also, can you apply to have it in one lump sum? I thought i read you ciould but now i dunno...
like if it was being used as a deposit on a lger family car kwim? Big ticket items for bub etc?
No, it's only available as a series of payments now. Actually a bit of a relief that Samuel arrived early... not that we've put in the forms to claim it yet!
FJ - there are extreme circumstances in which you can apply to have it paid in a lump sum, but most requests will be denied. buying baby "essentials" such as a cot etc will be denied in almost every instance because you've had a whole pregnancy to organise this... perhaps for an extremely premmie baby that has had to be flown from the country to the city and parents have had extreme expense as a result, it would be taken into consideration, but those cases will be few and far between...
it is now another "social security" payment for families on "lower" incomes.
i honestly don't know if a larger car would be deemed a neccessity worthy of having the baby bonus paid in a lump sum as it is something that could be planned for. it's one of those things i really don't know sorry hun...
it isn't a maternity leave payment - the maternity leave reform suggestions are still going through submissions and things - they won't go through for quite a while i don't think
all so confusing, why wouldnt they have just left it the way it is. why do they have to confuse us and put most of us out who wanna put it towards things.
someone told me yesterday that your assets and profits come into the threshold too? is this correct? she was saying that they are going to sell their house in that 6 months and the profits from that would be added to theier 'income' which would set them as more than the 75 000.?
sale of a house in which they have capital gains and pay capital gains tax WILL contribute to it. that's with thanks to the tax department
BM - it's nothing to do with c'link - they just administer what the government of the day say they have to. the baby bonus was being abused by a portion of the community - it was widely known as the plasma bonus. KRudd has done what, IMO, should have been done in the first place. initially the maternity payment/baby bonus was there to increase population growth (one for her, one for him, one for the country) but population growth stabilised and the payment was no longer intended for that purpose - it was then changed by the Labour government to reflect financial assistance for lower income families to try and help in keeping mothers at home for those crucial first six months. a lump sum payment doesn't do that. it doesn't supplement any part of a wage. it gives the person money they can spend in a lump sum - but what do you really NEED for baby at that point - unless you've not taken the months before birth (and let's be realistic, almost everyone knows they are pg for 6 months before a term birth) to prepare? the payment can take up to a month to administer once paperwork is in, and you have months to submit it - so it's not going to help you with immediate needs when baby arrives anyway!
yes, for some people, the lump sum seems more beneficial - who doesn't want to have $5k go into the bank - but the reality of it is that, even though the name has not yet changed, the baby "bonus" is no longer a BONUS - it's a form of income support for eligible families. i have no issue cutting the payment to higher income families (i DO have an issue with having a hard cut off point though - it should be a sliding scale). i have no issue with it being paid fortnightly (for some, that fortnightly payment for those six weeks will be enough to supplement mortgage or rent - MUCH more important than a large payment to buy STUFF)
not everyone is going to agree - this is MY opinion only. well, maybe not just mine - it obviously has been studied by governement advisors who believe it will be more beneficial to the majority of lower income families to do what it is meant to do - to help them survive financially after the birth of a baby
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