budget alternative
Opposition leader Tony Abbott plans to keep the government's carbon tax handouts, but make superannuation cuts.
Where's the vision?
On budget night, Greens leader Christine Milne says the country needs vision and leadership not an economics lesson.
The best budget news buried
In the spirit of the week Michael Pascoe lays out the three silliest things about the budget.
Swan defends 'tough budget'
Treasurer Wayne Swan joins the Fairfax Canberra team to discuss the budget, criticism from business groups and the failure to return to surplus
Too much 'Labor' for Howard
Former PM John Howard tells a Brisbane post budget breakfast Labor has sought to "divide the country" and the economy is "running on empty".
Federal Budget 2013
Federal Budget includes little in the way of surprises with the usual promise of big savings and big spending, though not this election year.
Dignity in the numbers: Hartcher
The government has resisted the urge for a cash splash ahead of the September election, showing dignity in the face of continued poor polling says political editor Perter Hartcher.
The forecasts don't lie - but you can't trust them
Why can't we believe the budget forecasts? Why were they so wrong over the past decade?
Labor sets a booby-trap
Gillard and Swan have tried to use this budget to make it as hard as possible for Abbott to enjoy a clean run to the election.
Eection gambit must be rejected
The federal budget proves that instead of running the country, the Gillard government is running an election campaign.
Labor to leave with at least some dignity
"I don't make mistakes," said the British motor racing commentator Murray Walker. "I make prophecies which immediately turn out to be wrong."
Lies, damned lies ... and budgets
The brutal reality is Treasurer Wayne Swan's budget is predicated on politics rather than economics and that means the numbers have been bent to fit the spin.
Cornered Labor chooses brave way out
This is the weirdest budget you or I are ever likely to see. That doesn't make it bad - just very strange.
Wedging, hedging
This is not a give-away budget, but its purpose is to force Tony Abbott to nominate what he will take away.
