Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Hansard source

It's a real pleasure to be able to support the member for Moncrieff on this motion. Just so everyone knows and understands what this motion is about, it's about making sure that we get more childcare places, especially in regional and rural areas, and that we address the cost-of-living crisis that is being forced on families by the government's failure to keep childcare prices down. This motion is:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) it has been almost three years since the Government was elected and the cost of child care has increased by a whopping 22.3 per cent;

(b) since the Government introduced its cheaper childcare policy, out of pocket costs for families have sky rocketed by 12.7 per cent;

(c) almost 30 per cent of child care services are charging over the hourly rate cap under the current Government, compared to 21 per cent under the previous Government; and

(d) this is just another broken promise from the Government, that continues to leave Australian families behind; and

(2) calls on the Government to deliver:

(a) more access to early childhood education and care places to support Australians to return to the workforce; and

(b) real cost of living relief to families.

This is especially the case in regional and rural Australia.

Deputy Speaker, as you know, if you cannot control inflation and the costs of business, the pressure that's going to be put on child care providers is enormous. What this government has failed to understand is that if you do not address the cost of doing business then you make life incredibly hard for businesses, including small businesses—and the majority of those who provide child care services are small businesses. On top of that, if you do not have policies which enable you to expand the number of places by ensuring that you are bringing on board people who will work in child care—those wonderful educators who provide that education and care to young people—then what you will see is childcare deserts created.

One of the things that the government should be doing, and should be doing immediately, is saying: 'Right, our first priority should be those areas where there are childcare deserts. That is what we should be aiming to fix.' Yet what we've seen from this government is an inner-city focus which has been all about addressing where they perceive concerns in the inner city. They haven't been able to look beyond the inner city to say: 'Okay, what are the policies? What do we need in regional and rural Australia in particular?' That is especially the case in my electorate of Wannon. What have they been able to do, especially in areas like Casterton, Portland and Warrnambool, to address the issue of workforce shortages and make sure that there are additional centres, because additional centres are needed but additional centres can't open up unless you can get the workforce that is required? Yet we haven't seen anything addressing those issues.

I thank the member for Moncrieff, Angie Bell, for coming down to Wannon very early in this term, identifying that this is a real issue in rural and regional areas, particularly in my electorate of Wannon, and for agreeing to come back in the not-too-distant future to once again sit down and hear what is going on on the ground.

It is by making sure you're out there listening, speaking to families and understanding their needs and concerns, understanding how, especially when it comes to mothers, they're not able to get back into the workforce because they can't get childcare places—all those concerns are real concerns. It's so important to make sure that you get the policy settings right to address those issues so that you get sustainable settings for child care. If we continue to see the cost rises and cost increases that we're seeing under this Labor government, child care is going to become more and more unaffordable for Australian families. That's not what we want. Particularly in regional and rural areas, like in the seat of Wannon, we have to make sure that availability is there—especially in those regions and areas that need it the most. (Time expired)

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