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The 2019 federal election is over, and after a mammoth effort running his one-man band campaign, Scott Morrison has secured victory for his party.
In the April Budget and throughout the campaign, the Coalition wooed voters with promises of tax cuts, sweeteners for first home buyers and infrastructure upgrades for Victoria.
So let's take a look at what will be first on the agenda for the newly re-elected Morrison Government.
Above all, tax cuts
Throughout the campaign, Mr Morrison's main promise was to implement a string of tax cuts across the next 10 years.
Let's revisit those promises, starting with three-stage personal tax cuts:
- Stage 1: From July 1, 2018, the Government gave a tax cut of up to $135 per year to about 3 million people by increasing the top threshold of the 32.5 per cent tax bracket from $87,000 to $90,000
- Stage 2: From July 1, 2022 the top threshold of the 32.5 per cent tax bracket will be increased from $90,000 to $120,000, providing a tax cut of up to $1,350 per year for taxpayers in this income bracket and above
- Stage 3: From July 1, 2024, the Government will increase the top threshold of the 32.5 per cent tax bracket from $120,000 to $200,000, removing the 37 per cent tax bracket completely
In its 2019 Budget the Government also announced $158 billion in tax relief, meaning taxpayers earning up to $126,000 per year would get $1,080 back at tax time.
That plan also promised to flatten tax brackets by 2024 so all taxpayers earning between $45,000 and $200,000 would have their tax rate reduced to 30 per cent.
The first point of call for the Coalition will be to pass these long-promised tax cuts through the Parliament.
But there's a catch …
For this all to happen, the tax cuts need to be passed through the Senate before the start of the next financial year.
And for that to happen, Mr Morrison needs to open the Parliament and get his party's policies legislated before July 1.
First home buyer scheme
The Coalition announced its scheme to help first home buyers at its official campaign launch in Melbourne a week before the election.
The scheme is designed to help buyers who are struggling to save the full deposit on their first home, which is 20 per cent of the price.
The Government promised it would lend prospective buyers up to 15 per cent of their deposit, as long as they had saved at least 5 per cent themselves.
Those buyers would not have to pay the lender's mortgage insurance which they'd normally have to pay if their deposit was less than 20 per cent.
(If you're asking 'what is lender's mortgage insurance again?', we did an explainer on it here.)
There are a few caveats to this scheme, however.
First, it would only be available to first home buyers with an income of up to $125,000, or couples with a joint income of up to $200,000.
Second, the value of the homes bought under this scheme would be capped, although the amount has not yet been announced.
And third, the viability of the scheme hinges on support from the banks — specifically whether banks would treat buyers who have taken advantage of the government subsidy as a riskier lender.
The Banking Association said it "[looks] forward to consultation on the details of this policy" — so watch this space.
Cuts to the public sector
On Thursday the Coalition announced it would save $1.5 billion over the next four years by extending efficiency dividends.
The efficiency dividend, which requires affected public sector departments to find savings each year, would be kept at its current level of 2 per cent for two more years.
It would then drop to 1.5 per cent in 2021-22, and 1 per cent from 2022-23.
Agencies including the ABC, SBS, the National Disability Insurance Agency, and all agencies with less than 200 full-time staff are exempt from the additional dividend.
Spending splash in Labor seat
In the April Budget, the Government announced a $2 billion sweetener for Victorians in the form of transport infrastructure — specifically, a fast rail between Melbourne and Geelong.
But the project won't receive any funding for some years yet.
That's because the first stage of Commonwealth funding, worth $20 million, will not begin until 2021-22. The second stage, worth $30 million, is slated to arrive the year after.
The remaining $1.95 billion will be delivered beyond 2023-24, which is when the next state and federal elections are due.
On top of the promised $2 billion, a further $700 million was promised to help fund a rail upgrade from South Geelong to Waurn Ponds — a joint federal and state government project.
That promise was seen as an effort to woo voters in Corangamite, Victoria's most marginal seat which was held by Liberal MP Sarah Henderson by just 0.03 per cent.
That seat, according to the ABC election computer, has since been snagged by the ALP's Libby Coker.
So what of the Coalition's funding promises in the now Labor seat? As ABC journalist Annabel Crabb put it:
Read analysis about the federal election:
Topics: federal-elections, government-and-politics, elections, scott-morrison, australia
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