Ursula Stephens (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition (Social and Community Affairs)) Share this | Hansard source

Labor do not intend to support Senator Siewert’s amendments. I will speak briefly about our concerns in relation to her amendments so that Senator Siewert understands them. Labor certainly support paying the baby bonus by instalments for mothers under the age of 18 because we do have serious concerns regarding the particular vulnerability of young mothers. Our position on this issue has been informed by some of the professional experience of respected youth workers such as Father Chris Riley of Youth off the Streets. That program in particular has raised very serious concerns about the extent to which the lump sum payment can cause—and I am using his words, not ours—’children to have children’. The provision of support for young babies is being increased, and we believe that providing staged payments for young mothers under 18 is good public policy which protects the interests of both mothers and their babies and which allows mothers to adjust to parenthood. The minister has just indicated the way in which the staged payments play out in terms of the support benefits that mothers will receive, and we believe that that is an equitable way to approach it.