Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I speak in support of the Family Assistance and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2013. The purpose of this bill is to make changes in relation to the baby bonus. It comes as a result of what we announced in the 2012-13 Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook. The amendments will change the support not for new parents but for second and third children and beyond. We are maintaining support for new parents with their up-front costs with the baby bonus. From 1 July 2013, the Baby bonus for second and subsequent children will be reduced to $3,000. The baby bonus will continue to be paid at the current rate of $5,000 for a first child.

I have two children—they were born a long time ago—but I daresay most of the people in this chamber would have had children. The reality is that your first child incurs the most cost with all the things you need for maintaining a child—whether it is a pram or a nursery. A child changes not just the time, energy and lifestyle of parents, but it changes their finances as well. We are maintaining that support for the up-front costs for the first child or a multiple birth—twins, triplets, etcetera—but in relation to subsequent children—where they may, for example, have the pram or have the nursery or the beds set up—in those circumstances we are making changes. This will provide savings of between $500 million and $600 million over four years.

There are many things that we have done to improve the life and lifestyle of Australian families and I will come to those shortly. We are ensuring eligibility for the family tax benefit until the end of a calendar year for young people who complete secondary study or its equivalent in either November or December of that year. Additionally, the bill provides the qualification for a double-orphan pension being extended so that it aligns with eligibility for family tax benefit. There is a huge amount I could say about what this government has provided to Australian families and particularly those in my electorate. One of the things I am most proud of is helping dads take time off to spend with their babies. That is a tremendous thing that we have done from 1 January this year—putting that as an option, for their babies to have the best start in life and ensure that the mother is supported by the father of that child. To the tune of about $600 a week before tax at the minimum rate for two weeks, it allows the parents to establish patterns in life, which my generation never experienced. I think that is particularly important. There are, of course, tests in relation to that, but the vast majority of people in my electorate will benefit from that change and have already done so.

Talking to young families in shopping centres like Yamanto Village, Winston Glades, Brassall or River link about those issues—and I have spoken to many, many people—this particular reform is one of the most important changes the federal Labor government has made. The paid parental leave scheme that we have brought in has seen literally thousands of people in my electorate given the option of not using the baby bonus. More than 160,000 people have taken up this option. It is another initiative of this federal Labor government—a first for our country. The other assistance that has been commented on locally is the schoolkids bonus—that baby becomes a child very quickly and a school kid very quickly. They grow up so quickly—from toddler to pre-school to school. I remember talking very recently at Raceview State Primary School to young mothers, often with young babies in their arms, about the schoolkids bonus. It is another great initiative that this government has brought in—$410 per child at primary school and $820 for high school. We have seen the benefit of that. We on this side understand helping young families who have young children who at that stage often have the highest rate of mortgage or rent and the most stress they will ever have—helping them with the dads and partners bonus or the schoolkids bonus or paid parental leave.

All these things make a huge difference to their lives. That is why I just cannot understand the attitude of those opposite to the schoolkids bonus. Having supported an education tax refund, they are now opposed to a schoolkids bonus. In my electorate some families will lose $15,000 during the time their kids are at school. I just can't understand that the young mother I spoke to outside Raceview State Primary School, who sends her kids there and then on to Bremer State High School, will lose $15,000 if the Leader of the Opposition gets into government. We have seen $588 million injected into the economy through the schoolkids bonus and it has helped 16,100 local families. We should be providing help for families. That is what this government is doing—helping young families in particular. We have high growth, low unemployment, low inflation, a strong economy and low interest rates. Those young families with kids at primary school are the ones who are now paying on average much less in interest rates than under the coalition government. Interest rates rose ten times in a row under John Howard and the coalition and now under this government they are so much lower. That is because of the prudence of this Labor government's management of the economy. It is managing the economy in the best interests of the country and in the best interests of families.

This amendment will save money, but it has to be seen in the context of all the other things we have done—dad and partner pay; paid parental leave; the schoolkids bonus; the tax cuts for that mother who might be working part time; raising the tax-free threshold from $6,000 to $18,200 and, in the next year so, to $19,400—to be clawed back by the coalition if they get into power—the family tax benefit rises; and the pension rises. I was talking to a fellow last Saturday at Winston Glades shopping centre at Yamanto. The guy was on an age pension—getting the benefit of our increases to the age pension—and he had a couple of kids and a wife from Indonesia. He told me that they were getting the benefit of so many of our reform—the schoolkids bonus, for example. He was horrified when he found out that the coalition would take that away from him, that they would take away his pension rises and his schoolkids bonus—so many of the things which help his young family and help him to support his two kids, who are both at Raceview State Primary School.

What we are doing in this legislation must be seen in the context of everything we are doing—that is, providing help for families; making sure they get a decent lifestyle; making sure they have a roof over their head; ensuring their kids are educated to enable them to achieve their full potential; ensuring their financial security through low interest rates; making sure they have money in their pocket to pay for that computer, those sports shoes or those music lessons; and giving them just a little bit of a helping hand with the cost of living. This government is committed to that. I say to the electors in my electorate of Blair: whether you are sending your kids to Raceview Primary, to Silkstone State School, to Redbank Plains State School at Redbank Plains, to Milford Street Kindergarten or wherever, we will be there for you. Whether your child is born at St Andrew's Hospital or Ipswich General Hospital, we will be there for you. This government has provided; those opposite will not.

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