Increasing interest rates will cost jobs, with the heaviest burden falling on people who lose work or can't find enough paid work, ACOSS has warned ahead of the RBA decision on Tuesday.
"Raising interest rates tomorrow would be creating unemployment by design, putting thousands more people out of paid work to slow the economy," said ACOSS CEO Dr Cassandra Goldie.
"The people hurt the most by rising rates are people who lose their jobs, can't find a job, or can't get the paid hours they really need.
"The biggest threat to a person's living standards is losing the opportunity for employment.
"Since interest rates started to increase, an extra 200,000 people are out of paid work.
"We cannot be certain what the impact of another rate hike now will be on unemployment in a year's time. An increase towards or above 5% would cause a human disaster, locking people out of jobs for years and forcing them to rely on grossly inadequate income support payments."
People who lose their jobs are left relying on JobSeeker, which now sits at $417 per week, just 41% of the minimum wage.
ACOSS is calling on governments to reduce inflation fairly and without needless damage to people's living standards by:
stepping in to slow down rent increases
taking further action to cap out-of-pocket medical costs, including specialist fees
funding rooftop solar subsidies through government budgets, keeping the cost off people's energy bills
redirecting money from tax cuts into targeted help only for people who really need it
