Yahoo Finance Centrelink boost for 5 million Aussies today
Centrelink recipients will see a boost to their payments from today as the Federal Government seeks to cover the cost of rising inflation.
Pensioners will see a $20-per-fortnight boost to their payments as the Government raises the welfare payment.
Australia's aged and disability support pensions, along with carer's payments, will rise from today.
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The boost means a $20.10 fortnightly increase for individuals to $987.60 and a $30.20 increase for couples combined at $1,488.80.
Asset-test limits will also be stretched to allow more people to access a part pension, with the cap rising by $6,750 to $599,750 for single homeowners.
Homeowner couples will see a $10,000 rise to the asset cap to $901,500.
Almost 5 million Australians will benefit from the three rising payments.
Centrelink rise slammed
The Federal Government’s boost to rent assistance and other Centrelink payments has been criticised as inadequate by some experts.
Under the welfare increase, rent-assist payments will increase by $3 per fortnight to $145.80 for singles, $3.50 to $171.50 for families with up to two children and $3.92 to $193.62 for families with three kids or more.
The Australia Institute’s Matt Grudnoff said these sorts of increases were not enough given the low base rate for the payments.
“An extra $3 a fortnight is not going to make any difference to people's rental payments,” he said.
He said rental rates hadn’t yet seen the same rises as house prices, with the latest ABS figures showing residential property prices rose 23.7 per cent in the past 12 months.
However, he said rents traditionally followed house prices.
“And so this problem of underpaying of employment and pensions and all the other welfare payments is only going to get worse,” Grudnoff said.
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