More than five million Australians will receive a boost of up to $41.50 a fortnight to their social security payments from Friday, while people receiving Commonwealth rental support will get a $23 a fortnight boost.
The changes will affect people receiving benefits. Their benefits will increase by $15.30 per fortnight to $786.80 for single people and by $28 to $1,440.40 for couples.
Job seekers who are only partially able to work up to 14 hours also qualify for the higher rate, with their benefits increasing by $71.20 every two weeks.
The parental benefit will increase by $19.80 per fortnight to $1,026.30 for single people and by $28 to $1,447.20 per fortnight for married couples.
The biggest increases are for disability benefit, old age benefit and carer’s benefit. These will rise by $28.10 for single people and $42.40 for couples, to $1,144.40 and $1,725.20 per fortnight.
People receiving the maximum rate of the housing benefit packages will also see an increase of $23 to $211.20 for singles and $43.60 to $398 for couples. The changes include quarterly indexations and a 10 percent increase.
Finance Minister Jim Chalmers and Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth acknowledged rents were “still too high” but hoped Labor’s 15 percent increase in housing benefit would “take the edge off”.
They also criticised the Coalition and the Greens for rejecting Labour’s Help to Buy plan with shared equity, which would not be put to a Senate vote for another two months.
More than five million Australians will receive a boost of up to $41.50 a fortnight to their social security payments from Friday
While the Labour Party says it will give 40,000 people access to the housing market, the Greens claim it will push up house prices and increase pressure on renters.
The increase in social security payments comes ahead of the Reserve Bank’s (RBA) interest rate decision on Tuesday, when it will announce whether to raise, lower or maintain the current cash rate of 4.35 percent.
RBA Governor Michele Bullock has repeatedly warned that it is too early for the board to consider a rate cut in the “short term” as inflation remains well above the bank’s target of 2 to 3 percent.
August’s labour force figures also showed Australia’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.2 per cent, dashing hopes of a rate cut.
Nevertheless, Ms Bullock will be under pressure to consider a hike after the US Federal Reserve Bank decided on Thursday to cut interest rates by 50 basis points.