Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Roads and Regional Transport) Share this | Hansard source

This is a very important motion and I do commend the member for Aston and also the member for Wannon for putting forward what I believe is a very common-sense proposal. I do acknowledge from the outset that these are very reasonable members of parliament. They have come here in good faith trying to solve a problem in their community and what concerns me is those opposite automatically go straight to the barricades. This is so typical of this government: they go straight to the barricades and take a partisan position. This is a very reasonable motion which seeks to provide flexibility and some common-sense solutions to what is an impending disaster for this government.

This government was warned in the early days in relation to home insulation, it was warned in the early days in relation to the Building the Education Revolution scheme, it was warned in the early days of the green loan assessment scheme—and we all know what happened to each and every one of those programs. They were monumental disasters on the ground. Now we have two very reasonable members of parliament—one from a metropolitan area and one from a regional area—coming into this place and sounding the warning bells. I hope the minister is listening more closely than those opposite right now. This is an issue which has the potential to be disastrous on the ground in many communities, particularly when we are talking about young people and their futures in our communities right across regional areas—which I am more interested in, I must admit—and also the metropolitan areas that the member for Aston referred to. There are major problems brewing across Victoria in relation to this universal access issue and the effort to try to provide 15 hours by 2013. I said at the outset that that is the bad news. There is a crisis brewing. It has the potential to be an enormous mess, but the good news is there is still time to try to fix this.

Those opposite can block their ears and go straight to the barricades like we heard today. The leader of business on the government side in the chamber referred to the protesters out the front today as being the 'convoy of no consequence'. They can go down that path where they just put their fingers in their ears and ignore the concerns of everyday Australians or they can actually listen to the concerns being put forward by Australians. The benefits of early childhood education programs are well understood I believe by members on both sides of the House. I do not think there is any question about that at all. I think everyone understands the importance of early childhood education programs. I do believe the 15-hours-per-week issue is well intended. I do believe that the government was heading down the path of trying to provide good early childhood education right across Australia. I give the government credit for its good intentions. But, like so many of the Rudd government's and the Gillard government's good intentions, the delivery is a cause for concern.

Mr Champion interjecting—

It is interesting that the member for Wakefield intervenes. The member for Wakefield often interjects. He interjects when I make 90 second statements in the House, but he never actually shows the spine to stand up for his community. He never actually stands up on issues like the carbon tax or on this issue, where there is genuine concern in communities across Australia. He never stands up and says to the government, 'We have got a problem, Minister.' Those opposite can interject as much as they like when I am making a speech, but do they stand up to their own ministers and say, 'Minister, we have a problem'? You have not got the guts to do that in the House on issues like the carbon tax or on the issue of early childhood education.

The member for Aston made some very important points and I hope the minister has a good look at the Hansard. He talked about flexibility being critical and I think that is an aspect that our national government needs to understand more. The one-size-fits-all model driven by this government has been a disaster on many occasions across several programs. There are several programs—I referred to a couple earlier—where a national agenda fell flat on the ground right across Australia because we went for a one-size-fits-all model. I fear that this program is heading down the same path. On those points I congratulate the member for Aston for his contribution and for the motion he brought to the House. I also congratulate the member for Wannon for his contribution. He raised very reasonable concerns on behalf of this community.

I noticed that the member for La Trobe referred to another aspect of early childhood education—the Take a Break occasional care program. Let us get this right: to save a miserable $12.6 million over four years this Labor government has withdrawn support for an occasional care program across regional areas which provides a vital service in each of our electorates, but it can still find $12 million for a carbon tax TV advertising campaign. So it cannot fund occasional child care in regional communities but it can fund propaganda campaigns on the carbon tax. If those opposite want to have a reasonable debate on issues of great significance to the Australian people, start treating members on this side with respect when they raise reasonable and legitimate issues. (Time expired)

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