Future voters divert PM's pitch
JULIA Gillard went back to school to promote the schoolkids payment, but faced a grilling from her young audience.
JULIA Gillard went back to school yesterday to promote the rebadged schoolkids payment, but faced a grilling of a different kind from her young audience.
One child asked the Prime Minister if she would like to take a break from the press and the stress and do "something wild", such as skydiving.
"I don't go skydiving," Ms Gillard said before confessing she had made one less than successful attempt at scuba-diving.
"The instructor probably thought I was the weak link in the group -- the whole time we were underwater he held my hand."
Ms Gillard was accompanied by Infrastructure Minster Anthony Albanese as she visited Marrickville West Public School in his inner-Sydney electorate, but there was no one to hold the hands of Labor MPs as they ventured out to sell the Schoolkids Bonus across the country.
The bonus is replacing the education tax refund and will be paid direct to parents without them having to collect and present receipts for education costs such as books and uniforms.
The $2.1 billion cash splash will deliver $410 for each primary schoolchild and $820 for secondary school students whose parents receive Family Tax Benefit A.
At Timbarra Primary School in Melbourne's southeastern suburbs, backbencher Laura Smyth was spreading the word to parents including Wendy Schmolling, who questioned her eligibility for the money. "If I get this I will run around naked," Ms Schmolling said. "You get nothing from the government unless you're unemployed or a drug addict."
But Maria Grizancic, who has daughters in Years 5 and 9, said she appreciated the bonus. "I think it makes a difference."
Kristianna Davis, a teacher whose eldest child has just started school, said she had found the previous rebate hard to claim but worried the bonus would be used as an excuse to cut school funding for things like books.