Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

There's no doubt that child care is an issue that is significant for many families. As this motion rightly points out, and as the member for Canberra did quote, the 123,000 early childhood educators and teachers were in the pipeline thanks to the Morrison coalition government. It's great to see some bipartisan support. Those opposite are recognising the great work of the former government in those 123,000 people.

I hear from local constituents about that challenges that their families and young families are having in the Dandenong Ranges, in Yarra Valley and all across Casey in getting access to child care. It's particularly important when we talk about long day care. Long day care is crucial in a community like mine because many mothers and fathers, many families, have to drop their children off early. They have over an hour's commute if they work in the CBD. They need to have the ability to drop them off early and pick them up late. If they don't have that opportunity, then they're not able to work in the CBD. It limits their options. So it's crucial that we create more places. It's economics 101. If there's more supply it brings prices down. In 18 months of this government they have not invested one extra dollar into increasing the supply of childcare places.

I'm looking forward to having the shadow minister for early childhood education, Angie Bell, out to Casey next Monday. We'll be visiting early childhood centres, talking to them and understanding first-hand their challenges and what we can do to help them. I've been engaging with the community on this issue since elected. I want to thank Belinda from Mums of the Hills, which is a great organisation representing many families and mothers across Casey and across our community. I was talking to her late last year about this very issue She sent me an article from the ABC which identified this startling figure for our community: there are between 15.43 and 15.87 children competing for every one childcare place in our community. That's putting pressure on families not just to be able to get a spot but also with the price they're paying, despite what this government says.

One family in my community has gone from paying $162 per day to $175 per day. They're $8 a day worse off after the increase in the subsidy last year. Another family has had a $13 a day increase, from $129 to $142 a day. Let's put that into context. Many on the other side have spent the last week talking about the stage 3 tax cut changes that they've made. What they don't talk about is that the change will deliver $15 a week from 1 July. Conveniently, they also don't talk about the $1,500 a year they ripped away from low- and middle-income earners last year when they let the offset lapse. For a family where it's gone up $13 a day, this government's crowing about $15 a week, and under this government every dollar is crucial. It just shows how out of touch the Prime Minister, the Treasurer and the Labor government are that they think $15 a week in five months is the solution to the cost-of-living crisis for young families in my community.

They talk about this claim of the 1,400 educators and the 123,000 in training, happy to take credit for the work of the former coalition government, because at its core that's the reality of the Albanese Labor government. It's all about spin. It's all about optics. It's all about running lines again and again, misleading, whether it is the trillion dollars of debt, which ABC Fact Check proved was a lie. It's claiming the work of the former government.

But there is something that this Prime Minister, who has been in this House since 1996, needs to understand. It doesn't matter what we say in this House; it matters what we do for families getting child care, for cost-of-living relief. You can talk about $15 a week in five months time. It helps no-one in my community today. It doesn't help them in March, April, May or June. They need relief today, and this Prime Minister insults them by patting himself on the back, talking about ABC documentaries in question time, thinking that every problem in the world is solved because he misled the Australian people over 100 times. I condemn this Prime Minister.

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