Tampon tax out as 2019 kicks in

AUSTRALIANS will not pay a 10 per cent tax on their tampons and sanitary pads from today as a host of new laws come into effect across the nation.

Dozens of state and federal laws start today, including one which scraps the GST on feminine hygiene products which will cost an estimated $30 million a year.

Western Australia is set to join the national redress scheme for institutional child sex abuse and will also introduce a “no jab, no play” policy for unvaccinated children.

Children without their vaccines will be banned from school and child care centres during disease outbreaks – with principals and owners fined up to $1000 if they allow under-vaccinated children to enter their facility.

Meanwhile, the final stages of the National Disability Insurance Scheme will roll out across Queensland.

Once fully implemented, the NDIS will support about 91,000 people with disability in Queensland and about 460,000 people nationally.

In NSW, the government will be able to apply to the Supreme Court to withhold intelligence gathered on suspected terrorists from their legal representatives as part of wider anti-terror laws passed in parliament earlier in the year.

These measures also included allowing intelligence agencies to bug the jail cells of suspected terrorists.

Further south, the Victorian government is imposing an eight per cent point-of-consumption tax on gambling and will enforce tougher restrictions on livestock imported into the state.

Lambs and goats born interstate will need electronic ID tags when imported into Victoria from 2019.

In South Australia, businesses with wages of up to $1.5 million will no longer be liable for payroll tax.

The new year will also ring in changes to the country’s electoral funding laws, with a cap on how much cash political parties can receive from foreign donors.

Foreign donations will be restricted to $1000 from January 1 under laws that will also prohibit foreign governments and state-owners enterprises from making gifts worth $100 or more to political parties.

A free-trade agreement with China will see tariffs cut or abolished on Australian exports as of today.

Wine, seafood, most fruit and vegetables will no longer be hit with a tariff in China, federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said.

Changes to Australia’s copyright duration laws will also come into effect, with new standard terms of copyright protection to materials, including literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, sound recordings, films and Crown copyright materials.