Jerome Laxale (Bennelong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to thank the member for Bean for bringing this motion to the chamber. If there's one thing that has been the hallmark of this government in its first six months, it's been our determination and drive to deliver on the promise to reduce the costs of child care and early education—one of a suite of policies we took to the election to reduce the cost of living. More than 1.2 million Australian families, approximately 9,400 of them in my electorate of Bennelong, will be able to access more affordable early childhood education because the Albanese Labor government has gotten on with the job. We said we would decrease the cost of child care, and we will. This is one of many commitments that will reduce the cost of living and provide tangible results for Australian families.

The Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Cheaper Child Care) Bill 2022 will remove the barriers to early childhood care that Australian families have faced for years. It will help ease the cost of living in the face of staggering increases in childcare costs under the previous government. It will ensure that all children can benefit from receiving quality early childhood education, and it will mean that all First Nations children will be able to gain access to 36 hours of subsidised child care a fortnight. This is another massive step towards universal and free access to early childhood education, something that I'm proud to say is a long-term goal of the party I represent.

Bennelong is full of young families raising their children in our local community. These families, like many across the nation, are really struggling with the cost of living. In Bennelong, the median age is 37, and 40 per cent of people rent. We have nearly 10,000 families who will benefit from this policy. That's the second-highest number across the nation of families per electorate that will benefit. This is a policy that helps families in Bennelong, and it's one that they voted for, because the cost of living is one of the biggest issues that is raised with me when I'm out and about in the electorate. For many families in Bennelong, the cost of early childhood education forms a huge part of the family budget. When I speak to parents about the costs of child care, many say that they have become prohibitive and too high for them to reconcile. Under the former government, costs of child care went up by 41 per cent in eight years.

These are parents like Fabio in Ryde, who reached out to me recently. He was concerned that the cost of child care was eating into his family budget too much. For a family like his, we'll increase rebates to a maximum of 90 per cent for the lowest income bracket and increase rebate percentages across the board for all income brackets. Child care will be cheaper for Fabio.

Then there's Sanjana from Gladesville, who contacted me because she and her husband were recently knocked out of the subsidy limit because of a hard earned increase in their household income. They now earn more than the current system allows—a huge flaw in the system. I don't think families should be penalised for earning more, not on the cost of child care. But we've fixed that problem. We'll increase the income limit to $530,000 for families, up from $356,000, meaning that more families will be eligible to receive the rebate and more families will be able to earn more without penalty. Millions of families will benefit from these changes and none will be worse off. Families like these and many more in Bennelong and throughout Australia will benefit from this government's hard work, and our economy will benefit from having more men and women back in the workforce.

We know that we need more people in the workforce. We've got a huge skills shortage. We also know that there's been some evidence which suggests that this policy will help get more people into work. The Grattan Institute estimates that this package will result in eight per cent more hours being worked by second earners with young children. This works out to be about 220,000 extra days worked in Australia every week. Our own Treasury estimates that these measures will increase the hours worked by women with young children by up to 1.4 million hours per week in 2023-24. That's the equivalent of up to an extra 37,000 full-time workers, which not only makes a real difference to families—meaning they can earn more wages and more super—but makes a huge difference to our economy. This childcare package is one that's good for the nation and good for Bennelong. I thank you for the opportunity.

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