Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

I thank my friend the member for Macarthur for his question. There is some good news: the Senate is on the cusp of voting for our cheaper childcare legislation. They could vote on it as early as tonight. As you know, Mr Speaker, this was one of the biggest and most important commitments that we made at the last election. It is almost a $5 billion investment. To put that in perspective, that is about as much as the former government spent on submarines, and they didn't deliver as much as a periscope!

This will deliver something real. This will cut the cost of early education and care for more than one million Australian families. That's real cost-of-living help. For a family on a combined income of 120 grand, it will cut the cost by about $1,700 a year. That will really help. But not just that: this is real economic reform. If you cut the cost of early education and care, it makes it easier for parents to go back to work. In particular, for mothers to go back to more paid work and work more hours or work more days, and that means more skilled workers back in the workforce. And, definitely most importantly of all, it helps our children. More time in early education and care means you are better prepared for school. So it's the trifecta: it's good for children, it's good for parents and it's good for our economy. That's why Australians voted for it, and that's why we are delivering it, even in the face of full-blown opposition over the last two years—continuing to this day—from the Leader of the National Party—

who we can hear interjecting here today.

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