As Aussies prepare to ring in the New Year, another raft of changes are being implemented across the country from January 1.<\/p>\n
SkyNews.com.au has pulled together a list of everything you need to know ahead of the calendar change this week, as well as new rules affecting individual states.<\/p>\n
PBS scripts<\/p>\n
From January 1, the maximum cost of a Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) prescription will fall from $31.60 to $25 for people without a Commonwealth concession card.<\/p>\n
An Australian who previously paid $31.60 per prescription a month for their regular medicine will save $79.20 a year.<\/p>\n
Pensioners and concession cardholders will have their PBS-listed medicine prices frozen at $7.70 until 2029.<\/p>\n
New medicines listed on the PBS will make it cheaper for women to access oral contraception, and medicines for menopause, endometriosis, and breast cancer.<\/p>\n
Help with kids’ dental costs<\/p>\n
The Child Dental Benefits Schedule will cover even more dental costs for eligible children and their families.<\/p>\n
The government program can cover part or all of the cost of basic dental services for eligible children aged 17 or under.<\/p>\n
This can cover over $1,158 every two years, an increase of $26 from 1 January 2026. This could be over $9800 in coverage by the time they turn 17.<\/p>\n
Centrelink<\/p>\n
More than a million Australians receiving youth, student and carer support will see their payment rate rise thanks to a new round of indexation.<\/p>\n
The amount the payment increases depends on your circumstances. For instance, Youth Allowance recipients who are single and have dependent children will see a payment increase of $17.60 to a maximum rate of $863.40 a fortnight (including Energy Supplement).<\/p>\n
Carer Allowance will also increase by $3.30 – benefiting around 680,000 carers and taking the rate to $162.60 a fortnight.<\/p>\n
Austudy and Youth Disability Support Pension will also rise by up to $17.60 and $17.20 a fortnight, respectively.<\/p>\n
Child Care Subsidy – 3 Day Guarantee<\/p>\n
From January 5 2026, the Child Care Subsidy activity test will be replaced, giving Child Care Subsidy eligible families at least 3 days of subsidised child care a week, no matter how much time they spend in recognised participation, like work or study.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re already getting Child Care Subsidy, you don\u2019t need to do anything. Services Australia will apply the updates.<\/p>\n
Paying with cash<\/p>\n
Next year, new regulations will require fuel and grocery retailers to accept cash as a method of payment between 7am and 9pm.<\/p>\n
The rules, which have now been finalised, require in-person transactions of $500 or less to be accepted in cash at fuel and grocery outlets.<\/p>\n
Passport fees<\/p>\n
For a 10-year adult passport, the current cost is $412 for individuals aged 16 and over.<\/p>\n
But this will rise in 2026 to $422, in line with adjustments to the Consumer Price Index.<\/p>\n
State-by-state breakdown of changesNew South Wales Toll price increase<\/p>\n
On January 1, tolls for NSW roads, including the Cross City Tunnel, Eastern Distributor, Hills M2, M5 South-West, Lane Cove Tunnel, Military Road E-Ramp, NorthConnex and Westlink M7 will rise.<\/p>\n
Travellers on the Eastern Distributor will face the highest charge – $10.26.<\/p>\n
For passenger vehicles on the Hills M2, the minimum toll is $3.07 and the maximum is $10.40.<\/p>\n
On Lane Cove Tunnel, it is $4.22, and on Military Road E-Ramp the toll is $2.11.<\/p>\n
Travellers on the M5 South West face a toll of $5.95, while the minimum and maximum is $3.43 and $7.27 at Cross Tunnel respectively.<\/p>\n
VictoriaPublic transport fares<\/p>\n
On January 1, the daily full fare cap will increase to $11.40 or $5.70 for a concession. On weekends or public holidays, daily fares will also increase to $8.00 or $4.00 for concessions.<\/p>\n
The increase will add 40 cents to the full daily fare for Zone 1, Zone 1+2 metropolitan fares, and the regional fare cap.<\/p>\n
Under 18s will also travel free on all public transport with a Youth myki.<\/p>\n
Congestion levy<\/p>\n
The congestion levy is an annual charge on off-street parking spaces.<\/p>\n
It applies to public and private car parks in busy parts of inner Melbourne.<\/p>\n
Victoria’s congestion levy will see changes from January 1:<\/p>\n
Category 1 area: $3,030 per space Category 2 area: $2,150 per space QueenslandToll price increase<\/p>\n
Tolls for travel on AirportlinkM7 in Brisbane will increase in line with indexation from January 1, 2026.<\/p>\n
The highest minimum toll point for class 1 vehicles at Bowen Hills – Kedron, and Bowen Hills – Toombul is $3.58.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For Kedron to Toombul, the toll point is $2.69 for class 1 vehicles.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Toll prices on other toll roads in Brisbane remain the same until June 30 2026, and the class of your vehicle determines the tolls you pay.<\/p>\n
Western Australia<\/p>\n
The Western Australian government will slash public transport fares across Western Australia from January 1 2026, with fares as cheap as they were in the 1980s.<\/p>\n
The Transperth and Transregional fare zone structure will be overhauled with the introduction of the Go Anywhere Fare.<\/p>\n
Under the new structure, passengers will be able to travel anywhere on the network for as little as $2.80 per trip when using a SmartRider with Autoload, or $3.50 if paying with a credit or debit card.<\/p>\n
DayRider and FamilyRider fares will also be reduced to $7.<\/p>\n
South AustraliaRenting<\/p>\n
Residential landlords and agents must use South Australia\u2019s new standard rental application to consider future tenants from January 1, 2026.<\/p>\n
A separate application will need to be filled out by each prospective tenant to be listed on the resulting lease, and they can now indicate a preferred duration of any tenancy.<\/p>\n
Higher education<\/p>\n
Adelaide University, an amalgamation of the University of Adelaide and University of South Australia, is slated to commence operations from January 1.<\/p>\n
Tasmania<\/p>\n
Tasmania has extended half-price public transport fares, including adult, concession, urban, non-urban, and child\/student fares.<\/p>\n
This initiative was scheduled to end on June 30, 2025, but the policy has been extended by 12 months.<\/p>\n
Northern Territory<\/p>\n
There is no fee increase to light vehicle registrations until June 30, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Aussies prepare to ring in the New Year, another raft of changes are being implemented across the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379559,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,29080,44],"class_list":{"0":"post-379558","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-centrelink","11":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}