The federal government’s budget sought to lower the cost of living by pausing the fuel excise for six months and introducing an increase to tax offsets for low to medium income earners, as well as through a once of $250 payment.
Roger Marshall is the president of the Logan East Community Neighbourhood Centre. He said the reprieve for the most vulnerable will be short-lived.
“They’ll see short term benefits if they’ve got concession cards or the pension,” he said.
“If they are paying tax, they’ll get the tax relief, but many people experiencing the more severe difficulties won’t get the tax benefit because they don’t pay tax anyway.
“What’s disappointing about the budget is there doesn’t seem to be any concrete plans for doing anything about the growing gap between the rich and poor and the increasing numbers experiencing these problems.”
Lower income earners are poised to receive a one-off $250 cost of living payment to ease the pressures of steepling prices for necessities like fuel, groceries, and accommodation.
It will be paid automatically to all eligible pensioners, welfare recipients, veterans and eligible concession card holders in April this year.
A one-off $420 cost of living tax offset will be applied to incomes of $125,999 and below.
Additional reprieve will be given to low and middle income earners with an increase to the low and middle income tax offset, which temporarily reduces tax for people earning less than $126,000 a year.
From July, people eligible for that offset will save between $675 and $1,500 at tax return time, instead of the current offset savings of between $255 and $1,080.
Mr Marshall thinks these measures will mean little with the rising cost of living and the higher numbers of people reporting social disadvantage.
The floods and pandemic have had some role in this, but they are only factors in an issue that goes further back, he said.
“The underlying problems for vulnerable people in the community have been getting worse for a number of years,” he said.
“The gap between the rich and the poor, and the pandemic and floods have exacerbated the problem, so more people are coming in all the time.”
He would like to see more targeted, long-term solutions in future budgets.
“The best way to do that would be to increase their income,” Mr Marshall said.
“People on Newstart [now JobSeeker] are still on $40 a day – you can’t live on that, the pensions need to be increased, welfare payments need to be increased, and wages for the lower paid need to be increased.”
