Controversy over $280 Centrelink cash boost for struggling pensioners 'set to get worse'
The 67-year-old has missed meals as she doesn't have enough money to cover her bills and feels in a constant state of "struggle". The Grattan Institute has called for another increase to Commonwealth Rent Assistance (CRA),which last went up in September.
However, NSW Tenants Union CEO Leo Patterson Ross told Yahoo Finance another cash boost won't solve the problem if wider issues in the rental market are not tackled.
"Unless you do something about rent prices, you're always chasing increasing rents," he said.
"A 10 per cent increase in Rent Assistance is kind of helpful, but if rent went up 20 per cent, you're still behind.
"You also have to be already receiving Centrelink payments and already be in a home to be eligible. So, that means there's a whole bunch of people who should be getting more support but aren't."
RELATED
Cash warning for 4.2 million retirees over impending RBA interest rate cut
Rare $1 coin worth up to $350: 'Lucky to find one'
NAB, Commonwealth Bank cut term deposit interest rates in warning signal for Aussies: 'Act quickly'
More than 165,000 Australians aged between 55-64 receive Commonwealth Rent Assistance.
Rent has risen dramatically across all capital cities over the last four years, according to Domain.
Weekly rent in Sydney has risen by up to $540, in Brisbane it's gone up by $410, while Perth has seen a $390 jump.
While this has stabilised, experts have said prices are not set to drop.
The CRA last increased in September by 10 per cent thanks to a measure contained in the 2024-25 Federal Budget, which gave single people between $12 to $19 extra per fortnight.
The issue for pensioners is that those who take the Centrelink payment have faced an increase in rent of 1.5 times the maximum CRA payment rate since 2001, the Grattan report found."Even after these increases, a single retiree who relies solely on income support can afford to rent just 4 per cent of one-bedroom homes in Sydney, 13 per cent in Brisbane, and 14 per cent in Melbourne," it said.
"Australia is failing too many retirees who rent. Only a further substantial boost to Rent Assistance can ensure that all Australians get the dignified retirement they deserve."
Ross told Yahoo Finance that 10-15 per cent increases are nowhere near enough.
"Most of the calls from the community and from Grattan are at more like the 40 to 50 per cent level. And so there's definitely scope for rent assistance to rise to that level," he said.
Boosting CRA by up by 50 per cent would take the maximum rate up by $53 per week or $2,750 per year for singles, and $40 per week or $2,080 per year for couples.
Grattan said this would allow retirees to afford up to $350 per week on rent, while retired couples could afford $390 per week, which would be enough to rent the cheapest 25 per cent of all one or two-bedroom homes in Aussie capital cities.
These increases, which would also help everyone on CRA, not just retirees, would cost taxpayers $2 billion per year.
The housing crisis in Australia has forced many Australians to rent as they can not afford their mortgage in retirement, or could not get into the market at all.
Women aged over 55 are of particular risk of homelessness in Australia, with many in precarious rental situations.
Some have lost their family home in separation after being primary carers for children, diminishing their earning and ability to build a superannuation nest egg.
Basham retired from her job as a cleaner last year and has since found it difficult to cover her bills.
"You just struggle," she told The Project.
"I've got animals, I feed them first, and if I've got nothing left, then I go without.
"If I've got a slice of bread, I'll just have a slice of bread for tea."
National Seniors Association CEO, Chris Grice, told Yahoo Finance that too many retirees are facing uncertain futures due to this trend.
'Housing security and affordability is a huge concern for many older Australians, with an increasing number of older people unable to afford their own home and relying on the precarious and competitive rental market," he said.
The association is not only calling for the rate of CRA to be lifted but for its indexation to be tied to changes in rental prices, rather than overall inflation.
The CRA program is only accessible to Australians receiving the following social security payments:
ABSTUDY - Living Allowance
Age Pension
Austudy
Farm Household Allowance
JobSeeker Payment
Special Benefit
Youth Allowance
To be eligible for assistance, you need to meet minimum rent payment requirements.
Situations also change depending on how many people you live with and if you have any dependants.
The maximum fortnightly payment for a single person living alone is $188.20 every two weeks, or $125.47 for a single person in a share house.
You can find the requirements here.Sign in to access your portfolio
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
$186,876 superannuation warning over 'lazy' move affecting thousands of Aussies in retirement
Australians are being urged not to be "lazy" with their superannuation and ensure their nest eggs are in the best possible accounts. For many, super might be something that gets created for you, and it's a set-and-forget asset that bubbles away without much thought. New research from Finder revealed 32 per cent of people were still with the same default super fund from their first employer. While that might not necessarily be a bad thing, Finder superannuation literacy expert Pascale Helyar-Moray told Yahoo Finance Aussies should grab their super by the horns and make more informed decisions about it. "Review your super fund performance regularly. Put very simply, performance should be high, and fees should be low," she said. RELATED Little-known superannuation rule sparks warning for millions of Aussies Bunnings unveils new $48 million warehouse with 120 Aussie workers needed Centrelink cash boost for more than 5 million accounts in weeks How can you check your superannuation performance? The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has a free service that allows you to check your super fund's performance and fees against others. All you have to do is put your age and super balance amount into the tool, and you can be shown dozens of options. Yahoo Finance tested this and found 54 different funds to choose from, with the lowest 10-year net return rate being 5.55 per cent and the highest being 7.66 per cent. That lowest account had a $671 annual fee, while the highest cost $1,121 per revealed that if you had $100,000 in your super balance, you could increase your nest egg by $186,876 over 30 years if your average rate of return (excluding fees) was increased from 6 per cent to 7 per cent. It said that failing to move your super to a better fund and getting a bigger nest egg was like getting hit with a "lazy tax". The consumer group's research showed that 26 per cent of people were with the default super of their current employer, while 41 per cent were with a fund of their choice. Superannuation changes can happen as you age Helyar-Moray told Yahoo Finance it's good to have a regular "pulse-check" on your fund to make sure the investment choices are right for your age. When you're younger, you might have a higher risk appetite, which could lessen over the decades as you approach retirement and want to be less at the whim of major market changes. But the superannuation expert said everyone was different, and that's why they need to be in more control of their retirement fund. "Super funds or your financial advisor can give you this advice," she said. "Just because you hit the age of 60, for example, it doesn't mean that you should automatically change gears when it comes to your risk profile. "If you're planning on retiring at 70, for example, then it might not be appropriate to do it." Lazy tax hitting more than just your superannuation Finder revealed earlier this year that Aussies were wasting an eye-watering amount of money from being lazy. Also called a "loyalty tax", the consumer group found Aussies paid $4.5 billion from sticking with the same electricity, mobile and broadband providers in 2023, when they could have found cheaper options elsewhere. That's $331 per person. 'These are all utilities you can't do without. But that doesn't mean you should be stuck paying more than you need to,' Finder tech and utilities expert Mariam Gabaji said. 'Providers really want your business – for example, some energy companies are offering $150 in credit or up to 15,000 Qantas points. 'If you haven't switched utility providers – be it electricity, internet, or phone – in the last 12 months, you're probably paying too much.' Recent data from Westpac also found that three in 10 Aussies admitted to losing up to $600 a year on duplicate subscription services and apps they no longer use. The most common reason for overspending was forgetting to cancel a trial before auto-renewal (38 per cent), followed by paying for subscriptions they had forgotten about (32 per cent), and difficulty cancelling a subscription (31 per cent).Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
Michigan marijuana testing lab has Lansing license revoked, owners banned
LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — The Cannabis Regulatory Agency (CRA) has settled with Laboratories and Viridis North following a series of disciplinary actions and civil lawsuits, revoking the labs' license and requiring their Bay City location to close. The CRA reports that the location will be required to close by September 28, 2025. As part of the settlement, the three majority owners of Viridis will be 'permanently excluded from participating in Michigan's marijuana industry.' Viridis agreed to drop its complaint against the CRA, which claimed that the agency 'unnecessarily disrupted its business.' Viridis will also dismiss its two appeals pending in the Michigan Court of Appeals, one involving the Court of Claims' dismissal of the company's efforts to reopen a 2021 lawsuit against the CRA, and another involving the Ingham County Circuit Court's dismissal of Viridis' lawsuit against current and former CRA employees. 'This is justice, plain and simple,' said Brian Hanna, the executive director of the CRA, in a news release sent to 6 News. 'Viridis failed to uphold the standards required of marijuana safety compliance facilities in Michigan. Viridis circumvented the rules. Their majority owners will never operate in this space again, and the Michigan cannabis industry will be stronger for it.' The CRA reports that the cases began when the agency uncovered evidence that Viridis failed to follow testing procedures, resulting in inaccurate or unreliable results. 'We are at a pivotal moment, where scientific progress in cannabis is unfolding under our watch,' said Claire Patterson, director of the CRA's reference laboratory, in a news release sent to 6 News. 'Here, we had a responsibility to get this right and set a critical precedent. Scientific integrity isn't a formality – it's the foundation of the cannabis industry. The future of this industry depends on ethics, transparency, and science we can all trust.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
Tom's Guide
17 hours ago
- Tom's Guide
Even ahead of NBN Co's upcoming speed upgrades, Aussies are already moving to faster internet plans
Aussies are making the switch to faster internet plans, even before the NBN Co's September 2025 speed boosts, according to a new report. According to Opensignal's latest analysis of broadband consistency across Australia, NBN Co's free full-fibre rollout has resulted in a larger share of fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) connections across the board. As per ACCC data, FTTP connections increased by 125,200 between December and March 2025. Year-on-year, these connections have grown by 493.4k. Meanwhile, fibre-to-the-curb (FTTC) and fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) connections have decreased. Opensignal found that FTTP connections have risen to account for 31% of all NBN fixed-line connections, a 10% rise in the three years since 2022. In the same timeframe, FTTN connections decreased from 38% to 30%, and FTTC fell from 14% to 11%. With droves of customers forging ahead with fibre upgrades, the report findings also suggest that NBN 100 and NBN 250 plans are climbing in popularity. In the years since 2022, 100Mbps plans have increased from 16% of fixed-line connections to 25%, while 250Mbps plans have risen to 4%, from 2%. Opensignal's report clearly indicates that many Aussie households are feeling the need for more speed — which makes NBN Co's impending changes all the more timely. Starting next month, the government-owned wholesaler will introduce three new high-speed tiers — NBN 500, NBN 750 and NBN 2000 — that are intended to accelerate Australian broadband speeds to be more globally competitive. Currently, Australia ranks 63rd for average internet speed — well behind most other developed nations. And with data suggesting that the average Australian household will have at least 40 internet-connected devices by 2030, the desire for higher speed should only increase into the future. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. Opensignal's report also illuminates another NBN trend that only seems to be intensifying: Aussies have been ditching well-known telcos — think the big three of Optus, Telstra and TPG — in favour of smaller, more budget-friendly providers. The report shows that the big three have indeed lost NBN fixed-line subscribers, with TPG suffering the most, currently down 15% in the three years since 2022. Smaller providers, however, have gained significant ground, with Aussie Broadband and the Vocus Group growing their customer bases by 33% and 26%, respectively, since 2022. One internet provider in particular stood out for its stunning growth over the last three years, however, with Superloop increasing its customer base by more than 3.5 times (up 263%) compared to 2022. Opensignal attributes the overall market gains to the combination of customers on new full-fibre connections taking up higher-speed plans and equally attractive introductory discounts from smaller telcos. The majority of small NBN providers now offer some kind of 'honeymoon' deal that offers a flat discount for the first three to six months. Even ahead of NBN Co's imminent network changes, there are already some great discounts on a range of high-speed plans from budget-focused providers. If you're intrigued by the new speed tiers, you might not even have to wait until next month to make the switch. Right now, there are three NBN 500 plans available from Exetel, SpinTel and Tangerine, with seriously competitive prices starting from AU$68.90p/m. Of the three, we'd recommend Exetel as the best overall pick, thanks mostly to its low ongoing rate of AU$80p/m, which is comparable to what many providers charge for NBN 50 — but with 10 times the download speeds. Exetel One NBN plan | NBN 500 | AU$80p/m Exetel's One plan advertises massive speeds of 500Mbps download and 40Mbps upload during typical evening hours. Although real-world speeds may still vary due to factors outside Exetel's control, such as the speed of the internet servers that send the content to end users. However, if you're a heavy internet user, gamer or streamer, Exetel's plan should offer plenty of download bandwidth and no interruptions. Total minimum cost: AU$80 | Total yearly cost: AU$960 If you want something even faster, you'll have a hard time looking past Superloop's ultrafast plan. Superloop's plan clocks in one of the fastest speeds currently available (860Mbps typical evening speeds), and costs less than the average NBN 100 plan (AU$93.94p/m at the time of writing). Superloop Lightspeed NBN plan | NBN 1000 | AU$85p/m (for 6 months, then AU$109p/m) Right now, Superloop's gigabit plan has been slashed by a massive AU$24p/m for the first six months, offering a nifty AU$144 total discount. Advertising lightning-fast speeds of 860Mbps in the busy evening hours, Superloop's speed claims are some of the fastest available on the tier, coming in just behind Flip's 900Mbps, Swoop's 890Mbps and Buddy Telco's 875Mbps. If you're keen to jump into the ultrafast lane, Superloop has got you covered. Total minimum cost: AU$85 | Total first year cost: AU$1,164 | Total yearly cost: AU$1,308 Want to compare more high-speed plans? You can check out the most popular offerings with more than 250Mbps in the widget below.
