There is a tendency for laws, rules, regulations and obligations to change or take effect from July 1 (aka the financial New Year) in Australia. So what is changing on July 1 this year?
The Daily Telegraph have published an article detailing the variety of changes that will be taking place from Sunday onwards. These changes revolve around many business and work related issues such as: the minimum wage increase, an increase in road tolls, a decrease in power prices, a decrease in parking fine costs, mandatory single touch payroll, and Opal fare increases.
Earlier this month, the Fair Work Commission announced a 3.5 percent increase to the national minimum wage. The new national minimum wage will be $719.20 per week or $18.93 per hour. The increase applies from the first full pay period starting on or after 1 July.
Road tolls will increase in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane by up to nine cents, while power prices are set to drop due to Origin Energy and AGL announcing a modest decrease in their prices ranging from 0.2 to 4 percent depending on location.
Motorists in NSW will benefit from a decrease in parking fine costs with the 10 most common parking fines to be slashed by 25 percent. The changes affect areas around Barangaroo, the Sydney foreshore, the Botanic Gardens, Centennial Park, Sydney Olympic Park, and Wentworth and Parramatta parks. The 10 fines to be slashed will include: parking longer than permitted, parking without ticket displayed, parking after ticket expired, standing vehicle in area longer than allowed, stop in restricted parking area, parking after meter expired, not stand vehicle in marked parking space, remain in ticket-operated loading zone after ticket expired, parking without current loading zone ticket, and parking without paying meter fee.
In regards to mandatory single touch payroll, employers with 20 or more employees will be required to report payments (salaries, wages, PAYG withholding and superannuation) directly from their payroll or accounting software. According to the article, this gives the ATO near real-time visibility of an employee’s wage and super payments, which will prevent wage and super theft.
Opal fares will be increasing by 2.2 percent from July 2.
Other changes coming into effect on Sunday include: penalty rate cuts in the fast food, hospitality, retail and pharmacy sectors, a ban on single use plastic bags in supermarkets, glasses no longer being allowed in passport photos, online shopping taxes, downsizing contributions, comprehensive credit reporting becoming mandatory, tax reliefs due to a tax bracket increase, changes to family payments, and country of origin food labelling.
The Daily Telegraph’s article can be read here.
Image via Pixabay.