Women’s budget statement

This year, the Government launched Australia’s first national strategy with an explicit focus on achieving gender equality. Working for Women: A Strategy for Gender Equality (Working for Women) is the Government’s ten-year commitment to ‘shift the dial’ on gender equality. 

 

The Women’s Budget Statement is now a reporting mechanism for Working for Women. From this Budget onward, the Women’s Budget Statement will report on the Government’s investments to implement Working for Women.

 

The 2024–25 Women’s Budget Statement focuses on five priorities, which mirror the priority areas of Working for Women:

1. 1. Gender-based violence
   2. Unpaid and paid care
   3. Economic equality and security
   4. Health
   5. Leadership, representation and decision making.

 

The Government has announced measures as part of the Federal Budget to:

• Take urgent action through the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022–2032 to address the epidemic rates of violence in Australia.
• Permanently establish ongoing financial support through the Leaving Violence Program for victim-survivors leaving a violent intimate partner relationship.
• Increase funding to assist women and children fleeing domestic violence with crisis and transitional accommodation.
• Provide cost-of-living relief to all women taxpayers and reduce disincentives to their workforce participation via the legislated tax cuts.
• Deliver additional energy bill relief and increase the maximum rates of Commonwealth Rent Assistance.
• Invest in women’s health to address the higher health costs faced by women, while ensuring greater choice, access and support.
• Reform the HELP debt indexation and introduce a new Commonwealth Prac Payment.
• Introduce a superannuation guarantee equivalent payment on Government-funded Paid Parental Leave from 1 July 2025.
• Provide funding towards wage increases for aged care workers and early childhood educators.
• Introduce the Building Women’s Careers program that will boost women’s participation in construction, clean energy and advanced manufacturing industries, and technology and digital sectors (as part of the Future Made in Australia initiative to reduce industry gender segregation).

 

Safe and responsible. A.I.

$39.9 million will be funded over five years, from 2023-24, for the development of policies and capabilities to promote the safe and responsible adoption and use of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, including: 

• $21.6 million over four years from 2024-25 to build a redesigned National AI Centre (NAIC) and an AI advisory board under the Department of Industry, Science, and Resources.
• $15.7 million over two years from 2024-25 to enhance industry analytical competence and coordination of AI policy creation, regulation, and engagement initiatives across government, including reviewing and strengthening current rules in the fields of health care, consumer, and copyright law.
• $2.6 million over three years, from 2024 to 2025, to react to and mitigate national security concerns associated with AI. 

The Digital Transformation Agency will create and execute strategies to position the government as a leader in AI usage, with funding coming from current resources. 

 

Quantum computing capabilities development

Export Finance Australia has provided PsiQuantum Pty Ltd with $466.4 million in equity and loans from the National Interest Account to support the construction and operation of quantum computing capabilities in Brisbane. This is part of a joint investment with the Queensland Government. 

The Departments of Finance, Foreign Affairs and Trade, Industry, Science and Resources, and Treasury will receive $27.7 million over 11 years (2023-24) to manage and oversee this investment. The financing package’s financial implications are not for publication (nfp) owing to commercial sensitivity.

 

2023-24 measures that are not yet implemented

Previously announced tax and superannuation policy decisions that are still before Parliament include the following: 

Policy	Detail
Instant asset write-off	Proposal to increase the instant asset write-off threshold from $1,000 to $20,000 for the 2024 income year. Senate amendments proposed increasing the threshold from $20,000 to $30,000 and expanding the measure to apply to medium entities.
Small business energy incentive	Proposes to provide small and medium businesses with access to a bonus deduction equal to 20% of the cost of eligible assets or improvements to existing assets that support electrification or more efficient energy use.
Petroleum resource rent tax (PRRT) deductions cap	Proposes amendments to effectively cap the availability of deductible expenditure incurred by a person in relation to a petroleum project for a year of tax.
Federal Administrative Review Body	Abolish the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) and establish the Administrative Review Tribunal (the Tribunal).
Strengthen the integrity of the tax system	Proposed reforms to strengthen the integrity of the tax system, increasing the power of regulators and strengthening regulatory arrangements.
Better targeted superannuation concessions	Proposes amendments to reduce the tax concessions available to individuals with Total Super Balances exceeding $3 million.
Non-arm’s length expenditure for superannuation entities	Proposes amendments to the non-arm’s length expense rules for complying superannuation entities, that will restrict the operation and application of the rules.
Objective of superannuation	Proposes to legislate the objective of superannuation.

 

Policy decisions that are now in the consultation phase include:

• International tax — country-by-country reporting, global and domestic minimum tax 
• Investment in housing—build-to-rent tax breaks 
• Exempting lump-sum payments in arrears from the Medicare levy. 
• Strengthening the integrity of the tax system via the tax regulator’s information collecting, evaluation, and regulation of accounting, auditing, and consulting businesses in Australia. 
• A consultation procedure has been conducted for payday superannuation. 
• Changes to the transfer balance credit provisions for successor fund transfers. 

The government declared that it will not continue with the Modernising Business Registers Programme.