Millions of eligible Australians will be getting an automatic boost to their bank balance from today.
More than six million citizens will receive a one-off $250 payment from the Federal Government, designed to help ease the cost of living on items such as groceries, fuel and rent.
The payment – which will cost the government $1.5 billion – will be made to a select group of Australians including pensioners, carers and veterans.
Recipients will receive an email to confirm that the payment has been made from April 27.
Payments are expected to be made by the end of the week.
Currently, only people who receive one or more of the following payments are eligible:
- Age Pension
- Disability Support Pension
- Parenting Payment
- Carer Payment
- Carer Allowance (if not in receipt of a primary income support payment)
- Jobseeker Payment
- Youth Allowance
- Austudy and Abstudy Living Allowance
- Double Orphan Pension
- Special Benefit
- Farm Household Allowance
- Pensioner Concession Card (PCC) holders
- Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holders
- Eligible Veterans’ Affairs payment recipients and Veteran Gold card holders
The payments will not be taxed and they will not be counted as “income support”.
It comes ahead of the release of the latest inflation figures this morning.
It is expected that inflation will be at a 15-year high the worst since the Global Financial Crisis.
Economists have warned the figures could trigger a large interest rate hike from the Reserve Bank.
Source: 9 News