Patterson Kicks Own Goal On FTB Options Wayne Swan - Shadow Minister for Family and Community Services

Media Statement - 9 March 2004

Struggling to get her head around the details of her portfolio, Senator Patterson today attacked the Government's own suggestions on family benefit reforms.

In an especially clumsy attempt to score a political point she kicked an own goal by rubbishing the work of the Prime Minister's own Work and Family Taskforce.

The leaked taskforce report made the following suggestions in respect to overhauling the flawed family payment system:

216. A range of approaches to further reform are possible, including:

retaining the current taxation links and end-of-year reconciliation, but introducing more frequent income assessment arrangements (eg, quarterly); … a more significant change, by extending the system of fortnightly entitlements to all families, but changing the income test so it is more appropriately based on current (eg quarterly) income or the past financial year's taxable income and with no retrospective adjustment - effectively de-linking it from the tax system and end-of-financial-year reconciliation.

By seeking to ridicule the notion that benefits could be more closely matched to current income she has contradicted the suggestions of the Government's own work and family experts.

For The Minister's information, Labor has not announced the final details of its tax and family benefit reforms, although a number of proposals are on the table.

In any case, any reforms Labor will announce will not involve families going to the trouble of submitting quarterly tax returns.

If the Minister was on top of her portfolio she should know that pension and allowance recipients currently have a fortnightly income test – but they don't submit a tax return every 14 days.

Putting the hapless Senator's floundering to one side, families need only understand one thing:

Only Labor will reform family benefits to stop unfair debts - the Coalition will do nothing to fix its socially and economically irresponsible family benefits trap.