National

Welfare payment threshold boost just a 'thought bubble'

By AAP Newswire

May 14, 2023

Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth — The government's cost-of-living measures is unlikely to add to inflation, says Amanda Rishworth. -AAP Image

An opposition proposal to allow those on welfare to work for longer before they lose payments has been criticised as an unsubstantial "thought bubble".

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Opposition leader Peter Dutton used his budget reply speech to propose an increase to the maximum number of hours those on welfare could work before they would lose any financial benefits.

But Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth has hit out at the plan, saying it would be unlikely to get more people off JobSeeker payments.

"This is a thought bubble by Peter Dutton and what we don't know is how this will actually encourage workforce participation," she told Sky News on Sunday.

"There are a lot of questions and potential unintended consequences of the leader of the opposition's proposal."

The government's plan in the budget was to boost JobSeeker and youth allowance payment by $40 a fortnight, which is part of a $14.6 billion cost-of- living relief package.

Ms Rishworth said the rise in the payments, as well as rises in the minimum wage, would be unlikely to add to inflation.

"The advice across the board was that our budget measures our cost-of- living package would not add to inflation, indeed attacking some of those really acute price pressures," she said.

"I don't think that people getting decent wages, particularly those on the minimum wage have demonstrated all that this would add to inflation."

Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor said the coalition had yet to determine whether the party would support the $40 a fortnight rise in JobSeeker in parliament.

However, he said the boost in the payment threshold as part of the opposition plan would get more people into work.

"(The government) have got to put away their ideological prejudices and recognise that getting people into work and working is the best way to improve somebody's life," he told Sky News.

"You can't walk into a small business or any business around Australia right now without them telling you about the challenges of finding workers."

Mr Taylor said the budget would lead to further inflationary pressures and the government was aggravating the situation.

"The truth is, inflation is coming from Canberra now, not from the Kremlin ... and Canberra needs to deal with it and that's what they failed to do in this budget."

"Instead of dealing with the source of the problem, they're now dealing with the symptoms. They're putting a Band-Aid on a bullet wound."