Posted
Four million Australians will again receive a cash handout from the Morrison Government to help cover the cost of rising power prices.
Key points:
- The handout, included in Josh Frydenberg’s first budget, will be $75 for singles and $125 for couples
- The announcement shows the Coalition’s concern about power prices ahead of May’s election
- Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen says Tuesday’s budget will double as a campaign launch for the LNP
The one-off Energy Assistance Payments, worth $75 for singles and $125 for couples, will be delivered to age pensioners, people on the Disability Support Pension, veterans, carers and single parents before July.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg denied it was a “cash splash” in his first budget, to be handed down on Tuesday, describing the payments as “responsible, targeted spending”.
“This is money [that’s] going to go into people’s pockets to help meet the cost of their next power bill,” he told Channel Nine.
The $285 million shows the Coalition is deeply concerned about power prices, despite its promises to bring them down.
This same “one-off” payment appeared in the 2017 budget, under a deal struck by the Government to get then-Independent Senator Nick Xenophon’s support for its company tax cuts.
It also comes a year after the Coalition tried — and ultimately failed — to scrap the Labor-era Energy Supplement, for new recipients, which is worth hundreds of dollars a year.
The Treasurer said it was one of a number of measures in his first budget that “will ease cost of living pressures”, suggesting the Coalition was planning more handouts to lure voters ahead of the election.
During a wide-ranging interview, Mr Frydenberg played down speculation that the Budget is set to return to surplus in 2018/19 — a year ahead of schedule.
“We have faced … a number of spending challenges, including the impact of the drought and the floods in Queensland, as well as, of course, extra GST payments to the states,” he said.
Labor’s economic statement
Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen has already dismissed Tuesday’s budget as a “highly political document” that would double as a campaign launch for the Coalition.
He confirmed that, if elected, Labor would hand down its own mini budget later this year, outlining its spending priorities.
“If we win, we will bring down a major economic statement in the third quarter of the year, which will in effect be the first budget of a Shorten Labor government,” he told the ABC’s Insiders program.
“We need to reset the economic settings.
“We need to update the forecasts with the new government in place, and then, of course, we would return to the normal budget cycle of budgets in May from 2020 onwards.”
Topics:
from Trend Gossip Now https://ift.tt/2OE79Fm
0 Comments