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

And we get back to him with answers. I would invite the member for Boothby to compare my record in delivering answers with the record of any Howard minister that he wants to pick at random and then come and have a conversation with me about whether or not we get him answers. If you have detailed things that you want answers to, I would recommend questions on notice to the member for Indi. She is obviously not sure about that. She may want to talk to the member for Boothby about it.

The member for Indi raised a policy question. This is a government that supports choices by women and by families. This is a government that understands that families will make different decisions at the time that they have a child join their family. Some families will determine for the mother to take a period of time off and then return to the workforce. Some families will determine to take a longer period of time off. We support those choices and, consequently, the government’s policy settings support those choices. It may be useful for the member for Indi to know that, if there is at any point any suggestion that the Liberal Party is going to have a childcare policy, a policy about paid parental leave or a policy about anything else in her portfolio area—for example, preschool or early learning—then we are all ears for it. But we have not heard anything yet. With those words, I think we are at the conclusion of this session.

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