Overview

The Institute of Family Studies regards the inability of many families to gain access to adequate income and the existence of barriers to employment for many members of families as the most crucial problems facing families currently and in the future. Families require access to adequate services especially health, education, housing, child care and transport. Accordingly government policies must aim to generate sufficient revenue to provide such services adequately and equitably. The submission describes and discusses the trends that are now evident in the way families are forming and re-forming, those factors determining families' access to income, and some proposals regarding reform of the income transfer system.