From paid parental leave to expanded childcare and free kindergarten, Australia has made positive changes over the past two decades to better support families.
But for many parents juggling paid work and kids, research shows those gains are being undermined by a missing piece of the puzzle: fixing our outdated Family Tax Benefit payments.
Who are the biggest losers from leaving those rules unchanged for the past 25 years? Families with two working parents – especially mums trying to go back to paid work.
Ahead of next week’s national economic reform roundtable, the prime minister says he welcomes new ideas to boost productivity – and hopes “there’s some low hanging fruit out there” to act on soon, or to feed into next year’s budget.
A key place to start would be simplifying and updating family payments to better suit working families, support shared parental care and encourage paid work.