Australian workers could soon receive a one-off payment to mitigate the impact of rising living costs as part of a federal government pre-election sweep.
Record fuel prices and rising living costs put pressure on households struggling to make ends meet.
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But as Australians prepare to vote in the next election, the government has hinted at a cash boost to ease pressure on Australians.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has promised that the forthcoming federal budget in March will offer ‘some relief’ to Australian families struggling with rising living costs.
7NEWS understands that the relief will come in the form of one-time bonuses for pay raises, which Mr Frydenberg says will be “temporary, targeted and proportionate to the challenge we face”.
“I think a lot of families are finding it difficult right now,” Mr Frydenberg said.
“And the number one issue around the kitchen table in Australia is the cost of living and so there is some relief in that budget.”
Mr Frydenberg remains tight-lipped about when Australians will see the cash bonus, and how much they should expect to receive.
However, 7NEWS understands that the boost will be in people’s bank accounts before the election.
“You can be sure that it will hit bank accounts before the election to get as much political bang for the buck as possible … and I’m told it will be paid for through existing government programs so that it can go out quickly,” 7NEWS Political Editor Mark Riley said.
“But voters often see these last-minute bonuses in the shadow of elections as despair. They like to accept the money, but vote the way they intended.”
It is understood that the bonuses are paid for through existing government programs of an agency such as the Australian Tax Office, with funds deposited directly into bank accounts before the May elections.
Welfare and pensions are likely to be missed.
While Mr Frydenberg said more money was going into people’s pockets, he warned that the government could no longer afford the levels of support it had provided during the height of the pandemic.
Mr Frydenberg said the forthcoming budget would reveal a trajectory where debt, compared to the size of the economy, would come lower and earlier than expected in December last year.
“What we’re looking to do is … reduce this cost of living pressure by putting more money in people’s pockets,” he said Friday.
The treasurer said that the economic support that was rolled out during the COVID-19 pandemic could not continue, with further funding actually doing more harm than good.
“There is a risk of further pressure on inflation, interest rates and the cost of living,” he said.
He pledged that the government would not “bake” any new structural expenditure on the back of temporary increase in revenue.
Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the federal government could not be trusted with what it said about the economy.
Dr Chalmers said the March 29 economic blueprint on the eve of an election “shows all the signs of another budget full of secret slush funds before the election and secret cuts thereafter”.
“This coalition government has little to show for the record debt they have already multiplied even before the pandemic,” he said.
“After a decade of marketing and mismanagement, dividends for Australians are skyrocketing living costs, falling real wages, and families falling behind.”
Unemployment is rising
It comes as the country’s unemployment rate has fallen to a new 13-year low, which exceeds economists’ expectations, Australia’s Reserve Bank may raise its cash rate sooner rather than later.
New figures released on Thursday show that the unemployment rate fell to 4 percent in February, compared to 4.2 percent in January.
It is the lowest rate since August 2008 and it is forecast to continue to fall.
“We forecast that Australia’s unemployment rate will reach 3.3 per cent by the end of this year,” ANZ Senior Economist Catherine Birch told 7NEWS.
South Australia recorded the highest unemployment rate at 5 per cent, followed by Queensland at 4.3 per cent, Victoria (4.2), Western Australia (4.1), Tasmania (3.9) and New South Wales (3.7).
In the Northern Territory, unemployment reached 3.5% and 3% in the ACT.
Australia’s workforce has also grown to 13,372,000, with 77,400 people finding work.
“We have more people in the working age today than any other time of records for jobs in this country,” said Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
The biggest turnaround was jobs for women, with the female unemployment rate falling to 3.8 percent – the lowest since 1974.
The rate for men also fell to 4.2 percent.
“We have had greater employment growth in this country due to the pandemic than one of the G7 countries, the most advanced economy in the world,” Mr Morrison said.
– Mat AAP
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