Supporting families with targeted assistance

Since 2007, the Government has taken significant steps to improve assistance to families, by building on assistance in ways that are targeted to families when they need it most and supporting them to participate in the workforce.

Australia's First Paid Parental Leave Scheme

In the 2009-10 Budget, the Government committed $730.7 million over five years to establish Australia's first Paid Parental Leave (PPL) scheme. Now, around 95 per cent of working women have access to paid leave, up from around 50 per cent before the scheme was introduced. As of March 2013, over 280,000 families have benefited from parental leave pay.

In this Budget, the scheme has been further strengthened. From March 2014, time on PPL can be counted towards a subsequent PPL claim if it occurs in the work test period.

Improving Support For Families

In the 2012-13 Budget, $2.1 billion was invested to replace the Education Tax Refund (ETR) with the Schoolkids Bonus of $410 a year for primary school students and $820 a year for secondary school students. The Schoolkids Bonus is paid as an automatic payment rather than a tax refund, providing more flexible and timely assistance, as recommended in the Australia's Future Tax System (AFTS) review.

To target assistance to where it is needed most, the Government is also introducing reforms to ensure the sustainability of the family payments system. From 1 March 2014, the Baby Bonus will be replaced by an increase to Family Tax Benefit Part A (FTB-A) of $2,000 on the birth or adoption of a first child and $1,000 for subsequent children, also reflecting the recommendations of the AFTS review. Pauses on indexation of higher income test thresholds for family payments, dependency tax offsets and FTB supplements will also be extended until 1 July 2017.

The Government has improved support for teenagers to best support their participation in school or work and study. To better align Youth Allowance and FTB-A, from 1 January 2012 FTB-A for dependent teenagers in full-time secondary school was increased by up to $4,208 a year for 16 and 17 year olds, and up to $3,741 a year for 18 and 19 year olds to match the payment rates for 13 to 15 year olds.

Proportion of working women with access to paid parental leave

Source: FAHCSIA