The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has promised hundreds of dollars of energy rebates to 5.5m households as part of cost-of-living relief which will apply “to more than one age cohort”.
After reports on Monday that an increase in the base rate of jobseeker may be limited to the over-55s, which Chalmers did not contradict, on Sunday the treasurer continued to reposition expectations by noting the “cost-of-living package is much broader than what has been speculated on”.
Chalmers has not confirmed or denied subsequent reports from Sky News and the ABC’s Patricia Karvelas that this will take the form of an increase in the base rate of jobseeker for all ages.
Guardian Australia understands that after a surge in revenue in April, which now puts a surplus within reach, the government committed an extra $20bn in its final expenditure review committee meetings late in the week.
On Sunday Chalmers revealed fresh details of the energy price relief package, which passed parliament in December, but required further negotiations with states for rebates to be delivered after the budget.
Chalmers said that about 5.5m households receiving pensions and other government payments and around 1m small businesses “will be eligible for some energy bill relief worth several hundred dollars”.
Chalmers told Sky News the size of rebates will be determined by “where you live in the country and what the price pressures are” because states and territories are “kicking in half” the cost.
“So it’ll be different around the country, we’ve struck eight, different deals with different jurisdictions … but we hope and we expect that it will take some of the sting out of these price rises, which are putting pressure on families, households and small businesses.”
The Albanese government has been pushed by poverty experts on the economic inclusion advisory committee and its own MPs to lift the rate of jobseeker, with many warning this week not to discriminate against under-55s.
Asked if the jobseeker increase will be across the board, Chalmers said: “this will be a responsible budget for Australians who are doing it tough and central to that … will be a cost-of-living package which is broader than what has been speculated on, which prioritises the most vulnerable people and which applies to more than one age cohort.”
On Thursday Chalmers made similar comments to Guardian Australia in an interview promising “broad support for the most vulnerable in the budget, and it won’t all be limited by age”.
This is likely to include changes to commonwealth rent assistance, after Chalmers promised “additional measures” to address the fact “housing for a lot of people is the pointy end of the spear when it comes to this cost-of-living challenge”.
On Sunday Chalmers said the package would include “cheaper medicines, cheaper early childhood education, help with energy bills, and … other elements to it as well”.
Chalmers remained tight-lipped about the base rate of jobseeker, but said that pre-budget speculation “is not always right” and the budget would reveal support will be delivered through a “much broader package than what has been speculated on so far”.
On Sunday the shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, said he would not comment on Labor’s proposal to collect $2.4bn in petroleum resource rent tax by capping deductions because “the devil is in the detail”.
“More broadly, we want to see a budget that will put downward pressure on inflation and the real test for everything the government is doing now is, is it putting downward pressure on inflation,” he told Insiders.
“If you want to get [gas] prices down, typically you don’t tax it more.”
Taylor said Australia was in “an extraordinary situation” with 430,000 job vacancies in the economy, “almost as many vacancies as unemployed Australians”.
“We haven’t seen that ratio in living memory … The priority right now has to be helping people into work.”
Taylor claimed that “a drover’s dog can deliver a budget surplus this year”, as commodity prices, earlier real wage growth and lower unemployment push revenues higher.
Earlier, the chief executive of the Australian Council of Social Services, Cassandra Goldie, said there were more than “a million people on the unbearably low jobseeker payment – $50 a day for people on jobseeker, $40 a day for people on youth allowance”.
“It is long overdue for us to fix this payment [with] across the board, broad support. We need a substantial increase in jobseeker.”
