What are Labor and the Coalition policies on cost of living?

Cost of living has emerged as the top issue for voters this election.

Nearly two thirds of young people listed cost of living as their main concern at this election, according to Resolve polling conducted on behalf of TDA.

In this piece, we’re breaking down how political parties are planning to address cost of living ahead of the 3 May election.

Inflation

For some context, this is what inflation (the rise in prices) has looked like over the past decade:

Matched

First, we’ll go through what the major parties agree on – this means these commitments will come into effect regardless of who wins the election.

$150 in energy bill relief will be automatically applied to energy bills until the end of the year ($75 per quarter).

A ban on supermarket price gouging will start in July. This refers to the practice of excessively and unnecessarily hiking the cost of groceries.

There is a plan to triple the number of GP visits that are currently bulk billed. This means more doctors’ visits will be fully covered by Medicare. This would be done via an incentive given out by the government, which is like a bonus given to doctors who fully bulk bill patients.

There is also a plan to cap PBS medicines at $25, down from $31.60. These are medications that are subsidised by the government. It will make them cheaper to buy at the pharmacy.

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Labor

A tax cut would be introduced for the lowest tax threshold from 16c to 15c, starting July next year. This is a tax cut of $268 for the year. It would drop again in July 2027 to 14c.

There would be a new tax deduction option of $1,000 for work-related expenses. Labor says it helps workers who usually claim less than $1,000 from gathering low-cost receipts. Anyone claiming more would still claim their expenses individually.

Labor would wipe 20% off all student debt from July, which is estimated to wipe roughly $16 billion off loans.

Coalition

The current tax on fuel would be halved for a year, which would wipe 25c a litre off petrol.

The number of subsidised mental health sessions would be doubled from 10 to 20. This means you could see a psychologist up to 20 times a year for a cheaper price, because Medicare would cover most of the fee.

A $1,200 one-off tax cut would be introduced in July 2026, for anyone earning between $48,000 – $104,000. A smaller tax cut will apply for those earning less than $48,000 a year, and also between $104,00 and $148,000.

Greens

Getting universal dental into Medicare has become a key Greens policy. Currently, dental services are only covered under Medicare for children under 18.

It wants to wipe all student debts, cancelling current loans being paid off by graduates. It also wants to make university free for all.

The Greens want to introduce 50c public transport around Australia, adopting the Queensland Government’s scheme which has reduced the flat fare.