Jobseeker payments to be cut from January 1

Families being helped by Centrelink supplements will see payments slashed in the next few days.

From January 1, the Centrelink coronavirus JobSeeker supplement will be cut by $100 a fortnight with payments down to $150.

Around two million people on benefits will be affected.

Some people in the outer suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne will be worst hit.

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Places such as Fairfield and Ashcroft in west and south-west Sydney and Broadmeadows and Narre Warren in Melbourne have more than 10 per cent of their populations living on JobSeeker or Youth Allowance.

At the height of the coronavirus pandemic, the coronavirus supplement was $550 a fortnight, reduced to $250 in September and now $150 until the end of March.

The Federal Government has always said it was a temporary measure, which began in March during the nationwide lockdown.

Opposition MP Bill Shorten said on Today it was too soon to cut the cash payments.

"People should remember that before this allowance of the money people were living on $40 a day," he said.

"The problem is, in Australia, there is well north of a million people unemployed.

"There is just not the jobs out there at the moment.

"The other thing is, we are going to see more insolvencies next year in 2021.

"These cuts are just too tough."