Extract from ABC News
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Mr Abbott has said the Government is looking at recommendations for a means-tested payment. (ABC News: Clarissa Thorpe)
The Federal Government is being urged to prioritise
the needs of low-income families and vulnerable children as it finalises
its second budget.
The full details of a promised overhaul of
child care will be released before the Federal Treasurer, Joe Hockey,
gets to his feet on May 12.The chief executive officer of the peak body Early Childhood Australia, Samantha Page, said low-income families and vulnerable children must be the priority in the new system.
"This is a big reform process and it's complicated, and what we need is something that families understand and know how to navigate and can rely on," Ms Page told AM.
"We have been pushing for the Government to guarantee two days a week for children in low-income families and we hope that that makes it into the package."
Mr Abbott has said the Government is closely looking at the Productivity Commission's recommendations for one, means-tested payment to replace the current childcare rebate and childcare benefit.
"It is important that child care is seen not as welfare but as a way of strengthening our economy," he said.
"Because the more people we can get who are contributing, well, the better for everyone."
Parents will have to work a minimum number of hours to receive the revamped childcare subsidy, which worries both Labor and the Greens.
Greens spokeswoman Sarah Hanson Young said a hard and fast rule may be counter-productive to the Government's aim of getting people back to work.
"It seems a bit of a catch-22 for those mothers," she said.
"You often need to have child care first before you can commit to taking on an extra day of work."
The Opposition's families spokeswoman, Jenny Macklin, shares that concern.
"We want to make sure that the parent who has got a very part-time or casual job, parents who are looking for work, are able to get access to high-quality child care," she said.
Bill Shorten to give pre-budget address
The Federal Government said this year's budget would be good news for families, and the Prime Minister has previously said people would find the savings in the budget "dull".The Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten will seize on that description in his major pre-budget speech at the McKell Institute in Sydney today.
He will argue that fairness must be at the centre of the federal budget.
"It starts with recognising that inequality in Australia today is as high as it's been in three-quarters of a century," he will say.
"Egalitarianism is under threat."
The Opposition said the pace of change in the global economy means the country "can't afford a dull budget" or an "ordinary effort".
Mr Shorten will argue the budget should set out an economic plan for the next 10 years.
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