Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Parramatta for her question because she knows that last night's budget delivers for Australian families. We are delivering extra financial assistance for low- and middle-income families, especially those families with teenagers. Of course, it is this government that is also delivering for those families who need intensive support alongside tougher obligations for those families who are living in areas of entrenched disadvantage. We want to make sure that they get the extra help they need to make sure that they can get the skills to make them ready for work so they, too, can share in the benefits of our economic opportunities.

The highlight for families in last night's budget is the increase in family tax benefit part A for those families who have teenagers aged between 16 and 19. This is an increase in the amount of money that families with teenagers will receive and it will be a cost to the budget of around $770 million. That is $770 million to boost support for families. Of course, if you are a family on the maximum rate of family tax benefit part A, that will mean that you will get an increase of up to $4,200 if you have a child aged between 16 and 19 and that child is still attending secondary school. What this will, in fact, do is increase support for 650,000 families over the next five years.

The government is introducing this change because, currently, assistance drops by $150 a fortnight when your child turns 15. Whose policy would that have been? Of course, it was the Liberal Party's policy that they had for 12 years that saw family tax benefit part A drop when your child turned 15. Our reforms, which we introduced in last night's budget, will fix exactly that. The vast majority of Australians who have heard about this reform support it. I do say 'the vast majority,' and you would be surprised to wonder that there are some—not many, but some—who do not. They seem to me to be so out of touch with the needs of families that they are not supporting this idea. You might wonder who I am referring to. It is none other than the member for Sydney.

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