Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to thank the member for Wills for the question and also for his advocacy for, particularly, the low paid and income support recipients in his electorate. The Albanese government's No. 1 priority is to provide cost-of-living relief for every Australian, and with this year's budget we are building on previous budgets, providing responsible cost-of-living relief that eases the pressure on people but doesn't add to inflation.

One of the ways we've been able to provide immediate assistance is through help with rental costs through our increases to the maximum rates of Commonwealth rent assistance. As outlined in the budget, we will provide a further 10 per cent increase to the maximum rates, giving more support to pensioners, income support recipients and low-income families to help manage their rental pressures. This is tangible, additional support. For example, from 20 September 2024, a single parent with three children who rents will receive an additional $80 a fortnight in rent assistance as a result of the measures we've taken as a government since coming to office.

We are also providing more assistance to those on JobSeeker, particularly those who face significant barriers to getting back into employment and need a bit of extra support. As announced in the budget, we will expand eligibility for the higher rate of JobSeeker to include recipients with a partial capacity to work of less than 15 hours. This will provide these recipients within an extra $55 a fortnight to support them with cost-of-living pressures. It builds on our change in the last budget to extend the higher rate of JobSeeker to people aged 55 and over, who also face additional barriers.

The government is also supporting older Australians with cost-of-living pressures by freezing the deeming rates for a further 12 months so that part-pensioners, along with other income support recipients, can keep more of what they earn on their investments without impacting their payments.

We're also keeping medicines cheaper by freezing the maximum co-payment for one year for general patients and five years for concessional patients. This means cheaper medicines for over six million pensioners and other concession card holders. This includes the 29,000 additional older Australians who now have access to the Commonwealth seniors health card as a result of our government's changes to eligibility.

Households will also get energy bill relief and, of course, from 1 July all Australian taxpayers will get a tax cut, because this government is committed to providing cost-of-living relief for all Australians, not just some.

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