The changes mean there will be different degrees of savings for each area. NSW residents would be heading for a 40% bill increase, the Treasury forecast, but the assistance turns that into a 7% reduction; Queenslanders were on track for a 43% increase but now face a 10% decrease.
The government notes that many of Australia’s most vulnerable will get a combination of more payments, extra rent assistance and energy relief.Chalmers maintained the rise in payments would not add to inflation. In a press release outlining the cost-of-living package, he stated four times that the government believed it will not increase inflationary pressures.
Chalmers conceded in a press conference on Tuesday there would be groups calling for more. He said the $40-a-fortnight welfare rise had been settled on partly in an attempt to preserve the budget bottom line.