Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

That's a good interjection: 'You could probably ask Gaetjens.' But I think we already know the answer. It's a bit like the press conference yesterday, where the Prime Minister's answers were released 36 minutes before the actual questions were asked. That's the kind of deceit we have with this government and this Prime Minister. So I wonder: is this something else that the Prime Minister will claim he knows nothing about?

To be clear, these levies are slugging families with fees for care they are no longer receiving. That's why Labor is proposing an amendment to take the exemption out of the minister's hands and put it into the act. The government have shown quite clearly that their ministers can't be trusted to act quickly and appropriately on this issue. The result of this amendment would be that an exemption from fees would be triggered as soon as the state or territory government declared a lockdown, without having to rely on the Prime Minister's office. That is good comfort for all Australian families—to know that they can keep the Prime Minister out and actually get benefits that help them.

Another key feature of the government's exceptional circumstances fund, which they set up to cover the one-third of early educators not covered by JobKeeper, was that it consistently refused to approve funding applications. The latest data from the department shows that only 39 per cent of applicants got approval. The government stands there and falsely claims that 98 per cent of early childhood learning centres stayed open during the COVID crisis, but only 39 per cent of people were given access to support. As with everything this government does, the spin covers up the dark truth. Does the government know how many of those 98 per cent of services suffered a financial loss? According to their own analysis, 25 per cent of services suffered a massive financial loss. They were losing money every day that they were operating to support the children of essential workers who were out during the pandemic. The government might call that a win, but I certainly wouldn't, and I know early education services in my electorate don't consider that a win. I certainly know that my constituent in Mernda would not consider it a win. When asked about this, the government blamed the providers and threatened them with a new hotline where parents could dob in early learning providers who allegedly weren't providing enough places or hours. Just think about this. You've got early childhood educators struggling during the middle of a pandemic and the government's first response is: 'Let's set up a hotline to dob them.'

That's one thing that's consistent with this government—blame the victims. That is the one thing that those opposite have been very consistent in doing. They won't set up a hotline to dob in people who are stealing wages from workers, underpaying workers or putting workers at risk. They will always blame the victim, not the perpetrator. This is the kind of small-minded, cruel politics that this Prime Minister excels at—punish the people and small businesses who are struggling; yank up the ladder instead of extending a hand in support. I remember when the Prime Minister stood up 2½ years ago and announced that the coalition's childcare policy was a once-in-a-generation reform. Well, let's hope so, because it fails children, it fails families and it fails our early childhood educators. For my constituent in Mernda, it means her fees will increase from $700 to $930 a week under this government. How does a family struggling to make ends meet afford this? Can the government stand up and say how its childcare policy has been good for parents?

The truth is that the coalition's childcare scheme has been a complete fizzer and the benefit from the childcare subsidy has been almost completely eroded. On average, parents will soon be no better off under the Prime Minister's once-in-a-generation reforms than they were under the previous scheme, in 2018. Parents are getting locked out of affordable child care, just like they've been locked out of affordable housing and just like students have been locked out of affordable university and TAFE. Can you see the theme? It's quite clear. If parents are locked out of affordable child care, that will negatively impact on our economic recovery from COVID-19. The Prime Minister and Minister Tudge need to stop burying their heads in the sand and acknowledge that this system is broken. It's not working for the early childhood education centres. It's not working for preschools in my electorate. It's not working for the vast majority of parents, usually women, who have to stay at home and care for children because they can't afford child care. This government has shown time and time again that it views issues faced by women as a second-order concern. The time has come for that to end. The government should support Labor's reasoned amendment to this bill.

Ultimately, only a Labor government will introduce cheaper child care for working families, scrapping the $10,560 childcare subsidy cap, which sees women losing money when they perform an extra day's work; lifting the maximum childcare subsidy to 90 per cent; and increasing childcare subsidy rates and tapering them for families earning less than $53,000. Labor's plan for cheaper child care will reward working families and allow second-income earners to work more and contribute to our economic recovery. Australian families know that only an Albanese Labor government will be on their side. Labor will fix the coalition's broken childcare system.

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