Maxine McKew (Bennelong, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Early Childhood Education and Child Care) Share this | Hansard source

I rise this morning to speak in support of Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2009-2010 and Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2009-2010. This is an ambitious nation-building budget with investment in jobs, skills and education at its heart. It is about giving individuals and families the support they need. It is also about meeting the challenges of the global recession head-on and consolidating a foundation for recovery. The measures contained in this budget represent a continuation along the ambitious journey of reforms that this government has already begun. They represent the chance of a better life for the millions of Australians entering preschool, school, TAFE and university in the next two decades. The measures will enable greater access to employment and skilling opportunities for all Australians, allowing individuals to improve their standards of living and overall well-being. They will ensure a more prosperous nation that is able to compete successfully in the global economy.

The road to a more productive Australia starts as soon as children are born. Early childhood education sets the foundation for learning and wellbeing throughout life. Investment in early childhood education is a long-term investment in the future because of the significant benefits that flow to individuals, to families and to national economies through improved learning and skills, increased participation in the labour force and reduced public expenditure on welfare, health and crime—that is all well-documented.

To that end, this budget commits $12.8 billion over the next four years to support around 800,000 Australian families with the costs of affordable, quality child care. There are two components to this: $8.4 billion over four years for the childcare benefit that will reduce childcare fees, and $4.4 billion over four years for the childcare tax rebate, soon to become the childcare rebate—a continuing commitment to Labor’s delivery in its first budget last year to pay 50 per cent of families’ out-of-pocket childcare costs. Payments can now be received quarterly to better assist families and are not subject to an income test. This means that childcare costs have never been more affordable—a very important foundation as we roll out the next phase of our ambitious reforms in early childhood. Investment in the special childcare benefit will assist services in establishing a child’s eligibility for this special childcare benefit and will enable more children at risk to access quality child care.

This budget, importantly, also delivers on paid maternity leave. It is Australia’s first comprehensive statutory paid parental leave scheme. It gives families the opportunity to care for their babies, with income certainty, in those first few months when they bring a new baby home. I think it will ensure physical, cognitive and emotional wellbeing during the first early months for young infants. It will also promote workforce participation and help keep women connected to the workforce and to the skills environment. It is a scheme that brings Australia into line with most other OECD countries and will be available to parents for births and adoptions that occur on or after 1 January 2011. These parents will get 18 weeks of postnatal leave paid at the federal minimum wage.

Men and women have overwhelmingly welcomed this. It is interesting that, in my own electorate of Bennelong, Andrew Bland, who runs a midsized law firm and is a very active participant in the Ryde Business Forum, told me that he feels that this is a huge boost for local business—businesses which, of course, place a very high value on their female workers. Andrew is confident that the government’s commitment to funding paid parental leave will help with staff retention and help promote that much-desired work-life balance. So I am confident that, over time, the combination of this historic move and our reforms in early childhood will see a real transformation in maternal and infant care. It has certainly been a long time coming.

I want to refer to the overall spending on education in this budget, because it is substantial. The government has increased spending by about 50 per cent in real terms over the current five-year period compared with the previous five-year period. This funding includes significant investment in capital infrastructure for tertiary education and schools modernisation. I know that, because of the Building the Education Revolution money, every primary school in my electorate of Bennelong, over 30 of them—public, Catholic and independent—will have approximately $2.5 million to $3 million spent on modernising facilities. That is $2.5 million to $3 million spent on every primary school. Again, this will be a transformation. It is part of the $14.7 billion investment in Australian schools.

There are also major reforms to higher education outlined in the budget. These are the reforms that are responding to the comprehensive Bradley review of higher education. They include an uncapped, demand-driven university system from 2012; high goals for low SES enrolment; and improved indexation arrangements which better support the sector for the long term. We are creating, as well, new places in vocational education and training—an investment of $3.8 billion over four years. This will strengthen Australia’s skill base and help ensure that workers have transferable skills.

In this budget, the government has embarked on a landmark reform agenda for higher education and the innovation sectors. A massive $5.7 billion has been allocated over four years to give Australians access to a world-class tertiary education and research system. The reforms will transform the scale, potential and quality of the nation’s universities and open the doors of higher education to a new generation of Australians. The reforms will also increase the nation’s share of the jobs of the future. The workforce of today and that of the future need a fair and flexible work environment that meets the needs of employees and employers, and we are delivering on that.

So this budget looks to the future. It acknowledges the neglect of the past and produces solutions for today in order to ensure tomorrow’s prosperity. We are providing stimulus today to protect jobs and to support businesses right round the country and, hearteningly, we have already seen so much encouraging evidence in the recent week, in strong retail figures, impressive trade figures and positive building approval figures—all of which suggest that the government has been absolutely right with its decisive, pre-emptive stimulus. I commend the bills to the House.

See this speech in context