Government assistance to help with the cost of raising their older teenagers still at school will be increased substantially if Labor is re-elected, Prime Minister Julia Gillard says.
Ms Gillard was talking to students and teachers about the changes at McCarthy Catholic College in Sydney's western suburbs.
The maximum Family Tax Benefit payment for student children aged between 16 and 18 will increase from $51.24 to $208 fortnightly from January 1, 2012 - the same as that paid for 13-to-15-year-old students, she said.
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That represents an increase of $150 per fortnight for these students, and an increase in the yearly payment to $6161 from $2062. Yearly payments also include the annual child supplement of $726.
Ms Gillard said the way the Family Tax Benefit was currently administered was old-fashioned.
"It sort of assumes that kids are likely to leave school at 16, and as a result the amount of family benefit people get actually drops when a teenager turns 16," she said.
"So you actually get less to support your 16-year-old, 17-year-old or 18-year-old."
Ms Gillard said she was also about empowering school principals, following criticism Labor's school buildings program sidelined them.
"I think schools run best when school principals have the power and the responsibility to make the decisions which shape their school for the future," she said.
