Good news for millions of Aussie parents in Tuesday’s budget announcement
The $150 cash bonus hitting the pockets of school parents and carers is a welcome relief.
The NSW State Budget announcement on Tuesday included positive news for families when Treasurer Matt Kean announced that parents in NSW will be granted $150 per child to buy school supplies early next year.
The vouchers, called the Back to School Subsidy, are aimed at assisting with the rising cost of living and are set to cost the state $193 million.
How to access the subsidy
As with the Dine and Discover and Parent Vouchers, families will be able to access the subsidy via the Service NSW app from early 2023.
Minister for Customer Service and Digital Government, Victor Dominello said: “Parents will be able to access the Premier’s Back to School program via their MyServiceNSW account, in the Service NSW app, over the phone or by visiting a Service Centre”.
The program will run from 1 January 2023 to 30 June 2023 and will see parents getting $150 per child to spend on uniforms, shoes, textbooks or stationery.
To be eligible for the subsidy, a child must be a NSW resident, enrolled in a primary or secondary school in NSW in 2023 and listed on a valid Medicare card.
All primary and secondary-aged schoolchildren in NSW will be eligible for a $150 back-to-school voucher in 2023 to assist with the cost of school supplies.
“Inflation is high across the world because of global supply chain constraints and economic disruption caused by the pandemic,” said Mr Kean.
“This has been exacerbated by Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. We understand that rising inflation is not simply a statistic, it is something that is impacting the daily household costs of millions of Australians and reducing what they can afford,” he said.
“We are helping families with a back to school voucher of $150 per child to help with the costs of school supplies for term one next year”.
“Our children are our future and a great education can set them up for life …”
Other positive news for families in Tuesday’s announcement
The year of uncertainty just faced by Aussie families has not gone unnoticed. NSW families have been promised a whopping $7.2bn to support their budgets and aide with the cost of living increases.
In addition to the voucher, Dom Perrottet’s government has announced it would spend $3.8bn to support education for young children as a “once-in-a-generation investment” in the future.
Those promises include:
- $4bn to make preschool affordable for NSW families.
- Parents of preschool children will be eligible for fee relief of up to $2000 a year, and more than $280 million over four years will be spent to attract more childhood educators to the profession.
- $112.2 million has been allocated for developmental checks in preschools.
- $37.9 million will be spent on boosting before-and after-school care .
- $1.6bn has been pledged to build and upgrade public schools around the state.
“Our children are our future and a great education can set them up for life,” Mr Kean said.