baby bonus

What do you think about not giving the baby bonus for the rich.

I think its a good idea as they don't need the money anyway.Also I think it's a good idea to give it as vouchers for the babies essentials. 

I seen in a paper about a women that was complaining that she wasn't getting the bonus because they earn over a $150000 a year and that she spends a $1000 dollars a year on schooling and $500 dollars a week on food.I have a partner that earns $17.50 an hour and we can only afford $150 dollars of food a week and I have 2 kids one in high school and one in day car.I say if she wants to live an extravegant life style then she needs to pay for it herself and not the government.

No baby bonus for the rich is a great idea. broadly based payment are never a good thing. Means tests are good.

hey everyone, i agree and disagree at the same time. No baby bonus for the rich is a good idea, however the definition provided by the government is fundamentally flawed. The means testing says that the cutoff for the baby bonus is $150,000 per year as a family income. I am still studying, and earning around 45,000 a year, my girlfriend earns $110,000 as a chartered accountant. if we were to have achild we would not be eligable, despite our income with her not workign being only $45,000 a year. Furthermore, is it fair to offer the baby bonus only to people who are less wealthy because rich people don't need it? even though the rich people pay significantly more tax? yes logically the baby bonus should be given only to people who need it, however for purposes of equality, everybody should be eligable for the baby bonus. However I believe that the bonus should be offered as either vouchers or tax deductions to prevent people using it on a new plasma tv... anless they plan to let the baby sleep on it

I agree that the baby bonus should be in vouchers for baby products and services, that way it will definately get spent on the tiny person it is meant to be spent on! If the parents need the money so badly then they should look at their spending habits before they decide to bring another life into the world. The rich don't need the money, I wonder why, they don't spend needlessly, nobody gets rich from spending. So I don't believe that the "rich" should be excluded just because they have been more sensible with the money that they have earn't.

And No I am not rich, quite the opposite! 

BABY BONUS>>>>DAMN

what about a pensioner bonus

Yes i konow we get a pittance but we should get the 5000

I'm of the belief that the baby bonus was put into place to encourage women to have more children due to the declining birth rate, and as classist as this may seem people of lower economic positions have always had higher birth rates and I don't think paying them a bonus made a difference at all.   I do believe it may have made a difference to those on the lower to middle incomes, because it acted as a form of paid maternity leave and this is why I think it should be kept.   I would also like to see it  increased from $4000 to $6000, since at that rate it will cover the 14 weeks maternity leave and give others a helping hand.  

I have 3 kids a 5 year old and 2 year old twins. I have to say the baby bonus helped heaps. I do believe in not giving it to the rich and that it should be means tested. but I dont know about the vouchers. I had kept most things from my first and we received alot of gifts in the form of money as well. So before i gave birth i had everything set up  for the twin's arrival. when we received the $6000  we were able to put it towards a deposit on a home(on top of what was already saved) and now we are out of the rent race and have our own home. 

 I guess all you can say is you hope people act responsibly with the money that is given to them. A voucher system would be good for young mums, say under the age of 18. I have heard alot of stories of young girls falling pregnant just to get the money, maybe this will deter them.
 

We also had purchased almost everything before the birth of our first child so the baby bonus was put to good use in other ways which would also benefit our child as they grew up.

 

If vouchers were to be given out in place of money how would this be done? Would the vouchers only be able to be used at particular stores or could you buy the items needed at your choice of store?

I think the baby bonus should not be used to encourage women having more children as the current bonus of $5000 is nothing when you look at how much it will cost to raise the child until they turn 18... the money willbe helpful initially, but once it's gone the parents still need some type of income to be able to give their child/ren a good life.

 Hi

 this is a very interesting topic I agree totaly no baby bonus for the rich, as for the lady who is complaining about spends $1000 dollars a year on schooling and $500 dollars on food aweek??? huh??? $500 aweek on food?? gee whats she buying the whole shop?? this women needs her head red big time I think these people should, live how we all live then I will give her something to complain about

im a hard biatch when i want to be

when miss 13 was born, there was no baby bonus and i was a single mum. i survived. when i got her immunised, i wasnt paid $200 for it, i did it because i believe its the right thing to do. here is what i think:

instead of paying people $200 to immunise their child, fine those who dont immunise unless they have a very good reason. if my child gets a serious illness because you choise not to immunise your child, i will sue the pants off you

baby bonus: should not be paid to single mothers unless the father of the baby has passed away while the mother was pregnant. people should have to prove they are in a stable relationship before they are allowed to get it. a young girl up the road has no direction in life. she wants to have babies and get paid for it. she is 16. i told her that she will not cope financially and she said that with the baby bonus and the pension she will be right. i think she should be steralised. when i was born, my mother got stuff all from the government. my father went out and worked to support us and mum worked from home. when we were old enough, we got casual jobs to help mum and dad out a bit and to get some experience in the workforce

the baby bonus is just another thing that will contribute to teen pregnancy. to a young person, $4000 sounds like a lot of money but it doesnt last long at all

now i'll sit back and grin at the flaming i am fully expecting to receive

i am expecting a baby in december

i dont get paid maternity leave so we are using the baby bonus as my paid maternity leave.

i dont agree it should be in vouchures some ppl are not as luck as others to get paid leave

I think it is a good idea that the rich don't get the baby bonus, they don't need it. It should be for people receiving centrelink payments or people that are in the work force that really need it (which they would be receiving FTB anyway.) The rich get it too easy and the middle to low income earners get it tough, and its the rich that put there noses up at middle to low income earners. It should be us pointing our noses up to them. In my opinion anyway

I don't actually agree the baby bonus should be paid in vouchers.  In my opinion it should just be paid on a fortnightly basis, not one big lump sum.  $500 payments each fortnight when you receive the family tax benefit would be a better idea.  That way it will help with the family budget while you're off work - sort of like paid maternity leave.  When I was on leave I put it into a seperate account & used it to help pay the bills when we were a bit short.  I guess thats sensible though, the young ones just see a new LCD TV or something technological.

i dont believe in punishing the rich. they work hard and it pays off for them. any one of us could have become a doctor or a lawyer, we chose not to. people who work hard should be applauded, not punished

i think the baby bonus needs to be abolished entirely along with the $600 per child. there is no need for it. for many years we coped without those extra payments. how come all of a sudden people are unable to cope and need that extra money? before anyone menitons interest rate rises, interest has always inflated. before people mention petrol costs, get rid of your car and use public transport or use your car economically. we live 3 minutes walk from the shops and i walk up there daily. my next door neighbour drives up there and then complains about the cost of fuel

we need to help ourselves more and punishing the rich with discrimmination will not benefit the poor in any way

dabest:

i dont believe in punishing the rich. they work hard and it pays off for them. any one of us could have become a doctor or a lawyer, we chose not to. people who work hard should be applauded, not punished

i think the baby bonus needs to be abolished entirely along with the $600 per child. there is no need for it. for many years we coped without those extra payments. how come all of a sudden people are unable to cope and need that extra money? before anyone menitons interest rate rises, interest has always inflated. before people mention petrol costs, get rid of your car and use public transport or use your car economically. we live 3 minutes walk from the shops and i walk up there daily. my next door neighbour drives up there and then complains about the cost of fuel

we need to help ourselves more and punishing the rich with discrimmination will not benefit the poor in any way

 

I agree with you 100%, people need to live within there means and stop relying on the government for handouts, ditch the car and walk, i am 31 years old and i have driven a car for 5 years of my adult life, i found it to expensive, (petrol, rego, repairs) so i got rid of it and now i walk or catch public transport.

I save money from not owning a car, its great, i also get exercise, and i don't contribute as much to global warming, its like a triple win.

Bottom line is think long and hard before you act, don't have three kids just because the government is gonna give you a hand out.

And don't complain about petrol prices when you have options.