Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Education) Share this | Hansard source

Today the Parenthood released a report titled Choiceless, which focuses on the plight of parents in accessing regional, rural and remote learning and care. I urge all members opposite to find 20 minutes in their day to look at the report, understand the findings and commit to addressing, in a bipartisan way, the issues and inequities that exist. Simply pumping up the childcare subsidy does nothing for regional communities in places like Gippsland, where many families actually have no access to a childcare centre. I've had dozens of Gippsland families raise their concerns with me in relation to this issue. In the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, more families are dependent on their two incomes, but there are up to nine million children across Australia who are currently living in what we call childcare deserts.

We need to do more in this place. We need to do more to provide parental choice, flexibility and accessibility for Australian families, and this report is a very welcome addition to the public debate that we need to have as a nation. Where we do find market failure, the government needs to back local solutions and help us, as local communities, to attract and retain the workforce we need for regional areas to continue to prosper. It is time to trust our local communities more. It is time to trust our local communities to come up with solutions which actually work in each region and help fund this essential service right around the nation.

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