Proposed Family Tax Benefit Saving Robbing Pauline to Pay Peta

22 October 2015 Proposed Family Tax Benefit saving robbing Pauline to Pay Peta

While less appalling than the Government’s original proposals, the revised Family Tax Benefit (FBT) reforms are unlikely to have a significant effect on workforce participation, particularly in those states and territories with high unemployment, claim a range of workforce experts including the National Foundation of Australian Women (NFAW), Equality Rights Alliance (ERA), economic Security for Women (eS4W) and the Work and Family Policy Roundtable (W&FPR).

“Even allowing for the proposed child care package, low income families who do not get a job will be worse off under these proposals, while low income female headed families will get a rough deal also,” says Marie Coleman chair of the social policy committee at the NFAW. “In locations with high unemployment there is no real prospect for currently unemployed women to get jobs- try Burnie in Tasmania or Elizabeth in South Australia. Women leaving domestic violence situations will also be hard hit.”

In fact, it is estimated that grandparent carers of a 15 year old would be $2,500 a year worse off.

“The revised savings not only attack working women, they also assume that it is perfectly ok for a 13 year old child of a single parent to be left unsupervised while mum goes to work- if she can find work with her current skills-set” Ms Coleman added.

“Ironically the savings proposed will still enable the Government to fully fund their child care package as well as ‘buttress’ the proposed FTB savings, yet it seems determined to press on with cuts to Paid Parental Leave (PPL). Definitely a case of robbing Pauline to pay Peta,” Ms Coleman added.

Moreover, the Government seems determined to continue to categorise working women as ‘double dippers’. Its changes to Paid Parental leave remain unchanged, while the savings from the appalling changes to FTB will more than fund its child care package.

“We do not support finding savings to fund desirable measures such as child care from the already tightly targeted Australian social security system. There are plenty of other areas of wasteful and inequitable expenditures to be addressed.”

For further information contact Viv Hardy or Kristie Hardy on (02) 9283 4113 or Marie Coleman on 0414 483 067