Letter

In response to Budget 2026: Leadership means more than keeping campaign promises – Message from

The Budget's excluded people

The debate about losers and winners from the Budget ignores 14.2 per cent of Australia’s people – the percentage identified by ACOSS in its poverty and inequality survey 2025. According to ACOSS 1 in 7 adults and 1 in 6 children live in poverty. For those aged 65 plus who are renting, then, 39.4 per cent are in poverty. Any government that ignores the most vulnerable people is indulging in cant and hypocrisy. For the 14.2 per cent a caring and compassionate government would increase social security payments to above the poverty line and increase the rental and energy subsidies.

— David Griffiths from Mordialloc, Victoria 3195