The new financial year will usher in a raft of key changes that will impact the finances all Australians, bringing some relief to the cost of living.
For Australian women, a number of the changes that take effect from Monday, July 1 will bring financial respite and support women’s personal economic security.
Here’s what’s changing from today, and what impact the measures will have on women.
Tax cuts
Every Australian will notice an increase to their pay check from this week, with the stage three tax cuts coming into effect. The cuts, which were passed by the federal government in February, will apply to taxable income earned from July 1.
All 6.5 million women taxpayers will receive a tax cut as a result of the changes, with an average benefit of around $1,600 in 2024-25.
Recently, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said that 90 per cent of women will benefit from a bigger tax cut, and that the majority of the $107 billion in cuts will flow through to low and middle-income earners, where women are overrepresented.
Changes to minimum wage
More than 20 per cent of the national workforce will benefit from a rise in minimum wage from today. The national minimum wage and minimum award wages are set to rise by 3.75 per cent, to $24.10 an hour.
It means that if you are on the national minimum wage and work a 38-hour week, you should earn around $915 – an increase of about $33. About 2.6 million workers will be affected by the changes.
According to the Fair Work Commission, more than half (56.7 per cent) of national minimum wage reliant employees are women.
Paid parental leave
Parents accessing the Commonwealth paid parental leave scheme will now be eligible for an extra two weeks of leave from July 1, bringing the total number of weeks up to 22. More than 180,000 families will benefit from the extra two weeks.
It’s the first increase under the expansion of the paid parental leave scheme passed by the government earlier this year. The number of weeks will increase to 24 weeks from July 2025 and 26 weeks from July 2026. The changes are designed to encourage families with two parents to share the care, with four weeks reserved for each parent.
It is the biggest boost to paid parental leave since the government-funded scheme was first introduced by Labor in 2011.
Superannuation payments
Also from today, the minimum amount employers must contribute to employees’ superannuation increases from 11 per cent to 11.5 per cent. Any boost to superannuation is good for women, who retire on average with 30 per cent less superannuation than men. This is important because we know older women are the fastest growing group of people in Australia experiencing homelessness.
Under other changes, it’ll also become easier to invest more in your superannuation, with the maximum threshold for concessional contributions rising to $30,000 up from $27,500.
Energy bill relief
One of the key measures in the federal budget was energy bill relief, which will come to households across the country this financial year. The total relief of $300 per household will come in the form of four $75 rebates, one each quarter.
The relief is not means tested, meaning every household will be able to access it, regardless of income.
Meanwhile, small businesses will receive a rebate of $325.