In a world where the cost of living seems to be perpetually on the rise, it's a relief to hear that the Australian government is trying to ease everyone's financial burden.

For seniors who rely on social security payments, there's some good news on the horizon amidst the rising costs.

Centrelink, the government's main social welfare program, announced an upcoming increase in payments to help recipients keep up with inflation.

This adjustment was a part of the biannual indexation process happening every March and September.

These adjustments provide a much-needed financial boost for Australians' Centrelink benefits, including the Age Pension and JobSeeker.

Australians under Centrelink payments should see this payment increase soon. Image Credit: Freepik/Kraken Images

Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth emphasised the importance of this indexation.

'Indexation is a critical part of our social security safety net,' Minister Rishworth shared in a statement.

'For pensioners and other payment recipients receiving this financial boost, this will help ease some pressure.'

So, what does this mean for you or your loved ones who may be receiving these payments?

More than 850,000 Australians on JobSeeker should see a modest increase in their payment while searching for employment.

Starting Thursday, 20 March, a single person will see their fortnightly payments rise by $3.10.

Meanwhile, couples will receive an additional $2.80 each.

This increase could bring the total fortnightly payments to $781.10 for singles and $715.10 for couples, amounting to an annual increase of $80.60 and $72.80, respectively.

Over 2.64 million recipients under Age Pension should see a more significant bump in their payments soon.

Recipients on the maximum single rate should expect an extra $4.60 per fortnight, while couples will get an additional $3.50 each.

Consequently, fortnightly payments should increase to $1,149 for single beneficiaries and $866.10 for couples.

This same $4.60 increase should also apply to individuals on the Disability Support Pension and Carer Payment.

Other Centrelink payments should also see small bumps on their payments.

ABSTUDY recipients should expect a rise of between $2.80 to $3.30 per fortnight, while those on Parenting Payment will see an increase of between $2.80 to $4.30.

Rent Assistance payments should also go up slightly, with an increase of between $0.50 to $1.12.

Minister Rishworth highlighted the government's commitment to strengthening the social security system over the past three years, ensuring it provides support 'at whatever age or stage they're at in life'.

In addition to the payment increases, JobSeeker recipients should also receive news regarding compliance.

Starting this month, job seekers who just registered with Workforce Australia or Disability Employment Services should not face compliance action if they fail to meet a requirement for the first time.

While these changes may not represent a windfall, every little bit could help when it comes to managing household budgets.

Managing finances could be a challenge, especially for seniors on a fixed income.

To enjoy these benefits and more, make sure to update your Centrelink information as soon as possible.

Key Takeaways

• Centrelink payments in Australia, such as JobSeeker and the Age Pension, should increase soon due to indexation.
• Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth highlighted that the increase was a critical part of the social security system as it provides financial relief to pensioners and recipients.
• Starting Thursday, 20 March, singleJobSeeker recipients should receive an extra $3.10 fortnightly, while Age Pensioners will see more significant increases.
• Other payments such as the Disability Support Pension, Carer Payment, ABSTUDY, Parenting Payment, and Rent Assistance are also due to rise. Fewer JobSeeker recipients will face cut-offs due to new changes in compliance measures.

How will these changes impact your budget? Do you have any tips for stretching your Centrelink payments further? Sharing your experiences can help others make the most of their benefits. We would love to hear from you in the comments below!

 

[Sherril54]

Where do these idiots get the idea of a "cash boost"? Cost of living under this Albo Sleazy has skyrocketed so just give everybody a $1000 cash boost which could come out off your and your parties massive totally unwarranted paycheck that you take for stuffing this country up, and the same goes for nude nut Dutton, the multi millionaire.

They did say nothing was ever going to be easy under albanese, it's a joke.

The Dutton crew are not going to do any better they haven`t in the past!

 

[Sherril54]

Be fair, you did not compare with the Liberal Wastrels.

 

[Sherril54]

Please stay with your pitiful party. You are so partisan that you cannot see how paltry and insulting it is especially when the CPI adjustment is delayed. You were never going to vote any other way no matter how bad the current government performed and boy have they been terrible with rampaging inflation and therefore additional costs wasting on 36,000 increase in public servants. These jobs were created because the Ministers of this government don’t know what to do so they need more help.

If Dutton is in charge, good luck! We won`t have any public services, he will slash and burn all services that we the public get free, we will be forced to pay for everyting and see how far this paulty rise in the pension gets you!

 

[Sherril54]

Wow a whole cup of coffee once a fortnight I’m so grateful

Compared to the rest of the world Australian pensioners are doing alright, why don`t you compare, I have!!

 

[Sherril54]

Well what’s that got to do with us? If we lived in the jungle we wouldn’t have to bother about electricity. That statement has absolutely nothing to do with our lives. Fed up of people reminding us of totally inappropriate things

It`s a reminder of how lucky we are to live in this country!!

 

[Sherril54]

We’ll get the soap out VOTE FOR INDUE DEBIT CARD AND POSSIBLE NUKES TAXES AND HIGHER WATER BILLS TO COOL REACTORS

Love it!

 

[Sherril54]

NA YA JUST BLIND

View attachment 70337

Good for you, like this!

 

[Anthony Ellul]

I am grateful to be living in a country that provides a pension and other benefits for over 65s. There are many countries in the world where a person would be lucky to live to 65, let alone get a pension.

Polly no one disputes that we have a pension system that provides help for those in need including the Aged but you have to admit the delayed CPI adjustment ( up to 6 months) is paltry when your shopping bill and rent shoots up by a factor of ten times that amount. Governments of all persuasions tend to push for programs that should be subservient to the real needs of their people and the Needy should be first in line. Political pet projects should be last.

 

[Anthony Ellul]

I hope you have blisters on your fingers in typing a diatribe of derogatory dogshit.

My reaction to your dribblings are nothing more than a grin. You are not worthy of my thirty odd words of reply.

I am here, despite your death threat, for as long as you are here. Vella should ban you but then this is a site which is basically run as an offshoot of that Party. You started with me and now you have extended your trash talk to many other SDC members. You know in all of this to and fro you have in fact outed yourself as an ALP stooge and a Racist. You have admitted that. I have certainly helped to out you and your aggressive madness is self evident from your posts.

 

[Anthony Ellul]

An increase of $4.60 represents a percentage increase of just 0.4% per annum of the disability / age pension.
Google CPI: News Releases. In February, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers rose 2.8 percent over the last 12 months. 2.8 percent of the disability / age pension is $32.05 per fortnight. Where is the other $27.45 per fortnight of the CPI increase - the economists estimated cost of essential goods and services? Pensioners pay taxes for up to 50 years and their pensions are decreasing at a rate of $27.45 per fortnight after being adjusted for inflation. Thanks for you service worker. You are now a pensioner and no longer considered a useful member of society, just a burden on the hard-working taxpayer. The Government.

You are so right and keep up the good analysis which governments tend to neglect.

 

[Anthony Ellul]

The whingers are crawling out of the woodwork today! Be thankful you weren’t born in a country where there are no government handouts.

What!!! Are you saying that you would have stayed in such a country? Moreover are you comparing Australia with 3rd World countries? How ridiculous. We need to be compared to other advanced nations and it still does not take away from the fact that the delayed CPI/Wage adjustment will be paltry.

 

[Veggiepatch]

I am here, despite your death threat, for as long as you are here. Vella should ban you but then this is a site which is basically run as an offshoot of that Party. You started with me and now you have extended your trash talk to many other SDC members. You know in all of this to and fro you have in fact outed yourself as an ALP stooge and a Racist. You have admitted that. I have certainly helped to out you and your aggressive madness is self evident from your posts.

A death threat? A offer to show you to the afterlife? If that is a direct threat to kill you, may I suggest some type of mental health assessment today ascertain your level of delusional thoughts.

An ALP stooge? That statement in itself proves that you are a self proclaimed elitist, with a sense of delusional self importance and superiority, a common trait amongst Liberal hacks, such as yourself.

My racism originates from personal experience where acts of violence where perpetrated by "persons" of various non Australian ethnicities upon myself and friends.

Your posts are indicative of someone who supports Trump and worships Daphne Galizia, the Maltese skank who was facing dozens of libel and defamation law suits.

 

[DLHM]

A death threat? A offer to show you to the afterlife? If that is a direct threat to kill you, may I suggest some type of mental health assessment today ascertain your level of delusional thoughts.

An ALP stooge? That statement in itself proves that you are a self proclaimed elitist, with a sense of delusional self importance and superiority, a common trait amongst Liberal hacks, such as yourself.

My racism originates from personal experience where acts of violence where perpetrated by "persons" of various non Australian ethnicities upon myself and friends.

Your posts are indicative of someone who supports Trump and worships Daphne Galizia, the Maltese skank who was facing dozens of libel and defamation law suits.

You’re so right about @Anthony Ellul. He can’t seem to differentiate fact from fiction. He still hasn’t provided your supposed “death threats” against him because there are no such threats.

 

[Anthony Ellul]

I hope you have blisters on your fingers in typing a diatribe of derogatory dogshit.

My reaction to your dribblings are nothing more than a grin. You are not worthy of my thirty odd words of reply.

My fingers are in great nick and your grinning is better than your aggressive mental diatribes where you expose your true self. I cannot believe you are on this site which is supposed to be for Seniors because you spout like a teenager who did not get his way. I also note you have company in DHLM etc. More ALP stooges. Are you guys working from an ALP provided office?

 

[Anthony Ellul]

A death threat? A offer to show you to the afterlife? If that is a direct threat to kill you, may I suggest some type of mental health assessment today ascertain your level of delusional thoughts.

An ALP stooge? That statement in itself proves that you are a self proclaimed elitist, with a sense of delusional self importance and superiority, a common trait amongst Liberal hacks, such as yourself.

My racism originates from personal experience where acts of violence where perpetrated by "persons" of various non Australian ethnicities upon myself and friends.

Your posts are indicative of someone who supports Trump and worships Daphne Galizia, the Maltese skank who was facing dozens of libel and defamation law suits.

You are tampering with your words regarding the threat to “show me the door to the after life with a one way ticket”. You and your friend DHLM are lying.

You are a self defined ALP stooge and that has nothing to do with me. I fully accept that you can vote for them and that is your right. To think though that you can label someone elitist, self important, delusional simply because they don’t share your views is SUPER DELUSIONAL.

You have admitted to being racist but you are trying to refine your degree of racism by blaming it on some violence on you and your friends. However your stance is that these infrequent incidents means that ALL migrants are guilty of these attacks too. I know that statistics consistently show that the crime rate of migrants is much lower than the rest of the population.

Aha you have dug deep on Daphne Galicia the journalist who was assassinated( car bomb) because she was fighting world wide corruption. She was about to divulge a number of corrupt persons including Prime Ministers and Presidents. Have you heard of the Panama Papers. SDC members should update themselves to the facts and not be misled by you Or your sidekick DHLM.

 

[Ingot]

I am with you Ingot. VeggiePatch is despicable in every way. A bully, a racist, mentally unbalanced but worst of all he is an ALP commo.

He's got mates here as well.
I just play with their barbs now ... or ignore them.
His posts always reveal more.
He's the hero in all of his stories.
Just wait for the rebound now, and you'll see what I mean.

 

[Ingot]

A vote for the people you suggest is a vote for the LNP. I’d think carefully about who you vote for. Under the Noalition the likes of pensions, Medicare, NDIS and other govt services will stagnate. The cost of living is a world wide problem so if you can let us know how to solve it please enlighten us all. Also a vote for Dutton is supporting Trump and his cohorts which we already are seeing the damage they are doing around the world including us.

ICYMI
"If you do what you always did
You'll get what you always got."

To suggest there is going to be change by swapping back to the most corrupt party since Labor, you're not thinking about the past 9 yrs of the LNP regime.

For things to change ... we have to change.
Returning Labor will change nothing
Returning LNP - ditto.

If I am wrong, then you can always vote Labor in again in 3 years.
I dare you to do this.
I dare you to look into alternatives.
I dare you to consider the Gillard hung parliament achievements.
We didn't die.

 

[Ingot]

We need VOTERS VETO to pull these suck A—-s into line ,with WEF,UN etc pushing DIGITAL ID we will all be slaves with no voice, it’s coming these politicians are all bowing to their masters , just like they did with COVID ,wake up and smell the roses before it’s too late.

Just change HOW you vote.
Stop voting Labor.
Stop Voting LNP, Greens, Teals.
Start thinking about who you are voting for,
The avalanche of big party advertising is crushing many good and decent, capable representatives, who deserve opportunity to represent you.

JUST STOP VOTING FOR WHO YOU ALWAYS VOTE FOR
AND THE SYSTEM WILL FIX ITSELF.

 

[Ingot]

Haha. This is laughable. Anyone who has been through this site can see you for what you are and you are as I described you. That is the proof. You even resorted to threatening to kill me. I should have also said you are a coward and I might have said it elsewhere. Even in your reply you are accusing many on SDC of being idiots simply because they disagree with your views. That is what people of little substance resort to when their views are challenged. I cannot believe that SDC allows you to pour forth your hate and threats on this website. You should have been banned when you threatened to kill me. Another good SDC suggested that I block you but I decided that you need to be held accountable for your aggression.

Well said.
The vegetable-head also threatened me.
He is allowed to stomp over anyone who disagrees with his politics, racism, bigotry and his bullying has gone on unchecked for too long.
A history of his posts just on this thread alone should be enough to turf him to the kerb.
SDC will wake up when members stop subscribing and leave the site.

 

[Ingot]

Oh! and yes don’t even get me started on Health Cover…I’m not able to afford private Health so once again whatever I need has to come from my pension plus the small amount I earn each week….over the last 2yrs I’ve had to SAVE for cataract surgery, blocked tear duct and a trigger finger to be done…I waited for over 3yrs on the public system to get my cataracts done and nothing! I HAD to get them done eventually as I was close to having my license taken away…as I live on my own that would have been disastrous…my general health is very good, which I’m thankful for, however I have friends who are in desperate need of a knee replacement and have been waiting for 3yrs!!! this is a joke…and to be honest I don’t believe the liberal party to be any better, they’re 2 wings of the same bird! we need to vote for the smaller independents that actually care about people so they can have their say in the House of Representatives….keep who ever is in Liberal or Labour, honest!!!

Great post.
Spot on.