New federal laws

Tax advisers face new penalties and accountability rules, and some individuals claiming work-related deductions may face stricter scrutiny.

Lets the Tax Practitioners Board suspend tax and BAS agents, including 90-day interim suspensions, adds criminal offences and higher civil penalties for unregistered or non-compliant agents, and changes foreign resident capital gains tax rules, merger notification rules and deductible gift recipient listings.

15 Sept 2026·In force

Social media companies face new enforcement powers and penalties, and people under a certain age face restrictions on accessing social media platforms.

Doubles maximum penalties (from 30,000 to 60,000 penalty units) for breaches of the social media minimum age rules, and lets the eSafety Commissioner summon people to private examinations on oath, with gaol or fines for refusing to answer.

11 Sept 2026·In force

People who buy, sell, or grow tobacco face new criminal offences and penalties for illicit tobacco; consumers may face higher legal tobacco prices.

Raises penalties for tobacco smuggling and excise offences, creates new offences for possessing, selling, supplying, buying or making 10 kilograms or more of untaxed tobacco, lists tobacco offences as "serious offences" for phone interception, and expands proceeds-of-crime search powers.

26 Aug 2026·In force

Taxpayers and businesses face changes to tax rates, deductions, or other tax obligations affecting their income or expenses.

Restores a loss carry back tax offset for companies that are not significant global entities, lifts the small business instant asset write-off threshold from $1,000 to $20,000, exempts PNG Chiefs Limited employment income, and extends negative gearing exceptions for inherited or transferred dwellings.

26 Aug 2026·In force

Importers and Australian consumers pay different tariffs on goods entering Australia, changing prices and costs for businesses that rely on imports.

Sets customs duty to "Free" for hundreds of listed imported goods from 1 July 2026, extends higher duties on Russian and Belarusian goods to 24 October 2027, and extends lower duties on Ukrainian goods to 3 July 2028.

26 Aug 2026·In force

Digital platforms that distribute news media content pay a charge to support Australian news organisations.

Creates a charge (a compulsory payment) connected with news media bargaining; the title does not reveal the rate, who pays, or how it is worked out.

26 Aug 2026·In force

News organisations and digital platforms are affected by changes to how payments for news content are made or managed.

Amends the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 to require the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to tell the Communications Department Secretary, as soon as practicable, when it registers, revokes or changes the registration or endorsement of news businesses and their corporations.

26 Aug 2026·In force

Online gambling operators pay a levy to cover the costs of regulating interactive gambling services in Australia.

Imposes an annual levy on businesses providing licensed interactive wagering services, to recover the Australian Communications and Media Authority's costs of the Wagering Advertising Opt-out Register and its wagering inducement functions. ACMA sets the calculation method, capped at those costs.

26 Aug 2026·In force

News media companies and digital platforms that participate in bargaining arrangements face new administrative requirements and dispute resolution processes.

Sets up a news media bargaining charge on parent companies whose group runs a large social media or search service and earns over $250 million in Australian digital advertising revenue, with offsets for payments to Australian news businesses and Tax Commissioner anti-avoidance powers.

26 Aug 2026·In force

State and territory governments that enter into foreign agreements must now notify the federal government, changing how they coordinate international arrangements.

Changes the rules on state, territory and university deals with foreign governments: the test becomes Australia's "national interest", the Minister can attach conditions, extend decision times and reinstate unapproved deals, and universities must cover overseas campuses and foreign research projects.

26 Aug 2026·In force

News media organisations and digital platforms must comply with new payment obligations when using news content.

Creates a scheme distributing revenue from the news media bargaining charge to registered news business corporations, based on their journalist staffing (eligible editorial capacity). Recipients must keep that capacity or repay. Ten per cent of charge revenue funds grants, including to Australian Associated Press.

26 Aug 2026·In force

People who gamble online and operators of online gambling services face new rules about how they can advertise, operate, and interact with customers.

Adds rules to the Interactive Gambling Act restricting wagering ads during live sport coverage, capping TV ads, and requiring online services to check ages and offer opt-outs. It also covers illegal gambling services, inducements and BetStop, with civil penalties.

26 Aug 2026·In force

People with disabilities receiving NDIS support and taxpayers funding the scheme face changes to eligibility, payments, or contribution rates.

Changes the NDIS Act: defines "functional capacity", sets conditions on participant-requested plan reassessments, automatically renews old plans yearly, lets the Minister reduce funding for some support groups, allows suspending plans of uncontactable participants, and adds provider fraud penalties and whistleblower protections.

20 Aug 2026·In force

Employees and employers under federal workplace relations law.

Amends workplace relations law — the Fair Work Act, Independent Contractors Act and registered organisations law — covering road transport contractors, dismissal disputes, bargaining and organisation reporting.

6 July 2026·In force

Anyone using medicines subsidised under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, and the doctors prescribing them.

Amends health laws so registered nurses approved as authorised nurse prescribers can prescribe and supply certain Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) medicines, with approval and review processes.

6 July 2026·In force

Coal mining employees and their employers, whose industry-wide long service leave scheme changes.

Amends the laws that set up the long service leave scheme for the black coal mining industry, including the payroll levy arrangements that support it.

6 July 2026·In force

Companies, accountants and auditors who prepare or check financial reports.

Restructures Australia's financial reporting bodies, replacing the Financial Reporting Council, accounting and auditing standards boards with a new body, External Reporting Australia, and updates related corporations laws.

6 July 2026·In force

Consumers and the businesses selling to them, as this changes what counts as unfair conduct.

Bans businesses from manipulating consumers or using confusing website design to push them into decisions, forces extra per-transaction fees to be shown alongside the advertised price, and requires subscriptions to be as easy to cancel as they were to start.

2 July 2026·In force

Businesses and councils in northern Australia seeking loans from the government's infrastructure fund.

Amends the law for the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, extending its deadline for financial assistance decisions to 2036 and adding Investment Mandate compliance and review requirements.

30 June 2026·In force

Taxpayers and their agents, under changes to how tax law is administered.

Changes tax, superannuation, social security and veterans' law, covering gift deductions, Medicare levy low-income thresholds, research and development tax incentive exclusions, and pension supplement during overseas absences.

30 June 2026·In force

Anyone who buys petrol or diesel — this changes the fuel tax built into the pump price.

Cut fuel duty to 69.6% of the normal rate for one month, from 1 July 2026, with full rates restored on 1 August 2026.

30 June 2026·In force

Taxpayers generally, under a package of tax reform measures.

Amends tax and superannuation law, covering capital gains tax, negative gearing for residential property, a working Australians tax offset, work-related expense deductions, and superannuation borrowing arrangements.

26 June 2026·In force

Anyone who pays income tax, with changes to the rates applied to earnings.

Amends the Income Tax Rates Act 1986, adding a rate for extra income tax on a taxpayer's "minimum tax capital gain" as defined in income tax assessment law.

26 June 2026·In force

Businesses and consumers, under competition rules for exceptional circumstances.

Amends competition and consumer law so the competition regulator can exempt conduct from competition rules during declared emergencies, and changes penalties under the Oil Code.

26 May 2026·In force

Importers and brand owners dealing with Customs over goods suspected of infringing trade marks.

Amends customs and trade description laws dealing with false trade marks on imported goods, and with infringement notices for such conduct.

20 May 2026·In force

Survivors receiving payments or redress, under changes to how those are treated in tax law.

Amends tax, superannuation and bankruptcy law to let survivors of certain child abuse offences access a convicted perpetrator's superannuation for unpaid court-ordered compensation.

20 May 2026·In force

Australian authors, illustrators and publishers, who would receive payments for books held in public and school libraries.

Sets up a scheme that pays Australian authors, illustrators and publishers for books held in public and school libraries, recognising money they lose when books are borrowed rather than bought.

20 May 2026·In force

Businesses with premises registered to prepare goods such as meat or dairy for export.

Amends the Export Control Act 2020 dealing with government certificates for kinds of goods and with export operations carried out at registered establishments.

20 May 2026·In force

Patients receiving passive immunological products, and the health system that supplies them.

Amends national health law in relation to passive immunological products — treatments that supply ready-made antibodies rather than prompting the body to make its own.

8 Apr 2026·In force

The title does not specify which regulations are reformed, so the affected parties and changes cannot be determined without seeing the full text.

18 Sept 2026·In force·Routine legislation

15 Sept 2026·In force·Routine legislation

This Act makes technical corrections and updates to other laws following the enactment of news media bargaining legislation.

26 Aug 2026·In force·Routine legislation

26 Aug 2026·In force·Routine legislation

26 Aug 2026·In force·Routine legislation

Gambling operators pay a levy to recover the costs of administering the national self-exclusion register.

26 Aug 2026·In force·Routine legislation

The title doesn't say who this affects; omnibus amendments typically bundle procedural or technical changes across multiple criminal laws.

26 Aug 2026·In force·Routine legislation

This Act makes technical changes to legislation following introduction of a cash distribution framework.

26 Aug 2026·In force·Routine legislation

Authorises ordinary government spending; it does not change payments, taxes or services.

30 June 2026·In force·Routine legislation

Authorises ordinary government spending; it does not change payments, taxes or services.

30 June 2026·In force·Routine legislation

Administrative changes to how business registries operate.

30 June 2026·In force·Routine legislation

Funds the parliamentary departments for the year; no policy change for the public.

30 June 2026·In force·Routine legislation

Officials bound by particular secrecy provisions; it changes when those provisions expire.

29 June 2026·In force·Routine legislation

Authorises additional government spending; it does not change payments, taxes or services.

26 June 2026·In force·Routine legislation

Authorises additional government spending; it does not change payments, taxes or services.

26 June 2026·In force·Routine legislation

Consequential and transitional provisions accompanying the lending rights Act.

20 May 2026·In force·Routine legislation