Emma Husar (Lindsay, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to make a contribution and to support the member for Adelaide, followed by the member for Macquarie, on the Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Jobs for Families Child Care Package) Bill, both of whom, like me, are parents. Make no mistake, the revised bill has the sole purpose of stripping money from those who can least afford it. It attacks low-income families again and it attacks single parents, Indigenous families and our most important people, the young people of this country. The government is absolutely shameless. Only a few short days ago, thousands of low-paid workers across Australia were told they would be losing their Sunday penalty rates, resulting in a significant cut to their take-home pay, and here the Liberals are again making a decision that goes after the little guys. Here they are talking about cutting payments and leaving 1.5 million Australian families worse off. Here they are, just weeks after the shameful Closing the gap report was handed down, talking about cutting Indigenous childcare and early learning programs. They have not yet been able to point out or to explain how pushing 300 Indigenous and mobile providers into mainstream funding arrangements will work, and they have not been able to guarantee that these services will not be forced to close. This is two-thirds of our Indigenous early education centres.

There is nothing agile or innovative about this agenda; there are just cuts to programs that were designed to assist those who most need it. There is no progress to be made or advancement for a fairer society; there are just plain old cuts to those, again, who can least afford it. No wonder the people of Australia think so little of the people in here, particularly of those in the government. The constant need to rip away services from those struggling people in our communities is deeply offensive. It illustrates perfectly the priorities of this Liberal government.

In fact, the following groups, which were mentioned by the member for Macquarie, have said just how bad it is. You have representative organisations including the Australian Childcare Alliance, Early Childhood Australia, Early Learning and Care Council of Australia, Family Day Care Australia, Early Learning Association Australia, Creche and Kindergarten Association, UnitingCare Australia, Mission Australia, Anglicare Australia, Gowrie Australia, The Benevolent Society, Social Ventures, Brotherhood of St Laurence, United Voice and The Parenthood. These are groups attached to the area that we are speaking on—early childhood. They are the representative bodies. I would refer to them as the experts; I would definitely not refer to the government in here as the experts in this field.

If hearing from the experts were not enough for this government, we then flick over to the providers, whom again, the member for Macquarie already mentioned. We have the Affinity Education Group, Goodstart Early Learning, KU Children's Services, Early Childhood Management Services, SDN Children's Services and bestchance Child Family Care. I make a rule when I have a decision to make: I consult widely and I usually defer to the experts. So I am quite confused as to why the government would not listen to those people who are experts in this, rather than being obsessed by a budget bottom line and wanting to give $50 billion to corporations and to take money away from those who can least afford it.

Despite being warned about the serious flaws in their childcare changes for years, they have not done anything to fix them. The ANU says that the childcare changes will leave one in three families worse off, 330,000 families worse off and 26,000 no better off. That is almost half of all families—550,000 in total—that will be worse off or no better off. Seventy-one thousand families with an income below $65,000 will be worse off. The harsh activity test will leave children in 150,000 families worse off. Where do the government think that these families are? Do they think they are some kind of mythical creatures—unicorns, maybe, prancing around the bank of a river somewhere? These people actually exist; these people are our future. They are the young people in this country that we, as the leaders of this country, should be stepping up to support.

We are going to hear Mr Turnbull. He will say this is about reforming—

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