Stuart Robert (Fadden, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

On 2 July, we implemented a new childcare package, so it's probably important that we focus on the facts—something that seems to get lost in so many of these debates. The new package increased Australia's investment in early childhood education and care by $2½ billion over the next four years. Nearly one million Australian families will benefit. The typical Australian family is better off to the tune of about $1,300 per child per year. That's a fact. And these facts aren't in dispute. We've removed the annual childcare rebate cap of around $7,600 to ensure low- and middle-income families aren't limited by an annual cap on their child care. Around 85 per cent of families using child care will feel the benefits of this reform over the course of this financial year alone. Families earning more than $187,000 will also benefit from an increased cap of $10,190 per child to assist with childcare costs every year. We've increased the subsidy from around 72 per cent to 85 per cent for more than 370,000 families using child care and earning less than $67,000 a year. So I'm not too sure where the member for Kingston's MPI, 'The government's failure to invest in the early years of Australian children', actually comes from. I would have thought an extra $2.5 billion is a fair investment in the early years of Australian children, but perhaps the Labor Party's mathematics and mine don't quite add up somehow.

The new activity test is ensuring that taxpayers' support for child care is targeted to those who depend on it in order to work or to work additional hours. It's estimated our reforms will encourage more than 230,000 families to increase their workforce participation, and I would have thought that's a good thing. Our $1.2 billion Child Care Safety Net recognises vulnerable children and families that need extra support. For example, the safety net ensures that grandparents with primary care of their grandchildren, foster parents and parents undergoing medical treatment receive the support they need.

Hourly rate caps have been introduced as a necessary measure to arrest incessant child care fee rises—$11.77 for centre based day care, $10.90 for family day care and $10.29 for outside-school-hours care. In addition to the new childcare package, the government has committed around $870 million for preschoolers in 2018-19 to ensure that more than 340,000 children each year continue to have access to 15 hours of preschool a week. I just can't seem to find the failure to invest in the early years of Australian children. All I'm seeing is an extra $2.5 billion, an extra series of money, going to those less well-off. I can't seem to find the failure to invest.

Labor's desperate to find failure, even when it's not there. They even set up their own protest website, but I can't seem to find that either. It seems it's been taken down, because there was no protest. It is funny that, when $2.5 billion extra is provided and one million families benefit, there is an absence of protest! In fact, I can't even see the member for Kingston here. Is she here somewhere? I'm speaking to my colleagues. It's her MPI; it's her matter of public importance and she's legged it. I guess it's not that important to the member for Kingston, is it?

See this speech in context