Welfare payments for pensioners, jobseekers and students are set to increase next week when indexation on payments comes into effect.
The changes will also allow people on social security to earn slightly more before their payments are affected from Wednesday, March 20.
Under the new guidelines, single parent payments will go up by $17.50 a fortnight, with an increase of $12.30 for those in a couple.
Singles on aged, disability support or carer payments will receive just over $1116 per fortnight, an increase of $19.60.
Couples receiving these payments will see their combined income grow by $29.40 every two weeks.
Those on Jobseeker and ABSTUDY are set to receive $13.50 extra per fortnight, before any other allowances such as rental assist.
A couple on Jobseeker would get another $12.30 per fortnight each, or $698.30 in total.
The modest boosts, set to cost an extra $2.2 billion per year, were expected to help five million Australians.
“Our number one priority is addressing inflation and cost of living pressures,” Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said.
“Pension recipients are some of the most vulnerable members of our communities, many having worked all their lives contributing to our society or caring for a loved one.”
Advocates for higher welfare payments believe the increases don’t meet the rising costs of living Australians are facing.
Last year an advisory body labelled the current rate for Jobseeker to be “seriously inadequate” when compared to other welfare payments and the national minimum wage.
“People on these payments face the highest levels of financial stress in Australia,” the body found.
“Committee members heard from people who live on income support having to choose between paying for their medicine or electricity bills.”
The new rate for Jobseeker equates to just under $54.50 per day.
At a parliamentary inquiry in February, Greens Senator Janet Rice urged the government to “stop tinkering” and raise all payments to $88 per day in the May budget.
“Small piecemeal increases in income support are clearly failing to meet the rising cost of living,” she said.
“The evidence makes it clear that this is the simplest, most effective and most urgent step to lift people out of poverty.”
Australian Council of Social Service chief executive Cassandra Goldie told the inquiry that Jobseeker should rise to at least $78 per day.
“In a country as wealthy as Australia, poverty is a choice – our government’s choice,” she said.
“The solutions are clear. It’s long over time for more reports, it’s time to act and now.”