Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Housing) Share this | Hansard source

I would just like to take a few moments to endorse pretty well all of the remarks that we have heard in this debate and to welcome the new childcare centre, which will, I understand, appear over the next few weeks and be, hopefully, fully operational with its 22 places when we return after the winter break.

Parliament House has changed a great deal even in the time I have been here, having joined as a new member in 2001. At that stage, my children were certainly no longer babies. They have grown up to be an adult and two teenagers in the meantime. There is no doubt that Parliament House and our job is extremely unfriendly to families. I still remember, when it was all happening and life as a member of parliament was beginning for me, my middle daughter saying, ‘What happens to me?’ She was about eight at the time. I can still remember, looking back, when my three children had chickenpox at home in Albury and I could not be there. Obviously they were being looked after, but the feeling of being even four hours drive away was awful. I can look back further to being a mother of three toddlers on the family farm and not having any child care at all. Having to cart the children down to the dairy and park them out in the cold on a winter’s morning while I tried to run between them, the milk house, the dairy, the cows, the yard and the dogs on a foggy morning made it all incredibly chaotic. I am very pleased that over the last 10 years we have seen the introduction of good child care for farms. In many cases that child care is mobile, which allows women in farming partnerships to contribute to the farm’s operation in the way they really need to.

I think this is a terrific initiative and I know that it will make a difference for those who use it. We as members of parliament are each just one tenant in this place. The childcare centre is just as important for those who come from elsewhere for different reasons. They may be members of staff or members of the press or people who find themselves here on temporary work contracts. It is very easy for us as members and senators to forget that there might be some 3,000 to 4,000 people here on a sitting week and about 2,000 people on a non-sitting week and that a lot of children belong to those people.

This is a big step forward for the parliament in terms of addressing work-family responsibilities. But, having drawn attention to the drawbacks of being a mum and a member of parliament, it is still very apparent to me that I am extremely lucky with the services that are provided. We will be lucky, as many are who have workplace provided child care, so we must not forget those who, for whatever reason—they may be in low-paying jobs or in extremely rural and regional areas—cannot find child care and have unacceptable arrangements that they continually struggle with because they need the income. If they cannot manage to take the children to work, they may have arrangements with grandparents, neighbours or after-school care where older children look after them, arrangements which they are never quite happy with. That can create enormous tension, stress and emotional uncertainty in the hearts and minds of women who find themselves in this position.

Last night at this time I talked about International Cleaners Day. We recognised the good work that cleaning staff do in every building across Australia. At that moment, the young woman who cleans my Albury office was doing that and her 10-year-old was in the car doing his homework. I use that as an example. While we take great steps forward, we must not forget those who are still struggling on low incomes or managing family pressures, possibly as a single parent, that make it almost impossible for them to achieve what they want for their children. This is what it comes down to: you want the very best for your children. If you are determined to breastfeed while they are babies—and that is very much encouraged, of course—this will make all the difference. You want to give your child the best start in life. You have a great need as a young mother, I know, for it all to go well and for it all to be perfect, and when things start to go off the rails or go downhill because of the stresses and strains of life it becomes extremely difficult to get yourself back into the picture.

This childcare centre will be of great help to women in Parliament House. This will be of great assistance in leading the way for other workplaces that may be thinking about implementing such a measure. I congratulate all those involved. Mention has already been made of the member for Sydney. I would like to mention the member for Lindsay. I was, of course, present in our government party room when Jackie Kelly would ‘bang on’, if I can use that expression, about the subject of child care. She would stand up and everybody would take a deep breath knowing that she would be talking about child care in Parliament House. It took people like her to be driven in the way that she was to actually make this happen. I know that there were members of both sides. I want to mention the late Senator Jeannie Ferris, who was an advocate for child care, and my colleague the member for Mackellar, who talked very much about tax deductibility in child care—a different but related issue. I look forward to the opening of the new childcare centre and congratulate all those involved in it coming about.

Question agreed to.

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