1:30min
Following weeks of pre-Budget Government spending announcements and with a Federal Election looming but not yet called, we weren’t expecting last night’s Federal Budget speech to include any great surprises in the health space. And it didn’t.
Treasurer Chalmers listed “Strengthening Medicare” as one of the Albanese Government’s five main priorities— but the detail largely reflected previously announced health commitments. These included capping the PBS co-payment at $25, greater incentives for GPs to bulk-bill, and establishing 50 new Urgent Care Clinics.
Other Budget announcements of potential relevance to members in their professional lives included that:
- the Government will move to ban noncompete clauses for low and middle-income workers. We will update as more details on this announcement become available.
- for eligible small businesses, the Government is extending energy bill relief for six months to the end of 2025, making available rebates up to $150.
- the Government will invest to strengthen the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s enforcement of the Franchising Code.
- an estimated 1.5 million sole traders will benefit from the Government’s income tax reductions.
As previously announced the Budget also confirmed the Government will defer MBS changes to reclassify the item that supports intravitreal eye injections as an out-of-hospital item, to allow time for further consultation on the proposed changes.
The Opposition’s Budget reply speech later this week holds particular relevance and we will update on any announcements directly relevant to optometry, optometrists and eye health.
As we move closer to the official pre-election campaign period, and expect more policy commitments from all major parties, we encourage all members to get behind our Federal election campaign to re-instate two yearly rebates for under 65 year olds for initial comprehensive exams. An astounding 500 optometrists have already lent their voice to this important push. It’s crucial we don’t ease up now.