Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, and welcome to the member for Lyne, a great loss to specialist services in regional Australia but a fabulous addition to this place. Prime Minister, I think I recollect a certain Pollie Pedal where you, I, and the member for Lyne struggled in the freezing rain across the Barrington Tops. The dedication shown on that occasion is the dedication that the member for Lyne brings on behalf of his constituents to this place. Wasting no time, he was in my office this morning banging the table about an early intervention centre for the people of Taree, something that he cares passionately about—Taree being an area of disadvantage in his electorate. One of the great things about new parliaments is that we get to welcome on this side of the House members from rural and regional Australia.

Once again I get to look at members of the Labor Party who have never risked a dollar of their own money in rural and regional Australia. The problem that we saw written large over child-care policy in the Labor Party was that one size always had to fit everything. There were no regional members to say, 'Things are a little bit different in my small country town, in my mobile child-care centre, in my small occasional child-care centre. In my community preschool with a hardworking volunteer board, things are a bit different.' Oh, no, the dead hand of regulation landed on everyone indiscriminately, and nowhere do we see that more than in rural and regional Australia. We know people in rural and regional Australia generally have less money than people in the city and they have to be careful about their expenses. But they desperately need child care and they need it at a price they can afford in an available way and particularly in a flexible way.

But everybody is coming on board with our Productivity Commission inquiry. People are lining up to talk about it. The Kalgoorlie Minerand another great new regional member, the member for O'Connor, is here—talked about the importance of child care for regional communities, and the mayor said that it 'cannot be understated'—

He went on:

Paying too much for child care—

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