Child Poverty Action welcomes govt families package

From Morning Report, 8:38 am on 15 December 2017

The Child Poverty Action Group is welcoming the Government's families package, saying that at last children's needs are being taken seriously. The package focuses on several key areas: an extension to the current Working for Families programme, a universal $60 a week payment for families with new babies, a boost to the accommodation supplement and a winter energy payment for beneficiaries and pensioners. It will come into effect next July. By 2021, when it is fully rolled out 384,000 families with children are expected to be better off by an average of $75 a week, with many lower-income families receiving more. Susan St John is the economics spokesperson for the Child Poverty Action Group and joins us with her reaction.