The Brief: Wednesday 18 January
Labor HQ posted Friday, 27 January 2012
As the name suggests The Daily Brief is posted daily to give you an inside look into what the Government is doing direct from the source. It is here that you can find out the Government’s agenda for the day, what announcements were made as well as facts and comparisons on our policies.
The purpose of The Daily Brief is to be informative and include you in the Governments daily cycle and help you share information with your friends and family. You can even use it as inspiration to call talkback radio or to pen a letter to the editor.
Labor's Paid Parental Leave delivers for 130,000 families
- Labor is helping Australian families, workers and retirees with the cost of living.
- We brought in Paid Parental Leave:
- up to 18 weeks of government-funded parental leave, at around $590 a week before tax.
- Nearly 130,000 families have or are receiving Paid Parental Leave.
- And from January 2013, we’ll bring in Dad and Partner Pay – two weeks’ paid leave for dads and partners to spend more time with their newborns and family.
- We’ve delivered the Education Tax Refund – providing up to $794 a year for eligible parents of secondary students, for education expenses like uniforms, textbooks and trade tools.
- We extended Family Tax Benefits – by up to $4,200 a year for eligible families of 16-19 year olds who stay in school or vocational training.
- We raised the Child Care Rebate - to 50 percent of out-of-pocket child care expenses, providing families up to $7,500 per child per year.
- We cut taxes - a person earning $50,000 a year is now paying $1,750 less in tax than in 2007. Someone earning $80,000 a year is paying $1,550 less in tax than in 2007.
- And we increased the pension – since September 2009, Labor’s pension reforms have delivered extra payments worth around $148 per fortnight for singles and $146 per fortnight for couples combined.
- The last Liberal Government was the highest taxing in history, and did nothing for families struggling with bills.
- Only Labor cares about the cost of living. And only Labor has delivered in reducing living costs for Australian families, workers and retirees.
Wednesday 18 January 2012
PM: The PM will join Parliamentary Secretary Kate Lundy in Melbourne, to make an announcement on the Government’s “People of Australia” Ambassadors program.
Transport: Minister Albanese and local Labor MP Yvette D’Ath will announce the opening of tenders for early works on the $1.15bn Moreton Bay Rail Link. The link is jointly funded by Federal and State Labor Governments, and by Morton Bay Regional Council. Labor’s early commitment to the Rail Link contrasts with Tony Abbott, who had vaguely promised to support it sometime after 2014.
Opposition: The Liberal Party’s civil war on industry policy enters its tenth day today. SA Liberal heavyweight Nick Minchin is the latest to trash his own party, opposing Tony Abbott’s plan to kill car manufacturing and sack 46,000 workers. He is opposed by leadership contender Malcolm Turnbull and backbench ratbag Jamie Briggs, who support Abbott’s job-killing plan. Meanwhile, reports of resignations from Joe Hockey’s office as staff flee the sinking ship of Liberal economic credibility.
What's next: Labor's Achievements in Child Care
Labor’s record in helping families with child care is second to none:
- Help with fees:
- We increased the Child Care Rebate from 30% to 50% of parents’ out-of-pocket expenses, and raised the annual limit for each child from $4,354 to $7,500.
- We increased the Child Care Benefit - giving extra assistance for 650,000 low and middle income families each year. A low income family using full-time child care now has around 80 per cent of their child care fees covered.
- More places:
- We saved the centres at risk from the collapse of ABC Learning in 2008, stepping in with $58 million to ensure continuity of care for around 95,000 families. As a result 90% of the centres are still operating.
- We’re funding an unlimited number of child care places. The number of child care centres has increased from 11,449 in December 2007 to 13,807 in December 2010.
- Better integration:
- With States and Territories, we’re setting up 38 Children and Family Centres, offering integrated services like child care, playgroups, family support and child and maternal health.
- More information:
- We set up www.mychild.gov.au to help parents identify child care that suits their family; and
- We’re investing $24.5 million to roll out the Australian Early Development Index– the first ever national measurement of how are children are faring before they start school.