Bigger welfare payments, more expensive passports, pay rises: All the changes in effect from January 1, 2025

January 1 doesn't just bring with it a new year and hangovers for revellers who enjoyed themselves a bit too much last night.

A host of changes have just come into effect around the country, including increased welfare payments, new laws, tax tweaks and pay rises.

These are the main ones you need to know about.

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Welfare payments rise

More than one million Australian welfare recipients are receiving a boost to their payments – including youth allowance, Abstudy and Austudy – from today, when the rates are indexed in line with inflation.

Payments will rise by 3.8 per cent, meaning youth allowance will jump from between $17.30 and $24.30 per fortnight and between $24.30 and $30.60 for single students, and carers will be given an extra $5.80 per fortnight.

Income tests will also rise, meaning people can earn slightly more and still qualify for the maximum payment.

It's important to note not all welfare payments are increasing today.

Some, like rent assistance, are indexed every March and September.

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Passports get more expensive

Australia already had one of the most expensive passports in the world, but it just got even pricier.

Every year, passport fees are indexed in line with inflation with this year's increase pushing the cost of a 10-year document up above $400.

A 10-year adult passport will now set you back $412, up from $398, while a five-year children's passport is $208, up from $201.

A replacement passport now costs $259, up from $250.

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Medicare safety net increases

The Medicare safety net has risen, as it always does, on January 1, pushing up the amount individuals and families need to pay before they are provided with increased public health subsidies.

The original safety net is increasing from $560 to $576, while the extended safety net has gone from $811 to $834 for concession card holders and from $2544 to $2615 for those without concession cards.

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Underpaying employees face hefty fines

Employers who deliberately underpay their staff face the prospect of significant criminal penalties under parts of the federal government's "closing loopholes" workplace legislation that comes into effect today.

The new laws criminalise wage theft, and businesses found to have done so face fines of up to $8.25 million or three times the amount of wages that were stolen, whichever is greater.

Individuals also face up to 10 years in prison and fines of whichever is greater out of $1.65 million or triple the value of the wage theft.

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Aged care workers get pay bump

Speaking of wages, aged care workers get more of them from today after the Fair Work Commission approved a pay rise of between 2.3 and 13.5 per cent in 2025.

The raise begins today, January 1, but some employees will receive it in two stages, with the second not kicking in until October.

There's also a long line of awards for which introductory level rules and minimum pay rates have changed, including airline ground staff, manufacturing, and architecture. You can find the full list here.

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Medicine costs frozen

One of the major changes for 2025 is actually something that is staying as it is.

Normally, prices for medicines listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme increase in line with inflation on January 1 each year.

However, under a 2024 federal budget announcement, that figure will be frozen for everyone for 2025, and a further four years on top of that for concession card holders.

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Other changes

There are a host of other changes that have just come into effect too.

Changes to student visa applications have taken place, and foreign capital gains withholding has undergone a bit of an overhaul: from today, foreign sellers of Australian property will lose 15 per cent of the sale price to the tax office, up from 12.5 per cent, and sales under $750,000 are no longer be exempt.

It is also now illegal to import engineered stone into the country, following a ban on the use of the product in June last year, and separately, large companies have to begin disclosing their climate change-related risks and opportunities.

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Then there are the changes coming into effect later in the year, too.

The alcohol excise will be re-indexed on February 3, with another rise in the price of a schooner on the cards.

A month later, the Reserve Bank's new dual-board structure will come into effect after new laws were passed last November, meaning a few new voices will be heard when interest rates are set.

And there will be the usual raft of changes on July 1 with the coming of the new financial year, including the superannuation guarantee rising from 11.5 to 12 per cent – the final in a string of five increases that began in 2021.

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