Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education) Share this | Hansard source

I'll try again for some answers from the minister. He won't even answer the questions from his own side, let alone the questions that we are putting to him. I make a comment to the member for Higgins: it's a bit disingenuous to say that your families value quality and then criticise Labor's quality framework, which drove quality. Anyway, let's not let the facts get in the way of this. I'm also going to go to the mythical downward pressure on fees. My question, once again, is to the minister. In Senate estimates two weeks ago, the department of education said they expected fees to increase by 5.3 per cent this year. Do you think that the childcare system is working well when fees will be hiked up 5.3 per cent in the middle of a recession and inflation is going to be nowhere near that rate? This will mean that out-of-pocket expenses are going up. Isn't that true, Minister? That is one question. Also, Minister, once again in Senate estimates, the department of education confirmed that there will be a $165.9 million increase—we hear those on the other side bragging about this—but this increase in spending on the childcare subsidy is 100 per cent due to higher prices and fees. When will you admit that the childcare system is broken, locking too many families out of work? The out-of-pocket costs are rising. I really hope that the minister will give Australian families an answer to this and take the opportunity to do so.

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