Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hints at limited cash splashes, budget sweeteners in 2024 budget

A plea by the Prime Minister for help from public servants in overcoming the cost of living crisis has been met with harsh criticism.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been slammed online over plans to ask public servants for help in addressing the cost of living crisis after telling Australians not to expect a cash handout anytime soon.

The Prime Minister said he had asked the Treasury and Department of Finance to devise ideas that could be announced in the May federal budget; however, cash splashes and spending would be curtailed to avoid inflation.

“We asked them to give consideration to what are the measures that can take pressure off families on cost of living without putting pressure on inflation. That’s the key issue,” he said.

“If you were just to distribute additional cash to people, you potentially make inflation worse and therefore don’t help to solve the problem.”

The Prime Minister said the government’s priority remained reducing cost-of-living pressures on families. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

The plan, presented during Mr Albanese’s first press conference for the year, was rubbished online by Australians who describe the Prime Minister as “desperate” and the current crisis as a “living nightmare”.

“So, Albo is going to ‘help with the cost of living at the next budget’. Then of course any measure in the budget won’t actually happen until the following year. And, he’s asking for ideas. Why are we paying this clown?” asked one user.

Activist organisation WACA added: “If (Albanese) and (Labor) really cared about education and people dealing with cost of living they would cancel all student debt now and make higher education free, like it was when they all got their free university education.”

As an example of how the ministries could help, Mr Albanese used the government’s Energy Price Relief Plan, which was developed with state and territory governments to introduce price limits on gas and coal.

The NSW and Queensland governments have set a $125-a-tonne price threshold on coal used for electricity generation. A 12-month emergency cap on gas prices has also been set at $12 per gigajoule for east-coast producers.

“Instead of giving cheques to people, it reduces their bills substantially and we worked that through with Treasury and finance and it made a substantial difference in a reduction in wholesale prices,” Mr Albanese said.

In an effort to soften inflation to a target range between 2 to 3 per cent, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has implemented 13 rate rises since May 2022, with the 4.35 per cent cash rate denting household budgets.

The latest consumer price index figures from September revealed year-on-year household inflation had reduced to 5.4 per cent after reaching a high of 7.8 per cent in December 2022.

Mr Albanese conceded Australians were still under the pressure caused by international events such as pandemic-related supply chain issues and the “illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine”.

He said the government would attempt to alleviate the crisis through initiatives like delivering 300,000 fee-free TAFE courses and expanding the Home Guarantee Scheme to help more people own their own homes.

The Commonwealth will also work with the states and territories to strengthen Medicare and support primary healthcare operators like GPs and urgent care clinics.

Originally published as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hints at limited cash splashes, budget sweeteners in 2024 budget