Schoolkids Bonus Helping Families with Back to School Costs

Families and stores across Australia are feeling the benefits of the first Schoolkids Bonus cash payment rolling out this month.

With kids going back to school over the next fortnight, parents are out now shopping for things for school.

The Schoolkids Bonus – worth $410 for each child in primary school and $820 a year for each high school student – is helping to lighten the load for families. It is paid in two instalments – in January and July.

About $588 million has hit the bank accounts of 1.2 million families across Australia since payments began a fortnight ago.

That’s $588 million available to Australian families to be spent in local businesses like book shops, shoe shops, sports shops, department stores and stationery outlets on back to school items like school uniforms, shoes, school books and stationery.

Families can also set some money aside to pay for future school excursions or other future school related expenses like sports registration fees and music lessons.

The Treasurer, Wayne Swan, and the Minister for Families, Jenny Macklin, today visited Officeworks in Milton, Queensland to talk to staff and local families about the how the Schoolkids Bonus was helping them out.

In the local government area of Brisbane, about 40,600 families have received the Schoolkids Bonus January payment worth a total of about $19 million.

The top 10 local government areas in Queensland for Schoolkids Bonus cash payments are Brisbane, Gold Coast, Moreton Bay, Logan, Sunshine Coast, Ipswich, Cairns, Townsville, Toowoomba, Redland.

Some families who claim their Family Tax Benefit at the end of the financial year will receive their payment then.

Families receiving Family Tax Benefit Part A, as well as young people in school receiving Youth Allowance, and others receiving certain income support or veterans’ payments are eligible for the Schoolkids Bonus.

Tony Abbott has promised to cut the Schoolkids Bonus – on top of his plans to get rid of the tax cuts and extra family payments this Government delivered last year to help with household costs.

For the latest information about the Schoolkids Bonus and other family assistance measures, visit www.australia.gov.au/schoolkidsbonus or like the Australian Families Facebook page at www.facebook.com/FamiliesInAustralia.

Top 10 Local Government Areas (LGA) in each state and territory:

Queensland

New South Wales

Victoria

Tasmania

South Australia

Western Australia

Northern Territory

Australian Capital Territory