this is a very sensitive and controversial subject for sure

Once someone has a perk in their hands it is increasingly difficult to take it back off them no matter how much the economy may need for that to be done.

Thank you for sharing the article, cheers.

The system needs reviewing for sure, but I’m not sure about cutting it altogether.

Such a hard one but for many it’s their life line so you can’t really take it away

The fbt is all some family’s have to get by on from week to week how could the government even think of taking the fbt away. Malcolm turnbull has to be one of our worst prime minister’s. EVER

I think cutting the ftb is ridiculous.

We live in crazy times. We have so much and don’t know half how wealthy we are. And yet we think we have so much rights on benefits…

Abolish all the polly’s benefits – to stop having a queue of Com cars to take pollies here and there will save a fortune – but more people out of work – can’t win!

FTB is all we have atm. It’s paying the rent, food, bills everything. If they take it away we will be on the street.

You would think that chasing multinational businesses that don’t pay any tax or even welfare cheats would be a higher priority to reducing the deficit, wouldn’t you.

I don’t understand all the commenters who are saying “back in 19xx (year they have had their kid/s) I didn’t get any baby bonus and therefore scrap that” – do you not know the baby bonus has been scrapped??! It hasn’t been around for about 3 years or so!

It’s the other payments that help a vast majority of families out that are being called to be scrapped!

If the family tax benefits were scrapped, my family would have no income other than my husbands Austudy currently.
Hubby has spent 14 years in mining and is now studying at tafe as the mining industry in WA is no longer viable (if you hear politicians say otherwise, they are lying – when do politicians EVER tell the truth, we tried to find other mining work for hubby after his employer let him go 3 years ago, even as a senior driller, there was nothing for him. Even in more junior positions).
Hubby study’s full time at tafe to get a better job other than labouring out in the weather, which is virtually all he can get work wise without any qualifications or experience.
He was working part time too, but the small business cafe went bust early this year.
Living in a country town, there aren’t a lot of jobs to go around, so he’s looking but no guarantees of when he will get work again.

I was working part time as well til late last year, when we had our 3rd baby, plus we have a 3 year old still at home too.
Our 5 year old is in full time school this year, but I did not have kids to put them into day care for someone else to raise, just to work, and any income I make to go to paying that child care.
When our son is a little older – later this year – I will look for part time work again, but until then our family tax benefits really help ends meet.
I don’t take the payments for granted, but the government needs to have a good think about how stopping these payments would affect thousands of families across Australia! Many families are only just getting by with these payments! Without them, their kids won’t be going to school, they won’t be eating and they probably won’t have homes to live in!

It’s all good and well saying that you didn’t need this or that in the 70’s but times change. Was rent in most areas up in the $300 – $400 price range. Was shopping for a family standard at $300 a week. Did you need a car to drive every where? How expensive was it to send your kids to school? There is no baby bonus any more, they stopped that years ago. There is a supplement now but it isn’t much. I live rural, I need a car to get to any town. I can’t work because jobs are scarce in rural towns. What I get from centrelink barely pays my rent, bills, food and school stuff for my kids but we get by. The kids don’t go without. We are losing the school kids money this year and it is expensive to send kids to school. If we lose this payment as well it will be madness. You want people off the payments show us where aĺl these jobs are, make daycare actually work. What I find is working full time and having a child in daycare full time is pointless cause after those fees and petrol money there is no point in working and a lot of people agree with that and that is why they don’t work. Keep the tax on alcohol and expensive cars. It’s going to be a luxury to anyone that can afford that these days.

I don’t believe the Government needs to support me to have a child. I’ve missed out on many Government benefits over the years that many others have received – just the wrong time for me. This includes baby bonus, first home buyers, and any others that have come up over time. If I’ve been able to receive anything, I feel lucky and obviously take it, but I don’t believe it’s the Government’s job to support me and my family.

My first was born in 1982 and as a single mum was paid $30 after I kept him for 6 weeks, that was my baby bonus. Child endowment was not much but was able to help me some until I got back with his father 11 months later. Cut out the ” Baby Bonus” and other extra payments that some people get. Yes i do get part Family allowance for my 2 toddlers and no did not get baby bonus as was not eligible for it. I had help from my older children with things that were needed, enough my younger children are children 5 & 6 (twins) I had nothing for them.
Some others do not have the support of family members and wages are not high enough so family allowance is needed.

Cutting all family tax benifits is going to put us all in more of a poverty we r all struggling as it is i only have the 1 child i wish i could work i cant i have way to many medical issues and iv struggle with breast cancer and sever anemia and so many blood transfusions Malcolm turn ball u r a dick head and cold hearted i hate u i hope u get killed one day 🙁

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  • • Diann replied
    • 07 Apr 2016 , 8:04 am

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  That is a terrible thing to say, why would you even say something like that. Admin, you should have this comment taken off.

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  • • 
    • • Hanny n Dave replied
      • 07 Apr 2016 , 9:51 am

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    Hello Admin? How could you allow this kind of vile attack stay published, and the language leaves a lot to be desired too. To agree or disagree with Government ideas does not warrant uneducated remarks.

    C’mon stand up and be more responsible to unwarranted and unproductive comments and commentators. I begin to wonder if this mum talks like this here, how bad mouthed is she with others or heaven forbid, around her children. Disgusting.

When we got married in 1970 we had 4 children one in 1971, then 1973, 1976 and `1979 and we did not get a family tax benefit or BABY BONUS OF $4000 and we did not expect any handouts By today’s standards we got zilch as my hubby says 4/5s of 5/8 ths of f…k all! LOL!! A large percentage of today’s generation think they should get all this handed out to them by the government.

What a piece of nonsense

Why abolish tax on alcohol? People dont need alcohol at all and it causes a lot of problems that out Tax dollar goes to such as Police, Ambulance, Hospitals, etc I say keep the tax on alcohol and perhaps even increase it.

This is screwed up. If they abolish family tax benifits families like mine will be out on the streets. Unless they up the minimum wage by $30 an hour. Some people take advantage of the system but 90% of people rely on these benifits to look after their children