Yvette D'Ath (Petrie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is my great pleasure to speak in support of the appropriation bills before the committee today. I specifically wish to put on the record my support for the childcare initiatives that form part of the Rudd Labor government’s budget. The various childcare initiatives are part of an overall childcare strategy to deliver quality child care to working families throughout my electorate and the broader community of Australia. The childcare package delivers an increase in the childcare tax rebate, from 30 to 50 per cent, and will see the rebate paid quarterly instead of annually, which is what previously occurred.

In addition to this initiative, the Rudd Labor government will add to the supply of childcare places through an additional 260 new childcare centres in priority areas. As part of this budget, the government will invest $115 million over four years to build the first 38 centres. These centres will focus on the specific needs of the local communities in which they are situated and can include many other services that support families, such as speech therapy and health services. The centres that I have spoken to in my electorate are also supportive of the government’s investment of $22 million over four years to develop new national quality standards for child care.

Over the next five years, the Rudd Labor government will spend $534 million to provide universal access to a preschool year—15 hours per week for 40 weeks per year for all four-year-olds by 2013. There is also an allocation of $337 million to further improve the quality of and access to early childhood education and care, particularly for disadvantaged children.

These initiatives will collectively deliver long needed improvements and support to working families who access or would like to access childcare services. As a parent who has had two children in child care at the same time and who now accesses before- and after-school care and vacation care, I can certainly empathise with those parents who talk to me about the financial pressures that child care creates. That is why it is my great pleasure to support this legislation, which delivers on the Rudd Labor government’s commitment to comprehensive investment in child care and early childhood education.

Not only does the government, through this bill, deliver financial assistance to parents who access child care; this government will deliver improved compliance and administrative processes for the childcare industry. This is important, as the demand for child care continues to grow. This growth has been occurring over the past two decades and has occurred for many reasons. With changes in work patterns requiring parents to work extended hours, additional demand on childcare places has grown. In addition, the mobility of the workforce around the country has meant that people are moving away from their immediate family circle and support. People are also moving further away from family circles due to the increase in the cost of housing. People are struggling to purchase homes in the area that they grew up in and where their parents live. These changes require alternative care options beyond the primary carer, being the parent or a grandparent. As an answer to the problem that these changes present, families have turned to child care. The difficulty is that not only are everyday costs of living, such as petrol, groceries, rent and mortgages, increasing, but the cost of child care is increasing as well. At the same time, we have seen a decline in the additional services that some childcare centres provide, such as nappies, milk and meals. Although some centres provide these services, they are now in the minority. The reduction in these services means that, on top of the daily childcare fee, there is an additional cost to the parents in providing meals, milk and nappies during the day.

I have personally found that having children has been the most rewarding experience of my life and has assisted in changing my perspective on many issues. Having said this, I also acknowledge the sacrifices that come with having children and the financial pressure that it creates. This does not in any way take away from the pleasure of having children; it simply adds another dynamic to the household and the decisions that parents make in relation to finances and the need or desire to work. It is about trying to get the balance right. Either needing to work for financial reasons or wanting to work, parents must then face the situation of finding the best care available for their children.

Of course, we have seen from much research that it is still female parents who make up the majority of primary carers. As this is the case, it is females who are affected the most by the decisions that couples make about the care of a child or children. An article in this week’s Courier Mail reported on women trading in cash for children states:

A mother who has one child sacrifices more than a third of her lifetime earning potential, which amounts to about $162,000 in after-tax terms, an inquiry into paid maternity leave has been told.

This information forms part of submissions that have been lodged with the Productivity Commission inquiry. The Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs is quoted as saying that Australian women forgo an estimated $37 billion in earnings each year due to their child-rearing commitments.

What needs to be considered in addition to the loss of income while on maternity leave is the loss of income when the mother returns to the workforce. This loss of income arises from the extra expense of child care. These costs are becoming a significant burden on families. Long day care fees in my electorate of Petrie range from $46.50 per day to $59 per day, with the average across the electorate being $51 per day. This equates to $13,260 per annum. The long day care figures are based on a 2½-year-old in full-time day care, five days a week. The average household income in Petrie is $1,196 per week. This means that, on average, 22 per cent of the household income for families in my electorate is being spent on child care. Many families have said to me that it is not worth working when the bulk of the second parent’s income goes on paying childcare fees. This problem is significantly exacerbated when a family has two children in child care at the same time. This is not uncommon when many families elect to have their children within two to three years of each other.

Once you have two children, the average cost of child care in my electorate becomes $102 per day, or $26,520 per year. Going back to the average income of $1,196 per week in my electorate, we are now talking about 43 per cent of the annual income going to child care. Without financial assistance from the government, this cost is unsustainable. The childcare rebate increase from 30 to 50 per cent will bring financial assistance to families that are already struggling with other costs of living. Equally important as the increase to the childcare rebate is the timing: paying parents the rebate quarterly. To not have to wait until the end of the financial year and instead receive this payment at a time when many other large bills are coming in, such as rates or electricity, will certainly help families.

No parent should ever have to make the choice to stay home or to work simply on the basis of whether they can afford child care. Nor should parents put off having a second child due solely to childcare costs, especially at a time when there is a major skill shortage in this country and we want to encourage people with skills to return to the workforce. As a government we should be assisting those who wish to work. I also remind members of the House that these changes do not just benefit families with children who are not yet at school age. In fact, these changes and this rebate will also benefit those parents who access before- and after-school care and vacation care. We should not undervalue this expanding service to school children. For the same reason stated previously, many parents need to place children in before- or after-school care, or both, or need to access vacation care. This is because most individuals do not have sufficient annual leave to cover all of the school holidays.

Currently, many families receive the childcare benefit and the childcare tax rebate for outside-school-hours care. The CCB and the CCTR assist families juggling the increasing costs of care and the need for care for children not only during the first four to five years of their life but also during their early school years. There is also the possibility of a further increase in demand for child care from families who previously would have chosen to have the child remain at home until school age. Some of this group may in the future choose to send their child to child care to benefit from the Rudd Labor government’s delivery of early childhood education for 15 hours per week, 40 weeks per year. This will give parents the option of accessing early childhood education at a reasonable cost and allow the primary carer to re-enter the workforce on a part-time or full-time basis.

As part of delivering on high-quality child care, the Rudd Labor government will invest $73½ million over four years to provide incentives and opportunities to improve the qualifications of childcare workers to ensure that our children receive expert early learning and care, by supporting 8,000 current and prospective childcare workers each year to gain nationally recognised qualifications by getting rid of TAFE fees for eligible childcare diplomas from 2009; creating additional early childhood education university places each year from 2009; raising the number of commencing students each year to 1,500 by 2011; and paying half the HECS repayments of 10,000 early childhood educators who agree to work in rural and regional areas, Indigenous communities and areas of socioeconomic disadvantage for up to five years, commencing 1 July 2008.

Never before has there been such a comprehensive plan to provide high-quality child care in Australia: more affordable child care through the childcare tax rebate; additional places for 260 new childcare centres; improved early childhood education; and a more highly skilled, quality childcare workforce through our education revolution. This is what a Labor government is all about: not short-term gimmicks but long-term strategies to improve the services so essential to working families throughout Australia and my local community. As a parent and as a federal member, I am extremely proud to support this legislation as part of the Rudd Labor government’s commitment to deliver a responsible budget that delivers for working families and those most in need in our society.

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