The Budget 2004 Overview

Working for families

Total cost: $1.1 billion a year from 2007

Objectives: to ensure work pays, to ensure families have sufficient income to give their children a good start in life, to reduce the barriers to work, to simplify the benefit structure, to ensure people receive their full entitlement.

Components: Increases to Family Support, Childcare Assistance, the Accommodation Supplement, introduction of a new In Work payment for working parents, more generous work provisions for recipients of the Invalids Benefit.

Numbers affected: the new Family Assistance regime will touch 61 per cent of all families with dependent children, netting them on average an additional $66 a week. Families in the lower - $25,000 to $45,000 - income range will net an extra $95 to $100 a week.

Implementation: begins on 1 October, 2004 and runs through to 1 April, 2007.
Package to be future-proofed: Family Support, Childcare Assistance, the In Work Payment and the Parental Tax Credit will be subject to periodic review after 2007 to ensure they maintain their value over time.

ENDS

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