WA families can access the government's Student Assistance Payment from today, offering financial support for primary and high school students. But the program has been criticised for its broad stroke approach to cost-of-living in lieu of providing targeted support for people in need.
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00:00As classroom doors opened for the start of another school term, so did the second roll out of the State Government's Student Assistance Program.
00:10There's cost pressures on parents all the time. New shoes, new uniforms, excursions to provide for, lost lunch boxes that need to be replaced. All those things mount up.
00:20The payment provides $250 for every secondary student and $150 for primary and kindergarten students.
00:29It's the second round of payments for WA families, with around 400,000 students benefiting last year.
00:36It's really great for those things that you weren't planning for in regards, you know, you've got your budget and your work through, but the ability to, you know, school shoes blow out quite frequently.
00:44But the program has attracted criticism for not being means tested.
00:48The danger of an approach like the student assistant payment is money is going into the pockets of families who don't actually need it, who are quite well off, who are meeting all the cost of living measures.
00:58We'll have to apply for it. If they don't feel they need that extra money, well then they wouldn't, and they wouldn't apply.
01:04The payment also came under fire last year for its low uptake in regional and remote areas due to a lack of awareness.
01:11The regional and remote areas are a particular focus of mine this year because we want to make sure that all parents, no matter where they live, are able to access this important payment.
01:22She says there will be help available in local community centres and libraries for those in the regions.
01:27So, thank you for joining us today.
01:28I think you can see that some of the Kre-Casements, that we see the future of Monста and various regions.
01:34In terms of the places to join the community of our country, we know that it may be keeping an eye on the board for the past, but we are trying to trust the people of their own.
01:40In terms of the country, we've got a new place to meet with us.
01:42I'm tired of them, but we've got to first one of our founders in the content of the country and we've got to have a new interest plan.
01:45I'm aibelius trying to want people to come back in this past year.
01:47Just before what we're on our own, I'm telling you, we've got to acknowledge that with a lot of our time and we've been doing this riskier on the categories again.