Australia’s new rules: All the changes coming on July 1. The beginning of the financial year will bring changes affecting almost everyone. Here’s what you can expect.
Power Prices to drop:
Power bills are set to fall slightly across the country from July 1, with Origin Energy and AGL both announcing modest price cut.
Electricity will decrease for all three states with Queensland’s prices dropping the most at 1.6 per cent for residents and 1.0 per cent for small businesses.
AGL will cut residential electricity prices by 0.3 per cent in NSW, 1.6 per cent in Queensland and 0.4 per cent in South Australia
Energy Australia’s Queensland customers will be the big winners from price drops, while bills in other states will largely remain flat. Electricity prices will be cut by 3.8 per cent for residential customers and 7.2 per cent for small business customers in Queensland.
Minimum wages increase:
from 1 July 2018 lowest paid workers will get a 3.5 per cent pay increase. That brings the weekly minimum wage to $719.20, up from $694.90.
“Make sure you are receiving regular pay slips,” Ms Toy said. “A pay slip should be provided within one business day of you being paid. You should [also] keep an accurate record of the hours you worked.
“Don’t rely on your employer to do so, your records can be valuable evidence down the track if you need to start a case. An easy way of recording your hours is through the ‘Record My Hours’ app.
“Check your pay slips after the increase is to take effect to make sure that you aren’t being ripped off. If you have any concerns about your pay you can speak to your employer about this. Your employer can’t sack you for asking about your pay.”
Cuts to Penalty rates:
Sunday penalty rates in the fast food, hospitality, pharmacy and retail industries are changing, following a Fair Work Commission decision last year. Full -time and part-time hospitality workers will have penalty rates decrease by 10 per cent while causal employees will continue to get the same rate.
Retail workers will drop by 15 per cent with an extra 5 per cent decrease for casual workers.
Pharmacy employees’ penalty rates will drop by 15 per cent and 10 per cent for fast food employees.
New Visa Changes:
Some of the visa fees will be going up from July 1 2018.
The tourist visa will increase from $135 to $140. International students will be stung and extra $10 with the student visa increasing from $550 to $560.
Particularly relevant for Mackay and the region is the increase of the skilled visa with 189 and 190 increasing from $3600 to $3670. Anyone travelling with the skilled visa application will pay $1835 (increased from $1800) for adult applicants and dependent children fees increase from $900 to $920.
There are also some major changes planned to visa next year with the abolishment of the 457 visas.
Property:
The Queensland Government is reducing its first home buyer grant from $20,000 to $15,000.
The grant applies to only new homes. The future of these sorts of grants is uncertain with significant changes over the last five years.
in South Australia: The state’s off-the-plan stamp duty concession measure ends on June 30, 2018. As well SA enters the final phase of the full abolition of commercial stamp duty
In ACT: Stamp duty will be abolished for first home buyers who earn less than $160,000 for new or existing homes. It will coincide with the abolition of first home buyers grant.
Plastic bag ban:
From July 1, Queensland and Western Australia will ban single-use, lightweight plastic bags from major retailers, bringing the states into line with the ACT, South Australia and Tasmania.
Retailers will no longer be able to supply single-use lightweight plastic shopping bags less than 35 microns in thickness.
Plastic bags used for bin liners, nappy bags, dog poo bags, department bags and small fruits and vegetables bags will still be available.
Glasses ban on Passport:
Glasses will not be allowed in new passport photos taken from July 1.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade stated that it will strengthen the integrity of the Australian passport, “research has shown that glasses adversely affect passport facial matching. Matching is more accurate without glasses.”
Limited exemption for medical reasons may apply if supported by a medical certificate.
Online shopping tax:
Amazon will stop shipping to Australian addresses from its international store in response to the government’s new online GST laws coming into effect on July 1, which require businesses with annual turnover greater than $75,000 to collect GST on purchases under the current low-value threshold of $1000.
The controversial changes came as a result of heavy lobbying from local retailers like Gerry Harvey. Amazon, eBay, Alibaba and Etsy flagged the possibility of geo-blocking Australian users during a Senate inquiry last year.
Better credit score:
From July 1, comprehensive credit reporting (CCR) will become mandatory. This means banks will have to share details of positive and negative financial history with other lenders.
Currently, most lenders only share negative information but under the new system, they will have to share positive information as well. It is good for people overall.
Family payment changes:
The government has combined existing childcare subsidies into a single means and activity-tested payment from July 2. The change is expected to increase payments by as much as $1333 a year for the average child.
About 1.2 million families are eligible for the childcare subsidies, but parents must update their Centrelink details through MyGov. Under the new system, both parents must be working, studying, volunteering or searching for work at least eight hours a fortnight to be eligible.
Make sure you fill up online form using My Gov website.
Tax Cut:
Taxpayers will be receiving a small relief in the form of either an annual lump sum tax offset or increased tax brackets from July 1.
If you earn up to $37,000 a year you will get a maximum offset of $200. If you are earning between $37,000 and $90,000 you will get a maximum offset of $530. If you’re earning $90,000 a year you will also pay $135 less tax.
Rod toll increases:
Transurban, which operates toll roads in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, will hike its rates by up to nine cents from July 1.
In Sydney, car tolls on the Cross City Tunnel will increase by between one and three cents, with a typical westbound trip to rise from $5.67 to $5.70. Eastern Distributor tolls will rise by eight cents from $7.31 to $7.39.
Some Lane Cove Tunnel tolls will increase by up to two cents. Cars using the Military Road E-ramps will continue to pay $1.65 but the Lane Cove Tunnel toll will rise from $3.29 to $3.31.
The toll for cars using the Hills M2 Motorway will rise between three and seven cents. For example, cars using the Windsor Road ramps will increase from $2.56 to $2.59.
Meanwhile, the NSW government will not increase tolls on the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Harbour Tunnel.
In Brisbane, car tolls on the Gateway Motorway, Logan Motorway, Legacy Way, Go Between Bridge and Clem7 will increase by between three and nine cents, but Airportlink tolls remain on hold. For example, a trip across the Gateway Bridge will change from $4.47 to $4.55.
In Melbourne, car tolls on CityLink will increase by between one and five cents. For example, a trip across the Bolte Bridge will change from $3.06 to $3.08.
Rival Melbourne operator EastLink will increase its prices by less than Transurban’s CityLink at just 1.9 per cent, in line with CPI. The toll cap for a car is changing from $6.13 to $6.25 per trip.
Opal Fare increases
As of 2 July, Opal fares will increase by 2.2 per cent, in line with the consumer price index (CPI).
The Senior/Pensioner Gold Opal won’t change and will remain at $2.50 for all day travel any day of the week.
The fare adjustments will also impact daily and weekly caps.
Daily and Weekly Travel caps from 2 July
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