Amended laws and changes as of July 1, 2018 Part 3 Daily Life

As of 1 July this year, various changes are expected to occur in the laws of Australia. The changes that individuals will face in Australia at work and at home are outlined below.

Passport Image
From 1 July, when taking passport photos, glasses must be removed. Glasses may interfere with facial recognition. H     owever, if glasses are to be worn for medical purposes, then it may be permitted.

Carry-on Luggage
The number of products that contain powder that are permitted in carry-on baggage for international flights departing from the Australian International Terminal is restricted. At security checkpoints, products that contain powder must be presented separately for inspection; however, unlike liquid products, there is no need to put them in a zip-lock bag. Restrictions for products containing powder are as follows:

• There are no restrictions placed on organic powder such as food and baby formula.
• Restrictions are placed on inorganic powder products such as salt, talcum powder (such as makeup products which contain talc) and sand.
• Each person can carry no more than 350ml or 350g of inorganic powder which must be kept in containers     .     
• The restriction on the size of the inorganic powder is not based on the product itself but rather the size of the container.     
• There are no restrictions on the number of containers but rather the volume outlined above. 

Power Prices
AGL announced that it would cut the electricity prices in New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia. As of 1 July, AGL prices in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia will change. However, the price of gas in Queensland will remain unchanged. Origin has lowered prices in South East Queensland and South Australia. However, prices in New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory (ACT) are expected to remain unchanged. Natural gas prices will be lowered in New South Wales.

Food Labelling
From 1 July 2018, any food grown, manufactured, produced, distributed, imported or sold in supermarkets and retail stores in Australia are to be labelled according to the country of origin.

Plastic Bags
From 1 July, Queensland and Western Australia have banned the use of disposable plastic bags. South Australia, Tasmania and ACT have not been utilising plastic bags. On 20 June, Woolworths stopped providing plastic bags and Coles is set on phasing out the use of disposable plastic bags in Victoria and New South Wales.

Transport Cost
Certain road toll prices will increase across the country. Transurban which operates toll roads in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, has raised the toll prices by up to 9 cents since 1 July. From July, Opal Card rates in New South Wales are set to rise by 2.2%. However, rates for the elderly will remain unchanged.

Parking Fines
The New South Wales state government has reduced 10 kinds of parking fines by 25%. There are plans to further reduce parking fines in government regulated parking spaces in areas such as Barangaroo, The Botanic Gardens, Centennial Park, Wentworth and Parramatta Park by $30.