Use super levy to fund aged care, says ACOSS

Rising cost of living pressures disproportionately hitting the nation’s poor can be mitigated through a raft of policy measures, ACOSS has told the Albanese government

Australian Council of Social Service chief executive Cassandra Goldie.

Abandoning the stage three tax cuts, imposing a new 15 per cent levy on post-retirement superannuation earnings, restricting investment property tax breaks and reducing capital gains tax concessions are just some measures the Albanese government must introduce to address critical cost-of-living pressures dispro­por­tion­ately hitting the poor, the nation’s peak welfare body says.

The Australian Council of Social Service also proposes abolishing private health insurance rebates and fossil fuel subsidies, introducing an offshore gas royalty and broadening the base of the Medicare Levy to ensure ­people contribute according to their capacity to pay, all in an ­effort to reduce inequality.

In its pre-budget submission, ACOSS called on Jim Chalmers to put people with the lowest incomes at the forefront of his 2023 budget, calling for a $10.5bn a year boost to JobSeeker and similar payments to take them to at least $76 a day, the current level of the pension.

ACOSS says a proposed new 15 per cent levy on investment income earned from superannuation funds after retirement should be directed into better quality aged care.

And it proposes a new disability and illness supplement of $55 a week to cover the additional living costs they face, at a cost of $3.5bn a year.

The submission warns that living standards for people on lower incomes or welfare payments have been hit by skyrocketing costs of food, rent and energy. “JobSeeker remains the second lowest unemployment payment in wealthy nations as a proportion of average earnings,” it says.

ACOSS chief executive Cassandra Goldie said the government came to power last year “promising no one would be left behind … But right now people on income support are skipping meals, foregoing essential medicines and turning off their hot water just to keep a roof over their head.”