The Coalition's new family payments package has been met with caution and criticism from Labor and the crossbench, suggesting its passage through the Parliament is not guaranteed.
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Treasurer Scott Morrison and Social Services Minister Christian Porter confirmed details of the new package on Wednesday, which replaces a suite of unpopular 2014 budget measures that were blocked by the Senate.
The Coalition either needs Labor to approve of the new plan or six of the eight Senate crossbenchers to back it. But Labor said it wanted to see more detail of the changes and the majority of the Senate crossbench remained unconvinced.
The new family payments proposal will see family tax benefit part B cut out when the youngest child in couple families reaches 13. The payment will end for all other families when the youngest child reaches 16.
Currently family tax benefit part B stops when the youngest child reaches 16 or 18, depending on whether they are still at school. But the new cut-off proposal is softer than the six-year-old cut-off mark proposed by former prime minister Tony Abbott in 2014.
Other new measures proposed by the Turnbull government include phasing out end-of-year supplements (currently worth between about $350 and $720 a year) by 2018, but increasing the fortnightly rates of family tax benefit part A by $10.
Family tax benefit part B will be boosted by $1000 a year for single income families with a child under one, but single parents with children over 13 will see their payments cut from $2737.50 to $1000. Grandparent carers of teenage children will also see their payments cut.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the government would save $4.8 billion over four years with the new measures, which would help pay for the Coalition's childcare package, which will cost $3.5 billion over five years.
But the government was not able to answer specific questions about how many families would be better or worse off under the new system, arguing instead that low and middle income families would be better off under the new childcare package that is yet to come before Parliament.
On Wednesday, Labor said it would not "rubber stamp" the changes, while expressing concern about cuts to single parents and grandparents.
"All [the Coalition has] done is provide us with a copy of the legislation and a short briefing. We've asked for further information and obviously we will go through the detail ourselves," Labor's families and payments spokeswoman Jenny Macklin said.
Crossbenchers Jacqui Lambie and Glenn Lazarus also expressed concern about continued cuts to families, while Bob Day, Ricky Muir and Zhenya "Dio" Wang said they were undecided and looking at the detail.
Independent senator John Madigan said that that while he remained open to negotiations with the government, "there are other segments of the Australian population far better placed to do the heavy lifting when it comes to budgetary repair than hardworking Australian mums and dads".
But Liberal Democrat David Leyonhjelm said he would support the new measures if it meant less spending on "middle-class welfare".
About 1.7 million Australian families receive family tax benefits. Family tax benefit part A is paid per child, with the amount based on a family's income and the age of the child. Family tax benefit part B is paid per family and provides extra assistance to single parents and families with one income.
