Women and Families
The Stronger Families and Communities Strategy, announced by the Prime Minister on 16 April 2000 with funding of $240 million, has established new partnerships to strengthen families and communities. The Strategy was developed in recognition that the best solutions are developed and delivered locally in partnership with others - local organisations, volunteers, businesses, communities, families, individuals and all levels of government.
The strategy includes measures to improve families' ability to access and choose child care that meets their needs by supporting parents in balancing paid work, education, community activities and parenting responsibilities through flexible and responsive child care. Shift workers, families working non-standard hours, those who have a sick child or who live in rural areas without access to care particularly gain through this strategy.
Additional initiatives are aimed at strengthening families through:
- the Stronger Families Fund, that provides $40 million over 4 years to encourage communities to develop new and better ways to strengthen families with an emphasis on early childhood and parenting projects, and
- the Early Intervention, Parenting and Family Relationship Initiative, $47.3 million over 4 years, that aims to strengthen families through services and activities such as parenting support and playgroups and marriage and relationship education. It also provides family counselling with a focus on regional Australia and support for legal, medical and other professionals in their support for families. It responds to emerging needs including those identified through the Stronger Families Fund.
In addition the Government has implemented a number of other measures to increase assistance to those people who provide care for children, the majority of whom are women, particularly where there is a full time carer at home. These include:
- The introduction of the Family Tax Initiative - which increased the tax-free thresholds for one parent in a family for each dependent child up to the age of 16 years or 18 years if a dependent secondary student and assistance to single income families (including sole parents) with at least one child under 5 years.
- Simplifying family assistance from twelve types of family assistance into three: Family Tax Benefit Part A, Family Tax Benefit Part B and Child Care Benefit.
- An additional $2½ million in assistance for families each year through the introduction of The New Tax System.
