Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Child Care) Bill 2009. Before I start talking about the substance of the bill, I note that it is interesting that the member for Indi talked about an unacceptable situation. I will tell you what was an unacceptable situation: one of the first acts of the Howard government was to disinvest in childcare centres in this country. It is a fact that the Howard government spent one-fifth of what our OECD colleagues did when it came to funding for education in the early childhood sector. That is a fact. They underinvested in the area.

It is also a fact that it was on their watch that the ABC Learning Centres debacle emerged and grew and grew. The ABC Learning Centres situation—the catastrophe that the Rudd Labor government had to deal with—happened on the watch, and with the consent, approval and approbation, of the Howard coalition government. We have had to fix that up. Because the member for Indi mentioned the ABC Learning Centres, in the course of this speech I am going to go through and show how the government has worked in an early, decisive and constructive way with the sector, with the court appointed receivers and with the families affected to ensure good outcomes across the country for the 120,000 children in the 1,000 ABC Learning Centres across the country which were put in jeopardy. I am going to give the example of just one centre, in the largest suburb in my electorate, where the outcome was favourable; indeed, it was a terrific outcome for the local community.

The amendments in the legislation before the House are quite technical, but they do go towards improving the accountability, administration and accessibility of the sector. In the second reading speech on this bill, the Parliamentary Secretary for Early Childhood Education and Childcare said the following:

The Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Child Care) Bill 2009 … marks another step along this government’s path to accessible, affordable, high-quality child care for Australian children, their parents and carers.

This bill is about the three pillars: administration, accessibility and accountability. It is about ensuring that our children, from the cradle to the creche and to the primary schools that they will attend, get the kind of education and care that we believe is appropriate in a fair, just and prosperous country.

As I said, the changes in the bill are quite technical, but they are important. For example, the change of the name of the rebate from the ‘childcare tax rebate’ to the ‘childcare rebate’ is simply a statement of reality. It is no longer a tax offset; it is a benefit through the Family Assistance Office. So it makes it more comprehensible to the public and they know it is not a tax rebate but in fact a benefit. The substitution of the childcare rebate on the death of a parent or guardian is a sensible outcome. It is sad for children when their parents or guardians pass on, so it is important to ensure that the individual who assumes the care, control and what we used to call the custody of a child receives the CCR entitlement to assist them in providing the basic necessities of life for that child.

It is important that we ensure the recovery of debt where there is a debt owed to the Commonwealth in the form of a CCR overpayment. These amendments require that you take into consideration also the fact that we introduced quarterly CCR payments from July 2008. The civil penalties are appropriate, through regulation under family assistance law. Imposing civil penalties and issuing infringement notices is important to ensure rigorous accountability in the sector. If the matter goes to court, we know that the courts have a discretion to review the infringement notices issued and to take into consideration the nature and character of the organisation—its size, for example—in determining whether a penalty should be upheld or an alternative penalty imposed. But it is important that there be a civil penalty regime to deal with noncompliance.

The amendments with respect to the childcare rebate for the final quarter are also prudent and appropriate. This will allow the final CCR quarterly payment to be withheld until an individual taxpayer knows what their taxable income will actually be so that, when the final payment is made, there will be no overpayment or underpayment. It is important that people who deal with the Family Assistance Office ensure that they advise the office of any overpayments or underpayments so that they can adequately adjust their income and the government knows what the true situation is for the purposes of the provision of child care and out-of-pocket expenses.

It is important that these recipients, who may or may not be listening, understand that we do have two types of benefit. We have childcare benefit, which is a payment by the Australian government, which helps individuals with respect to the cost of child care. It can be taken as a lump sum or as reduced childcare fees, and that is dependent on a person’s income, the type of care used, whether it is approved or registered, the amount of care used, whether they pass work, training or study tests, and the number of children in their care. I would encourage all those people who may be listening to log on to the website www.mychild.gov.au to find out more information in relation to that. The second type of benefit, if I can put it that way, is the childcare tax rebate, which we are renaming, as I said. It is a payment made to the individual by the Australian government to help the family with the costs of child care. It is separate from the CCB. To be eligible for this rebate, you must have used an approved childcare centre and be eligible for the CCB, even if entitled at the zero rate. There is no income test for this type of rebate. If you are eligible for the CCB, you can get this as well. (Quorum formed)

The member for McPherson, who is the shadow spokesperson for ageing, seems to simply not be interested in children. There were 120,000 children at ABC Learning Centres across the country whose places were in jeopardy. The security of their families in terms of finance was in jeopardy and their arrangements in terms of family life were in jeopardy. And what do we get today? We get quorum calls. They are not interested in this topic. The fact that they want to call quorums on us during debate on an important bill like this indicates their lack of sensitivity in relation to this issue and their lack of understanding of the necessity of certainty in business and of the certainty that is required by the many people who use childcare centres across the country. They are a necessity in family life in this day and age. It is a disgrace that the opposition should engage in the type of juvenile action that we have seen time and time again today.

We have fulfilled our election commitment and we will continue to be assiduous in fulfilling our election commitments. The member for Indi should have a good look at the election commitments that we made in relation to areas of her portfolio if she thinks that we are not doing so. Unlike the opposition, we tell the people of Australia upfront what we are going to do, and we do it.

When it comes to the childcare tax rebate, we made an election commitment to increase it to 50 per cent to benefit families across the country and pay it quarterly, and that is what we have done. We did it from 1 July 2008. That makes an appreciable difference in the financial security and to the livelihoods of people across the country. That is important.

The opposition failed to do anything of the sort during their tenure. The member for Indi talked about what we are doing in terms of help for Australian families in the area of child care. I thought that she was here on budget night, but she must not have been. For her benefit, I will go through a few of our plans with respect to child care. The Rudd government is investing $12.8 billion over the next four years to help 800,000 Australian children in child care. We are investing $2.5 million to provide a childcare estimator to help families make decisions about this. The childcare tax rebate will provide $4.4 billion over four years to assist working families with childcare costs. The CCB will deliver $8.4 billion over four years to reduce childcare fees. We are 100 per cent committed to quality child care for the people of Australia.

When the childcare problems emerged with respect to the ABC Learning Centres, we acted in the way that was necessary in the circumstances. On 6 November 2008, ABC Learning, Australia’s largest provider of child care, entered voluntary administration. The government stepped in with a support package of $22 million to ensure that the centres would continue to operate while the receiver, McGrathNicol, undertook a review of its operations. The government’s childcare industry taskforce met with the receivers and assisted the review of the operational data of each centre. The government immediately set up a dedicated information hotline to provide basic information to parents and employees about the announcement. It provided necessary information on the website, mychild.gov.au. This provided invaluable assistance to parents in these circumstances.

In December, the receiver announced that 720 centres would continue to operate as ABC1 and that 55 would close with children being accommodated in neighbouring centres. A further 262, including 21 defence centres, were not viable. The government provided a further package of $34 million for these non-viable centres, known as the ABC2 group, which became the subject of an expression of interest and which were run by the court appointed received, PPB. On 13 March 2009, the Deputy Prime Minister noted PPB’s progress as they commenced the exchange of contracts for the first tranche of centres. At that time, it became clear that the number and complexity of the offers meant that PPB required an extension of its appointment to mid-May 2009. You can see that the government got involved in this issue to support working families across the country.

On 15 April 2009 PPB announced the outcome of the expression of interest for ABC2 centres and specified that 200 centres would continue to operate with new operators; 19 centres would close, as no new operator had been found, however alternative child care had been identified in neighbouring centres for all of the children; four centres had closed during the EOI; eight centres would continue to be reviewed by PPB; the 21 defence sites would move to a new management arrangement with B4Kids; the 75 new operators of the centres were a mix of small and big, and private and not-for-profit organisations; and it was expected that about 85 per cent of the staff would be retained in all the circumstances, which is a good outcome for the staff. The ABC1 centres remain in the control of the ABC receiver McGrathNicol. A process to determine their future is yet to be announced.

So from the position we had in November last year when we had to step in after the failure of the Howard government, where it appeared 1,000 childcare centres would be in jeopardy, we are now in the position where just a handful of centres remain unresolved. Approximately 120,000 children have certainty. There is certainty for their families. There is certainty for the staff. There is certainty for the businesses for which the parents work. The government has worked in a dedicated and determined fashion to ensure stability in the childcare sector following the upheaval caused by ABC Learning Centres’ voluntary administration.

Locally, an expression of the government’s commitment can be found at the Brassall Shopping Centre, where an ABC centre was at risk of closure. With increased demand for child care across Ipswich we saw Bush Kidz Day Care open its doors to replace the ABC Learning Centre on 11 May 2009. Bush Kidz refused to accept that closures in the Ipswich community were necessary. There was a united and tenacious team, led by Bush Kidz area director Ms Lolita Brennan and the family owners and operators of Bush Kidz: Mrs Ronelle Kearney, Mr John Kearney and Mr Brent Stokes. They joined with the centre owners and the Brassall Shopping Centre management to secure the centre’s future. Mr Stokes said:

The support and encouragement from everyone has made this possible.

He also said:

We could not have achieved this without the tremendous support from the Federal Member for Blair, Mr Shayne Neumann M.P., the State Member for Ipswich West, Mr Wayne Wendt M.P., and Councillor Cheryl Bromage—

I might add, all of whom, including me, have their offices at the Brassall Shopping Centre.

Bush Kidz is committed to working closely with their new colleagues, including the current Brassall childcare centre director, Kylie Smith, and her fantastic team, to ensure all staff employment and enrolments for existing families remain secure. Bush Kidz is a wonderful organisation. It is a multi award-winning childcare service. It received the 2008 Business Achievers Award in Tuition, Training and Children’s Services and the Commonwealth Bank’s Small Business Champion Award in 2008.

We have seen an increase in enrolments by approximately five per cent since Bush Kidz have taken over and it is estimated that in the next few weeks there will be another 17 per cent increase. This is a fantastic outcome that would not have happened without the support of the Rudd Labor government. (Time expired)

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