Car standards, benchtop ban, no hike to medicines: Raft of changes coming to Australians on January 1, 2025

A raft of changes come into effect with the new year, including boosts to welfare payments, emissions standards for new cars and criminalising wage theft.

A range of government fees also increase with annual indexation — including the cost of passports, which rises by $14 to $402 for a regular 10-year document.

But the Federal Government wants you to know something that isn’t happening on January 1: the price of medicines is not going up.

Frozen medicine fees

The Government has frozen the indexation on what patients pay for medicines on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, meaning the cost of prescriptions won’t rise for the first time in more than 25 years.

The measure, announced in the May budget, means the most people pay for PBS medicines is $31.60, or $7.70 for pensioners or those with a concession card.

It built on the move last year to cut the cost of the payments and allow doctors to prescribe 60 days worth of medicines, which cut the cost of both doctor visits for script renewals and pharmacy dispensing fees for people with chronic conditions.

Indexation will resume in January 2026, but not until 2030 for pensioners.

Welfare payment increases

People receiving Youth Allowance, Carer Allowance and Austudy payments will also see more money coming into their bank accounts through the regular indexation.

Youth Allowance will increase to $477.10 a fortnight for people living at home with their parents or family, and to $670.30 a fortnight for those living away from home.

The Austudy rate goes up to $670.30 for recipients with no children and to $845.80 for single parents who are studying.

The Carer Allowance will also increase, up to $159.30 each fortnight, as will a range of other welfare support payments.

Targeted help

“Many Australians will get a bit more help with the cost of living from New Year’s Day,” Treasurer Jim Chalmers said.

“Our major focus in 2025 is people who are still doing it tough even though inflation is coming down and wages are up.”

Frontbench colleague Matt Keogh said his constituents had recognised the help already given, particularly the power bill relief which in WA was more than doubled by a State Government top-up.

“They tell me that that bill relief has made a real difference to them — not just on their energy bills, but it’s enabled them to be able to go that bit further with other things, especially at a time like now when it’s been the lead up at Christmas and they’ve had to buy presents for kids and everything else,” Mr Keogh said.

“I think everybody has been doing it extremely tough when it comes to being able to pay the bills, being able to pay mortgages and rent, making our pay packets go further under pressure — and we’ve really understood that as a government.”

Dr Chalmers said the Government would focus on building on these supports into the new year.

“We’re helping people earn more and keep more of what they earn, every taxpayer is receiving a tax cut, medicines are cheaper, youth and carer support is higher for a million Australians, and more people can study at TAFE for free,” he said.

“The biggest risk to household budgets in 2025 is Peter Dutton, who’d come after Medicare and wages again, push electricity prices up, and risk the progress we’ve made together in our economy.”

Stone benchtops

Other measures coming into effect on January 1 include a ban on importing engineered stone bench tops, the final step in stopping the use of the construction material in Australia.

Since 2015, the fake stone has been linked to a high silica content of up to 95 per cent, which can lead to silicosis — an untreatable scarring of the lungs — as well as lung cancer.

Modelling by Curtin University played a major role in the ban after predicting more than 10,000 labourers in industries including construction, mining, quarrying, and manufacturing will develop lung cancer while up to 103,000 will be diagnosed with silicosis.

Curtin University lead researcher Renee Carey said silicosis had been rare for the past 60 years but the introduction of engineered stone drove a re-emergence of the disease.

“We were seeing massive cases of silicosis with some of the statistics showing us that one in four engineered stone workers were developing silicosis and unfortunately once you have it there is no cure,” she said.

She believes the total ban would save thousands of lives.

“It’s life saving action. Engineered stone is not a great product and it’s shown to be associated with disease,” she said.

“The workers that have already been exposed may develop disease in the future but no new workers are going to develop disease.”

Wage theft

Employers who deliberately underpay their workers will face the possibility of criminal charges after January 1, in one of the final pieces of the Government’s industrial relations agenda to come into effect.

The new rules come with hefty fines of up to $1.6 million for individuals or $8.25 million for companies found to be in breach. Bosses could also face up to 10 years in jail.

The Government says the provisions are not intended to capture employers who make honest mistakes or miscalculations.

A small business code that was developed in mid-December is supposed to provide a level of reassurance that if employers follow its steps but inadvertently underpay a worker they will not face criminal prosecution.

However, employer groups have said they remain worried about the new rules, which they said add yet another layer of complex regulation.

Cleaner cars

New vehicle efficiency standards coming into force are expected to encourage a greater range of electric vehicles to be brought into Australia over the next year, offering more competition to buyers.

It’s the first time Australia has set a pollution cap on new vehicles, putting the nation in line with other countries, and is designed to encourage car-makers to balance sales of high-polluting vehicles with low-emissions models.

Experts anticipate a rush of new models of electric vehicles, including utes, vans and sports cars, coming into the Australian market this year as a result.

EVs made up nearly one in 10 of all new cars sold, according to the Electric Vehicle Council’s annual report. The council expected a record-high 110,000 light EV purchases by the end of 2024.

Climate disclosures

Many large businesses and financial institutions will have to prepare annual sustainability reports in the new year that include mandatory climate-related disclosures, including climate-related financial risks.

Under laws that passed in September, from January 1 companies with annual consolidated revenue of $500 million or $1 billion in assets and more than 500 employees need to comply with the new reporting rules.

The regular statements must include information about any climate-related risks and opportunities the company faces, its targets for the financial year including on reducing emissions, and information about its climate resilience.

Fee-free education

The new year also re-sets the counter on the Government’s offering of fee-free TAFE and uni-ready places.

It will again have 100,000 vocational enrolments newly available, along with 8600 spots in bridging courses that enable people to head to university.

The fee-free TAFE offerings are a key part of the Government’s re-election pitch along with reducing student debts.