Peter Dutton’s JobSeeker plan without any costings

Peter Dutton has conceded he doesn’t know the cost of his proposal to raise the income-free area for JobSeeker recipients because the PBO hasn’t ­finalised the numbers.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has conceded he doesn’t know the cost of his marquee budget-reply proposal to raise the income-free area for JobSeeker recipients because the Parliamentary Budget Office hasn’t ­finalised the numbers.

The admission on Wednesday sparked fierce criticism from Anthony Albanese, Jim Chalmers and Amanda Rishworth, who accused Mr Dutton of opposing Labor’s $40-per-fortnight rise in JobSeeker payments and failing to detail clear costings.

Under Mr Dutton’s plan, the income-free area for JobSeeker recipients would rise from $150 to $300 per fortnight and allow those on welfare to supplement their payments by working more.

Dr Chalmers said one-week on from the budget, Mr Dutton “still can’t tell us how much it costs”. “You can imagine what they would do to a Labor opposition who made an announcement without costing it. Let’s see how much it costs,” the Treasurer said.

“And if it costs more than what the government was proposing in our budget on Tuesday night, he needs to explain if spending is the problem when it comes to inflation, why are they proposing to spend more?”

Asked if he knew how much the Coalition policy would cost, Mr Dutton said “the difference in the costings is around the parameters and the assumptions”. “The Parliamentary Budget Office will finalise that work and they’ll look at some of the changes obviously that were made in the budget as well. So, that has to be updated because of the budget announcements, and that’ll be released in due course,” he told Sky News.

After flagging the policy would cost about $700m, Mr Dutton on Tuesday suggested it could cost as much as $2.3bn. Government analysis says under the plan, more than 50,000 Australians would be pushed back on to welfare support payments at a direct cost of $400m over four years.

Ms Rishworth said the Coalition had “clearly not costed their plan and this has not been thought through”. “I’d like to see their costings. Where are the Opposition’s costings if they are serious about this plan? In terms of what we want to see when it comes to supporting people on income payments – we want to make sure that they are supported and that is why we’ve increased the base rate,” the Social Services Minister said.

Ms Rishworth said Mr Dutton’s plan was not backed by any “analysis of what actual improvement it will mean for all those people that have been locked out of the labour market”.

New economic data analysis by the e61 Institute said under Mr Dutton’s proposal, about 90,000 welfare recipients would receive an income boost if the threshold was increased. The analysis suggests that JobSeeker recipients are not likely to work more if the income-free area is raised.

Mr Albanese said the Coalition refused to back the government’s $3bn energy price relief plan and “now won’t say that they support the $40-per-fortnight increase in JobSeeker”. “The Labor government is introducing measures that will make a real, practical difference. And the LNP, on all of those measures, just stands in the way,” he said.