The government has all but ruled out further welfare increases, before receiving a pre-budget report from its advisory committee.
can expect only minor cost-of-living support at next month’s federal budget, as the government strives for a second successive surplus to bolster its electoral prospects, pay down debt and put inflation to the sword.that the already announced tax cuts would be the centrepiece of the budget’s cost-of-living package, sources confirmed it was highly unlikely there would be permanent increases to key welfare payments that were the hallmark of last year’s $14.6 billion in measures.
Last year, the budget increased JobSeeker by $40 a fortnight at a cost of $4.9 billion. In there was a $2.7 billion increase to rent assistance, $1.9 billion in extra payments for single parents, as well as“The budget we hand down five weeks from tomorrow will be helping to ease cost-of-living pressures on Australians who are under of the pump,” he said.
“The tax cuts will be the central cost-of-living relief in the budget. If we can afford to do a little more than that we’re obviously prepared to consider that.Before Labor lifted Jobseeker by $40 a fortnight, the Morrison government, in the 2021-22 budget, lifted it by $50 a fortnight. Since September 2020, there has been a 35 per cent increase in the payment in nominal terms. The minimum wage has increased by about 17 per cent over the same period.
The most recent monthly financial statements showed the budget was in deficit by $6.1 billion for the year to the end of February but that a surplus was in sight for 2023-24.
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