Cost-of-living crisis: Albanese government to introduce legislation to reduce Aussie household expenses

The Albanese Government will introduce legislation to make medicines and childcare cheaper to address cost-of-living pressures, as WA drivers again get hit with a petrol price hike. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has hinted legislation will be introduced to Federal Parliament on Wednesday, to “reduce the cost of pharmaceuticals to $30 from $42.50”. He also revealed that next week, a law to lower the cost of childcare and benefit 96 per cent of Australian families, would be unveiled. Mr Albanese said the new bills would take financial pressure off families. “What we are about is assisting people who are doing it tough,” he told Parliament on Tuesday. “We are engaged in the cost-of-living relief and that is what you will see in our budget.” It comes as more mortgage pain has been heaped on homeowners, with the Reserve Bank of Australia hiking the cash rate for the fifth month in a row to 2.35 per cent on Tuesday — with more increases expected to come. Meanwhile, FuelWatch has warned Perth petrol prices will jump by an average of about 23 cents a litre to $1.774 on Wednesday, ahead of the fuel excise cut winding up on September 28. The government has ruled out extending the petrol tax cut beyond this month, despite mounting pressure. Although, Opposition leader Peter Dutton appears to have eased off on the matter, telling reporters on Tuesday: “We’ll make our position clear in the run up to the next election”. That was in response to a direct question: “Do you support the fuel tax discount ending at the end of the month?” It is understood while there are different views in the Labor Party on how to relieve cost-of-living struggles for families, the broad consensus is the petrol tax cut can not go on forever as it is taking spending away from services such as healthcare and childcare. The cut is costing the Federal budget around $500 million for every month it is in place. The Prime Minister told Labor MPs “difficult decisions” would be made in the October budget to alleviate household financial pain. “We will soon be preparing our first budget and we need to address the cost-of-living issues Australians are facing while being mindful of a trillion dollars of debt we inherited,” Mr Albanese told caucus. “We must be straight with Australians about the challenges before us and the difficult decisions we must take.” The Labor Government will also on Wednesday introduce a bill in a bid to encourage older Australians to downsize their homes by changing the way their pensions are affected by sale proceeds. “We don’t want people putting off downsizing to a more suitable home because they are concerned about the impact it could have on their payment rate and overall income,” Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said. Just 8000 pensioners downsized their homes last year with Labor hoping the new scheme will free up housing stock for younger families.