2024 Commonwealth Budget Analysis and Living Standard Trends in Australia

Abstract

The major household financial measures in the 2024 Commonwealth Budget are modelled using the ANU PolicyMod model of the Australian tax and welfare system. Results provide average household financial impacts across different income and financial wellbeing levels. The policy settings for the latest budget are also compared with those just prior to the election of Labor in 2022 to better understand the distributional impact of the new Labor government. To better understand ‘cost of living pressures’ financial living standard trends are provided for 26 different household types since just prior to COVID up to December 2023 and projections provided based on budget assumptions up to December 2024. The Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee (EIAC) provided 22 recommendations to government in the lead up to the budget and the paper estimates the impact that selected measures would have on the finances of a range of households and different regions around the country.