Wyatt Roy (Longman, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

As somebody who has sat in this parliament for nearly five years now—I might not look like I have been here for five years, but it is nearly five years—there are many moments where you feel deeply let down by the quality of the debate and the partisan politics that infiltrates this place on an almost daily basis. But, when you see a motion, it gives you enormous hope. Perhaps that it is political naivety, but it gives me enormous hope that we can come here as the elected representatives of the Australian people and work together to formulate policies that will make this country as good as it can be. Ultimately, that is why we should all be in this place—to make this country as good as it can be.

The former speaker, a member of the Labor Party, said that the rhetoric about 'a burden on our society' degrades that level of debate, and I think she is absolutely right. We do face a challenge as a nation, but we do not have to frame that challenge as a burden; we should look for the opportunity in how we meet that challenge. It is true: as the youngest person in this place, I worry about the future a lot. Today there are about 7½ people working for every person that is not and, according to the Productivity Commission, by about 2050, that will only be 2½. Of course that is a challenge—not a burden but a challenge.

But there are amazing opportunities. We are in the middle of a growing region with nearly a billion people coming into the middle-class, and we have some of the most intelligent, capable and aspirational people in the world living in this country. If we can get more women who have made the great decision to have a family to go back into the workforce, that will be a great thing for our society and our country. If we can have more women being economic contributors to our country after they have had a family and pay tax, we grow the economic pie for all Australians.

This policy challenge, I think we all agree on both sides of the chamber, is: we want to see as many women as possible go back into the workforce after they have children. We want to make sure that the next generation of Australians have the highest-quality level of child care and an educational experience. We want to have the best possible social outcomes in any policy that we bring before this place.

This is a great test for us as elected members—as a government and as an opposition—as to how we face the reform task for our nation. If we can achieve something collectively on this policy, there is enormous hope and optimism for what we can achieve in other policy areas—economic policy—for our country.

On the journey that we have had around this issue, there is a lot of agreement already. We agree that we need to have the highest-quality child care possible for our children. We have achieved that to a great extent with the reforms of the former government, but those reforms have come at a cost. We have to be realistic about this. If we are to have the world's best-quality child care, it comes at a cost. If we want more women to go back into the workforce after they have children, we need to make it as affordable and accessible as possible. Accessibility will be a big challenge for a big country with not many people across a very, very large land space.

On affordability, I think we can achieve an enormous amount, if we work collectively. I would say to all members, but particularly members in the opposition: let's seize the moment that we have now to run at that reform task and work collectively to achieve an affordable and very effective childcare system.

The Productivity Commission have put out a good report, working from almost a budget neutral position—$200 million in additional expenditure. I would say to members opposite—and members on this side: if we are to seize that opportunity, if we are to have this affordable, effective system, we have to be able to fund it. Let's work together—and that means the Labor Party putting funding options on the table—so that we can fund this world-class system. That is the challenge we all face, and I hope we are up to it.

See this speech in context