A comprehensive overview of the Albanese government's policy achievements across the economy, healthcare, housing, climate, education, and social reform since 2022.
When Labor took office in May 2022, Australia faced compounding challenges: inflation at 6.1%, five consecutive quarters of falling real wages, a collapsing Medicare system, a housing crisis a decade in the making, and climate policy paralysis. Four years on, with the government re-elected to a second term at the 2025 election and the 2026-27 Budget handed down in May 2026, Labor has delivered measurable progress across every major policy area through targeted investment, structural reform, and patient implementation.
Economic Management and Fiscal Responsibility
The government transformed Australia's fiscal position by delivering consecutive budget surpluses of $22.1 billion (2022-23) and $15.8 billion (2023-24), the first back-to-back surpluses in nearly two decades and the largest on record. The 2024-25 deficit came in at just $10 billion, $18 billion better than forecast. Over three years, the fiscal position improved by $209 billion compared to what was inherited, with gross debt $188 billion lower than projected, avoiding over $60 billion in interest costs through to 2032-33. Standard & Poor's reaffirmed Australia's AAA credit rating in September 2025, whilst the nation's budget balance ranking jumped from 14th to 3rd among G20 countries.
The 2026-27 Budget, handed down on 12 May 2026, marked the next stage of fiscal consolidation despite the headwinds of the Middle East conflict and the resulting global oil supply shock. The underlying cash deficit was set at $31.5 billion (1.0% of GDP), with the budget position $44.9 billion stronger over the forward estimates than the December 2025 mid-year update. Gross debt in 2026-27 was $173 billion lower in dollar terms than the inherited 2022 PEFO forecast, and the projected peak debt-to-GDP ratio fell from 44.9% under the inherited estimate to 35.8%, avoiding more than $70 billion in interest costs over the medium term. A further $63.8 billion of new savings and reprioritisations brought the cumulative total of savings since taking office to $177.9 billion. Net policy decisions were positive for the second consecutive update, every dollar of upgraded revenue was returned to the budget, and the budget is projected to return to balance in 2034-35.
Real wages have grown for eight consecutive quarters as of November 2025, the longest run in almost a decade, following five quarters of decline under the previous government. The Wage Price Index grew 3.4% annually to September 2025, with minimum wage earners now taking home over $175 per week more than in May 2022. The economy created 1.2 million jobs since 2022, the strongest employment growth of any major advanced economy, with unemployment sitting at 4.3% in November 2025.
Inflation fell to 2.4% by December 2024, firmly within the RBA's 2-3% target band, down from the 6.1% inherited from the Coalition. Underlying inflation reached 3.2%, its lowest level in three years. Australia's inflation rate now sits below major advanced economies including the United States, United Kingdom and Germany. The Middle East conflict pushed headline inflation back up to a forecast 5% through the year to the June quarter 2026, with most of the pick-up attributable to fuel and shipping cost pressures.
The 2026-27 Budget also delivered the most significant regulatory reform package in over a decade, estimated to reduce business and individual compliance costs by $10.2 billion per year once fully implemented, alongside a projected $13 billion per year boost to long-run GDP from building a Single National Market. The package progresses 13 of the 17 reform areas identified by the Productivity Commission's five pillar inquiries. Major components include streamlining environmental approvals under the EPBC Act ($3 billion per year saving), National Competition Policy reforms with the states, abolishing almost 1,000 nuisance tariffs in total, a 30-day target for low-risk foreign investment approvals, $654.3 million to expand Digital ID and 'tell-us-once' services, and free access to all standards referenced in Australian legislation (saving small businesses and tradies up to $1,600 per year).
The Future Made in Australia plan represents $22.7 billion over ten years to position Australia as a renewable energy superpower, with legislation passing Parliament in November 2024. The package has already catalysed private sector investments that could scale beyond $100 billion. The 2026-27 Budget expanded the agenda with up to $1 billion to transition the Boyne Island Aluminium Smelter to renewable energy (unlocking $7.5 billion in private investment, matched by the Queensland Government), $222.6 million for Whyalla Steelworks administration and operations, and support for employees of the Liberty Bell Bay manganese smelter while new owners are sought. The Budget also delivered on the commitment to establish a Critical Minerals Strategic Reserve, drawing $1 billion from the previously expanded $5 billion Critical Minerals Facility for direct transactions, with $150 million for selective stockpiling. Initial focus is on antimony, gallium, and rare earth elements, which are essential to clean energy, high-technology manufacturing, and advanced military equipment, and whose global processing is dominated by China.
The $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund became operational in November 2023, announcing its first $40 million investment as part of a broader $100 million co-investment in Queensland manufacturing. The government released the National AI Plan in December 2025, backed by $29.9 million to establish an AI Safety Institute in early 2026. The 2026-27 Budget added up to $70 million for 'AI Accelerator' grants and is expanding the use of AI in government decision-making, including for environmental approvals and medicine evaluations through the Therapeutic Goods Administration.
The 2026-27 Budget delivered $39.1 billion in R&D investment over four years and established a new National Resilience and Science Council to coordinate Commonwealth innovation spending. The Research and Development Tax Incentive will be reformed from 1 July 2028 in response to the Ambitious Australia: Strategic Examination of Research and Development final report, chaired by Robyn Denholm. Reforms include raising the offset for experimental core R&D by 25-50%, raising the refundable offset turnover threshold to $50 million, and raising the maximum expenditure cap to $200 million. Venture capital incentives are being expanded from 1 July 2027, with ESVCLP and VCLP caps significantly increased to reflect modern company valuations. A further $1.5 billion is being allocated to research and Australia's scientific institutions including CSIRO, the National Measurement Institute, and the Square Kilometre Array, with $508.5 million in additional disbursements provisioned for the Medical Research Future Fund.
Tax Reform: The 2026-27 Package
The 2026-27 Budget delivered what Treasury described as the most significant transformation of the tax system in more than a quarter of a century. The package combines tax cuts for working Australians with structural reforms to capital gains tax, negative gearing, and discretionary trusts. As a whole, the tax package is broadly revenue neutral over the forward estimates, meaning the tax cuts for workers and small businesses are funded by closing structural concessions elsewhere rather than added to deficit.
A new $250 Working Australians Tax Offset (WATO) will apply from 2027-28, benefiting over 13 million workers, including 6.3 million women. The WATO lifts the effective tax-free threshold for working Australians by nearly $1,800 to $19,985, the largest permanent increase since 2012-13. Of those eligible, 97% are expected to receive the full $250. A separate $1,000 instant tax deduction for work-related expenses applies from 2026-27, benefiting around 6.2 million workers with an average saving of $205, and reducing compliance costs by around $380 million per year. Combined with three already-legislated tax cuts (1 July 2024, 1 July 2026, and 1 July 2027, which together drop the 16% marginal rate to 14% on the $18,201-$45,000 bracket), an Australian worker on average earnings will receive a combined benefit of up to $2,816 per year from 2027-28 compared to 2023-24 settings.
A 30% minimum tax on discretionary trust income takes effect from 1 July 2028. The reform addresses a long-standing concern raised by every major tax review since the 1975 Asprey Report: families using discretionary trusts can split income across relatives and pay tax at lower rates than wage earners on equivalent incomes. Treasury analysis shows families with discretionary trusts paid an average tax rate around four percentage points lower in 2022-23 than families with similar incomes who do not use a trust. Around 840,000 discretionary trusts are in scope, but about half are not expected to be affected in any given year because they already distribute to beneficiaries on marginal rates of 30% or higher. Three-year rollover relief is available from 1 July 2027 to support small businesses that wish to restructure.
The 50% capital gains tax discount, introduced in 1999, will be replaced from 1 July 2027 with two mechanisms working together: cost base indexation by the Consumer Price Index (returning to the regime that applied between 1985 and 1999), and a 30% minimum tax on real (above-inflation) gains. The reform applies prospectively only, to gains accruing from 1 July 2027. The main residence exemption is retained, the four small business CGT concessions are unchanged, the 60% CGT discount for qualifying affordable housing is fully retained, and recipients of means-tested income support payments are exempt from the minimum tax. Investors in new builds can choose between the existing 50% discount and the new arrangements.
Negative gearing on established residential property will be limited to new builds from 1 July 2027. All properties held before Budget night (7:30pm AEST 12 May 2026) are grandfathered indefinitely. Investors who buy new builds retain full negative gearing access. For investors who buy established property after the announcement, rental losses can be deducted only against residential property income (including capital gains on that property) and not against wages. Excess losses can be carried forward to future years. Treasury modelling estimates the combined CGT and negative gearing reforms will support around 75,000 additional owner-occupiers over the next decade, equivalent to reversing about ten years of decline in the home ownership rate. House price growth is expected to slow by around 2% over a couple of years before recovering, and rents are expected to rise by less than $2 per week for a household paying the median rent.
For small business, the Budget delivered more than $3.5 billion in tax relief. The $20,000 instant asset write-off has been made permanent from 1 July 2026 for businesses with aggregated turnover up to $10 million. Loss carry back has been permanently reintroduced from 2026-27, allowing eligible companies that make a loss to apply it against tax paid in the prior two income years and receive a refund (benefiting up to 85,000 companies, the majority of which are small businesses). Loss refundability for start-ups, from 2028-29, gives small start-ups in their first two years of operation a refund on tax losses up to the value of FBT and PAYG withholding tax paid on employee wages, benefiting up to 25,000 young companies each year.
Healthcare: Making Medicine Affordable and Accessible
Labor reversed the collapse in bulk billing by tripling incentives for vulnerable Australians in November 2023, generating 6 million additional bulk-billed GP visits over the following 14 months. National bulk billing rates rose from a low of 75% in October 2023 to 77.5% by December 2024, with around 90% of children's GP visits now bulk billed. A second wave of bulk billing reform commenced on 1 November 2025, lifting the national GP bulk billing rate to 81.4% in the November 2025 to January 2026 period. A total of $11.4 billion has been committed across the term to incentivise bulk billing, with a target of nine in ten GP services bulk billed by 2030. Since the November 2025 reforms commenced, 1,420 general practices previously operating on mixed billing have moved to fully bulk billing, bringing the national total to 3,761 fully bulk-billing practices.
The government created an entirely new tier of healthcare through Medicare Urgent Care Clinics providing fully bulk-billed treatment seven days a week. The network has expanded to 137 clinics across Australia, delivering almost 3 million free visits, with nearly half of patients saying they would otherwise have attended emergency departments. The 2026-27 Budget invested $1.8 billion, with $580.2 million each year ongoing, to make the entire network a permanent feature of Australia's health system. By July 2026, four in five Australians will live within a 20-minute drive of a clinic.
The 2026-27 Budget delivered $25 billion in additional funding for state and territory public hospitals, lifting total Commonwealth hospital funding under the renewed National Health Reform Agreement to a record $220.3 billion over five years. The renewed Agreement includes a dedicated funding schedule for First Nations health for the first time, with almost $250 million for new co-designed programs to improve First Nations health outcomes. A further $5.9 billion was allocated to list new and amended medicines on the PBS, including treatments for cystic fibrosis, chronic kidney disease, several cancers, and a permanent reduction in the cost of COVID-19 oral antiviral medicines. Since 1 July 2022, the government has funded 437 new or amended PBS medicines.
A portion of the Medicare and hospitals package is offset by the removal of the age-based uplift to the private health insurance rebate from 1 April 2027. Under existing settings, the rebate rises with age. Under the new arrangement, all policyholders within the same income tier will receive the same rebate regardless of age. Around 3 million older Australians will be affected, with the cut amounting to 4 percentage points for people aged 65-69 and 8 percentage points for those aged 70 and over. The change delivers around $3 billion in budget improvement over the forward estimates, with the savings redirected to bulk-billed primary care, public hospitals, and cheaper medicines that benefit all age groups.
In aged care, Labor funded a 15% pay rise for over 250,000 workers from July 2023 at a cost of $11.3 billion, followed by an additional $3.8 billion for further increases from January 2025. This represents the largest aged care wage increase in history and delivered an additional 3.6 million minutes of care daily in residential facilities. The government expanded access to home care, fast-tracking 20,000 Home Care Packages before launching the new Support at Home program on 1 November 2025, with 83,000 additional packages planned for 2025-26.
The 2026-27 Budget added a $3.7 billion aged care package to deliver more beds, more packages, and better care. The package included $1.7 billion to support construction of up to 5,000 aged care beds per year, $606.5 million in new capital subsidies for residential aged care construction, up to 20 additional Specialist Dementia Care units, and expansion of the Hospital to Aged Care Dementia Support program from 11 to 20 locations. $1 billion was committed to fully subsidise and remove co-contributions for personal care services through Support at Home (covering tasks such as showering, dressing, and toileting), and $389.8 million was allocated to accelerate the release of Support at Home packages. A further $565.1 million was directed to sector quality, safety and viability. A restructured Accommodation Supplement provides higher payments for facilities where more than 60% of residents are low-means.
Mental health care received major reform through a $588.5 million digital early intervention service providing free cognitive behavioural therapy without diagnosis or referral from January 2026, expansion of Medicare Mental Health Centres to 61 locations by mid-2026, and $109.1 million to train 500 additional psychologists focused on regional and rural areas. The government's world-first anti-vaping legislation seized over 7 million vaping products since July 2024.
Additional reforms include $1.7 billion more for public hospitals in 2025-26 (a 12% increase to a record $33.91 billion), $213.8 million to combat NDIS fraud (preventing over $400 million being diverted from genuine participants), and training a record 1,750 new GPs in 2025 with one-third specialising in rural medicine. The 2026-27 Budget also provided $449.3 million to list the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine Arexvy on the National Immunisation Program for eligible older Australians.
Housing: A Comprehensive Response to the Crisis
Labor has invested over $32 billion across multiple programmes to address Australia's housing crisis, recognising that no single solution exists. The 2026-27 Budget lifted the total Commonwealth housing commitment to $47 billion. The $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund, established on 1 November 2023, represents the single biggest investment in public housing in Australian history, targeting 55,000 social and affordable homes by mid-2029. To date, over 5,000 homes have been completed with 25,000 more in planning and construction, supporting around 29,000 jobs annually. A further $100 million has been released from the Fund to improve housing quality for First Nations Australians in remote communities.
For first home buyers, Labor helped over 93,000 Australians into home ownership since 2022 through the expanded Home Guarantee Scheme. From October 2025, the scheme removed all place limits and income caps, with property price caps substantially increased: Sydney to $1.5 million, Melbourne to $950,000, Brisbane to $1 million. The scheme allows first home buyers to purchase with deposits as low as 5%, and single parents with just 2%.
Help to Buy launched as a $6.3 billion shared equity scheme where the government contributes up to 40% for new homes and 30% for existing homes, helping buyers save approximately $900 to $1,200 per month on mortgage repayments. With just a 2% deposit required, 40,000 households will be assisted over four years.
The National Housing Accord brings together all levels of government, institutional investors, and the construction sector with a target of 1.2 million new homes over five years from 2024. Labor committed $350 million for 10,000 affordable homes, with states and territories matching this for another 10,000. The $3 billion New Home Bonus provides performance-based incentives, paying states $15,000 for each new home built above their targets.
The 2026-27 Budget established a new $2 billion Local Infrastructure Fund for "last mile" infrastructure (water, power, sewerage, roads) supporting up to 65,000 new homes over the decade, bringing total Commonwealth investment in housing-enabling infrastructure to $6.3 billion. Funding is available only in states and territories that commit to pro-housing supply reforms, including speeding up approvals, making more land ready, and simplifying the National Construction Code. The Budget also extended the ban on foreign buyers purchasing established homes until mid-2029, and committed $59.4 million for Community Housing Providers to deliver social housing for over 4,000 young people aged 16-24 at risk of or experiencing homelessness.
Planning reforms through the National Planning Reform Blueprint accelerated development pathways for social and affordable housing. A strike team is fast-tracking assessment of over 26,000 homes awaiting EPBC Act approval, with artificial intelligence being piloted to simplify the process. The $1.5 billion Housing Support Program has funded 80 planning capability projects and provides essential infrastructure to unlock new developments.
Workforce development has been critical, with the Key Apprenticeship Program supporting 4,675 housing construction apprentices in its first three months, providing up to $10,000 in financial support per apprentice. Labor committed $90.6 million for 20,000 additional Fee-Free TAFE places over two years from January 2025, alongside streamlined skills assessments for potential migrants in construction trades.
For renters, Labor delivered the first back-to-back increases in Commonwealth Rent Assistance in more than 30 years, supporting nearly 1.4 million households. Maximum rates of Commonwealth Rent Assistance have increased by over 50% since March 2022 once indexation is included. The government committed $1 billion for crisis and transitional accommodation supporting women and children experiencing domestic violence and youth experiencing homelessness, representing nearly 20 times more funding than the previous Coalition government provided in a decade. Build-to-Rent legislation passed to support construction of 80,000 new rental homes with stable five-year tenancies.
Workplace Rights: Closing Loopholes and Raising Wages
Labor passed three major tranches of workplace reform: the Secure Jobs, Better Pay Act 2022, and the Closing Loopholes Acts of 2023 and 2024. These reforms have fundamentally shifted the balance of workplace rights, with wages now growing at 4% annually (the highest in 15 years), 2.62 million employees covered by enterprise agreements (the highest since 2014), and average pay rises in new agreements reaching 4.8% in December 2024.
The government made deliberate wage theft a criminal offence for the first time in Australian history from 1 January 2025. Employers who intentionally underpay workers face up to 10 years imprisonment, with fines up to $7.85 million for companies or three times the underpayment amount, whichever is greater. This addresses the Fair Work Ombudsman's estimate of between $850 million to $1.55 billion in stolen wages annually.
Labor closed the labour hire loophole by ensuring workers employed through labour hire companies receive the same pay as permanent employees doing the same job at the same workplace. NSW coal miners at Boggabri Coal Operations received increases between $15,600 and $35,000, Queensland meat processing workers secured increases up to 42%, Kmart warehouse workers gained up to $11.56 per hour, and 2,450 Qantas long-haul cabin crew were brought into direct employment.
The right to disconnect commenced on 26 August 2024, giving workers the legal right to refuse unreasonable contact outside working hours. Analysis from the Centre for Future Work shows unpaid overtime has fallen from 5.4 to 3.6 hours per week, a 33% reduction representing a decrease from 3.3 billion to 2.2 billion hours of unpaid work across Australia.
The government introduced world-leading protections for gig economy workers, with the Fair Work Commission empowered to set minimum standards for digital platform workers, protecting them from unfair deactivation and ensuring decent pay and conditions. Four applications under these changes have already been submitted.
Labor implemented all 55 recommendations of the Respect@Work report, creating a positive duty for employers to prevent sexual harassment and strengthening the Sex Discrimination Act 1984. The Australian Human Rights Commission gained new compliance and enforcement powers backed by $5.8 million in funding.
From 1 July 2026, employers must pay superannuation within seven business days of payday, replacing the current quarterly system. This reform addresses the $6.2 billion in super that went unpaid in 2022-23, affecting one in four workers. The earlier contributions will deliver an average 25-year-old worker the equivalent of an extra $6,000 in today's dollars by retirement.
Additional reforms include legislating 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave, expanding Paid Parental Leave from 20 weeks to 26 weeks by 2026 with 12% superannuation contributions from July 2025, protecting employer-funded paid parental leave when a child is stillborn or dies, and prohibiting pay secrecy clauses. The Fair Work Commission has continued progressing historical gender undervaluation reviews across five priority modern awards covering child care, health, and social services. The Commission has also moved to phase out junior pay rates for retail, fast food and pharmacy workers aged 18 to 20, and was empowered to make orders adjusting fuel terms in road transport contracts during the 2026 oil shock.
Climate and Environment: From Laggard to Leader
Labor's first major act was legislating the Climate Change Bill 2022 in September 2022, committing Australia to a 43% emissions reduction from 2005 levels by 2030 and net zero by 2050. Recent analysis shows Australia is on track to achieve these targets, with projections indicating a 42.6% reduction by 2030.
The government has approved 77 renewable energy projects with capacity to power over 10 million homes, representing the most renewable energy projects approved by any Australian government in history. The renewable energy network now supplies 46% of the national grid's demand, with an additional 15 gigawatts added under the current government. In 2025 alone, 6.8 gigawatts of renewable energy was delivered. The Cheaper Home Batteries program has installed more than 370,000 home batteries since 1 July 2025, adding over 10 gigawatt hours of new capacity. Over 4 million households now generate their own solar energy, and 2 million are expected to have a battery by 2030.
In November 2024, Australia became the first country to protect more than half its ocean territory, reaching 52% protection after quadrupling the size of the Heard and McDonald Islands Marine Park, adding 310,000 square kilometres of protected ocean (an area larger than Italy).
Labor passed the Environment Protection Reform Bill through Parliament on 28 November 2025, marking the most significant changes to Australia's environmental laws in over 25 years. For the first time, Australia will have a National Environmental Protection Agency commencing operations on 1 July 2026, with National Environmental Standards providing clear guidelines to protect the environment whilst streamlining assessment pathways to reduce timeframes for proponents. The 2026-27 Budget allocated more than $500 million to implement these reforms, including the deployment of artificial intelligence in assessment processes, reduction of duplication with state regulators, and funding for additional bioregional plans and strategic assessments.
The government invested $262 million to restore Australia's national parks, creating 110 new jobs and addressing critical infrastructure needs. The $76 million Saving Koalas Fund has already restored 5,000 hectares of koala habitat and planted a quarter of a million trees, whilst $19 million in wildlife hospitals transformed healthcare for injured and sick koalas.
Labor reformed the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax, implementing a cap limiting deductions to 90% of assessable income. The reforms will increase tax receipts by $2.4 billion over the forward estimates, ensuring Australians receive a fairer return from their natural resources.
The government expanded the Hydrogen Headstart programme to $4 billion and introduced a $6.7 billion Hydrogen Production Tax Incentive over 10 years. The 2026-27 Budget released $1.1 billion in support for domestic production of low carbon liquid fuels through the Cleaner Fuels Program, and committed Round 2 of the $1 billion Hydrogen Headstart program to provide revenue support for large-scale renewable hydrogen projects.
The Driving the Nation Fund was doubled to $500 million to establish 117 EV charging stations approximately every 150 kilometres on highways. The New Vehicle Efficiency Standard commenced 1 January 2025, aiming to reduce new passenger vehicle emissions by more than 60% by 2030 and save motorists $95 billion in fuel by 2050. The 2026-27 Budget transitioned the electric car fringe benefits tax discount to a permanent 25% rate, applying to eligible EVs costing over $75,000 from 1 April 2027 and to all eligible EVs from 1 April 2029. A further $40 million is being invested in additional kerbside and regional EV chargers, with $40.5 million to electrify Australia Post's delivery fleet.
The Budget also introduced a 20% domestic gas reservation from 1 July 2027, requiring LNG exporters to supply a proportion of production to the Australian market and superseding the existing Australian Domestic Gas Security Mechanism. The reform is intended to ensure Australian gas users have access to a stable and affordable supply of energy and to grow domestic energy resilience.
The Capacity Investment Scheme delivered 19 projects with 6.4 gigawatts capacity in its first major round, enough to power three million homes. The $1 billion Solar Sunshot programme aims to boost domestic solar manufacturing, with plans to transform the former Liddell coal-fired power station into a solar manufacturing hub, creating hundreds of jobs in coal communities transitioning to renewable energy.
The reformed Safeguard Mechanism requires Australia's 219 biggest polluters to reduce their emissions, cutting 200 million tonnes of carbon pollution by 2030 through mandatory yearly declining emissions limits. The Water Amendment (Restoring Our Rivers) Act 2023 delivers comprehensive reforms to protect the Murray-Darling Basin, with the government announcing recovery of 286 gigalitres towards the 450 gigalitre environmental water target by March 2025, compared to just 2 gigalitres delivered in the previous decade.
Education: From Early Childhood to Higher Education
In March 2025, Queensland became the final state to sign the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement, completing a historic achievement that had eluded governments for over a decade. Every public school in Australia is now on a path to full Gonski funding. The Commonwealth removed the 20% funding ceiling and transformed it into a funding floor, lifting the Commonwealth share to 25% (and 40% for the Northern Territory). This $16.5 billion investment over 10 years means 2.6 million students in public schools will finally receive the resources recommended in 2012.
The government delivered unprecedented relief for university students and graduates by fixing HELP debt indexation and cutting all student debts by 20%, wiping close to $20 billion in debt for over 3 million Australians. The indexation fix, which caps rates to the lower of CPI or wage growth and was backdated to 2023, addressed the spike that saw student debts growing faster than people's capacity to repay them. The 20% debt cut, implemented in July 2025, meant someone with the average debt of $27,600 saw $5,520 wiped from their loan.
The $3.6 billion investment delivering a 15% wage increase for early childhood educators is tied to strict fee caps, ensuring the predominantly female workforce receives fair pay without costs being passed to families. A typical educator now receives an additional $155 per week, whilst families continue benefiting from the Cheaper Child Care policy that increased subsidies and reduced average out-of-pocket costs by over 13%. The early childhood workforce has grown by over 30,000 workers since 2022.
Fee-Free TAFE exceeded all expectations with 568,400 enrolments by September 2024. The programme targets skills shortages in priority areas like care sectors, construction, and technology. Women took six in ten places, whilst one in three went to regional and remote Australians. The government has now legislated to make Fee-Free TAFE permanent, funding 100,000 places annually from 2027 onwards. The 2026-27 Budget added a National Credit Recognition Framework allowing university students to receive credit for relevant TAFE qualifications, shortening degrees, and $85.2 million to accelerate skills assessments for migrant trade workers.
The Universities Accord implementation is addressing long-standing equity issues. The Commonwealth Prac Payment of $319.50 per week supports approximately 68,000 students annually who must undertake mandatory unpaid practicums in teaching, nursing, midwifery, and social work. The government uncapped Commonwealth Supported Places for Indigenous medical students, ensuring every Indigenous student who meets entry requirements receives a place.
The National Student Ombudsman, established with $19.4 million over two years, gives students an independent avenue to address complaints when universities fail them, with powers to investigate and compel universities to participate. The National Teacher Workforce Action Plan has driven teacher numbers up 2.8% to 320,377 full-time equivalent staff in 2024, whilst the student-to-teacher ratio fell to 12.9 students per teacher, the lowest since 2006.
Gender Equality: Structural Change Across Multiple Fronts
The government's approach to ending violence against women centres on the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032, backed by over $3.4 billion in funding. The permanent Leaving Violence Programme provides up to $5,000 in support for victim-survivors, with $925.2 million invested over five years. The programme has already helped more than 45,000 Australians escape violence since 2021. The 2026-27 Budget committed a further $218.3 million for Our Ways – Strong Ways – Our Voices, Australia's first standalone plan to end violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children.
The government addressed the housing crisis facing women fleeing violence through multiple channels. The $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund designates 4,000 homes specifically for women and children impacted by family violence, whilst the National Agreement on Social Housing and Homelessness doubles dedicated funding for homelessness services to $400 million annually.
The $573.3 million women's health package addresses decades of underfunding. For the first time in over 30 years, new oral contraceptive pills have been added to the PBS, saving approximately 50,000 women up to $190 annually. The first new menopausal hormone therapies in over 20 years are now PBS-listed, saving around 150,000 women up to $577 annually with a concession card. The 2026-27 Budget expanded access to Keytruda for cervical cancer treatment and added support for more long-acting reversible contraceptives.
The government has delivered historic progress in closing the gender pay gap, which has fallen from 14.1% in May 2022 to 11.5%, the lowest on record. Women's average weekly earnings have increased by $173.80 since May 2022. Key reforms include banning pay secrecy clauses, establishing gender equality as an objective of the Fair Work Act, and introducing mandatory gender pay gap reporting for employers with 100 or more workers.
The government's legislation to pay superannuation on Paid Parental Leave from July 2025 addresses a critical source of retirement inequality. The $1.1 billion investment over four years means eligible parents will receive a 12% superannuation contribution on their Paid Parental Leave payments, benefiting around 180,000 families annually and directly targeting the retirement savings gap where women currently retire with 25% less superannuation than men. The 2026-27 Budget also delivered $182.6 million to make the Child Support Scheme safer and more effective by addressing financial abuse and non-compliance, alongside a further $171.7 million for front-line community services including a new, simplified Children and Families Support program.
The 2026-27 Budget's tax cuts for workers will benefit 6.3 million women through the Working Australians Tax Offset alone. Increases to the Low Income Superannuation Tax Offset (LISTO), announced in October 2025 and applying from 1 July 2027, deliver more secure retirements for 1.3 million Australians, around 60% of whom are women.
Labor formed the first majority-woman federal ministry in Australian history, whilst women's representation on Australian Government boards has reached an unprecedented 54%, up from 33.4% in 2009. The $60.6 million Building Women's Careers Programme funds partnerships to remove barriers for women in construction, clean energy, advanced manufacturing, and digital technology.
Cost of Living: Targeted Relief Across Multiple Pressure Points
Supermarket competition received unprecedented reform through mandatory regulation from April 2025. The Food and Grocery Code now carries penalties up to $10 million, three times the benefit gained, or 10% of annual turnover for breaches. From July 2026, major retailers will be banned from charging excessive prices compared to supply costs plus reasonable margins. The ACCC received over $30 million in additional funding to enforce these protections. Maximum penalties for major breaches of competition and consumer laws have been doubled to $100 million as part of the 2026-27 Budget response to the oil shock.
Energy bill relief delivered $300 annually to households through automatic $75 quarterly credits from July 2024, with small businesses receiving $325. The Solar Sharer scheme, launching July 2026 in NSW, South-East Queensland and South Australia, provides three hours of free electricity daily during peak solar generation.
The 2026-27 Budget delivered a $2.9 billion package to more than halve the fuel excise for three months from 1 April 2026, cutting the rate on petrol and diesel from 52.6 to 20.6 cents per litre. The heavy vehicle road user charge was reduced to zero for the same period. The Budget also committed $14.8 billion to a broader fuel resilience package, including a $7.5 billion Fuel and Fertiliser Security Facility and a new $3.2 billion Australian Fuel Security Reserve, bringing Australia's diesel and jet fuel reserves to 50 days. The ACCC was directed to publish weekly reporting on retail fuel prices.
Medicine costs received the largest reduction in PBS history. The maximum script price dropped from $42.50 to $30 in January 2023, with 60-day prescriptions introduced September 2023 enabling double quantities for the same price. These reforms delivered $1.1 billion in total savings, with 66 million prescriptions issued free after patients reached the lower Safety Net threshold. The maximum general PBS co-payment was further reduced to $25, with the concessional rate frozen at $7.70 until 2030. The 2026-27 Budget added $5.9 billion to list new and amended medicines on the PBS.
The Home Guarantee Scheme removed all place limits and income caps from October 2025, with property price caps substantially increased. The 5% deposit requirement with government guarantees enables buyers to avoid Lenders Mortgage Insurance, with over 180,000 buyers assisted since 2022. Commonwealth Rent Assistance increased 45% since May 2022 through consecutive rises, benefiting nearly one million households.
Tax reform delivered cuts from July 2024, with the 19% rate dropping to 16% for incomes between $18,200 and $45,000, and the 32.5% rate reducing to 30% for incomes to $135,000. A person earning $40,000 receives $654 annually, whilst someone on $75,000 gets $1,554. All 6.5 million women taxpayers received cuts averaging $1,650. Two further legislated tax cuts apply from 1 July 2026 and 1 July 2027, lowering the 16% rate to 15% then to 14%. The 2026-27 Budget added the new $250 Working Australians Tax Offset from 2027-28 and a $1,000 instant tax deduction from 2026-27, lifting the combined benefit for an Australian worker on average earnings to up to $2,816 per year by 2027-28.
Childcare subsidies increased in July 2023, setting maximum subsidy to 90% for families earning $80,000 or less. The Three Day Guarantee, legislated for January 2026, removes the activity test for the first three days of care, guaranteeing 72 hours of subsidised care per fortnight regardless of work requirements, benefiting approximately 66,700 families initially.
Integrity: Delivering Long-Promised Reform
The government's flagship achievement was establishing the National Anti-Corruption Commission, which began operations on 1 July 2023. As of August 2025, the commission is conducting 37 preliminary investigations and 37 corruption investigations, with 10 convictions secured since commencement.
In October 2024, the government replaced the Administrative Appeals Tribunal with the Administrative Review Tribunal following evidence the AAT had become heavily politicised. All former AAT members were required to reapply under the new merit-based process, with the new ART receiving additional funding of $206.5 million over four years to address backlogs.
Following the PwC tax leaks scandal, the government launched comprehensive reforms to tax integrity. Key measures included strengthening the Tax Practitioners Board's sanctions regime, providing $30 million in additional funding for compliance activities, and increasing maximum fines for tax exploitation from $7.8 million to $780 million.
Electoral reform legislation passed in November 2024 represents the most significant changes to political donations and campaign finance in over 40 years. The reforms introduce real-time disclosure of political donations, reduce the disclosure threshold from $16,900 to $1,000, establish a $20,000 annual cap on donations from any single donor, and impose spending caps of $90 million for parties and $800,000 per electorate.
The 2026-27 Budget also strengthened consumer protections and digital infrastructure. The ban on card payment surcharges, scheduled to take effect from 1 October 2026 following the RBA's Payments System Board Conclusions Paper of 31 March 2026, is estimated to save consumers $1.6 billion annually. Paired with reductions in interchange fees, total consumer savings are estimated at $2.5 billion per year. $654.3 million was committed to expand Digital ID, enabling safer identity verification and reducing the volume of personal data stored across government systems. A further $62 million was invested in the Consumer Data Right.
Foreign Policy: Balancing Competing Priorities
The government restored dialogue with Beijing whilst deepening US security cooperation, demonstrating these objectives need not conflict. Relations with China stabilised through the first prime ministerial meeting with President Xi since 2016 at the November 2022 G20 summit. Trade restrictions lifted progressively across barley, timber, coal, and wine, with wine exports to China recovering from $14 million in 2023 to $877 million in 2024, contributing to record bilateral trade of $312 billion.
The US alliance advanced through the AUKUS submarine pathway, with Congressional authorisation in December 2023 for three to five Virginia-class submarines from the early 2030s. Domestic missile manufacturing commenced in December 2025 at Port Wakefield, South Australia, producing Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems with capacity for 4,000 rounds annually from 2029.
Managing the Trump administration's return required strategic patience. After ten months without a bilateral meeting, the October 2025 White House visit secured an $8.5 billion critical minerals framework plus Trump's public commitment that AUKUS would proceed "full steam ahead".
Pacific engagement received record $2 billion annual development assistance, addressing regional priorities through the Pacific Engagement Visa (3,000 annual places), expanded Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme, and a $1.4 billion security package.
The 2026 National Defence Strategy, released alongside the 2026-27 Budget, committed an additional $53 billion to defence over the next ten years, lifting projected defence spending to around 3% of GDP by 2033-34 under a revised definition of defence expenditure. Total Commonwealth defence expenditure over the decade is projected at $887 billion, with the Integrated Investment Program allocating $425 billion of that to new and accelerated capability. Major allocations include up to $130 billion for enhanced undersea warfare capabilities (anchored by the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarines), up to $77 billion for the surface combatant fleet including the upgraded Japanese Mogami class frigates and Hunter class anti-submarine frigates, up to $15 billion for autonomous and uncrewed systems including the Australian-built MQ-28 Ghost Bat, and an initial $12 billion to establish the Henderson Defence Precinct in Western Australia as a centre of excellence for naval shipbuilding and sustainment. A further $600 million was committed to enhanced defence cooperation in the Indo-Pacific. To partly offset the new investment, around $10 billion will be redirected from existing programs over the decade, including the early retirement of the RAAF's fleet of 10 Leonardo C-27J Spartan tactical transport aircraft.