Social services minister says cost-of-living pressures to stay in 2023

With the federal government’s first budget to be released later this month, Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth says that the government is dealing with a “very difficult budget” and that “responsible measures” are being taken to combat the crisis, but a resolution won’t be found overnight.

“It is a very difficult situation that families are facing – we’ve got rising interest rates and rising inflation and we’ve also got a very difficult budget situation,” Rishworth said on Weekend Today.

“We’ve been left with more than a trillion dollars of debt by the former government and so we need to take a responsible approach.

“There will be measures that will be accommodated in the budget that we took to the election – whether that be our cheaper medicines or cheaper childcare – they do have a real impact on people.

“But we have to be responsible at the same time and that is the balance, that the treasurer and the government is striving to make.”

Rishworth said that the government’s move to extend paid parental leave is “critically important”, despite it not taking effect for four years.

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“We are bringing in structural changes to paid parental leave at this budget, which will involve more flexibility, involves an element of shared care and also two income tests as opposed to one, to allow families once again for that more flexibility,” she said.

“One of the key things coming out of the summit is that all the caring responsibilities shouldn’t fall on the primary caregivers, which is usually mum.

“So we’re looking at how we make sure that we’re promoting shared care when it comes to our paid parental leave.

“We’re taking a responsible staged approach to this to increase paid parental leave so that we can get to that 26 weeks, that six months, which is critically important.”