Budget Savings (Omnibus) Act 2016

☀️ Renewable energy funding

• Schedule 5: The funding available to the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) — the body that funds clean energy projects — was reduced for the years 2017 to 2022.

🏥 Private health insurance

• Schedule 6: The freeze on the income thresholds that determine how much the government subsidises your private health insurance (the Medicare Levy Surcharge and private health insurance rebate thresholds) was extended from 2017-18 through to 2020-21. In plain terms: if you earn above a certain income and don't have private hospital cover, you pay a surcharge — that income cut-off wasn't going up, so more people effectively fell into paying it over time.

🏛️ Health bureaucracy

• Schedule 7: The National Health Performance Authority (NHPA) — the body that monitored and reported on hospital and health service performance — was abolished. Its assets, staff records, and responsibilities were transferred to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).

🧓 Aged care providers

• Schedule 8: Changes were made to how aged care facilities classify residents' care needs (which determines how much government funding they receive). New civil penalties (financial fines) were introduced for providers who incorrectly classify residents — for example, claiming a resident needs more care than they actually do. The government also gained new powers to require aged care providers to reassess residents if their care needs appear to have decreased.

The big picture

This Act cuts costs for the government across multiple sectors simultaneously. The people most directly affected are:

• University graduates (especially lower-income earners who now repay sooner)
• Young unemployed people who lost access to the job commitment bonus
• Aged care residents and providers
• Taxpayers generally, through changes to health agency structures and renewable energy funding

Many of the changes took effect on different dates between 2016 and 2018.