No change to minimum welfare payments

“An article in News Ltd papers today, citing a departmental document, in regard to minimum payments in the welfare system, is wrong,” Minister for Social Services, Christian Porter, said today.

“A minimum payment floor will not be applied and there will be no change to current rules that provide pensioners on the taper rate with a minimum payment of approximately $50 per fortnight.

“The proposal referred to in the article was nothing more than a suggestion put forward by a department and immediately rejected by the Government, as the journalist responsible for the article was advised.

“Such a proposal would not be fair to pensioners and any such measure will NOT be in the Budget.”