Australia Government Plans Child-Care Subsidy Changes, ABC Says

(Bloomberg) -- The Australian government will put a revised child-care subsidy plan to parliament this week in which grandparents will have easier access to funds while payments to high-income earners will be scaled back, ABC News reported on its website Sunday.

Under the planned package, grandparents who are primary carers will be exempt from the child-care activity test, which means they will not have to work or study to access government- funded support, ABC said.

The change would apply to almost 4,000 grandparents and would cost the government about A$20 million ($14.4 million), Education Minister Simon Birmingham was cited as saying by ABC. Under the plans, subsidies for families that earn more than A$250,000 a year will be cut back, according to the report.

The government wants the new system in place from 2017, ABC said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Narayanan Somasundaram in Sydney at nsomasundara@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Marcus Wright at mwright115@bloomberg.net Stanley James, Andy Sharp