Medical bills cut

NEARLY 100,000 families will lose all or part of their Family Tax Benefit ( FTB) payments to slash $ 2.3 billion from the nation’s ballooning welfare bill.

And anti- vaxxers will lose $ 28 a fortnight for every unvaccinated child, with the “no jab, no pay’’ policy, to start from July 1 next year, saving the Government $ 15 million over the next four years.

Families earning more than $ 94,316 a year will have their means- tested FTB Part A payments phased out at a faster rate. As a result 24,900 higher- income families will lose this money and another 71,800 will have their payments reduced – saving $ 415 million over the next five years.

The Government will save another $ 1.9 billion over five years by freezing FTB rates until July 2019.

Social Services Minister Christian Porter said the savings were a trade- off for more generous childcare subsidies for working families.

“Savings made from this measure will provide much needed support to Australian families through more affordable and accessible child care,’’ he said.

Single parents – who receive a higher rate of welfare payments than couples – will be forced to find a referee to sign a document verifying their relationship status from January next year.

Treasurer Scott Morrison declared last night that “the best way to get your welfare budget under control is to get Australians off welfare and into work’’.

But the Budget papers reveal the social security bill will balloon over the next four years, as more workers reach pension age.

Annual spending on aged pen-

sions will soar by 17.5 per cent to $ 52.3 billion by 2020- 21.

Dole payments will jump nearly 10 per cent to $ 18.7 billion a year in 2020- 21, despite a tough compliance crackdown.

Meanwhile taxpayers will spend 17.7 per cent more on the Disability Support Pension, which will cost $ 19.1 billion in 2020- 21.

The Government will try to save $ 119 million in pension pay- ments over the next five years by locking recent migrants out of the system. After July 1 next year, migrants must have lived in Australia for a decade before getting the aged or disability pension.

Migrants will need 15 years of continuous Australian residence to qualify for a pension – unless they have lived here for 10 years and worked for five, or not relied on welfare for more than five years.