Services Australia: Millions of Aussies on social services payments set for cash boost
Millions of Aussies receiving social services payments are set to pocket more money.
From July 1, Services Australia payments will be indexed (adjusted in line with inflation) by 2.4 per cent.
Paid Parental Leave, Family Tax Benefit A and B, the Newborn Supplement, and Multiple Birth Allowance will all receive a modest increase, affecting about 2.4million Australians.
For example, a family receiving Family Tax Benefit A will pocket an extra $5 a fortnight.
Parents with triplets will receive an extra $120 a year, while first-time parents of a newborn child will pocket an additional $48 over 13 weeks.
Minister for Social Services Tanya Plibersek described indexation as a 'crucial way to help families when cost of living rises'.
'Millions of recipients of social security payments will see more money in their bank account,' Plibersek said.
However, asset limits and income thresholds will also increase by 2.4 per cent.
That means some Aussies will become ineligible for JobSeeker Payment, Youth Allowance, Austudy, ABSTUDY Living Allowance, Parenting Payment, Special Benefit and Parenting Payment Single.
The July indexation will not impact youth and student payments, which are indexed each year in January.
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The Guardian
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The vice-chancellor of Macquarie, Prof Bruce Dowton, said universities in Western democracies were facing a 'range of external pressures' and Australia was no exception. Macquarie has run a deficit for five of the past six years, including a $4m loss in 2024. It cut its workforce in 2020 and 2021 around the time of the Covid-19 pandemic. 'We understand that changes of this nature can be unsettling, and we do not take them lightly,' Dowton said. 'Our community can be assured that we are proposing these changes because they are needed.' NTEU branch president for Macquarie, and senior lecturer in quantitative sociology, Nicholas Harrigan, said the cuts were a 'disgrace'. 'That is simply stealing from students,' he said. The spokesperson said the proposed changes were the result of 'careful planning and reflection'. They said teaching overall was 'generally financially sustainable' but that wasn't 'uniformly true'. 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