Welfare recipients will see a slight increase to their payments, but jobseeker is still “well below the poverty line”, the Australian Council of Social Service says.
The payments are tied to the consumer prices index (CPI) – which is used to measure inflation – so if the CPI goes up, welfare follows suit.
“Recipients of age pension, disability support pension and carer payment can expect an increase of $37.50 a fortnight for singles and $56.40 a fortnight for couples combined,” the minister for families and social services, Amanda Rishworth,?announced.
That also amounts to $1.77 extra a day for those on jobseeker payments, lifting the daily rate for a single person from $48 to $50, which, Acoss points out, is still 57% below the minimum wage.
“People on jobseeker and related payments cannot afford to eat enough, cannot get essential medication or healthcare and often go into debt to pay their energy bills,” the acting CEO of Acoss, Edwina MacDonald,?said.
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