Community groups have hit back at the federal government's JobSeeker increases, with an anti-poverty campaigner describing the extra $40 a fortnight as "insulting".
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Treasurer Jim Chalmers handed down cost-of-living measures in the federal budget, which included increases to JobSeeker and the Youth Allowance by $2.86 per day.
But community advocates, led by the Australian Council of Social Services, had been campaigning heavily for the federal government to lift JobSeeker rates by at least $20 a day.
Antipoverty Centre spokesperson Kristen O'Connell said those on JobSeeker would be feeling "quite insulted" with a $40 a fortnight increase that was being eaten up by escalating rents.
"It's an embarrassment that the government is describing this as a cost-of-living relief budget, and it is very cynically designed to give the impression that's what's happening when very little is going to change in our lives," Ms O'Connell said.
"This is a budget designed to convince the public that the government has done something on cost of living across the board, and that it's enough, or that it's close to enough, and it absolutely is not."
A recommendation from a government-appointed Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee report had highlighted the current rate of welfare payments should be increased "as a matter of priority".
The call to raise JobSeeker rates was even echoed by a raft of Labor backbenchers including Member for Canberra Alicia Payne.
Prime Minister Albanese told ABC radio he has not ruled out further increases JobSeeker payments in future federal budgets, saying "further reform is never done".
However, Ms O'Connell said the federal government should instead establish an independent body to set welfare rates.
"The government has made a political choice to sacrifice the lives of people who are on the lowest incomes for the sake of a budget surplus. They've done this for the needs of the economy and numbers on a spreadsheet," she said.
"We need to take these sorts of decisions out of the hands of politicians who make these decisions based on political whims, and not based on what we actually need to survive."
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Mr Chalmers had been spruiking this year's federal budget as "delivering more support for the most vulnerable".
It included energy bill rebates, lifting the eligibility age of the single parent payment, a 15 per cent increase to rent assistance, aged care worker wage increases, and expanding bulk billing for general practitioners.
"We've carefully calibrated and designed this budget so that it takes pressure off the cost-of-living rather than adding to it," Mr Chalmers said.
Greens Leader Adam Bandt said a $2.86 a day increase was "not enough for people to buy a loaf of bread" while increases to rent assistance equated to $1 a day.
But he said the Greens would still support the meagre rises, while pushing the federal government to scrap stage three tax cuts and increase the taxes on big gas companies.
"People need help right now. If we can put money in people's pockets right now, that's what we will push for. Labor is keeping people in poverty," Mr Bandt said.
"Instead of giving tax cuts to billionaires, we'll push them to try and change that but we want to see people get money right now."
