Community input on household assistance

The Gillard Government has established a working group of community sector leaders to help advise the Government on a generous assistance package for Australian households, under a carbon pricing mechanism.

The Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Jenny Macklin, will host a meeting with community organisations on Friday 13 May in Melbourne to seek the views of community and welfare groups on the Government’s carbon price household assistance package.

“It is essential to gather the opinions of these groups as they represent vulnerable Australians and those the Government wants to ensure receive the most generous assistance,” Ms Macklin said.

“The Government has confirmed that more than 50 per cent of the revenue raised from a carbon price will be used to assist households. This will mean millions of households will be better off. We have also committed that this assistance will be permanent,” the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Greg Combet, said.

The Prime Minister has indicated that household assistance will be targeted, fair and generous. It will protect those low and middle income households which are most vulnerable to the potential cost impacts of a carbon price.

“We will be putting Australian households first. Our assistance package will be targeted at low and middle income households and pensioners, and we’ll be drawing on the advice of the community sector leaders in our working group to ensure we get that targeted assistance package right,” said Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Mark Dreyfus.

Ms Macklin said she was looking forward to discussing options surrounding the household assistance package with non government organisations at their first meeting.

“This working group will help to inform the Government’s policy making process,” Ms Macklin said.

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.

Members of the Household Assistance Working Group:

St Vincent De Paul
Carers Australia
National Seniors
UnitingCare Australia
Australian Council of Social Services
National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples
Australian Federation of Disability Organisations
National Shelter
Australian Council of Trade Unions
National Welfare Rights Network
Brotherhood of St Laurence
Council on the Ageing Australia