'People are under real pressure,' Albanese government leaves door open on welfare payments in May budget

Four federal Labor MPs, Alicia Payne, Louise Miller-Frost, Michelle Ananda-Rajah and Kate Thwaites, joined more than 340 signatories on an open letter calling on Anthony Albanese to raise JobSeeker by about $20 a day.

Written by Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) CEO Dr Cassandra Goldie, the letter to the Prime Minister describes Australia's income support system as a "structural injustice" that was "long past" being addressed. It also described people as being forced to choose between paying their rent or buying enough food and medicine.

Ms Payne, the Member for Canberra, is a former social policy researcher who has been campaigning for higher welfare payment for the past 20 years.

Mr Albanese said he is listening.

"I understand that people are under real pressure. I certainly understand that," he said in Sydney.

"I know what it is like to grow up in a household reliant upon a pension, in my case, an invalid pensioner of my mother. And I know the pressure that can place people under.

"It is unsurprising that people in the Labor party want to do more as all of us do, but what we will be doing in the budget is balancing up the need to provide cost of living relief for people with making sure that we show restraint as well so we don't add to inflationary pressure in the budget."

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Last week, the government's Economic Inclusion Advisory committee declared the payments were "inadequate" compared with the minimum wage and recommended a substantial increase to the JobSeeker payment and related working age payments as a top priority.

JobSeeker sits at $49.50 per day for a single person but the recommendation calls for it to be lifted to $68.40 per day.

There are also budget expectations, recommended by the Women's Economic Equality Task Force, that Labor reverses aspects of the single parent payment, changed by the Gillard government for women with children over eight and widely condemned by welfare and women's groups.

Previously, single parents could access the payment until their child turned 16.

"Those issues that are under consideration. Our budget has not been finalised," Mr Albanese said. "The budget now is less than two weeks away, so you don't have long to wait. And I am very confident that [it] will be a budget that will serve Australia's national interests."

The wide group of hundreds of community and political representatives are not deterred by government messaging about a tight federal budget.

"I can assure you, ACOSS is keenly watching every word that comes out of the mouth of the decision makers of government," Dr Goldie said.

"Our understanding is that this is a live debate. And that is why we're here."

Jennifer Kirkaldy from the Salvation Army said there is no better budget to raise the rate, but this one.

"We're being asked whether right now we can afford to take action on poverty, but with so many Australians doing it tough, with so many Australians going without, how can we afford not to take action right now?" she said.

Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek said vulnerable people need to be looked after.

"We know that this has always been a motivating thing for Labor governments, and particularly now when unemployment is relatively low, this is the time to invest to make sure that people have the opportunity to move particularly into long-term employment," she told the ABC.

"We need to make sure we are looking after our most vulnerable citizens. That's always something Labor governments will do."