The new system will call for granting support payments to these parents until their youngest child is eight years old.  If approved, this new arrangement should replace the old system set in 2006, which allowed for single unemployed mothers to get at least $648.50 until their youngest is 16. 

The change is a way of enforcing “tough love” by the government so that those depending on this for support will be pushed to find work. 

This change will also mean about 100,000 single unemployed parents are going to lose their benefits. The Government, however, stands to save some $700 million from this new measure. 

Single unemployed parents who remain without work after their child turns eight will also be penalised $120, and will be transferred to the Newstart allowance system.  There will be exemptions, however, granted to those caring for children with disabilities or any other special circumstances that prevents them from working away from their kids. 

The Employment of Workplace Relations is behind the Government in this initiative. Minister Bill Shorten said parents with children already in school should be able to return to the workforce.

Shorten said that work is essential to the well-being of a family because it helps make ends meet. He added that public income support is ideally a temporary solution and this should not dis-incentivize people from finding work that pays.

High-earner individuals would have to pay 30 percent tax for their concessional super contributions. The move translates to a $1-billion savings for the government and would significantly aid in bringing the budget to surplus.

The changes in tax rate will take effect on May 8. Those who earn a taxable income of more than $300,000 will be affected. The number translates to about 1.2 percent of total workers who give contributions to their supper, roughly close to 130,000.

Minister for Superannuation Bill Shorten said that it is quite obvious that high-earning individuals benefit more for their super, most of them contributing to a smsf. To make the system fairer for the rest of Australian workers, the government wants to ensure that tax breaks for are imposed across income ranges.

Opposition leader Tony Abbott has openly criticized the government for using family benefits to incite “class warfare.” Shorten, however, retaliates by saying the Abbott’s batting for the top 1 percent of has alienated and betrayed the rest of the Australia’s working families.

Some quarters have complained that the government use super when the budget is low. Industry observers also noted that it is the government’s way of distracting the public from scandals involving Speaker Peter Slipper.

The beleaguered Slipper has been accused of sexual misconduct towards a former staff named James Ashby. Slipper resigned from his post after calls intensified for him to vacate the post.

Slipper, however, continues to deny the allegations. He also hope he can join the May deliberation on the budget.

If this pushes through, there will be more than $30 billion superannuation tax breaks affected.  And as the review committee on expenditures is going over the final budgets, a reduction of other benefits is also being considered.

According to reports, the labor department is eyeing to make these changes for high-income earners who only contribute to about 15 percent of their super. Low-income workers, on the other hand, should not be affected by any of these plans.

Since Labor adapted a super guarantee levy in 1993, tax breaks risks have increased to billions of Australian dollars. This year, the government has passed a new legislation wherein employers are required to increase their super contributions from 9 percent to 12 percent until 2020. But it is still not decided whether this will be based on company profits or employee wages.

Bill Shorten, the Financial Services Minister, said that this increase is supposed to be a “deferred wage increase” that employers need to discuss with their workers. He added that superannuation is part and parcel of an employee’s remuneration.

Unions are not in favor of this, however, as they demand employers must absorb the whole cost of this contribution.

The Greens are pushing for the tax on super funds to be based on the individual worker’s income tax rate, less 15 percent. This invariably guarantees low-income earners as tax-free.