What we learned today, Wednesday 26 April
And that’s where we’ll leave you today. Thank you for following along! Here’s what we learned:
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, says there will be cost-of-living relief in the budget and the government will “prioritise the most vulnerable” but has refused to commit to raising the jobseeker rate.
Labor backbenchers have joined hundreds of politicians, academics, business leaders and advocates in calling for the Albanese government to accept the major recommendation of its expert poverty panel and substantially increase the jobseeker rate.
Inflation has declined to 7% in the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, down from 7.8% in the December quarter. Chalmers told reporters “the worst of the inflationary pressures are behind us”.
Millions of Australians will face a 7.1% increase on their student debts when indexation is added on 1 June, with an independent MP and the Greens urging the government to intervene to stop the “unprecedented and deeply unjust” rise.
The Albanese government will extend the price cap on wholesale gas prices until at least mid-2025 in an attempt to limit soaring energy costs.
The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, told the National Press Club that freezing residential rents is possible thanks to “wall-to-wall Labor state governments”.
Australians will soon be able to collect two months’ worth of medicine for the price of one month for more than 300 common medicines under a major reform to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
We’ll be back with you tomorrow. Enjoy your evening!
Updated
NSW cashless cards to be pokies reform ‘game changer’
Cashless cards for poker machines will be a game changer in reducing gambling harm, advocates say, as NSW prepares to introduce a statewide trial in the wake of damning new data.
AAP has reported the comments in the wake of the latest official half-yearly gambling data. It showed gamers were losing more than $23m every day and statewide losses in pubs and clubs totalled $4.26bn in late 2022, generating $1.18bn in tax.
The data, covering June to November in clubs and July to December in pubs, is the equivalent to about $1,000 for every man, woman and child in NSW, according to Wesley Mission.
The Wesley Mission general manager, Jim Wackett, said:
The reality is that poker machines are going cashless. It’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when.
He described cashless cards as a “game changer”, allowing people to self-exclude from venues and set daily, weekly and yearly loss limits.
Updated
