Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Child care is one of the most vital services for which any government can take responsibility. Adequate child care provides parents with certainty that their children will be not only cared for properly but also given the opportunity to learn. So it is about care and also about learning, at an affordable price. Under the Rudd and Gillard governments, we have made a real commitment towards improving child care, improving accessibility to child care and recognising the importance of child care. Adequate child care is not something that is a privilege; it is the right of all parents to have access to affordable child care.

That is why the government is providing $20 billion over four years for early childhood education and child care. This is almost $12.8 billion more than that provided during the last four years of the Howard government. That is a significant increase in funding for child care and children's education services. This says to me that you go to the Rudd-Gillard governments to look at outcomes for children, a commitment to children and learning, and to see how important child care is. Then you look at the record of the Howard government to see how undervalued child care was under that government. We believe that quality child care is the right of all families and all children. I think the other side of the parliament believes that quality child care is a privilege, not a right.

The government is also providing $16.4 billion to help 800,000 Australian families annually with the cost of child care through the childcare benefit and the childcare rebate. This includes $9.2 billion over four years to reduce childcare fees under the childcare benefit and $7.2 billion to assist working families with out-of-pocket childcare costs under the childcare rebate. This is $10.2 billion more fee assistance than under the last four years of the Howard government. Once again, you have a government which recognises the importance of child care as opposed to the Howard government, which looked upon it as a privilege or something that was there for the wealthy.

The legislation that we are debating here today will amend the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act 1999, the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) (Administration) Act 1999, the Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Child Care Management System and Other Measures) Act 2007, the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999, the Student Assistance Act 1973 and the Age Discrimination Act 2004. The bill makes a number of amendments which allow the government to strengthen debt recovery provisions, compliance and administration of childcare benefits.

These may be largely administrative changes—changes which look at compliance, accountability and recovery—but these are vital changes that will ensure the ongoing viability of our childcare system by a government which is totally committed to ensuring that all children get affordable, quality child care. As I have already mentioned, this is something that the previous Howard government was not committed to.

The bill improves the effectiveness of the recovery of fee reductions, enrolment advances and business continuity payments paid to approved childcare services. It clarifies provisions concerning the effects of a child's absence from care and authorises the minister to specify by legislation the circumstances in which these services will permanently cease providing care. That is quite an important change in this legislation and something that often causes confusion. I am really pleased to see that the minister has put this particular provision in the legislation, because it is all about clarification and certainty, not only to the families that enrol their children in childcare centres but to those childcare centres as well. I have been approached by owners of childcare centres who have found in the past that the provisions, uncertainty and lack of clarity in the act were causing them problems. The minister has set out very clearly the rules that are in place here. Because of this, families can have that certainty which was previously missing.

There are a number of other amendments which look at the recalculation of childcare benefits and fees and information to allow the Commonwealth to share information about childcare services with the states and territories. These are all vitally important changes that will ensure the smooth operation of our childcare services. This legislation is very positive; it shows how committed the Australian government is to providing access to quality, affordable child care and to ensuring the long-term viability of child care. I would like to share with the House that since this government came to power I have noticed a big change within my electorate for the number of people that are waiting to access child care, and that is the MyChild website, which allows parents to look at the services that have vacancies and to compare fees and the services that are provided. It has been a very, very positive initiative that parents have embraced. It has helped parents and carers deal with the problems that existed previously of lack of access to services and not knowing where the services were and what was available. The introduction of this website has improved accessibility to child care.

Given the state of my voice, Mr Deputy Speaker, I think I might finish there. In doing so I would like to conclude where I started, by emphasising the importance of child care for families and carers and the importance of quality child care for the children themselves. I congratulate the minister on the changes she is introducing here and on her commitment to child care and to the children of Australia.

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