New federal laws

People engaged in national security work, foreign intelligence activities, and espionage offences face changes to criminal definitions and investigative powers.

21 May 2024·In force

People and organisations subject to Australian sanctions can be affected by faster government processes to impose or change trade restrictions.

8 Apr 2024·In force

People who work in defence or handle classified information face stricter penalties for unauthorised disclosure of military secrets.

8 Apr 2024·In force

Companies and individuals involved in exporting defence and military-related goods or technology face changed regulatory requirements and controls.

8 Apr 2024·In force

Foreign buyers of Australian assets pay new or higher application fees to the Foreign Investment Review Board.

8 Apr 2024·In force

Foreign investors and Australian businesses seeking foreign investment face changed rules on which deals need government approval and on what grounds.

Makes clear that Australia's international tax agreements do not override Commonwealth, state or territory laws imposing taxes that fall outside the definition of Australian tax, unless those laws expressly say otherwise.

8 Apr 2024·In force

Large multinational companies operating in Australia face changes to how their tax is calculated and reported.

Amends corporations and tax law dealing with how multinational groups disclose their subsidiaries in financial reports, and with thin capitalisation rules limiting debt-related tax deductions.

8 Apr 2024·In force

Consumers and small businesses are affected by changes to competition laws, consumer protections, and rules on unfair contract terms and misleading conduct.

Creates a scheme letting approved consumer and small business advocacy groups lodge 'designated complaints' with the ACCC about significant or systemic market problems. The ACCC must assess each one and respond publicly within 90 days.

8 Apr 2024·In force

Community television broadcasters and their audiences gain clearer rules about licensing, funding, and technical standards for non-commercial local television services.

8 Apr 2024·In force

Vocational education and training providers and students are affected by changes to quality oversight and integrity requirements in the VET system.

28 Mar 2024·In force

Researchers and universities receiving Australian Research Council funding face changes to grant assessment, reporting, or funding rules.

28 Mar 2024·In force

People who experienced child sexual abuse in institutions can access changes to how the redress scheme assesses their claims and payments.

28 Mar 2024·In force

Parents taking paid parental leave receive different payment rates or eligibility conditions.

Increases paid parental leave from 100 days to 110 for children born from July 2024, 120 from July 2025 and 130 from July 2026, and raises the days both parents can take at once from 10 to 20.

20 Mar 2024·In force

People departing Australia by air or sea will pay a different passenger movement charge.

8 Mar 2024·In force

Australian businesses and individuals operating overseas face new criminal offences and penalties for bribing foreign officials.

8 Mar 2024·In force

People paying the Medicare levy will see changes to how much they contribute to fund the health system.

Raises the income thresholds below which people pay no Medicare levy — the individual threshold from $24,276 to $26,000 and the family threshold from $40,939 to $43,846 — starting with the 2023-24 income year.

5 Mar 2024·In force

People who pay income tax receive changes to tax rates, offsets, or thresholds affecting their take-home pay.

Replaces the personal income tax rate tables from the 2024-25 year: 16% up to $45,000, 30% to $135,000, 37% to $190,000 and 45% above, with matching changes for non-residents and working holiday makers.

5 Mar 2024·In force

Employees and employers in private businesses face changes to casual employment rules, minimum entitlements, and bargaining arrangements.

Redefines casual employment around the real substance of the working relationship, creates a right to disconnect outside working hours, sets minimum standards for gig economy and road transport workers, and raises penalties for underpaying staff.

26 Feb 2024·In force

Employers sponsoring migrant workers face stricter compliance obligations and potential penalties for breaches of employment standards.

20 Feb 2024·In force

People accessing Australian government services, banks, and telcos will need to verify their identity using approved digital methods.

Puts Australia's identity matching services on a statutory footing — document verification, face verification and identification, and a national database of state driver licence images. Requests must come through privacy agreements, and unauthorised access by departmental staff is an offence.

14 Dec 2023·In force

Landholders and environmental managers can enter voluntary agreements to restore ecosystems, with eligibility for funding and tax incentives for nature repair work.

14 Dec 2023·In force

Employees and employers face changes to unfair dismissal rules, casual work protections, and bargaining rights in the workplace.

Requires labour hire workers to be paid at least the host employer's enterprise agreement rate, makes deliberate wage theft a criminal offence, creates an industrial manslaughter offence in Commonwealth work health and safety law, and adds a PTSD presumption for first responders.

14 Dec 2023·In force

People who smoke or use tobacco and vaping products face new restrictions on sales, packaging, flavours, and advertising.

Consolidates Australia's tobacco laws into a single Act and extends them to e-cigarettes: bans advertising and sponsorship, sets plain packaging and product standards, permanently bans some products, and requires companies to report ingredients, sales volumes and marketing spend.

14 Dec 2023·In force

People who display certain symbols can face criminal penalties, and the definition of terrorist offences is widened.

Makes it an offence punishable by up to 12 months' imprisonment to publicly display Nazi symbols or terrorist organisation symbols, or to perform the Nazi salute, with defences for religious, academic, artistic, journalistic and law enforcement purposes. Trading in such goods is also banned.

11 Dec 2023·In force

People who gamble online or use credit to gamble face new restrictions on how they can pay and how much they can lose.

11 Dec 2023·In force

People who farm using irrigation, households drawing river water, and industries relying on river supplies face changes to water allocation rules.

Requires the Minister to recover an extra 450 gigalitres of environmental water for the Murray-Darling by the end of 2027 and removes the cap on water buybacks. Adds Indigenous considerations to Basin planning, and insider trading and market manipulation rules to water markets.

7 Dec 2023·In force

People seeking visas, serious offenders in immigration proceedings, and visa holders face changes to bridging visa rules and removal processes.

Creates offences carrying up to five years' imprisonment for people on removal-pending bridging visas who breach conditions such as working with children, approaching schools, or contacting victims, and allows courts to make community safety detention or supervision orders.

7 Dec 2023·In force

Australian citizens can now formally renounce their citizenship, and the government can cancel citizenship of people who fight for hostile foreign forces.

Moves the power to strip Australian citizenship from the Minister to the courts. A court may order it when sentencing someone to at least three years for terrorism, treason, espionage or similar offences, and cannot do so if it would leave them stateless.

7 Dec 2023·In force

Exporters of live animals must comply with animal welfare requirements set by an inspector with new powers to enforce standards.

4 Dec 2023·In force

People with disability and providers of disability support services face changes to how services are funded, planned, and delivered.

Sets up the framework for Commonwealth funding of disability supports outside the NDIS. Funded providers must follow a code of conduct, hold compliance certificates for regulated activities, and run complaints and incident management systems.

4 Dec 2023·In force

This Act makes transitional arrangements and technical changes following the establishment of the Administrative Review Tribunal.

31 May 2024·In force·Routine legislation

30 May 2024·In force·Routine legislation

30 May 2024·In force·Routine legislation

30 May 2024·In force·Routine legislation

30 May 2024·In force·Routine legislation

This Act authorises government spending from the Australian Treasury for the 2023-2024 financial year.

8 Apr 2024·Repealed·Routine legislation

The title doesn't say who this affects; it appears to be a machinery amendment to incorporate customs tariff proposals into legislation.

8 Apr 2024·In force·Routine legislation

This Act funds the operations of Parliament's administrative departments for the 2023–24 financial year.

8 Apr 2024·Repealed·Routine legislation

This Act allocates federal money to government departments and agencies for specified purposes during the 2023–24 financial year.

8 Apr 2024·Repealed·Routine legislation

The title doesn't say who this affects; technical amendments typically correct definitions or administrative processes rather than change policy.

28 Mar 2024·In force·Routine legislation

This Act makes technical changes to other laws to align them with the Nature Repair Market Act 2023.

14 Dec 2023·In force·Routine legislation

This Act makes supporting changes to other laws and provides transitional rules to align with the main tobacco regulation legislation.

14 Dec 2023·In force·Routine legislation

This Act makes drafting changes to other laws to align with the new identity verification system.

14 Dec 2023·In force·Routine legislation

The title doesn't say who this affects; it appears to concern administrative arrangements for Infrastructure Australia's operations.

14 Dec 2023·In force·Routine legislation

8 Dec 2023·In force·Routine legislation