More than 1 million recipients of youth, student and carer support will have their payments increased as part of a regular indexation in January but advocates say the high cost of living, including soaring rent, far outpaces the extra money.
The increases to rates are automatically linked to price changes in the consumer price index, with youth allowance, Austudy, youth disability support pension and carer allowance all going up.
From 1 January single recipients on youth allowance who are over 18 years old and living at home will have their payment increase $17.30 a fortnight, from $459.80 to $477.10. Those living away from home will receive $670.30 instead of $646.
Austudy payments will increase between $24.30 and $26.30 to up to $845.80, so recipients with no dependent children will receive $670.30 a fortnight, while those with children will get $845.80.
More than 660,000 people on carer allowance will see an extra $5.80 in their fortnightly payment, increasing it to $159.30 a fortnight.
And single recipients of youth allowance with children will have their payment increase by $30.60 to a maximum rate of $845.80 a fortnight, including the energy supplement.
But anti-poverty activists have said it will do little to help people living below the poverty line, calling for the government to bring payments above the Henderson poverty line of $612.10 a week for a single person.
Those on jobseeker, the age pension and disability support pension will not receive an increase because it is indexed twice a year in March and September.
The social services minister, Amanda Rishworth, said the government remained deeply committed to helping Australians manage the cost-of-living pressures and assisting them with a strong social security safety net when they need it.
“We want to reduce disadvantage and maintain Australia’s strong and sustainable social safety net by providing relief to those most in need,” Rishworth said.
“Through indexation, payments are adjusted in line with cost-of-living changes to ensure people have more money in their pockets.”
An Antipoverty Centre spokesperson, Jay Coonan, said those on welfare payments were struggling so much the indexation would do little to alleviate the pressures the cost-of-living and housing crises were putting on people with lower incomes.
The median weekly rent value across all Australian dwellings hit a fresh record high in May of $627 a week, and between March 2020 and June this year the price of food was up more than 17% for households, compared with 2020.
“Indexation means nothing when people who rely on Centrelink payments are living hundreds of dollars a week below the poverty line,” Coonan said.
“Every payment must be increased to at least the Henderson poverty line, and until then any claim by government that they are meaningfully helping poor people is nothing short of a lie.
“They just don’t get it. There is a massive gap between government rhetoric and our reality and they cannot spin their way into us having enough to eat.”
