Emma McBride (Dobell, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Cheaper Child Care) Bill 2022. Right now there are thousands of families across Australia who are struggling to make ends meet. Last night's budget introduced vital cost-of-living measures to support people and families living in all parts of Australia, including in my community on the Central Coast in New South Wales, and a big part of that is cheaper child care.

Childcare expenses are one of the biggest cost-of-living pressures that families are facing. Childcare costs have increased by 41 per cent across Australia over the past eight years, and this is placing a huge burden on parents and carers and the family budget. It's also holding people back, particularly women, from re-entering the workforce. According to the ABS, there were 73,000 people who wanted to work last year but couldn't look for work because of childcare costs. Many of these people are women—in communities like mine, in regional parts of Australia all around the country. They're highly trained, experienced, capable workers who would boost our workforce and make significant contributions to the economy, but they're struggling to re-enter the workforce because they can't find affordable child care for their children, especially close to home.

That's why our government has introduced this legislation for cheaper child care. Our plan for cheaper child care will mean around 96 per cent of Australian families with children in early childhood education and care will be better off. This will make child care cheaper and more affordable for around 1.26 million families around Australia, and no family will be worse off. This bill will also help more First Nations children with their early learning, by boosting the number of hours of subsidised care available to them. It will introduce a base level of 36 hours of early learning per fortnight for First Nations families, starting from July 2023, regardless of a family's activity test. Under our plan, First Nations children will be able to participate in more hours of early childhood education to address this gap and get them ready for primary school.

I'd like to take the time now to recognise Aunty Bronwyn Chambers, from the Wollotuka Institute at the University of Newcastle. Aunty Bronwyn and I went to the same primary school, St Cecilia's in Wyong, and Aunty Bronwyn has dedicated most of her working life towards the education of younger people in our community. I want to recognise the work she has done, including at Toukley Pre-School. Thank you, Aunty Bronwyn.

Labor's plan for cheaper child care will also benefit thousands of families, as I've mentioned, in communities like mine in regional Australia. In the electorate of Dobell and the neighbouring electorate of Robertson, on the Central Coast of New South Wales, there are around 6,900 families who will be better off under this plan. It will cut out-of-pocket costs for families with children in early education and care. For example, a family earning $120,000, with one child in care, will save more than $1,700 in the first year of this plan. That is a significant saving to that family and a significant investment in that child's education and in our economy.

The changes to the childcare subsidy will kick off 1 July 2023. Not only will this ease cost-of-living pressures by cutting the cost of child care but it will help thousands of skilled workers to return to the workforce—skilled workers that we need in communities like mine on the Central Coast of New South Wales to boost our local economy. This is a plan that is good for children, good for families and good for the economy.

I was proud to host the Minister for Education, Jason Clare, on the Central Coast of New South Wales last month. Together with the member for Robertson, Dr Gordon Reid, we visited Little Miracles child care at Terrigal, where we met with the early childhood educators and the children that they teach—and those children were thriving. While we were there, we joined them for their Flying Start school readiness program, rotating through construction and Lego building, shapes and numbers, working with children who were absolutely thriving and getting very well prepared for school. We heard from the educators, too: dedicated, capable educators who are contributing and shaping the futures of our young people. We heard from Rob Bateman, the founder of Little Miracles. Rob really welcomed our announcement and took the time to tell us what it would mean for young families and children across the coast. He said: 'COVID has brought a lot more children into the world. Preparing them well for school is a great thing because we want to give them a flying start.' He said, 'It's really important so they make friendships, and, for us, teaching the children to read and giving them the confidence before they go to school is so important.' This policy, as I said, is good for families, it's good for children and it's fully supported by early childhood educators.

This is also a measure that's equally about participation and gender equality, which was central to the Treasurer's budget handed down last night. Instead of being able to return to work or find a new job, many parents are missing out because they can't find suitable and affordable care for their children close to home. This bill will help parents, particularly women, return to work by reducing the cost of child care and making significant reductions to the workforce disincentive rates. It will help us work towards gender equality by addressing the gap in workforce participation, remuneration and superannuation felt by so many women across Australia.

There are many young families on the Central Coast of New South Wales, where I live. I spoke to a young woman from the Central Coast recently. She has a three-year-old in day care and a five-year-old who started school this year. She's worked hard her whole professional life. She's a professional woman, highly educated, capable and talented. She had recently secured a promotion. While this was really good news, she was left so disappointed because the pay rise that came with her promotion was almost entirely absorbed by the costs of childcare. It set her and her family backwards when it should have been putting her on the next step of her career, boosting her family and boosting our economy. This is what we need to turn around because we know that women's workforce participation continues to lag well behind the participation rates for men.

In August last year, the workforce participation rate for women on the Central Coast was just over 53 per cent, compared to the New South Wales average of 61.6 per cent. I am so keen to see women in my community not be held back, not be limited in their career and not be unable to participate within the paid workforce because of the costs of childcare, which are such a significant barrier. We need to make sure that women on the Central Coast of New South Wales and in the regions across Australia can return to work or work more hours if they want to. That's why we're committed to making child care cheaper for all Australian families.

I am proud to speak in support of this bill today and to be a part of a government that is putting Australian families first. Parents and carers should be able to afford childcare for their kids so they can have the best start in life and so that the parents can return to work or work more hours if they want to. This bill will provide real benefits to parents and carers across Australia and remove the burden on people who are already struggling to make ends meet. It's a cost-of-living measure that will make a real difference to family budgets. It's a plan that will give parents the opportunity to return to work or work more hours when and if they choose to do so. It's a plan that will give children the best start in life. This legislation will make child care cheaper for 1.2 million Australian families. This is a bill I am proud to support and, in doing so, I thank my preschool teacher.

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