$497 Cost of Living Relief Payment Announced: The Government of Australia has announced to implement new cost of living financial assistance to people living in Australia under the fourth budget of the current government. The white was announced in March 2025. The budget is focusing to help low income individuals who are dependent on Federal benefits to fulfill their basic needs.
So if you are also waiting for the one time financial assistance from the authority then can read this article carefully where we will share with you important details of cost of living additional payment in Australia including the eligibility criteria, application procedure, procedure to release the $497 Cost of Living Relief Payment, date of receiving the payment and the maximum benefits in the program etc.
$497 Cost of Living Relief Payment Announced
Australians are paying higher tax to the government annually. The government promised to their citizens to provide $497 Cost of Living Relief Payment in 2025. Now they are implementing multiple tax relaxation and additional amounts to eligible individuals. Since the country is facing higher rates of inflation due to unbalanced situation in international market, so the low income people are highly affecting from this situation.
$850 Monthly Stimulus Payout in April 2025 –Is this a Scam? Here what you need to Know !
Florida SNAP Benefit April 2025: Check Payment Schedule & Amount
They are unable to pay educational fees, medical treatment fees, home rent and other basic pay for multiple services. So the cost of living relief payment will help all of them to cope up with this situation.
Increment in cost of living in 2025
The $497 Cost of Living Relief Payment is calculated by multiple factors by the Federal government. The government announce cost of living increment annually according to the previous year patterns of increment in inflation. For the financial year of 2024, the inflation have recorded 4.1% hike.
So all the beneficiaries who are getting federal sponsored program from Central link Australia will receive 4.1% hike in the regular benefits of the program. In most of the programs, it is ranging up to $497 or more according to the income condition of the applicant.
Who can get the $497 Cost of Living Relief Payment?
The $497 Cost of Living Relief Payment will provide to only needed individuals in the country where you need to check the following criteria to claim the additional cost of living payment in 2025 from the central link Australia.
- You need to be a permanent resident of Australia and living in the country for at least 10 years
- The income of the applicant should be less than $2,510.00.
- If you are living with your common law partner then you can increase the limits up to $3,836.40.
- You are also required to receive any of the following benefit from the authority
- Age pension
- disability support pension
- job seeker pension
- career payment
- parenting payments
- youth allowance
- Austudy or Abstudy.
- Apart from this if you have a Commonwealth senior health card or pensioner concession card or low income health card then can also receive the additional $497 cost of living mount in your Bank directly
How to get the $497 Cost of Living Relief Payment?
The government of Australia is providing Federal payments and cost of living payments through Central Link Services portal. Beneficiaries are required to register themselves on the portal to claim the cost of living payment. There is no separate application form to apply for the program. But if you are getting other benefits you can’t live then the payment will be added in your regular payouts and will receive your Cost of Living Relief Payment along with your other payments.
Usually the central in Australia releases payments to their beneficiaries through direct deposits where the payment is directly sent in bank account. But if you are bank is not link with the portal then you can also get your payment by mail on your address.
So if you have made any changes in your bank account details then should immediately update all the details on the central link Australia portal so it will help you to receive your payments earlier without any delay.
Other benefits for cost of living in 2025
Apart from the direct payments, the Government of Australia is also introducing multiple tax relief benefits which will help all the taxpayers to get relaxation in the tax. Citizens will get 300 dollar relaxation on the energy bills annually to tackle the inflation where a small business will get $325 off on energy bills.
$2000 Child Tax Credit in 2025: Who Qualifies & What’s the process to Claim?
$2100 + $1800 + $550 Triple CPP Payment in April 2025 – Is this Payment Officially Confirmed?
In upcoming years, government is focusing to reduce the medicine charges from $31.60 to $7.70 to provide extra medical facilities with minimum expenses at all the medical centres in the country. So such initiatives are very helpful for low income citizens in Australia in 2025 where you can also avail benefits accordingly.