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A vigilante mob frustrated by escalating youth crime surrounded homes in central Queensland as police and the premier warn against taking the law into their own hands.

Authorities called for community calm on Monday after about 80 members of an online crime group staged a volatile protest in Rockhampton on Sunday.

The protesters massed in Central Park in North Rockhampton led by former One Nation candidate Torin O'Brien after public posts on social media.

The group surrounded two homes, banging on windows and doors and yelling at the occupants: "The town wants to talk to you".

Capricornia District Superintendent Glen Pointing said dozens of police were called to intervene to protect the community.

"I believe one person ran away and that person was chased by a small group of people," Supt Pointing said.

"Whilst we understand, appreciate and empathise with the victims of crime, I just want to strongly impress upon people that taking the law into your own hands is fraught with danger.

"There are a number of unintended consequences that can result."

Supt Pointing said police would ramp up patrols to ensure community calm as investigators review footage of the protests.

Community anger over youth crime rose again last week after three people were killed in a collision involving a stolen Mercedes-Benz allegedly driven by a 13-year-old boy in Maryborough.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and her ministers have defended the government's response but admitted the actions of the community in Rockhampton were concerning.

"Please do not take the law into your own hands," she said.

"The police are employed to do that if you have evidence of wrongdoing or criminal activity, please report it to the police."

Ms Palaszczuk feared the mob's actions could lead to serious injury.

"It is of concern that so many people would want to be doing that ... someone could get hurt.

"We acknowledge that people have very strong feelings about this in their local community but there are police that are on the ground that are there to serve the community and to actually resolve these issues."

Liberal National Party leader David Crisafulli also said he understood community frustration, but "vigilante justice" was not a solution.

"No one wants to see vigilantism in the community - full stop, end of story," Mr Crusafulli said.

"What I want to see is more police to be able to do the job and the laws for them to be able to actually keep the community safe."

Queensland Police Union president Ian Leavers said he also understood the feelings of the community but called for calm.

"I can understand the frustration on behalf of law-abiding people who have simply had enough," Mr Leavers told 4BC.

"I say to all sides can you just work with us (the police)? We're in a very difficult position, we have to protect life and property and maintain the peace.

"I don't want people to take the law into their own hands but on behalf of the police we understand their frustration, I understand why they do these things."

© AAP 2023

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the federal budget will help those doing it tough with $14.6 billion of cost-of-living relief to include a lift in single-parent support.

A day ahead of Dr Chalmers delivering his second budget, the government announced that from September 20 single parents will no longer have to transfer to JobSeeker when their youngest child turns eight.

A base rate of $922.10 per fortnight will apply until their youngest child turns 14.

The Gillard government a decade ago reduced the age cut-off from 16 to eight.

Those parents currently on JobSeeker will receive an increase in payments of $176.90 per fortnight, if parliament passes legislation to enact the changes.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who announced the proposed change in Perth on Monday, said children of single-parent families deserved greater support.

"I know first-hand what it's like to grow up with a single mum doing it tough and we want to make sure that the children of single-parent families have the best opportunities in life," he told reporters.

Addressing caucus members in Canberra ahead of Tuesday's budget, Mr Albanese said it would be about aspiration.

"We don't leave people behind but we also don't hold people back," he said.

"This budget will be in the best tradition of the Australian Labor Party, dealing with those immediate challenges, but always with the eye on the future."

Dr Chalmers said the budget would balance cost-of-living relief with responsible management of spending.

"We're confident what we've done here is provided some cost-of-living relief for people doing it tough, but conscious that we've got this inflationary challenge in our economy," he told ABC Radio.

"We need to be responsible about what we spend, and that's what we've done."

While also rolling out power bill relief, cheaper medicines and tax incentives for electrification and energy efficiency upgrades, the government has found $17.8 billion in savings and will reap $2.4 billion extra revenue from taxes on offshore LNG producers.

Opposition finance spokeswoman Jane Hume said the only way to provide genuine relief for struggling families was for the government to rein in its spending and tackle inflation, which was sitting at seven per cent.

"Getting inflation down is the only policy that would provide the cost-of-living relief to all Australians," she said.

Senator Hume said the government had palmed off its responsibility to help bring down inflation to the Reserve Bank.

Greens leader Adam Bandt said the changes to the petroleum resource rent tax had been designed by the "gas cabal" and did not go far enough in taxing producers more to pay for social services.

"If the government had the courage to make the big corporations and the billionaires pay their fair share of tax, then all single parents could be getting the support that they need," he told reporters in Canberra.

"Labor's not even prepared to fully reverse its own terrible decision that it made about a decade ago."

Greens social services spokeswoman Janet Rice said a possible $40-a-fortnight JobSeeker increase was a "kick in the guts" for people struggling to survive.

A combination of higher revenues and lower payments is expected to allow the government to deliver the first budget surplus in 15 years, but the bottom line is set to deteriorate from there.

The largest calls on the budget include health, aged care, defence, disability services and interest on debt.

Australians can expect a 0.75 per cent increase in real wages in 2023/24, reflecting the combination of rising wages and falling inflation.

© AAP 2023

The coalition is likely to avoid an Aston-style wipeout when Fadden voters go to the polls at the upcoming by-election, but important tests still loom for Peter Dutton's leadership.

The impending resignation of coalition MP Stuart Robert will result in voters going back to the ballot box for the second time in the space of a year in the Gold Coast electorate.

While the LNP won the seat comfortably at last year's federal election with a margin of 10.6 per cent, the coalition suffered a more than three per cent swing against it.

Mr Robert has not formally resigned from federal parliament, but announced on Saturday he would soon step down from his role as an MP, which will trigger a by-election.

Associate professor in politics at Griffith University Paul Williams said while Gold Coast seats were safe bets for the coalition, the opposition leader would face challenges.

"Peter Dutton's leadership is not travelling well in middle Australia, (but) the Gold Coast is different because it's LNP heartland," he told AAP.

"The important story is whether Labor gets a swing to them. Labor doesn't need to win to have a moral victory."

Nominations have opened for LNP preselection, with Gold Coast businesswoman Fran Ward considered the frontrunner.

Labor has yet to announce whether its candidate at the last election, Letitia Del Fabbro, will run again, or if the party will seek a new person.

The Fadden poll will be the second by-election this year, after the government made history in the Melbourne seat of Aston.

It was the first time in more than 100 years a government had won a seat off the opposition at a by-election, with Labor recording a more than six per cent swing.

Prof Williams said the result was unlikely to be replicated in Fadden, but the prime minister's personal popularity would be a factor.

"The Albanese government is still in its honeymoon, it's an unusually long honeymoon, and we've seen that borne out in Aston," he said

"Anthony Albanese has improved his personal approval in Queensland ... his profile and approval has grown since (the federal election) and that's problematic for the LNP."

Prof Williams said Mr Robert's decision to retire early in his term may work against the coalition.

He said it was critical for the LNP to preselect a female candidate to boost the party's electoral appeal.

"The LNP needs to run a woman candidate to rebuild its relation with women across Australia, and a candidate who is conservative on fiscal policy but progressive on social policy," Prof Williams said.

"A Liberal candidate fighting a culture war will fall flat."

© AAP 2023