Andrew Laming (Bowman, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I accept that the shadow minister has vetted a few, but I tell that you're flat out getting a Labor MP to show up to a childcare centre for the damn Christmas party. For goodness sake, show up. Put some books under your wing and show up to an early education centre and talk not just to those you're trying to sign up to the unions but to those who run the business. There are many centres and they range from mom-and-pop enterprises through to Goodstart Early Learning. There are very different circumstances. But those special circumstances supplementary funds are there to give a tailored response to centres that need it. And do you know what? Even after that, there will be this four-week review and the findings from it. So let's be honest: it's not blemish free. Let's be honest: it's not an unchallenging environment. But let's be frank. This is a government that acted early and in fact swiftly and decisively in COVID in a way that many other governments refused to do. I was in the UK in early March as they sat there, anchovy like, in their House of Commons in the middle of a COVID catastrophe; whereas this government had already acted—acted for early learning and care; acted for the economy; and acted for employees who just wanted to keep a connection to their workplace. And I tell you what, when we pull all of those interventions together, this will be a nation very proud of what this government has achieved with the COVID crisis.

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