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The Federal Government has been urged to increase fortnightly welfare payments beyond “routine indexation”, which has been blasted as “completely out of step with the real cost of living”.
More than one million Australians are set to benefit from a cash increase to a range of income support payments – including Youth Allowance, Austudy, Youth Disability Support Pension and Carer Allowance – from January 1.
Payments are “adjusted to changes in the cost of living.” But the Australian Council of Social Services says they “barely scratch the surface” and leave many at risk of falling through the social safety net.
“Rising costs of rent, food and essentials are pushing people on Income Support payments deeper into poverty,” said ACOSS chief executive Cassandra Goldie.
“People on income support are forced to make impossible choices between eating, paying rent or accessing health care.
“Routine indexation adjustments barely scratch the surface and current rates are completely out of step with the real cost of living.”
In the year to October, the price of bread and cereals rose 3 percent, while fruit and vegetables (8.5 percent) and meat and seafood (1.3 percent) also rose, according to monthly consumer price data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Alcohol (3.2 per cent), rent (6.7 per cent) and insurance (6.3 per cent) rose in price over the same period.
Goldie said the government’s “nominal” indexation was “leaving people behind” and called for “a real increase to deliver a livable prime rate”.
As with JobSeeker and pensions, ACOSS wants Youth Allowance and Austudy to be indexed every six months.
“Young people are being forced to wait 12 months before seeing an increase in their indexation payments, even as inflation hits record levels,” Goldie said.
“By the time the nudge arrives, they may already be ineligible or still enrolled, effectively missing out on income that should help keep their heads above water during their studies.”
How much will the payments increase?
Single Youth Allowance recipients who are over 18 and living at home will receive an extra $17.30 a fortnight, increasing their payment from $459.80 to $477.10.
Partnered Youth Allowance recipients without children will receive an extra $24.30, with the maximum fortnightly rate rising to $670.30.
Australia’s 600,000 carers will receive an extra $5.80 every fortnight.
For many, “it won’t even buy a loaf of bread, a box of tissues or a can of baked beans,” Greens senator Penny Allman-Payne said of the increases.
Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said “payments are adjusted in line with changes in the cost of living to ensure people have more money in their pockets” without adding to inflation.
“We want to reduce inequality and maintain Australia’s strong and resilient social safety net by providing help to those most in need,” Rishworth said.
A full list of payment increases from January 1 can be found on the Department of Social Services website.
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