Please help - sign this petition

[Grizabella]

A friend of mine has started a petition concerning State Based Assistance for parents of twins.

Current legislation does not recognise twin births as a multiple birth for the purposes of Commonwealth and State Based Assistance in the same manner in which Higher Order Multiples (for example: triplets, quads, et al) are.

If you disagree with the current legislation please help by signing this petition, it will be forwarded to the appropriate government department as soon as there are enough supporters for change.

The Petition (http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/twinsaremultiples/)

Thanks guys!

[A Party of Five]

:thumbsup: Done! And I just emailed it to all my friends too.

[OM]

What do you hope to achieve by lobbying the govt? Is there something in paticular you feel that 'twin' parents should receive?

[CJJHRA]

THere is a multiple birth allowance that you can get from centrelink (if eligble) for triplets or more, you dont get it if you have twins... they dont give it for twins becuase of IVF, and many people who have fertility treatments, know the risk of multiples (twins or more) is increased, so they dont get any extra for twins anymore... really its not fair..no, but then again why should mums of twins get more when people have two kids really close in age dont either.

I found having twins hard, yes, but I did have two hands.. imagine having triplets or more... you dont have that many hands.. so yeah I can see why triplets or more you NEED the help.

[Cupcake]

Done

[Shajbm]

Having twins is sometimes not something someone chooses. So why should they be disadvantaged if they are carrying twins? Carrying twins means a high risk, highly complicated pregnancy and why should we not be able to get something back from the government as help. This pregnancy has cost me a fair bit of out of pocket expenses with U/S's and doctors appointments. Having 2, 12 months apart is not the same as having twins.

I have signed the petition and :fingerscrossed: something will happen eventually.

[SimplyMum]

I agree, Multiple/twin mummas should recieve extra help. But what about people in other complicated situations. People that develop conditions during pregnancy- PE, GD etc. They can have high risk pregnancies as well, or post pregnancy condistions, PND, medical conditions.
People with epilepsy, diabeties. This comes under the same catagory as having IVF- you know the risks. I'm not saying that twin mummas shouldn't get extra help- I can only imagine how hard it is. But when does it stop? When do they say no more?

Everyone wants more. Being a single parent sometimes is really hard, and IMO the pension doesn't cover it nearly enough especially if you want to get qualified and go to UNI. But I can only imagine what people would say/do if they started handing more money out to Studying parents.

I know a couple of twin mummas and ultimately I would prefer the governement set up some kind of assistance program where twin mummas have the option of getting a rebate on nanny facilites or something similar, as I think this would be of greater help.

[OM]

But when does it stop? When do they say no more?


Exactly what I was thinking!

[mylittletwins]

I signed it, i hope we can make a difference

[Shajbm]

I agree, Multiple/twin mummas should recieve extra help. But what about people in other complicated situations. People that develop conditions during pregnancy- PE, GD etc. They can have high risk pregnancies as well, or post pregnancy condistions, PND, medical conditions.
People with epilepsy, diabeties. This comes under the same catagory as having IVF- you know the risks. I'm not saying that twin mummas shouldn't get extra help- I can only imagine how hard it is. But when does it stop? When do they say no more?

I agree...There should be some extra rebate from Medicare perhaps that could cover these situations.

Everyone wants more. Being a single parent sometimes is really hard, and IMO the pension doesn't cover it nearly enough especially if you want to get qualified and go to UNI. But I can only imagine what people would say/do if they started handing more money out to Studying parents.

They do give you money for studying.

I know a couple of twin mummas and ultimately I would prefer the governement set up some kind of assistance program where twin mummas have the option of getting a rebate on nanny facilites or something similar, as I think this would be of greater help.

I think the government should be able to issue all mums with children under the age of 16 a health care card for their children so as to reduce the cost of medical expenses not too mention the medication.

[Duchessa]

Multiple birth allowance is paid with Family Tax Benefit A - it is a fortnightly payment of $118.02 for triplets and $157.36 for multiple births of quadruplets or more.

The idea is it helps fund the extra help people often need when caring for two little babies.

While I didn't need it - we are adequately funded, I believe it should DEFINITELY be available to women who do. In particular are women who are sole parents without a support network.

Many women struggle terribly with one baby. Try getting everything done when you are breastfeeding for 12-14 hours a day - which happened to me for about 2.5 months. Most women need extra help, especially when there are other children in the household.

Thanks for bringing the petition to my notice Brionsmum!

[OM]

I think the government should be able to issue all mums with children under the age of 16 a health care card for their children so as to reduce the cost of medical expenses not too mention the medication.

Oh I am with you on that:thumbsup:

[SimplyMum]

Everyone wants more. Being a single parent sometimes is really hard, and IMO the pension doesn't cover it nearly enough especially if you want to get qualified and go to UNI. But I can only imagine what people would say/do if they started handing more money out to Studying parents.

They do give you money for studying..

Funnily enough, it's $30 a fortnight. When you go to tafe, they pay the fees for cert III and cert IV, but if you want to go any higher or go to UNI, you're screwed. In todays society, if you want to get anywhere you've got to be skilled in something. And you have a better chance of getting a good job if you go to University rather than Tafe. I think if parents want to further their education- this should only be encouraged and the governement should be doing more to encourage this kind of thing. But in saying that, when does it stop. They give more money to studying parents, and then people that are working full time want a peice of it too. It just never stops.
I don't agree with it but there would also be people that take it to the next level, like the baby bonus, people having children for the sake of getting the 4 grand.

Don't get me wrong, my hands go down to multiple parents- but I think maybe a better system would be to give multiple parents a rebate for nanny facilities, like child care but in house nannies. I also don't beleive $118.00 would cover it. How much does a nanny usually go for? Surely, you'd have to have a nanny for at least 3 days a week.

[Grizabella]

Baileymoo - the mother who started this lobby is also a single mother. With other children. So she knows exactly what you are going through.

But think of it this way - you know how hard it is with the expense of one child - double it and then still get no help from the government because twins aren't recognised in legislation.

[Duchessa]

Don't get me wrong, my hands go down to multiple parents- but I think maybe a better system would be to give multiple parents a rebate for nanny facilities, like child care but in house nannies. I also don't beleive $118.00 would cover it. How much does a nanny usually go for? Surely, you'd have to have a nanny for at least 3 days a week.

Baileymoo, its not supposed to "cover it", its just supposed to help.

The petition is just an attempt to get policy to recognise twin births as multiple births... That is all. All the other money for other stuff is kind of irrelevant to this particular petition.

If you want more money to study with you could create a petition to pass around to see if you can get some change too...