NSW election 2023: ‘Superannuation for kids’ as Coalition makes $49k promise

Helping NSW’s next generation afford a house, car and education is the cornerstone of a Coalition election plan unveiled by Dominic Perrottet, while a new school challenge is set to test kids’ money savvy.

Mini money managers will be challenged to get savings savvy at school under a revamped version of the NSW Treasurer’s Financial Literacy Challenge featuring lessons about the Premier’s newly unveiled savings fund for kids.

If the current government is re-elected, the challenge will be expanded to include students in Years 11 and 12 courtesy of a partnership with Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, and will be updated to teach children how to make the most of their Kids Future Fund account.

Kids in younger years will get taste of the adult world of budget balancing, banking, paying tax, superannuation and investing.

For older students, the suite of curriculum-aligned topics will include cryptocurrency, financial cyber security, business planning, paying wages and tax law.

A recent report by University of Newcastle researchers found more than a third of Australians surveyed were financially illiterate, with young people between 18 and 24 having the lowest levels of financial literacy and autonomy of all age groups.

Wasey Islam, 4, and Lilya Hamdan, 4, with NSW Treasurer Matt Kean, at Goodstart Early Learning. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

Premier Dominic Perrottet said boosting students’ financial literacy skills would help give them a head start in life.

“This initiative will ensure students in all year groups can get crucial knowledge about managing their money, including taxes and super,” he said.

“This is all about empowering our children with the knowledge they need to … make informed financial decisions based on their own circumstances.”

The Treasurer himself, Matt Kean, said the expanded challenge would have an increased focus on job-ready skills.

“This expansion will be targeted at older students who are our future entrepreneurs, innovators and industry leaders,” Mr Kean said.

“The Challenge provides students with the skills they can use when they enter the workforce and throughout their life as they make important financial decisions.”

Daily Telegraph. 08, March, 2023. Wasey Islam, 4, and NSW Treasurer Matt Kean, at Goodstart Early Learning, Denham Court, NSW 2565, today. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said more than 14,000 Kindergarten to Year 10 students registered for the first state-wide Financial Literacy Challenge last year, following a pilot in 2021.

LIBERALS ANNOUNCE CASH FUND FOR KIDS

Children will get their own savings accounts to help them buy a house and afford an education when they turn 18 under Premier Dominic Perrottet’s headline election policy, designed to convince parents to give the Liberal Party a historic fourth term of government.

Every child under the age of 10 will have the option of a Treasury-managed savings fund – with a seven per cent interest rate – where a re-elected Coalition will deposit $400 initially and match parent contributions up to $400 every year after that until the child turns 18.

After the first year, the scheme will extend to every newborn if the Coalition secures a win on March 25.

Two weeks out from the polls, Mr Perrottet unveiled the $850m policy at the Liberal Party’s official campaign launch flanked by children, including his own, calling it a down payment for the next generation to secure their “future dreams”.

The launch was buzzing with a soundtrack of Katy Perry’s Roar and The Distance by Cake at the Liverpool Catholic Club at Prestons in the marginal seat of Holsworthy where former deputy mayor Tina Ayyad defeated sitting MP Melanie Gibbons during preselections. She will challenge Labor’s Mick Maroney for the seat.

Premier Dominic Perrottet with his wife and children at the Liberal launch on Sunday. Picture: NewsWire/Monique Harmer

The government claims the ambitious policy will add up to $28,500 by the time the child is 18 if parents put in $400 a year, or up to $49,000 with parental contributions of $1000.

“This investment will change the lives of millions of kids all over the state forever,” Mr Perrottet declared to an audience that included his wife Helen, former prime minister John Howard and hundreds of party faithful.

“The account will help set our kids up for life by giving them a head start on the two things they most need.

“It will give the new generation the financial foundation to secure their future and as they go on to invest in education and housing, they will repay our investment many times.”

Former prime minister John Howard was among Liberal royalty who turned out to show their support for Dominic Perrottet’s election tilt. Picture: NewsWire/Monique Harmer

Mr Perrottet is understood to have worked on the policy – which was inspired by a similar scheme in Canada — for more than four years.

The money can be used towards higher education debt and housing and parents will need to register through Service NSW.

In the build-up to the announcement, Mr Perrottet’s wife spruiked the Premier’s credentials as a father-of-seven with a campaign video capturing him packing lunches and school bags.

“He is the man I see up before dawn every day, checking the headlines, solving the big issues like ‘Where Willsy’s missing shoe is’ or ‘Why Amelia has peanut butter on her toast instead of Vegemite’. He is the man who for the last decade has sat up through the night with seven babies. Not all at once but sometimes more than one,” she said.

“He is a big ideas man, he makes tough decisions, he has humility, and he faces up to mistakes he’s made, but most importantly he is a man who cares.”

The announcement is expected to be a vote winner among parents, with the Premier building on his pitch to the demographic after already promising a universal extra year of schooling to ease childcare pressures.

But NSW Labor has called it a desperate attempt to secure a fourth term by offering hope to parents struggling amid the cost-of-living crisis.

Shadow treasurer Daniel Mookhey says Labor won’t match the Coalition’s policy. Picture: NCA NewsWire

The opposition also ruled out copying the move, with Labor’s treasury spokesman Daniel Mookhey calling it “a policy that the Premier has grabbed from the bottom of the drawer on the eve of the election without having done his homework”.

Mr Mookhey said families doing it the hardest would be the least likely to be able to afford to chip into the fund.

“The first complication is, it’s not at all clear that every family would have the ability to make these contributions and we certainly are worried that the families that need the help the most, benefit the least from this policy,” he said.

“I think a family today who (has) a kid at school without a teacher, (or) someone rocking up to an emergency department without a nurse or hospital staff, are far more focused on a government solving the problems of the day.”