Social security payments will increase later this month to help keep up with inflation.
Aged pension and disability support payments will rise $8.40 a fortnight for individuals and $12.60 a fortnight for couples.
Job Seeker Payments for those over 22 years of age will also increase by $5.10 a fortnight.
But one seniors advocate believes the government should be focusing on another issue entirely – affordable housing.
National Seniors Chief Advocate Ian Henschke told Oliver Peterson pensioners who are renting are most at risk of “pensioner poverty”.
“The poorest of the people are the pensioners who rent,” he said.
“Rent doesn’t go up by CPI, it goes up according to demand.
“We need more affordable housing across the board but we need it particularly for pensioners.”
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