The federal government is rethinking its decision to axe an energy supplement paid to welfare recipients, after Labor leveraged the unpopular proposal as a potent campaign attack.
The supplement was originally offered to low-income households as compensation for the defunct carbon tax.
Various coalition ministers have tried and failed to scrap the welfare payment in recent years, but the billion-dollar savings measure remains stalled in the upper house.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Tuesday told his coalition colleagues that the government was reviewing its stance on the so-called "zombie measure".
The government was hammered for abandoning the supplement during recent by-elections in the Queensland seat of Longman and Tasmanian seat of Braddon, which both have high levels of welfare dependency.
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