preface
Before going abroad, the most heard about the welfare of Australia is that "Australia is a high welfare country, people do not have to worry about life, even if unemployed, sick, and any plight," Government will provide full benefits to ensure that everyone has a good life. "
To this day, referring to Australia, "high welfare" remains an attractive label for the country. To be honest, this is the most attractive factor for me to emigrate, not how good the environment is in Australia, how well the education is, and how healthy the food is. From the bottom of my heart, "high welfare" is in fact a great expectation for me to enjoy my life for nothing.
Australia's welfare system is extremely complex and classified, and I don't think any common people can make all the benefits clear. That's why I wrote this article, and I'm trying to come up with a simple clue to the complexity and complexity of this article. At the same time, I also want to see how I can live my life if I only rely on welfare.
My list of benefits of concern to the general public is as follows: fertility and parenting, health care, unemployment assistance, old-age care and education, I will try to explain it one by one.
1. Parenting
Australia's benefits are for PR (permanent residency) and citizen, and once you have PR, it means you can start to enjoy it. It is important to note that the starting point for receiving benefits is after long time, not when you get the PR. And if they leave Australia for more than 13 weeks, the benefits will be suspended until they return to Australia and notify Centrelink that they will resume.
Family Tax Benefit Part A: is entitled to this benefit as long as she has children. The amount granted is related to the total income of the family. It is often turned into milk gold.
Family Tax Benefit Part B: is entitled to this benefit as long as he has a child. The amount granted is related to the income of the low-income parent.
Rent Assistance: Rental subsidy (government will consider low-income families raising children, most of which need to rent).
When you log on to Australia, Centrelink will ask you to make an estimate of household pre-tax income for the fiscal year on its website (Australia's fiscal year begins on July 1 and ends on June 30 the following year). The amount of these two subsidies will be based on your estimates, and Centrelink will send a letter after the end of the fiscal year. If the actual income is higher than expected, then you need to return the extra benefits. On the contrary, Centrelink will make up for the less benefits.
Usually, families earn less than 47,000 Australian dollars a year in, Part A and B and rental subsidies, which add up to about 500 Australian dollars every two weeks (this is a child, for example), once the family's income exceeds 47,000, This benefit will be greatly reduced. When a family earns more than one hundred and fifteen thousand Australian dollars a year before tax, this portion of childcare benefits is basically equal to zero.
There will also be subsidies when your child starts entering the nursery (Childcare), Centrelink.
Child Care Benefit (CCB): children go to kindergarten before the grant is granted. The amount granted is related to the total income of the family.
Child Care Rebate (CCR): children go to kindergarten and parents work / school for at least 15 hours a week before granting the benefit.
The nursery in Australia is very tight, and the cost has been rising rapidly in recent years. Basically, it costs more than 100 Australian dollars a day, while CCB,CCR
The weekly allowance is about 237yuan (for example, according to family income 45,000 / year), which is far from paying for nurseries. Therefore, the vast majority of Chinese people take over their parents to help them take care of their children. And Australians are more likely to choose their father to go to work, and mothers to take care of their children full-time. If there are more than two children in the family, it is almost impossible for a mother to go to work. Because it is likely that the amount of money earned at work is far from paying for childcare (and once both couples have an income, the benefits will be significantly reduced).
II Maternity allowance and vaccine allowance
Australia's government encourages motherhood and mothers to accompany their children. The allowance is only for mothers. Government pays $589.40 a week for 18 weeks, for a total of about $10k. It is important to note that the money is not tax-free. And the mother is not allowed to work during the period of receiving the allowance.
A full-time mother usually gives five months of paid maternity leave, plus 18 weeks of maternity allowance, which adds up to nearly 10 months of paid maternity leave.
Australia attaches great importance to vaccination and last year introduced a policy of failing to complete all the prescribed vaccinations before school and imposing fines on parents or guardians if the child does not attend school. The vaccine allowance is paid in two instalments, about 129 Australian dollars each time. (vaccines and injections themselves are free)
Three medical (Medicare)
Medicare is the equivalent of China's health care, and only PR, citizen is available. The following items can be paid by Medicare (referred to as bulk billing). In Australia) Usually the patient does not need to pay, will be unified by the Medicare settlement, but sometimes some organizations can not bulk billing (the vast majority of the Specialist can not), then need the patient to reimburse their own online.
Diagnosis and treatment costs for GP and Speicialist
The vast majority of tests and X-rays
optometry
Surgery and treatment in public hospitals
Basic dental treatment (the vast majority of dental treatments such as correction, root canal therapy, etc.)
Health care is a complicated topic. Simply put, Australia's Medicare focuses on basic care so that everyone doesn't look down on the doctor, but there is no guarantee that you will be able to get the best medicine and the highest level of medicine to treat you in the first place or at the highest level.
This means that public hospitals always give you free treatment, but you have to listen to him completely. You can't choose a doctor, you can't choose how to treat, you can't choose the timing of the operation, that is, Free medical care in Australia only guarantees you the most basic treatment, and high-quality services you have to pay for yourself, so health insurance is something that almost every Australian, especially the elderly, has to buy.
Without health insurance, many people will have to wait in line even if they are seriously ill, so don't be superstitious about free medical care in Australia, which is far more convenient than Australia in terms of medical convenience.
In Australia, medicine is separated and drugs are divided into OTC and prescription drugs.
OTC has no benefits for anyone's government, and for prescription drugs, there is a PBS (Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme), in Australia that holds a certain Medicare benefit if you are a low-income group (family income is less than 45,000 per year). If government issues an Health Care Card (HCC), or is older than 70, it will hold an Senior Health Card, or you are a Pension card holder, all three of whom will be entitled to the lowest price for the drug, with a maximum cost of $6.90 for any drug.
Unemployment assistance
The precondition is that only if you hold the PR for more than two years will you be eligible to apply for it, and the additional conditions will be extremely numerous and harsh, and it will be associated with family savings, whether you are single or not, whether your spouse has any income, or whether you have children, and so on. The amount of payment will be 439 / 641 / 2 weeks. And during the collection period, Centrelink will constantly introduce a variety of job opportunities, and the applicant also has to continue to report and explain the current situation, and it is annoying that the applicant will continue to report and explain the current situation. This complex system basically excludes lazy labourers who want to live on unemployment assistance.
Five-year-old welfare
Composition of the Australian pension system:
1. Superannuation that the employer must pay
2. Individual voluntary supplementary contribution component
3. Government's age pension.
Government's pension (age pension), government gives a maximum of $689.00 per fortnight for singles and $519.40 for couples at $519.40 per fortnight. But not everyone has access to the maximum amount and is subject to rigorous assessment, which is assessed by specialized agencies, including age, assets and residence requirements in Australia.
In general, the 65-year-old retirement can begin to receive (the retirement age is constantly rising to 70 years later) and has lived in Australia for more than 10 years (for those who have a PR for parents who want to enjoy pension benefits, Please note this request).
For both couples, assets other than housing do not exceed two hundred and sixty five thousand Australian dollars (such as investment houses, cars, etc.); in the absence of a house, the husband and wife's assets do not exceed four hundred thousand, so they can receive the maximum pension amount mentioned above. If the assets are higher than these numbers, but not more than 1 million, a partial pension is available. People who know about the elderly in Australia may understand that government pensions can only provide the most basic diet, and that one day going to a nursing home would be another big expense. About the nursing home, I once wrote an article, I dare not get old easily-the old-age article, for everybody's reference.
VI. Education
Australia, like China, offers a free, compulsory 10-year education, but when children start school, you will understand that even if all of them attend public schools, the amount paid each year is not a small sum.
In my son's case, he's going to a public school, and he doesn't have to pay tuition, but books, Contribution,.
It's voluntary, but in fact, there are very few parents who don't give up, usually at least 250A per semester), school uniforms, and all kinds of school activities cost at least 5000 a year, and getting into the High takes at least 5000 dollars a year.
School, these costs will increase sharply again. If you choose a private school, you will need at least 50, 000 Australian dollars a year.
China's compulsory education is even better if it only depends on the costs that parents pay for compulsory education. But Australia still has some sweet benefits for students.
Free ride, (Student Opal).
If the student's family is more than 2.9 kilometers away from the school or more than 1.9 kilometers in a straight line, then you can apply for a student bus card and take public transport for free during the semester (between school and home only). Calculated carefully, this is also a big expense.
interest-free loan
After entering university, students can apply for a student loan (currently limited to students holding Australian passports, not listed in the PR), which can help students to complete their studies successfully and, more importantly, without interest. Only after graduation is paid more than 55,000 Australian dollars a year, and only a hundred or two dollars a month. This solves the problem that because of poverty, the university can not continue its studies.
Dental youth grant
Australia attaches great importance to oral health and dental care, but as mentioned above, the vast majority of dental treatments are not covered by Medicare, so they are self-financing and very expensive. But for students under 17, Australia's government offers an annual benefit of 1000 Australian dollars for orthodontics and other treatments.
There are a lot of small benefits, because not everyone applies, so don't go over it here.
END
When I looked up and learned about these common benefits, and based on my calculations and experiences, I completely change my good hopes for Australian welfare before I emigrated, for example, if a couple and a child, if there is no job, To get the above benefits to the maximum, then the family gets a maximum of 3000 yuan a month. For a family of three, it is very difficult to guarantee a basic life. Think about it. Sydney's two-bedroom and one-room rent is now at least $1600 a month unless the family can apply for a low-cost government house (which also pays $400 a month).
However, for many government officials and second-generation rich compatriots, the welfare of Australia is indeed good because they do not need to work in Australia at all, which means that they do not have any income, so they can receive the vast majority of benefits. This is really like a pie falling from the sky, neither take it nor take it, and take it for nothing. This is what many people say with great delight, and many people are angry with each other.
After all this, I suddenly realized that there is no free lunch in this world. The so-called welfare is nothing more than the most basic humanitarian assistance provided by the government to those who are incapacitated for a variety of reasons. And it is absolutely impossible for those who enjoy eating and idleness to live a well-off life on the basis of government benefits alone, otherwise, who would be willing to work hard?