FIRST home buyers, cancer patients and dairy farmers will benefit as of today when a host of Federal Government changes come into effect.
10,000 Australians on low and middle incomes will be able to secure the mortgage of a property with a deposit of 5pc of the property’s value when the Federal Government’s new deposit scheme opens for applications.
Most banks and lenders require a minimum 20pc deposit of the property’s value to avoid paying mortage insurance.
Under the scheme, participants will contribute a minimum of 5pc and the Coalition will provide a guarantee covering up to 15pc of the property’s
value.
It will be limited to properties under $250,000 in regional South Australia and available to single Australians earning up to $125,000 or $200,000 for couples.
Australians with advanced breast cancer will be able to access more affordable medicines, with Abemaciclib one of four medicines added on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) from today.
Epilepsy patients will benefit from cheaper Primidone, which is used to treat seizures, following the medicines’ addition to the PBS.
The dairy industry will adhere to a new mandatory code of conduct, which will require farmers to be told what they will paid over the life of their contract.
Processors will be banned from changing the contract price or the conditions.
Agriculture Minister Bridget McKenzie said the code would deliver transparency and certainty for the industry and more support for dairy farmers.
“New Year’s Day marks the beginning of a new era of empowerment for Australian dairy farmers with a Code designed by farmers for farmers, coming into place,” she said.
“Under the code farmers will never again be held to ransom by processors, if a dairy farmer has held up their end of the bargain then the processor has to uphold theirs.
Unscrupulous employers will no longer be able to short-change employees who make salary sacrificed superannuation contributions.
From today, employers will no longer be able to use salary sacrificed contributions to satisfy their superannuation guarantee obligations.
Students will now have a single HELP loan limit which will combine FEE-HELP, VET student loans, VET FEE-HELP and new HECS-HELP incurred on or after today.
The loan limit will increase to $106,319 for most students and to $152,700 for students studying medicine, dentistry, veterinary science and eligible aviation courses.
