The political year is over, but some major law changes will kick in on New Year’s Day which will directly affect pensioners, students, parents and backpackers, among others.

Pensions

When Scott Morrison was social services minister in 2015, he announced an overhaul to the pension. From 1 January, more than 170,000 part-rate assets-tested pensioners will receive an extra $30 a fortnight on average, and 50,000 of those pensioners will qualify for the full pension.

The value of assets you can own, excluding your family home, to qualify for a full pension will increase – from $209,000 to $250,000 for single home owners, and from $296,500 to $375,000 for couples.

But the maximum value of assets you can hold to qualify for a part pension will fall. For couples the threshold is currently $1.18m (excluding the family home). That will fall to $816,000. For single homeowners the threshold is currently $793,750. That will fall to $542,500.

About 91,000 current part-pensioners will no longer qualify for the pension, while 235,000 will have their part pension reduced. The government says the changes are necessary to redirect pension payments to those most in need.

Backpacker tax

The backpacker tax was passed by the Senate in the final week of parliament, ending a bruising few months for the government.

Working holiday-makers will now have to pay 15% tax from the first dollar they earn, and forego 65% of any superannuation earned when they leave the country. They will no longer be allowed to claim a tax-free threshold.

Education

A new VET student loan program begins, replacing the VET FEE-HELP scheme. Students will be able to get loans up to $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000, depending on costs, for a limited range of vocational courses.

The Industry Skills Fund, which offers grants to help small businesses train staff, will close. The period that students from regional and remote areas will have to work to get the Youth Allowance and Abstudy Living Allowance will be cut from 18 months to 14 months.



Six research block grant schemes for universities will be consolidated into two simpler programs. The changes are in response to the review of research policy and funding arrangements.

Welfare

Tougher compliance measures come into force for people receiving welfare payments, and the six-year statutory limit on retrieving overpayments will be removed. Automated data matching introduced in July for retrieving welfare debts has come under attack in recent weeks for its alleged unfairness and inaccuracy.

Prohibition orders are introduced to stop some welfare debtors leaving the country.

All new migrants will have to wait two years before becoming eligible for a range of welfare payments, even if they are family of Australian citizens or permanent residents.

Passports

The cost of each new passport will increase by $20 for adults and $10 for children and seniors, and the fee for priority processing of passport applications will increase by $54.

From 1 January the following fees will apply:



10-year passport for people aged 16 and over: $277

5-year passport for children under 16 years: $139

5-year passport option for people aged 75 and over: $139

emergency passport overseas: $175

priority processing fee $183

Health



Mepolizumab (trade name: Nucala) for the treatment of severe asthma will be listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. There will be a price cut for PBS prescriptions of Thiamine hydrochloride, used for treating vitamin B1 deficiency.

Changes to the child dental benefits schedule will give children aged between two and 17 access to basic dental services, capped at $700 over two years. Rural pharmacists will be paid $7 to dispense medicine to patients in remote area Aboriginal Medical Services.

Childcare

A trial program offering subsidies on nanny fees closes to new applications. The program will run until 30 June 2018.

Agriculture

There are changes to the way levies for cattle, goat, lamb and sheep slaughters are split between R&D and marketing.

A melon levy of $0.004 per kilo for R&D and Plant Health Australia membership comes into force.

Environment

Tony Abbott’s controversial Green Army program will end in 2017, with no new projects accepted. New grants become available for councils, community and environmental groups to improve local parks.

Aged care

Changes to aged-care provider funding come in, including increasing supplements for rural, remote and specialty services.

The government will establish 31 specialist dementia care units across the country for people who experience very severe behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia and are unable to be supported in a mainstream aged care service.

Rental income from the former family home of aged-care residents will be treated the same as pension income tests and the aged-care means test.

Housing

The Western Australian government will increase the first home-buyers grant, for new homes up to a value of $750,000, from $10,000 to $15,000 for one year.