Prime Minister Scott Morrison says his government has not made a decision about raising the base rate of the JobSeeker unemployment payment, amid concerns plans to reduce the coronavirus supplement by a further $100 per fortnight will push more Australians into poverty.
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Mr Morrison on Tuesday confirmed the government would extend the temporary supplement for a further three months until the end of March, at the reduced rate of $150 per fortnight.
The extension would cost about $3.3 billion.
Social Services Minister Anne Ruston said the income-free area would be extended "to encourage Australians to dip their toe back into the jobs market". Currently if you you earn above $300 per fortnight, your payment reduces by 60 cents for each dollar over this amount.
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The partner taper rate would stay at an elevated level so people whose partners are earning up to $80,000 per year will also still be able to gain access to the payment.
However Mr Morrison said, "we cannot allow the lifeline that has been extended to also now hold Australia back".
"We cannot stay stuck in neutral in this country, we have got to keep moving forward," Mr Morrison said.
"Like the emblems on our national crest, the kangaroo and the emu, they only go forward, and that can be the only plan for Australia.
"Confidence is returning. Australia is safely reopening and it needs to remain safely open. Jobs are returning. Job advertisements have doubled since May, on the most recent figures in October.
"And we know that employers are looking for people to come back to And we need to ensure that we have the right settings in place to support that."
However Mr Morrison refused to say whether the base rate of JobSeeker would be raised after the supplement wound up in March.
"We haven't made a final decision on that. What we are focused on right now is the emergency measures that need to be in place for the pandemic," Mr Morrison said.
The $550 welfare top-up was introduced in March as large parts of the economy were forced to shut due to COVID-19 restrictions.
It was reduced to $250 per fortnight in September, sending more than 22,000 Canberrans back below the poverty line.
Anglicare Australia's deputy executive director Imogen Ebsworth said the further reduction would "plunge hundreds of thousands of Australians - and over a million children - into poverty".
"People will be recovering from this pandemic for months and years to come. They need certainty. That means a permanent increase, not more cuts. We should be supporting everyone to recover from this crisis," Ms Ebsworth said.
"Instead of helping people plan for their future, these changes will simply 'phase-in' poverty."
ACT Council of Social Service chief executive Emma Campbell said the decrease would mean JobSeeker payments would drop by as much as $147 per week below the poverty line for a young Canberran looking for work while on Youth Allowance, and by as much as $68 below the poverty line for a single parent on JobSeeker.
"Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was estimated that almost 30,000 people in the ACT were living below the poverty line," Dr Campbell said.
"More recent analysis indicates that since the reduction in the Coronavirus Supplement in September, the number of Canberrans in poverty has increased to approximately 38,000 people.
"Cutting income support at Christmas is a cruel and damaging decision. We need a permanent, adequate rate of income support that keeps people out of poverty and that allows them to cover the basics and rebuild their lives."
For years, anti-poverty advocates have urged government to lift the rate of the JobSeeker payment, formally known as Newstart.
The last time it rose above the consumer price index was in 1994, when it went up by $2.95 per week.
The Australian Council of Social Service in January urged government to lift the base rate of the unemployment payment by $95 per week.
Mr Morrison also revealed there had been nearly 260,000 suspensions of welfare payments since the reintroduction of mutual obligations reporting.
All job seekers, bar those in Victoria, have faced penalties for refusing an offer of a job without a reasonable excuse, after mutual obligations were reintroduced in September.
Mr Morrison said mutual obligations would also be reintroduced to Victoria soon, as the state recorded no new coronavirus cases or deaths for the 11th straight day.
