Pension, allowance recipients to benefit

PENSION and allowance recipients will receive an increase to their welfare payments from March 20 to help keep up with increases in living costs.

Pension payments including Age Pension and Disability Support Pension will increase by $13.20 a fortnight to $907.60 for singles, and by $19.80 a fortnight to $1368.20 for couples combined, according to Member for Parkes Mark Coulton.

Individuals receiving Newstart Allowance, Widow Allowance, Partner Allowance and Sickness Allowance will get an increase of $7 a fortnight to $554.60. Couples will see an increase of $6.30 a fortnight to $503.40.

The Parenting Payment (Single) will increase by $9.80 to $774.40 a fortnight.

Rent Assistance rates also increase from March 20.

New bus fare structure will be cheaper

BUS customers in the Dubbo electorate will benefit from adult regional bus fares being cut by almost 30 per cent on average, following the NSW Government’s introduction of a new fare structure for regional bus operators.

“By dropping the price of the maximum fare, we hope to make bus services more appealing to local residents and encourage higher patronage numbers which means a boost for local operators.”

The new pricing structure will introduce a maximum adult fare for a short trip of three kilometres set at $2.30, trips longer than 200 kilometres will have a maximum fare of $48.20.