Budget delivers assistance in Wakefield

In the Wakefield electorate, around 200 Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) places will be available from 1 July 2006, providing the child care services meet relevant criteria, such as being fit and proper to provide child care.

The Minister for Families and Community Services, Mal Brough, and David Fawcett, Member for Wakefield, visited the Wakefield electorate to see first hand how the Howard Government’s Budget 2006-07 message, to provide families with greater access to child care, will be implemented at the grass roots level.

“The recent Budget announcement to uncap OSHC and Family Day Care (FDC) places, will give services in the Wakefield electorate the opportunity to build on the 4,004 existing FDC and OSHC places, providing more access to child care for families in their community,” Mr Brough said.

“The uncapping of OSHC and FDC places, from 1 July this year, will mean some of the 52 existing FDC and OSHC services in Wakefield are now free to expand, new services can be created and both can offer Child Care Benefit places, as long as they meet certain criteria.

“It’s not only families and children who are collecting the benefits of the latest Budget, in a landmark $173.3 million announcement the Howard Government has improved the treatment of rural land under the pension assets test.

“From January 2007 people of Age Pension age who have been living on rural property for 20 years may have all land on the same title as the family home excluded from the assets test applied to Age Pensions and Carer payments.

“This exemption will allow eligible pensioners to receive a higher rate of pension and improve their living standards while remaining in their family home,” Mr Brough said.

The Minister and Mr Fawcett today also presented the Northern Volunteering SA Inc Volunteer Week Awards, at the Central Districts Football Club.