Jamie Briggs (Mayo, Liberal Party, Chairman of the Scrutiny of Government Waste Committee) Share this | Hansard source

Regarding one issue from before that the minister made a comment on, as I read the budget papers, there is $3½ million in the communication space in relation to the schoolkids bonus. The line item was relevant; in any event, Minister, you said you would take the questions on notice.

Ms Macklin interjecting—

That is generous of you; thank you. Back onto the schoolkids bonus, and I am sorry to continue to focus on this borrowed money, as the minister confirmed, which has been handed out. We are very happy to tell our constituents that we do not think pushing intergenerational debt onto their children is a good idea. We do not support borrowing money to hand out for free when you do not have the money in the first place. We are very happy to tell that story—between now and the election.

Minister, I refer to page 48 of the 2013-14 Budget Related Paper No. 1.7: Families, Housing, Community Service and Indigenous Affairs Portfolio, specifically the line item for the schoolkids bonus. You will see that the amount allocated for the schoolkids bonus in 2012-13 is $1,407,431. In last year's budget paper, the amount allocated for 2012-13 was $1,254,478. That is a $153 million increase, in reality, between last year's budget paper and this year's. Why was there a $153 million increase in the expenditure on the schoolkids bonus program in 2012-13 compared with the 2012-13 estimate in last year's budget? Is this a structural increase? Why is there no commensurate adjustment increase in the 2013-14 estimate and in the forward estimates, assuming that the criteria for the eligibility of the schoolkids bonus remains a constant?

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