THE phasing out of Centrelink’s Schoolkids Bonus means single mothers have lost about 10 per cent of the money they received on welfare compared with last year, says Bob Katter.
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“It bloody hurts” the poorest families struggling in the regional communities such as in Mount Isa, where the average annual income might be $70,000, the Federal Member for Kennedy said.
A tightening of welfare entitlements would make it “exceptionally worse” for these families.
From January last year, eligible families received a total $430 for each primary school pupil and a total $856 for each secondary student, although given in two payments. The bonus ended last July.
Local mother of four Tanya Gilbey said it was more difficult this year to afford school equipment because the bonus no longer existed.
“They stopped the school bonus, they should have left that,” Ms Gilbey said.
“That would have helped a lot.”
Injilinja Youth Services representative Sondra Ah Wing supported the view when she said the absence of the bonuses would increase financial difficulty for some local Indigenous families.
Mr Katter, the Federal Member for Kennedy, said the school bonus would not have encouraged more parents to send their children to school.
“It’s a poverty angle rather than education,” he said.
“The bigger picture is they haven’t got money now.
“I don’t think there are many people who would have decided to send their kids to school for $1700, I don’t think it made a difference.That’s what is happening, these people, they can’t afford to buy food let alone clothing.”
Mr Katter saw little justification on the view of education being the long-term answer to reducing the disparity of economic conditions between Aboriginals and other Australians. He said that job creation was the answer.
“I’m a bit cynical about education if there’s no jobs for you to get. [I support] Creating jobs than educating people for jobs that don’t exist.”
Mr Katter said the federal government was broke because it was “running around building tunnels and stadiums”, and then because of it was punishing pensioners and young families.
“If young couples sat down and said ‘can we afford to have a baby’? they would probably say ‘no’. We [Australians] are a vanishing race. If we take out migrants coming in...then in 10 years Australia has more deaths than births.”