The price of prescription medications listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme will be frozen for a year. In delivering the federal budget on Tuesday, Treasurer Jim Chalmers reaffirmed the government’s support for strengthening Medicare and increasing the country’s bulk-billing capacity with a range of measures intended to keep the nation’sContinue Reading
Peter Dutton has demanded Anthony Albanese apologise to families struggling with high power bills. The Opposition Leader reminded the Prime Minister that he’d promised “on 100 occasions to the Australian people before the election that he would cut power prices by $275” and had not mentioned that figure since. ReferringContinue Reading
A pivot from the Reserve Bank to scrap an explicit warning about further interest rate rises has the peak union body calling for the cash rate to be cut now. The central bank kept the cash rate on hold for a third straight meeting on Tuesday at 4.35 per cent,Continue Reading
Women and their babies in rural and regional NSW will soon have better and earlier access to pregnancy care as part of a new multimillion-dollar government scheme. The Pregnancy Connect initiative will ensure women have early access to specialist maternity care closer to home, particularly for women in rural andContinue Reading
Claims that a pay boost for some 350,000 aged care workers could fuel inflationary pressures have been rubbished by Aged Care Minister Anika Wells. On Friday, the Fair Work Commission awarded increases of up to 13.5 per cent on top of 15 per cent granted last year for employees acrossContinue Reading
New spending measures to help struggling households have been shunned in favour of fixing the budget bottom line as Treasurer Jim Chalmers looks to bank soaring government tax collections instead. The mid-year budget update, to be released on Wednesday, is expected to show 92 per cent of revenue upgrades overContinue Reading
A new map has illustrated the depths of Australia’s rental crisis, with many essential workers no longer able to afford rent in any part of the country. Anglicare’s new heat map shows the areas in which essential workers, such as nurses and teachers, are suffering rental stress the most. NursesContinue Reading
Australian businesses have been urged to prepare for a tough year ahead, as a major industry report paints a dire picture of many Aussie companies going under. CreditorWatch’s Business Risk Index for October found that Aussie business activity was at “disturbingly low levels”. The average value of invoices had plungedContinue Reading
Billions of dollars worth of “targeted” and “responsible” cost of living measures will this month begin flowing through for millions of Australians feeling the pinch at the checkout or when paying their bills. While the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics data indicates inflation is moderating – up 4.9 per centContinue Reading
An urgent plea to boost affordable housing has been made by one organisation after recent data revealed most of Australia’s essential workers aren’t able to afford the rising price of rent. New data from Anglicare Australia revealed that in a pool of 45,895 rental listings across the country, only 2.4Continue Reading