Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's a pleasure to stand in this House and speak about the Morrison government's commitment to looking after and supporting Australian families. During our time in office we've invested significantly to make child care more accessible and affordable. In the last financial year we invested over $8.6 billion and we'll be increasing this investment to more than $10 billion in the coming years. This has meant more families can access child care due to a reduction in out-of-pocket expenses. Typically, a family is better off to the tune of $1,300 per child per annum. In difficult times, this is a tangible and welcome benefit to families. But more can always be done. The Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Improving Assistance for Vulnerable and Disadvantaged Families) Bill 2020 makes a number of improvements in the operation of the additional childcare subsidy (child wellbeing) and the childcare subsidy and some other technical drafting improvements.

As I go around speaking to the childcare centres in my electorate of Forde, it's always a pleasure to see happy kids running around playing and learning. It's also a pleasure to talk to the owners and the managers of those businesses and see the delight and joy they get from looking after and teaching our younger citizens. I was recently at Good Life Kindergarten and Child Care at Park Ridge. One of the interesting things about their model is that, rather than have additional support in the learning space—they've got that well covered—they have a nurse on site. The nurse has identified, for a number of children, health issues that hadn't been picked up. Subsequently, they were able to refer those children to their GP and have some major health issues dealt with very quickly. It just shows that our childcare centres are at the leading edge of trying to do things differently, even during a difficult time for the Australian community and certainly for my community of Forde.

That centre only opened in February this year. They have continued to grow. They have been successful and they are talking about opening another centre not far down the road, at Chambers Flat or Logan Reserve, so there is a confidence that the model and the funding and the decisions that this government has made are supporting the sector. Not only is that confidence there with the owners and managers of our childcare centres, but, equally importantly, the confidence is there with the families in my community of Forde that they're prepared and have the financial resources to send their kids to child care. If those financial resources weren't there, these centres wouldn't be able to open and wouldn't run profitably. So the decisions that this government is making and the supports that we have put in place are supporting our childcare sector and, importantly, the families that need to have their kids in child care so that they can go to work to earn a living.

In just over 18 months of implementation of the childcare package, it's clear, as I've just outlined practically, that the government is delivering on its goal to create a more affordable, accessible and flexible childcare system. We've done this by listening to the stakeholders regarding areas of improvement, and the key measures contained in this bill are a direct response to that feedback received from the childcare sector on the operation of the additional childcare subsidy payment. This bill makes amendments to the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act 1999 by extending the backdating of the additional childcare subsidy certificates and determinations from 28 days to up to 13 weeks in defined exceptional circumstances. It will also mean gaps in subsidy entitlement will be avoided where a child has been identified as at risk and it takes longer than 28 days to be able to provide a certificate or apply for a determination due to circumstances outside the provider's control.

Sadly, in my community and, I'm sure, in the communities of many colleagues here in the House, this issue of children being identified as at risk and ensuring they are properly looked after, cared for, put in the right place and taken out of harm's way is a sad reality of life. I've seen that firsthand with a number of close friends and what they have gone through with family members that have been in that situation, and they've had to bring those children into their care. I've seen the devastating impact that that can have on those families. But, equally, I'd like to take the opportunity to thank those families for their willingness to step in and help a child in need, difficult as it may have been. Equally, for these children being placed in child care early on, so we can get them back into their routine, which is important for these children, these sorts of measures, whilst they might seem small for many people, are very, very important.

This bill also extends the period from 13 weeks to up to 12 months in which additional childcare subsidy determinations can be made for certain defined classes of children, such as children on a long-term child protection order and those in foster care. I know also, from speaking to many families with children in this situation, that that's greatly appreciated.

The importance of these changes is that they seek to reduce unnecessary red tape for providers, families and state and territory governments, by no longer requiring them to reapply for subsequent determinations with supporting evidence every 13 weeks for such children whose circumstances mean that they would be at risk for longer periods of time. These changes, along with a number of other changes in this bill, go significantly towards improving transparency and efficiency and, importantly, the ability of our childcare service providers to provide the service that they need for our youngest citizens. They allow those children to get the maximum benefit available to them through the provision of high-quality childcare. Having their kids in child care allows families to continue to go out to work or do the other things that they might need to do.

In closing, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the childcare workers, both the owners of the childcare centres and their teams—their teachers; as I said in the case of Good Life, their nurse; and their administration staff—for the outstanding work that they do each and every day in our communities. I know from speaking to them that sometimes they are looking after kids that, sadly, come from very difficult circumstances. For many of those kids, it's their few hours in the day when they have a bit of normality and a bit of time when they can actually be children and not deal with the issues they face on a daily basis when they're at home.

I want to thank each and every one of the educators in the 80-plus childcare centres across the electorate of Forde and, equally, all of those in the childcare space across our country for the tremendous work they do every day. I commend this bill, in its original form, to the House.

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