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

This budget was a missed opportunity when it came to early learning and care, and I find it interesting that the minister would like a pat on the back for putting in the forward estimates for preschool funding. It's a basic accounting measure that should have been done some time ago. I reject the premise—there was a national partnership. It was a four-year agreement set out by the Gillard government; that's obviously escaped his memory.

Childcare fees under this government have now gone up 37 per cent. But, importantly for families, out-of-pocket costs have risen to the highest that they have ever been. So I ask this question of the minister: what is he doing to actually curb these out-of-pocket costs for all families? We know in this budget that 75 per cent of families will miss out on any extra support as a result of the subsidy changes. That is many, many people. So I ask the minister: why is it that he has left so many families out of increased support, which he, in his own words, said was the most significant part of the changes? This seems to be a population measure, so my question also to the minister is: was that his plan? How much was the minister involved in designing this policy? Why didn't the minister, when designing his childcare support, actually listen to all the information from what many, many organisations were calling for and design this around productivity?

We know in the last quarter alone that childcare fees have gone up by more than 2.2 per cent—that's three times the CPI figure. Over the past 12 months childcare costs have soared by 3.7 per cent. Childcare costs are eating into the budget of every family that is using child care and are putting a huge strain on them. Twenty-three per cent of parents have said that they are not working, mainly due to the cost of child care. Really, this plan outlined by the minister does nothing to help many, many families with the cost of child care. The budget papers also show that workforce participation rates will decline. So my question to the minister is: how could he possibly have an early education childcare policy that actually delivers lower workforce participation? That is a feat in itself. I would like the minister to answer that question.

The government announced a new childcare policy that doesn't come in until 1 July 2022, after the next election. So it is disingenuous to suggest that they are somehow delivering support now. I would like to hear from the minister about what the IT changes are—what are the impediments to bringing this in earlier, particularly around the cap?

While I understand that changing the subsidy rates now to identify the first child, the second child and the third child in child care and when those arrangements change will require significant investment in IT, removing the cap doesn't. Removing the cap can be done overnight, and so I ask the minister, particularly when it comes to the childcare cap: what are the impediments to actually removing that right now?

In addition to that, the minister was unable to explain whether or not a five-year-old in OSH would be considered under this first or second child arrangement. He wasn't able to answer that in a television interview. I would like to know the answer now. With after-school-hours care, if a child is four-and-a-half, for example, and in out after-school-hours care, will that child be considered to be still the first child, or the second child, and will that benefits flow on to those families? I think that's an important question. Will it be determined on the type of service the child is using? The minister and the government have repeatedly said 'five and under', or 'under five'. A lot of parents want to know practically how that will actually be determined. Will that apply to after-school-hours care? Of course, they also receive the same percentage subsidy, but, under the minister's proposal, it will have a significant impact because, once that child goes to school, the subsidy will jump for that child still remaining in child care. Families want some clarity on this. Families also want relief. Every family deserves relief, and my final question to reinforce this is: why won't the minister provide relief to every family?

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