Your top budget questions answered:Our experts explain the details

Your top budget questions answered:Our experts explain the details

From energy prices to housing affordability,here’s what you wanted to know about the federal budget.

  • byRoss Gittins andRachel Clun

Latest

Qld the boom state,with more than 20,000 to cross the border annually

Qld the boom state,with more than 20,000 to cross the border annually

The state is set to grow faster than previously thought,surpassing 5.5 million residents within a year,the federal budget shows.

  • byMatt Dennien
How the new Medicare bulk-billing incentives will work

How the new Medicare bulk-billing incentives will work

The change will apply to about 11.6 million children,concession cardholders and pensioners,but Health Minister Mark Butler expects GPs to lower gap fees for others.

  • byNatassia Chrysanthos
Huge boost to Medicare drives budget’s cost-of-living measures

Huge boost to Medicare drives budget’s cost-of-living measures

A spending splurge will cost $24 billion over five years across more than a dozen initiatives despite the government’s rhetoric about the need for restraint.

  • byDavid Crowe
Health bosses sound out real estate agents to help house doctors

Health bosses sound out real estate agents to help house doctors

The unorthodox effort to find housing for doctors was revealed after Queensland’s health minister outlined a 10-year vision to shift the focus “from illness to wellness”.

  • byMatt Dennien
Tobacco tax increase to raise $3.3b,more health spending in budget

Tobacco tax increase to raise $3.3b,more health spending in budget

An average cigarette packet will cost about $10 more within four years and all GPs will be able to prescribe vapes under new measures to break nicotine addictions.

  • byNatassia Chrysanthos
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Panting,Carolyn thought she needed the gym. What she needed was heart surgery

Panting,Carolyn thought she needed the gym. What she needed was heart surgery

Her family joked when she couldn’t carry her own backpack while hiking. Soon afterwards her husband was watching her through the night,afraid he would lose her.

  • byHolly Thompson
‘Significant turning point for Medicare’:Albanese pledges $2.2 billion for overhaul
Updated
Healthcare

‘Significant turning point for Medicare’:Albanese pledges $2.2 billion for overhaul

By the end of the year,Australians will be able to register as ongoing patients with their GP through a new system that will unlock extra funding.

  • byNatassia Chrysanthos
Strained health system,infrastructure blowouts on national cabinet agenda

Strained health system,infrastructure blowouts on national cabinet agenda

State and federal leaders will discuss measures to revive primary care and relieve pressures on state hospital emergency departments.

  • byNatassia Chrysanthos andPaul Sakkal
Voters back Medicare fix as bulk-billing rate falls

Voters back Medicare fix as bulk-billing rate falls

Australians have backed the case for tougher controls on the universal health insurance scheme to control costs,but only 8 per cent are willing to accept a larger “gap” fee.

  • byDavid Crowe
Pay for therapy or rent? The heartbreaking mental health choice faced by Emily’s clients

Pay for therapy or rent? The heartbreaking mental health choice faced by Emily’s clients

Provisional psychologist Emily Radford says some people are having to space out their sessions by weeks or months because of the cost.

  • byNatassia Chrysanthos