Pat Conroy (Charlton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise proudly in support of the member for Bendigo's excellent motion around supporting family day care. What we have seen on the other side has been a litany of misrepresentation and untruths; a desperate and sad attack on the workforce of these centres; union bashing at its extreme; and an attack on a government, the previous government, that has been out of power for 18 months. This government seriously thinks that it can skate by by attacking a government that is well and truly in the past, instead of taking responsibility for its own actions. It says a lot about a group of people that they are attacking some of the lowest paid and most devoted professionals in our workforce—that is, our childcare workers—because that is what you do when you attack the union that represents them.

The truth is that the debate around family day care is embedded in the broader debate about what this government's agenda is on child care, and this government's agenda is to cut over $1 billion from it. We heard a previous speaker talking about the Productivity Commission's review and the important contribution that will make. That is absolutely fine, but why cut $1 billion before you receive that report? That shows this government's lack of commitment to the sector, and it is a cut that is in clear contravention of a promise given before the last election, when the then opposition leader, now the current Prime Minister—for this week at least—wrote to the childcare centres and said, 'I am determined to help make child care more accessible and affordable for parents,' in black and white—in writing. We are supposed to believe what he writes rather than what he says. It is a clear broken promise when you look at last year's budget.

The tragedy is that this will have a massive impact on families around this country. Ninety-eight thousand families use family day care—that is 165,000 children—and it employs 25,000 workers. The $157 million cut we are talking about represents a $1,500 increase in childcare costs for the average family in this system—a $1,500 increase. That is a massive and outrageous impost when the Prime Minister made a clear promise before the last election.

We are talking about regional areas. Well, I am proud to represent a regional area, and the impact will be felt very keenly in my area. Lake Macquarie City Council oversees a system of family day care centres that will suffer; 719 families with 900 kids in family day care will suffer; 260 staff in those centres will suffer; and 90 small businesses will suffer. The 'party of small business' over there is attacking small business as we speak.

The truth is that the government just does not get it. We have heard the new minister, Minister Morrison, talking about child care and have seen him being all cuddly and having his feet in the ocean at Cronulla, trying to reshape his image. He is very keen to talk about the workforce participation benefits of child care, and that is absolutely right. But I have not heard him once talk about the early childhood education aspect of child care. Study after study has shown that the first five years of a child's life are the most important in giving them a start in life—in giving them education. This government just does not address that issue.

We have also heard attacks on the rorting. Well, their changes will not end the rorts. What they will do is assist the fly-by-nighters. They will result in a race to the bottom for family day care, and it will be the centres doing the right thing that will suffer the most.

We have also heard slippery weasel words that this is a change in criteria. That is all it is—a change in criteria! The truth is that their own federal Department of Education has estimated that 80 per cent of family day care centres currently receiving support through this program will be denied assistance—80 per cent. That is a cut in anyone's language. Eighty per cent of family day care centres will lose out because of this $157 million cut, part of the broader $1 billion cut to child care represented by this government.

So, yes, the Productivity Commission report was very important, and I am keenly looking forward to seeing the government's response, but they are starting a long way behind. They are starting $1 billion behind. They are starting behind with an attack on regional families, on regional kids, stopping kids in my area getting the best start in life. I am proud to stand up for those communities. I will fight long and hard to support child care in my region of extreme childcare shortage. We are not the inner city; we are a regional area where people work long hours and need this childcare assistance. So I will fight for my region, I will fight for my families and I will fight for my kids getting the best possible assistance. All those on the other side care about is cutting funding from this, bashing the workforce and bashing previous governments. They are all excuses and no answers.

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