Tony Abbott said the Government’s Budget wouldn’t come at the expense of the family budget – but a new independent study shows one in four families who access child care will be worse off by an average of $1,880 per year.
Labor has been asking for information about who will be worse off for months but the Government has refused to provide it.
Independent modelling by NATSEM now shows what the Government has been trying to keep a secret – that the child care changes will hurt, not help, 270,000 Australian families.
Low and middle income families, single income families and parents trying to get back into the workforce will be hit the hardest by their child care restrictions.
Some children will be pushed out of early education altogether, while others will have their access cut in half
The NATSEM modelling also found that two-thirds of families who receive Family Tax Benefits and use child care will be worse off overall.
This is in addition to reductions still hanging on from last year’s budget, with $1 billion cut from childcare, and more than $5 billion cut nationally from family payments.
More than 10,000 families in the Ballarat region will be affected by these cuts. The same families now face real hardship with new changes to child care and family tax benefit.