Whilst not directly impacting small business, employers will benefit from an increase in the skilled migration program for the remainder of this financial year. To ease labour capacity constraints, total permanent migrant capacity has been increased by 35,000 for FY2023 to a total of 195,000, of which 90% of places are reserved for skilled migrants.

Additionally, the Labor government has reaffirmed the Coalition’s policy to relax work restrictions for student and secondary training visa holders until 30 June 2023 to further loosen the labour market.

Again not directly relating to small business, the Budget spends close to $1 billion over the next five years on measures to increase the number of fully-funded TAFE and vocational education places in industries and regions with skills shortages. This is a longer-term fix to the skills shortage than the abovementioned skilled migration program, but over time will increase the pool of skilled labour for employers to draw on.

$62.6 million will be provided to small and medium enterprise over the next three years to fund facility upgrades to improve energy efficiency, reduce emissions and improve management of power demand. It is a nice carrot to give business to improve their energy systems, but is a paltry amount considering the ~2.4 million small and medium business across Australia.

An additional $166.2 million over four years will be provided to consolidate over 30 business registers under the Modernising Business Registers initiative. This is a continuation of the existing program that has already cost $230 million to July 2022.

A 2021 measure that allowed business to self-assess the effective life of intangible assets for depreciation purposes has been axed. The reversal will mean depreciation factors will continue to be set by statute, reducing flexibility for business to manage their tax.

As partners in your investment journey, we monitor, examine and navigate change. The Federal Budget is one such factor in our highly considered investment strategy and wealth management process.

This article is one part of our 2022-23 Budget series. To read more of our Budget commentary, click the links below:

• Economic and Fiscal Implications

• Individuals and Families

For more information on our approach to wealth and investment management, please contact us on +613 9655 5000.