‘Difficult decision’ on energy bill relief payments
Energy bill relief for Australian households will end after the federal government made the “difficult decision” not to extend the programme.
Labour’s energy rebate for households and small businesses was previously extended until the end of 2025.
Finance Minister Jim Chalmers announced on Monday that the reduction will not be extended until the fourth round.
“Cabinet has made a particularly difficult decision today… we have encouraged people not to view these as a permanent feature of the budget,” he told reporters in Canberra.
“These aren’t the only ways we can make living expenses easier for people who are still struggling with difficult jobs.
“Now this marks a shift in the way we provide cost-of-living relief.”
Dr Chalmers said more progress was needed on the federal budget.
“When these energy bill rebates were first introduced, we had not yet rewritten the tax deductions to ensure that everyone got a rebate, and we had not yet enacted the second and third tax deductions,” he said.
“So these are a good example of the shift we are envisioning from temporary cost-of-living assistance to permanent cost-of-living assistance provided through the tax system.”
This comes as financial markets expect the Central Bank to raise interest rates in 2026 following a rise in inflation.
Latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed inflation rose to 3.8 per cent in the year to October.
This rate is well above the central bank’s target range of 2 to 3 percent.
Economist Chris Richardson welcomed the government’s decision as “really good news”.
He wrote on social media platform
“It’s a good decision to have them removed in a timely manner.”
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