The 2025-26 Budget Snapshot
The 2025-26 Budget is designed to help with the cost-of-living pressures, enhance Medicare, invest in education, and strengthen the economy. It acknowledges that the Australian economy has turned a corner, with growth beginning to rebound, inflation moderating, and wages increasing. The budget is prioritising efforts to combat inflation and provide relief from the pressures of rising living costs.
2025-26 Budget Snapshot
Reducing cost of living pressures
- Tax cuts for every Australian taxpayer
- $1.8 billion toward energy bill relief for all households. Households will receive a $150 energy rebate off their electricity bills in two quarterly payments.
- Reducing student debt and changing the repayment system
- Reducing the cost of medicines for Australians. This includes 319 new listings on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme
- $3.6 billion towards increasing early childhood and care workers' wages
- Providing $2.6 billion to increase award wages for aged care nurses
- $50 million towards reducing the cost of essentials for remote First Nations communities
Housing
- $21 billion committed to increasing housing supply with an ambitious target of 1.2 million new homes over 5 years
- Expanding the Help to Buy scheme and lowering deposits
- Building around 18,000 homes through the Housing Australia Future Fund
- Banning foreign buyers from purchasing existing dwellings for two years from 1 April 2025
- Increasing the rates for the Commonwealth Rent Assistance
- $9.3 billion provided to assist with homelessness and support social housing. A further $6.2 million towards homelessness research
Renewable Energy
- The Government legislated $13.7 billion for hydrogen and critical minerals production tax incentives
- $8 billion has been invested in renewable energy through the expansion of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. This investment is in addition to the $36.9 million allocated to enhance the use of existing grid infrastructure.
- $3 billion towards supporting green metals production
- The $2 billion Green Aluminium Production Credit will assist Australian aluminium smelters in transitioning to renewable energy, while the $1 billion Green Iron Investment Fund aims to expedite the development of this emerging industry.
Infrastructure
- $17.1 billion provided over 10 years for road and rail projects
- $3 billion in equity to continue rolling out the National Broadband Network across Australia. The funding will provide NBN to a further 622,000 premises.
Medicare
- $7.9 billion allocated to create more bulk billing GPs by 2030
- $1.8 billion in funding to go towards public hospitals
- $1.8 billion is being invested towards listing new medicines on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme
- $662.6 million to increase the number of doctors and nurses in Australia
- $792.9 million to improve healthcare for women including new contraceptive pills on the PBS and 11 more endometriosis clinics
- Increasing Medicare Urgent Care Clinics by 50, this will bring the total to 137 clinics nationwide.
Education
- Investing $5 billion towards a new early childhood education system
- $3.6 billion invested to increase wages for the early childhood education workforce
- $1 billion towards establishing the Building Early Education Fund to increase the amount of early childcare education available to Australians.
- Creating 100,000 free TAFE places every year from 1 January 2027
- Cutting student debt by 20% and improving the student loan repayment system.
- Creating full and fair funding for public schools
- Guaranteeing eligibly for subsided early childhood education
Other
- $1.2 billion towards funding the recovery efforts of ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred and other disasters
- $262 million towards protecting the environment, including marine areas.
- $60 million in funding to help small businesses improve digital and cyber security facilities
- $21.8 million towards family, domestic and sexual violence services for First Nations women, children and communities
- $20 million in support to Australian producers, aiming to encourage more consumers to buy Australian-made products