Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I note the contribution of the member for Warringah, a man who dedicated his time as Leader of the House in my memory to fairness and balance in this House! Is that how we recall it? Not quite. That the member for Warringah said in the debate, ‘The fact that most people will be better off is beside the point,’ is a perspective that the government would like to firmly reject. We think the fact that working families are going to be better off is the point. We want to give them additional assistance with their child care. Obviously, the members opposite—the Liberal Party—do not understand the pressures on working families when it comes to child care. Any delay in passing this legislation will hit working families.

Unfortunately, hitting working families would not be out of character, given the opposition’s track record on child care. In the 11 years to 2007, the average fee for a child in full-time long day care increased by 76 per cent from $149 per week to $262 per week—a 76 per cent increase. In the 1996 budget, the assistance that the Liberal Party provided with the costs of child care was to freeze childcare assistance payments for two years. They did not understand then in 1996 that working families need assistance and they do not understand it now. We should remind ourselves that, in government, they also removed operational and capital work subsidies for community based centres, forcing a number of centres to reduce in size or close completely and forcing others to raise fees. If that was not enough, they also withdrew funding that was to support the construction of 5,500 new childcare places. Finally, under political pressure, they introduced the child care tax rebate, but then of course members of working families had to wait two years before receiving their first payment. This is a shameful track record on child care. That shameful track record would be added to in another disgraceful episode if the opposition held up our legislation which will bring fee relief to working families.

See this speech in context