Katie Allen (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

As a working mother of four, I'm acutely aware of the pressures working families face each and every day. It can feel like there's not much time to focus on anything other than supporting our families. As a government, we know that accessible and affordable access to child care is a key to allowing women to work full time or start a business. As Australians, we should all be proud of the fact that, prior to COVID, the gender pay gap for women had fallen to a new low and female workforce participation had risen to a record high. As a result of our policies, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the female labour force participation rate was a near-record high of 61.2 per cent. Our government has been there and will always be there to help ensure increasing workforce participation, particularly for women. The childcare policies that we initiated in 2018 are working to help get women back into the work force and assist them in realising their dreams.

Our government's commitment to child care is clear. The new childcare package this government introduced in 2018 represents the most significant reforms to the early education and care system in 40 years. In the 2020-21 budget, the government will pay a record $9.2 billion in childcare subsidy payments, and this will grow to $10.7 billion in coming years. Around one million Australian families who are balancing work and parental responsibility are benefiting from this package. The new childcare package is providing more access and more financial support for those who need it most.

The coalition government is providing support for families who need it via the $1.5 billion Child Care Safety Net. Free child care is currently available for eligible vulnerable and disadvantaged families. Free child care is currently available for eligible families experiencing temporary financial hardship. A 95 per cent subsidy payment is currently available for eligible families looking for work. Full-time subsidy payment remains available for parents who have lost their jobs or have reduced hours of work via the relaxed activity test.

Services Australia are doing an outstanding job, with processing times for approved childcare subsidy now averaging around four days. That's something working families need. Importantly, 71 per cent pay no more than $5 per hour in daycare centres, and within that subset 24 per cent pay no more than $2 per hour. Ninety per cent of families using approved child care were entitled to a subsidy rate between 50 and 85 per cent. Around 86 per cent of daycare services were charging at or below the hourly rate cap of $12.20 an hour. Our once-in-a-generation reforms have delivered a 3.2 per cent reduction in out-of-pocket costs to parents since our package was introduced.

However, the member's motion today is misleading. The Department of Education did not provide an estimate on future fees. We can't trust Labor to tell the truth on fees and we can't trust Labor on anything they say about this policy.

Most families do not have an annual cap applied to them. There is no childcare subsidy cap for families with income less than $189,000. Around 84 per cent of families have an income less than $189,000 and no annual cap. The member's bill also states that Australian families contribute 37 per cent of early education and childcare costs compared to the OECD average of 18 per cent. It is true that more work needs to be done in this area, but it is at a similar level to other similarly developed nations. It is important to point out another OECD figure, and that is that the OECD numbers for labour workforce participation for women between 15 and 64 have Australia at 73.9 per cent and Norway at 75.7 per cent. The proportion of GDP that Norway spends on child care is five times the proportion of Australia's spend on child care, to achieve a 1.8 per cent higher labour force participation rate for women.

It is very complex policy area and it is a very complex issue for families, but it is an incredibly important issue. The Morrison government understands that female participation in the workforce is not just key to the individual prosperity of individuals and families but also key to the future prosperity of our great country. On this side, we recognise the importance of affordable and accessible child care and how it promotes workforce participation, growth and female economic empowerment.

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