The Federal Budget was handed down in Canberra last night.
Here are some of the quick points that matter to farmers, and rural and regional Australia.
► The small business $20,000 instant asset write-off has been extended for second year. More about the extension here.
► The Melbourne to Brisbane inland rail project is getting $8.4 billion. More about this funding here.
► The Roads to Recovery program gets $4.4 billion
► $4 billion is set for the Regional Investment Corporation
► The Regional Growth Fund gets $472 million
► And $9 million has been allocated for Medicare rebate for rural and remote teleconferencing.
National Farmers Federation president Fiona Simson said “this is a very good budget for agriculture and a very good budget for rural and regional Australia”. Read more here.
But she has warned the federal government must heed the hard lessons of failed community consultation from the early days of Coal Seam Gas (CSG) mining, when drilling down into the nitty gritty details of the inland rail’s construction and buying out existing farmland. Read more here.
If you’d like to know more about what it means for families, education, and more. Click here.
And if you are just after something a bit lighter, try this budget quiz: