A Parliamentary Committee has today heard Labor’s so-called “School Saving Bonus” is just re-labelled funding that will come out of the Government’s recurrent school funding requirements under the ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ School Reform Agreement.
The recent State Budget included a $400 payment, a credit automatically applied to all Victorian Government school students yet restricted to students of concession card holders attending Catholic and non-government schools.
The Public Accounts and Estimates Committee (PAEC) heard that tens of thousands of low-income Victorian households will miss out on cost-of-living relief due to Labor’s rushed and poorly-designed “School Saving Bonus”.
Under questioning today by the PAEC, the Department of Education confirmed they were only made aware of the payment “just prior to the budget announcement”.
Shadow Minister for Early Childhood and Education, Jess Wilson, said: “Labor’s mismanagement of the School Saving Bonus is seeing families in need miss out.
“It simply isn’t fair that a high-income government school family will automatically receive this payment, whilst a low-income non-government school family may be excluded.
“It’s clear this program was rushed and poorly designed, and as a consequence any cost-of-living relief it provides will not reach all families who need it the most.
“The Allan Labor Government are spruiking this payment as a “bonus” and direct cost of living relief for families, when in reality it forms part of the government’s required recurrent school funding and will not be paid directly to families.”
