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Government promises up to $250 for each school-aged WA child
The West Australian government has unveiled the $103.5 million Student Assistance Payment program, which will provide up to $250 for households with school-aged children amid the national cost-of-living crisis.
Payments of $250 for each secondary school student and $150 for each primary student and kindergartener are available and can be applied for through the ServiceWA app.
Roger Cook kicks a footy with the Davies family, who say they welcome the government’s Student Assistance Payment.
Premier Roger Cook and Education Minister Tony Buti announced the policy on Sunday and were flanked by the Davies family, who said they welcomed the payments as beneficial to their three kids currently at school – but were slightly less enthusiastic about the news the policy would not be means-tested.
“In regards to the means-testing issue, it’s always difficult at the state level because we don’t have the data on income levels that the federal government does,” Buti said.
“I should add there...that we do have a secondary assistance scheme, which is for low-income families that provides substantial relief for clothing and other school expenses in secondary school for low-income families.”
Parents and carers of kids in childcare will miss out – but Cook said there are other forms of assistance available for them.
Asked if such direct government payments could in fact keep interest rates high, he said the targeted nature of the policy should lessen any inflationary pressure.
“We understand that people who have got childcare commitments and so on, they’ve got costs as well and obviously the federal government has the childcare rebates,” Cook said.
“We put these sorts of schemes in place because we believe that they have a non-inflationary effect.
“That is, they’re targeted, go to people for whom we are not simply distorting market forces because we know that they’ve got particular expenses that we can assist them with.
“So, um, absolutely, if you, um If you’ve got a heavy hitter like the federal government wading in doing large packages, that can have an inflationary effect, but we don’t believe this will.”
The opposition welcomed the cost-of-living relief but questioned why the payments were brought in after families have already been hit by many key school-related expenses earlier in the year.
“This funding should have been announced prior to the commencement of Term 1, when struggling families were purchasing uniforms, books, and other schooling essentials,” opposition education spokesman Peter Rundle said.
“Families have already told me the application process for this funding is burdensome. It was a strange decision to gatekeep this funding behind the clunky and unhelpful ServiceWA app.
“I would also call on the government to use their $3.7 billion budget surplus to reinstate the Boarding Away From Home Allowance to its previous level.”
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