Household Assistance Working Group meeting

The Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Jenny Macklin and the Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Mark Dreyfus, hosted a meeting of the Household Assistance Working Group in Melbourne today.

The working group of community sector leaders discussed options for the design of the generous household assistance package that the Government will deliver together with a price on carbon pollution.

“The Gillard Government is working with community organisations to help ensure the household assistance package is fair and targeted at low and middle income households and pensioners,” the Minister for Community Services Jenny Macklin said.

“The members of the working group represent those Australians the Government will ensure receive the most generous assistance.”

The Government has confirmed that more than 50 per cent of the revenue raised from a carbon price will be used to assist households, and that the assistance will be permanent.

“We are consulting widely on our plans to put a price on carbon pollution, and on the generous assistance package that will go with it,” the Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change Mark Dreyfus said.

“The advice of these community sector leaders is helping us to develop an assistance package that is targeted and fair, so that millions of households will be better off as Australia moves towards a clean energy future”.

The Gillard Government is also working closely with other federal agencies, as well as State and Territory Governments to ensure this household assistance connects with and complements programs and activities already in place across the country.

The Government’s final household assistance package will be announced in advance of the planned implementation of a carbon price from 1 July 2012.