New research has revealed baby-bonus payments made by the federal government to families have had no impact on their child's future academic performance.
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A study, carried out at the Australian National University, compared the NAPLAN results of 300,000 year 3 students born either side of July 1, 2004 - the start date for the $3000 baby bonus - over five years.
The results found there was no difference in test results between students born before and after the baby bonus start date.
Lead researcher and PhD student Nathan Deutscher said the study was carried out to identify if there was a lasting effect of cash payments made to families.
"In 2016, the federal government is expected to spend $25 billion on cash payments to families, and while there's different motivations for it, it's to improve the outcomes for kids in those families," he said.
"What the baby bonus does is that it provides for a natural experiment, where kids born on July 1, 2004 got $3000 but those born before didn't, so it allowed us to look at two different groups."
The research found the government cash payments didn't have any discernible impact on academic performance.
Small changes in NAPLAN test results were also ruled out, with students born after July 1 only being able to move up one place in a class of 200.
Mr Deutscher said while cash payments were made to help provide financial support to families and children, it shouldn't be expected the payments would have a long-lasting impact.
"We shouldn't oversell it, we shouldn't be expecting for these small payments to have large results down the line," he said.
The research was published in the same week the most recent report into NAPLAN results revealed a flatlining of literacy and numeracy levels in years 3, 5, 7 and 9.
There was, however, some good news in the report, with the ACT being the best performing state or territory in 18 out of the 20 assessable outcomes in the NAPLAN tests.
Meanwhile, Australia's result in maths and science for year 4 and 8 students has also fallen recently, with Australia dropping 10 spots in year 4 maths since 2011.
Mr Deutscher said his PhD would focus on intergenerational mobility, and the effect that richer families have on their children.
"The main take away is that the whole of early childhood is important, not just the small payments to families," he said.
