Minimum wage increase and 5% home deposits: All the new laws coming into effect on July 1.

From today, July 1, Australians will see a raft of changes, both related to the coronavirus pandemic and not. 

As the new financial year begins, the government continues to put in measures to mitigate the ramifications of the recession. 

Here's what you need to know about the new laws and schemes. 

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First Home Loan Deposit Scheme

The First Home Loan Deposit Scheme began at the start of the year, and allows first home buyers to purchase a property with a five per cent deposit, and without the need to pay lenders mortgage insurance. 

July 1 marks the next release of 10,000 scheme places opening up via participating lenders.  

The government says the scheme could save first home buyers up to $10,000.

Early access to superannuation

The government will allow those financially affected by COVID-19 to access some of their superannuation early from July 1, 2020, until September 24, 2020. 

This is available to eligible citizens and permanent residents of Australia and New Zealand. Temporary residents cannot apply. 

The government says you will not need to pay tax on amounts released under the COVID-19 early release. 

Increase to minimum wage

The national minimum wage will rise by 1.75 per cent, making it $19.84 per hour, from July 1.

The implementation of the increased minimum wage will be staggered, with frontline healthcare workers, early childhood educators, social assistance workers and teachers receiving the increase from July 1. 

Workers in construction and manufacturing will receive the increase from September 1, while retail, tourism, arts and other industries - those hardest hit by COVID-19 - will see the increase come into effect from February 1, 2021. 

No more free child-care

From July 13, the government will stop the free childcare package that was introduced in early April in response to the alarming rate of families un-enrolling their children from child care.

This will stop in two weeks.

From July 20, early childhood educators will also stop receiving JobKeeper, with the government instead providing a $708 million transition package to the childcare industry. 

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Working from home expenses

The Australian Tax Office's temporary shortcut method which offered an easy way to claim working-from-home expenses will stop as of July 1. 

The temporary measure allowed people to claim a rate of 80 cents per hour for all their running expenses, instead of calculating costs for specific running expenses as taxpayers would under normal circumstances.

Australians still working from home from July 1 will return to the previous method to calculate running expenses.

The tax office will, however, keep an eye on the coronavirus situation and decide if it should continue into the next financial year. No announcement has yet been made. 

New Chemicals Act

From July 1, the Industrial Chemicals Act 2019 will come into effect. This will be a new scheme tor regulate the importation and manufacturing of industrial chemicals in Australia.

It will also ban new animal test data using industrial chemicals that are used exclusively for cosmetics. 

Welfare recipients eligible for 50 per cent discount on fines

From July 1, NSW residents who are receiving Centrelink payments can apply for their fines to be cut in half to help with financial difficulty in light of the pandemic. 

The new rule applies to fines collected by Revenue NSW, including speeding and parking fines, as well as police-issued infringements for fines such as disorderly conduct. Court-issued fines, on the other hand, are not included. 

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