David Gillespie (Lyne, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

This is such an important MPI, because we want to put the facts on the table. The other side is putting out trumped-up misrepresentations and suggesting major reforms when there's just a shallow commitment to maybe do another Productivity Commission or consumer competition inquiry if they get into government. It's all hollow words. Since 2018, we have had the runs on the board, because we did get the Productivity Commission to look at the cost of child care and early education, and we reformed the system so that the subsidy goes straight to the childcare provider. The more you work or the more you're training or studying, up to a certain limit, you will get more assistance—up to $10½ thousand, which is really significant. As the minister said, it is means tested, but there are not many people in my electorate that earn over $189,390. And there are certainly not many people that earn $353,680, where it stops. If you're earning under roughly $189,000, the more you work or study, the more assistance you get direct to your childcare provider. And the proof of the pudding is in the eating, because there are more women working more than 48 hours than there were before these reforms came in. Workforce participation figures for women are also going up.

I know I've got one of the oldest demographics in the country, but we still have lots and lots of young children. From the figures that I've seen, we have almost 2,000 children. I have the oldest demographic in the nation, but, from the banks of the Hastings River down to the Hunter River, there are also 2,000 children in preschool or long day care or out-of-school-hours care, and they all get great treatment. During the COVID pandemic, when the whole Australian economy was collapsing, we kept child care afloat. The subsidy was continued so that people could have their children in day care if they so wished. Ninety-nine per cent of childcare businesses continued. None of them went to the wall, which is really good, because lots of other businesses unfortunately did go to the wall in the course of the pandemic.

We're spending $9.2 billion on early childhood education and child care. That's record funding, and it's going to go up to $10.7 billion. That is a massive amount of money. I have three children, who were in family day care, centre based day care and individual home care for short periods of time, but mainly in the centres. It's a great system here in Australia. There is a paradox that it costs money, because parents have some responsibility. We're trying to support the children and the parents that need it most. That's why you get more assistance if you work more or if you are in a situation such as trying to get back into the workforce or having family disruption or you're a grandparent looking after a child. Those people get more assistance—the lower your income, the greater the proportionate amount. It's fair and it's equitable, but you have to set a limit somewhere.

I think the other side are just hypothesising that they'll get a miraculously different result out of the Productivity Commission. That's why the Productivity Commission exists. It is a great system. It's better than that of many other countries and it's really delivering. Just about anywhere you live in Australia you will have access to some sort of child care for your children. Even in the most remote areas in the Northern Territory that I've been to, some of them have childcare systems supported by the state and/or the Commonwealth. Really, when you travel around the world, I don't know what country gets even more child care than we do in Australia, except maybe for some of the Scandinavian countries, but they have tax rates far, far, far higher and they have a socialist sort of system

We really have got the runs on the board. We have reformed the system. Workforce participation is the proof of the pudding that it's working.

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