Labor confirms it won’t lift JobSeeker allowance in this year’s budget

More than a million of Australia’s poorest people won’t receive a leg-up after the federal government ruled out one thing.

More than a million of Australia’s poorest people won’t receive a boost to their welfare payments after Labor said it couldn’t afford it.

Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth has ruled out any increase to JobSeeker unemployment allowance in the Albanese government’s first budget, which will be handed down in October.

Ms Rishworth said Labor had been “really clear” on its position on the issue.

“We’ve been really clear that at the moment, in the October budget, this is not something that we’re going to proceed with,” she told ABC Radio on Tuesday.

“Of course, as we’ve said, we’ll assess it budget by budget. And if there is room in the budget, of course, that that’s how we have to deal with a whole lot of competing measures.”

Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth has ruled out increasing the JobSeeker payment in this year’s budget. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dylan Coker

Defending the decision, Ms Rishworth sought to blame the “trillion dollars of debt” which Labor claims it inherited from nearly a decade of Coalition governments.

“But I will continue to work with the Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS) and other organisations to really about what those barriers are and what we can do to shift the dial,” she said.

A single person without children who receives JobSeeker is currently eligible for up to $642.70 a fortnight, which is tapered depending on how much they earn.

The Morrison government increased the payment by $50 a fortnight last year, which was its first permanent increase in decades.

But ACOSS, the nation’s peak welfare body, is calling for the JobSeeker payment to be lifted to at least $70 a day as a priority for the Albanese government.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese backed an increase to the national minimum wage but has ruled out an immediate increase to the JobSeeker payment. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Labor before this year’s federal election quietly scrapped a 2019 policy of promising to set up an independent review of the payment.

Labor also reversed its opposition to a third tranche of tax cuts, which will benefit some of Australia’s wealthiest people.

Set to kick in 2024/25, the cuts will cost the budget $243 billion over the next decade.

Asked on Tuesday if poor people and not the richest people in the country deserved assistance now, Ms Rishworth defended proceeding with the tax cuts.

“Now is not when the tax cuts come in,” she said.

“We’ve said we will we are committed to those (cuts) and we will continue with those and that’s what our government will do.

“But right now, I’m really focused on the issues that are affecting my portfolio and looking at ways forward.”

Originally published as Labor confirms it won’t lift JobSeeker allowance in this year’s budget