• The federal government has released the Budget, delayed for five months due to the coronavirus pandemic.
• Coming in the midst of a recession, it outlines the government’s strategy for getting the economy growing again and creating jobs.
• These are its biggest measures of a Budget that will blow out the national debt to $966 billion in June 2024
• Visit Business Insider Australia’s homepage for more stories.

Australia has finally got a glimpse of what the next stage of the coronavirus recovery will look like.

Handing down the Federal Budget five months after it was initially scheduled, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg acknowledged just how hard the last few months have been and how critical the next ones are going to be.

“Lives have been lost, businesses have closed, jobs have gone. Our cherished way of life has been put on hold,” Frydenberg said in his Budget address.

“Our economy has been hit and hit hard in the space of just one month. In the space of just one month, more than one million Australians have lost their job or saw their working hours reduced to zero.”

It set the tone for a Budget that says it will prioritise job creation above all else.

“They say unemployment goes up the elevator and comes down the stairs,” Frydenberg said on Tuesday.

“In the 1980s it took six years to get unemployment back below 6% from where it started, in the 1990s it took 10 years. We want to move faster than that.”

Facing an economic recession not seen since the Great Depression, the Morrison government has called it the most important Budget since World War II.

“COVID-19 will see our deficit reach $213.7 billion this year, falling to $66.9 billion by 2023-24. Net debt will increase to $703 billion or 36% of GDP this year and peak at $966 billion or 44% of GDP in June 2024,” Frydenberg said.

“This is a heavy burden but a necessary one to responsibly deal with the greatest challenge of our time.”

But to save you going through hundreds of pages, these are the biggest takeaways as we find them.

Tax cuts worth up to $2,500

Most Australian workers will receive $1,000 or more as stage two tax cuts are backdated to July 1, 2020, meaning they’ll start to be taxed less in the coming months — that’s pending the changes pass of course.

“If you’re earning $120,000 a year, it works out to be about $64 extra a week you’re now getting in your pay, which is enough for people to notice it,” H&R Block director of tax communications Mark Chapman told Business Insider Australia.

“It’s obviously a bit less for lower-income earners but it’s better than nothing and hopefully it encourages people to go out and spend a little bit more.”

Bringing forward those cuts to one year will cost the bottom line $12 billion. Australians could see the extra money showing up in their pay within months.

$500 cash bonuses

A select group of welfare recipients will receive two payments of $250, with the first to come in December and the second in March.

Recipients will be those already collecting the age pension, disability support pension, carer payment or allowance, Commonwealth seniors health card, as well as holders of the pensioner concession card or veteran card, among others.

JobMaker wage subsidy for young workers

Businesses will be given an extra incentive to hire the young and unemployed. Those that give a job to someone under 35 years of age and on welfare will receive a wage subsidy.

For those employees aged 16 to 29 years, businesses will receive $200 a week for up to 12 months. For 30 to 35-year-olds, they’ll receive $100.

To be eligible, new workers must complete more than 20 hours per week, but interestingly, the major banks will be explicitly excluded.

The government projects 450,000 jobs will be supported at a cost of $4 billion, while the government’s cornerstone JobKeeper program gets scaled back.

It comes as youth unemployment remains much higher than other demographics, and the government prioritises job creation over job retention.

Apprentice subsidies

In a similar vein, 100,000 apprentices will have half their wages subsidised up to $28,000 a year.

Costing $1.2 billion over the next 12 months, it’s a cornerstone of the government’s policy aimed at covering a severe skills shortage.

50,000 new short courses and $1 billion to universities

Speaking of skills, the government has unveiled the $1 billion JobTrainer fund to create as many as 340,000 training places for those leaving school or seeking work.

There’s $251 million worth of funding for 50,000 new higher education short courses in agriculture, health, IT, science and teaching.

The Treasurer also announced “12,000 new Commonwealth-supported places for higher education in 2021. 2,000 Indigenous students through the foundation to complete Year 12 and pursue further education or find employment.”

Universities meanwhile will be given $1 billion to fund research. A further $5.8 million will be spent on the “translation and commercialisation” of non-medical research, as the government looks to introduce campuses to the free-market. After its last round of cuts though, academics might be understandably shy.

The first home buyer scheme will double its intake

The program, under which the federal government guarantees loans for first home buyers, will now take in another 10,000 applicants per year.

Those approved can buy a home with just a 5% deposit without having to pay for mortgage insurance, thereby slightly lowering the overall cost of an eligible home.

A major NBN upgrade

As per an announcement a few weeks ago, the federal government is splashing $3.5 billion on upgrading the beleaguered national broadband network (NBN) to bring it up to speed.

$1.6 billion for aged care

After a horror year for aged care homes, the feds are throwing another $1.6 billion to support 23,000 extra home care places.

Considering that covers just a fraction of the outstanding demand, it’s a start at least.

$33.6 billion more for hospitals, $5.7 billion for mental health

Hospitals are understandably also getting a big funding injection to the tune of $33.6 billion extra over the next five years to “chart the road out” of the pandemic.

Mental health will get a $5.7 billion top-up as well, which includes doubling the number of psychology sessions Australians are eligible for, from 10 to 20.

CSIRO gets some love

The national science body will gladly accept $459 million which is a little more than half as much as the government has ripped out of the ABC in the last few years.

A whole lot of new infrastructure building

The federal government will spend more than $14 billion on new infrastructure, under a new program to be administered by the state governments.

It’s projected to support some 40,000 jobs across the country with major projects slated for each state.

Manufacturing will also nab a $1.3 billion support package.

Instant asset write off

Frydenberg also promised “the largest set of investment incentives any Australian Government has ever provided”.

On top of the wage subsidy, 99% of businesses will be able to write-off the full value of eligible assets.

The incentive will apply to basically all businesses with a turnover of less than $5 billion and be available until June 2022.

The premise is pretty simple. Offer a big enough carrot and the government hopes businesses can be encouraged to keep spending, to keep expanding, and to keep the economy on track.

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