A modest increase in unemployment benefits and cheaper health care are the centrepieces of a federal budget tasked with helping the nation's most vulnerable as living costs continue to hurt households.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers's second budget, which forecasts a surplus this year, seeks to tackle women's inequality, reduce inflation and lay the foundations for growth as the global economy slows.
The budget sees the JobSeeker unemployment rate rise $2.80 a day, rent assistance increase up to $15 a week and single parents will be $380 a month better off.
