Reaching every corner of the country
A new Supplementary Allowance — helping lower income Australians to meet the cost of essential bills
Bronwyn and Andrew are a couple and live together in a flat in Sydney. Bronwyn has just lost her job and Andrew is studying and working part time, and receives Youth Allowance.
While Bronwyn is searching for a new job she applies for Newstart Allowance. Due to the doubling of the liquid assets test, Bronwyn can access payments while still keeping the $8,500 she and Andrew have saved to buy a new car.
In addition to their allowance, they will now be eligible for a Supplementary Allowance of $350 per year, paid in two instalments, the first in March 2013. This will help Bronwyn and Andrew to pay their most recent bills.
A new Supplementary Allowance
In this Budget, the Government is investing $1.1 billion to create a new Supplementary Allowance, for recipients of eligible income support payments, including Newstart Allowance, Youth Allowance and Parenting Payment, to help them meet the costs of essential bills.
Eligible singles will now receive an additional yearly allowance of $210, and eligible couples will receive $350, paid in two instalments, with the first payment in March 2013.
This will benefit around 358,000 on Youth Allowance, 545,000 unemployed jobseekers on Newstart Allowance and 436,000 parents with young children on Parenting Payment.
In addition, fewer people will have to run down their savings before accessing income support. From 1 July 2013, newly unemployed people will be able to access income support, while still having liquid assets of less than $5,000 for singles without children and $10,000 for all others.
Number of income support recipients eligible for the new Supplementary Allowance by payment type (as of March 2012)
