By Violet Li
As the pre-election Federal Budget delivered a package of cost-of-living support, a social worker of a major charity organisation in Casey South says the everyday savings out of the budget are most welcome, but the saving measures could be more house-focused.
In a budget to help Australians navigate a difficult economic environment, the cost-of-living support in the 2025 Federal Budget includes income tax cuts, energy bill relief, medicine cost cuts, student debt wipeout, and bulk billing expansion.
The tax cuts will reduce the rate for incomes between $18,201 and $45,000 from 16 per cent to 15 per cent in 2026 and 14 per cent in 2027. An average earner of $79,000 will save $268 annually in 2026-27 and $536 from 2027-28.
The government is extending the $150 energy rebate for all households and small businesses to mitigate rising electricity costs. The extra rebate will be applied directly to their electricity bills in quarterly instalments starting 1 July 2025.
Starting 1 January 2026, the cost of medicine for Medicare cardholders without discounts will decrease from $31.60 to $25 per prescription, the lowest in 20 years. Pensioners will continue paying $7.70.
All existing student debts will be wiped out by 20 per cent, subject to the passage of legislation.
About $7.9 billion investment aims to expand bulk billing, allowing more Australians to visit GPs at no cost. The initiative aspires to have 9 out of 10 GP visits fully bulk-billed by 2030, potentially saving patients approximately $860 million annually.
Community Information & Support Cranbourne (CISC) executive director Leanne Petrides said any daily savings for people are most welcome, including the drop in prescription costs and more bulk billing GPs.
She said her organisation had provided many locals with prescription medications and some people told them they were often faced with the choice between purchasing medication or food.
“Some are choosing not to take medication. Some are choosing not to visit doctors. People are going without having essential tests done. So, health is a massive factor,” she said.
“This is an investment not just into helping people with the cost of living, but it’s also an investment in the health of that community because it’s reducing the risk of that health burden.
“When people are not taking medications, ultimately, that costs society more.”
Vice President of the Victorian Branch of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia Anthony Tassone, who is also a Casey local, said the medicine cost cuts were only the second time in the 75-year history of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) that the co-payment had been reduced and couldn’t come at a better time for patients and families facing cost of living pressures.
“Community pharmacists are too often having conversations with their patients about the tough choices they were forced to make, between filling scripts and other essentials such as rent, groceries and petrol,” he said.
“Medicines can be very useful to help manage chronic conditions but they only work if you take them and you can’t take them if you can’t afford them.
“This is a significant step towards relieving the financial burden of medicines, particularly for those Australians with chronic conditions.”
While welcoming some measures, Ms Petrides believed more house-focused relief should be placed into the budget, given the hardship she had seen in the community.
She said the organisation had seen approximately 300 more people seeking help in the first three months of this year, compared with the statistics from the same period last year.
CISC provides information, referral, crisis support services, and counselling to residents of Casey South.
Ms Petrides noted that visible homelessness had become prevalent in Cranbourne.
“This is a very new, very recent occurrence,” she said.
“In the suburbs, they used to be far more hidden. They would be sleeping in sheds or in parks but hidden away.
“Now what we’re seeing is so many more homeless people who are camping rough.”
While she welcomed the government’s $9.3 billion injection into homelessness services, she said when the number was spread across Australia, the money would not be enough.
“It is a big number, but it’s a complex problem that requires complex solutions,” she said.
“If we made these good decisions and investments twenty years ago, we would not be having this conversation today. And it wouldn’t even necessarily be a massive budget, inclusion because the decisions would have been made and invested in many years ago.
“But we’ve allowed it, unfortunately, to now be we’re now in a place where not only is homelessness, but people on the brink of homelessness have become a scourge in our community.
“We have people now who will spend almost every last cent on their rent because they know that if they don’t, they will be evicted, and there will be no options for them.”
Ms Petrides said a rent allowance increase would be helpful.
“We’ve got people in Cranbourne and Clyde who are paying $600 and $650 a week on extraordinarily limited incomes, which is just completely unsustainable,” she said.
Ms Petrides also said an increase in the Jobseeker Payment should be included in the budget.
“An increase in Jobseeker Payment can make so much difference for jobseekers, and is even supported by the Business Council of Australia,” she said.
“We have called for this every year, and it’s disappointing that has not been increased again this year.”
