The Budget 2004 Overview

 

Working for families

Working for Families when fully in place will: benefit more than 300,000 families; deliver an average increase of around $100 a week in direct income assistance to families in the $25,000 to $45,000 bracket, substantially reduce child poverty.

Working for Families will: ensure people are better off from working; are able to provide their children with a decent start in life; receive their full entitlements

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.