Housing, Indigenous and domestic violence services to receive extra $560m in federal budget

The partial indexation of funding revealed by the finance minister, Katy Gallagher, aims to help community services keep up with rising costs.

The Australian Council of Social Service (Acoss) and Australian Services Union had both called for a 5.5% increase in payments to community organisations, as surging inflation puts services already under strain from high demand during Covid at risk.

The union pointed to increases in the superannuation guarantee and minimum wage, and inflation tipped to peak at 7.75% as sources of pressure that could force some organisations to shut their doors or reduce services.

Rather than ordering increases across the board, the government will establish a pool of $560m over four years which organisations will apply for, with ministers for social services, housing, Indigenous affairs and health able to award increases on merit.

On Sunday the Albanese government also announced an extra $12.4m for parent-child playgroups and toy libraries, alongside a suite of measures designed to make paid parental leave easier to access.

The social services minister, Amanda Rishworth, revealed that while legislating the reform the government will change the rules to allow either parent to be the primary claimant.

Parents will also be able to take weeks of leave at the same time, so they can spend time at home together with their children.

Eligibility will be expanded through the introduction of a $350,000 family income test, which allows families to access paid parental leave if they exceed the individual income limit of $156,647. That measure will see about 2,200 high income earners added to the scheme.