Low-income couples with children and single parents will bear the brunt of the Abbott Government's first budget, losing up to 15 per cent of their disposable income when the measures hit in full, according to independent modelling.
The findings from the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (NATSEM) at Canberra University stand in contrast to the Government's insistence that the budget is "fair" and "shares the burden".
The Coalition has cut almost $7.5 billion over the forward estimates by freezing family payments and axing some benefits altogether, with most measures beginning on July 1, 2015.
Eligibility thresholds for payments will also be frozen for two years, a measure which effectively lets inflation reduce the cut-off for benefits over time.
NATSEM principal research fellow Ben Phillips has studied the effects of the budget and says it is "not fair at all".
"We'd estimate around 1.2 million families that would be on average around $3,000 a year worse off by 2017-18, whereas the top income groups - so the top 20 per cent of households - would have either no impact or a very small positive impact," he told PM.
Mr Phillips found that a single parent of two school-aged children who was looking for work would lose $4,243 a year or 14.8 per cent of their disposable income by 2017.
And they would still lose that much even if the parent found a job that paid $40,000 a year.
A couple with two school-aged children who both worked to bring in a combined income of $60,000 a year would lose $6,350 or 10.9 per cent of their annual disposable income.
And even if their household income climbed to $90,000 a year, the loss would remain the same.
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