What's in the Federal Budget for the federal capital? Not much

The ACT’s unique role as the home of the national capital is recognised in the Federal Budget with specific funding not available to other jurisdictions, which is on top of its GST allocation and forms part of its general payments from the Federal Government.

Yet, except for a Monaro Highway upgrade, long-awaited big funding announcements were nowhere to be found in this budget, leading to speculation the upcoming election campaign will throw up more of what the Federal Government will do to help boost the capital’s infrastructure.

In 2025-26, the Australian Government will provide the ACT with $1,636 million in payments for other specific purposes, $2,064 million in GST-related payments and an extra $46.3 million in general revenue assistance to ACT Municipal Services.

This last payment is to assist in meeting the additional municipal costs that arise from Canberra’s role as the national capital.

The payments also compensate the ACT for additional costs resulting from the national capital planning influences on the provision of water and sewerage services.

As with the GST, other general revenue assistance that is provided to any of the states and territories comes without conditions for them to spend according to their own budget priorities.

Murray-Darling Basin jurisdictions, of which the ACT is one, also get funding for new and ongoing activities required to implement water reform associated with the Basin Plan.

The ACT’s share from the budget is $2.6 million.

The budget also gives the ACT an extra $7.6 million for activities aimed at improving the health of the upper Murrumbidgee River.

This includes projects that will address the decline in river health, and science and monitoring activities.

The budget also confirms the previously announced $50 million Federal Government commitment to help upgrade the Monaro Highway in the ACT.

Kristy McBain, Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories, said the investment came from the budget’s overall $17.1 billion for new and existing road and rail infrastructure projects around the country through the Infrastructure Investment Program.

“The government is investing in nationally significant infrastructure that creates jobs and economic opportunity, improves productivity and drives efficiency,” she said.

“Funding has also increased substantially so that the Roads to Recovery Program will progressively rise to $1 billion per year, and Black Spot Program funding will reach $150 million per year.

“At least $200 million is also available each year under the new Safer Local Roads and Infrastructure program, to address current and emerging priorities in road infrastructure.”

As part of the budget’s priorities for improving transport, it is also providing $32.7 million in 2025- 26 to support ongoing safety and regulatory services provided by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority.

On housing, this budget aims to make it easier for first home buyers to get into the market.

The previously announced income and price cap expansions for the Help to Buy scheme will enable more first home buyers to be eligible to purchase a home with a lower deposit and a smaller mortgage.

The Help to Buy scheme will be boosted by increasing income caps from $90,000 to $100,000 for individuals and from $120,000 to $160,000 for joint applicants and single parents.

Property price caps will also be increased and linked with the average house price in each state and territory, so first home buyers have more choice.

Help to Buy applications will open later this year and the new property price cap for the ACT will be one million dollars.

Help to Buy will support 40,000 working Australians to buy a home of their own, with the Commonwealth contributing up to 40 per cent of the purchase price through a shared equity loan.

The Federal Government will also lead a national effort to speed up housing construction with a targeted investment of $54 million in advanced manufacturing of prefabricated and modular home construction.

Housing Minister Clare O’Neil said the two initiatives meant faster construction and expanded home ownership support around the nation.

“We’re tackling the housing crisis head-on by building more homes, using new technologies, and making it easier for Australians to buy them,” she said.

“This budget lifts our commitments in housing to $33 billion, and there’s more to come.

“We’ve got a big goal to build 1.2 million new homes in five years and to reach that we need to build homes in new ways, using methods like prefab we can build homes up to 50 per cent faster.

“I’ve got a pretty straight-forward goal here – to make sure that ordinary, working class Australians can buy a home of their own.

“That’s why we’re expanding Help to Buy so that most first home buyers are eligible.”