Gavin Pearce (Braddon, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Health, Aged Care and Indigenous Health Services) Share this | Hansard source

Prior to me speaking on the Early Childhood Education and Care (Three Day Guarantee) Bill 2025, there are a few Ts and Cs as far as I'm concerned that come from a very personal perspective. I would first of all like to recognise that I come from the bush, in the electorate of Braddon, in the north-west west coast of King Island in Tasmania, where not only are childcare centres rare but they're sparse. But they've got waiting lists that are in the pages in length. We just don't have the positions available in the bush, unfortunately. We don't have the resources. What I would like to say in this place, very sincerely, very honestly and very openly, is that the experience that I've had with the early childhood education sector has been very positive. I look at the care, at the sincerity and at the real genuine leadership that some of these individuals, some of our early childhood educators, provide our young children, and it's second to none. I am astounded by the level of care that is generally available to our youngest and most needy in their formative years. They love our kids, and those kids love them. When you see a young child wanting to go to day care, that is indicative of a wholesome environment, a good environment. As we argue to-and-fro across the chamber here today, I don't want those good folks in our early childhood education sector to feel that it's an indictment on them, because the work, for the most part, that they do is second to none. I take my hat off, and I mean that most sincerely.

I myself have a three-year-old daughter. Her name is Elsie, and she's a little handful from time to time, but she absolutely loves going to day care. Her little face lights up as she meets her little friends and puts her lunchbox—which is always chock-a-block full—into the fridge. She comes home tired and sometimes a little grumpy, but she always has a story to tell about her day and what she learnt at day care. It's beautiful. That's the future that I want to see for our early childhood education centres right across the board, and I'm seeing it every day.

But, today, we're discussing a different issue. We're discussing what is fundamental to families across Australia—in the bush, in the cities and in between. At first glance, the Early Childhood Education and Care (Three Day Guarantee) Bill 2025 might sound like a positive step, but when you look at the detail, the granularity, it becomes clear that this is not about helping working families. It's about Labor playing politics with early education and care. Anybody would think there was an election looming!

This bill does not guarantee working families priority access, and that's important. This disincentivises aspiration and it fails to address the supply crisis. I mentioned that earlier, in my opening. These positions just don't exist in the bush. They're not available. How can you incentivise something that isn't there in the first place? It can't materialise out of nothing. There's nothing in this bill that allows for new startups. There's nothing there that helps our early childhood educators develop their skills, their knowledge, their training and their application. There's no streamlining of red tape or green tape in order to build or to start up a new centre. That's what I find troubling.

What Labor is proposing is a one-size-fits-all approach that doesn't work for all Australian families. The Albanese government has left the coalition with no choice but to oppose this bill, because it does nothing to address the real challenges facing parents and carers alike. Instead of making child care more affordable and accessible for those who need it most, Labor is introducing a politically motivated scheme that will increase competition for places without increasing supply. We all know Economics 101: supply and demand is indicative of price and service.

This legislation amends A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act 1999 and removes the childcare-subsidy activity test, replacing it with a three-day guarantee. What does that mean? Let's look at this in more detail. Starting in January 2026, all families earning up to $533,000 per annum will have access to 72 hours of subsidised childcare per fortnight, regardless and irrespective of whether they are working, studying, volunteering or not engaged in any workforce activity whatsoever. For Indigenous families, this access increases to 100 hours per fortnight. There is no prioritisation for working families, those that want to go about their business or build their own business, for instance. I come from a place where small business is prolific right across the electorate. Often, this is a sole trader business or maybe a partnership. We've got a lot of farmers that work in partnerships, so it's important for them not only for the education of their child but for that child's safety. If that child isn't at day care, that means that child is on the farm, with dangerous equipment. So we also have a safety issue. There is no prioritisation for working families like the ones I'm talking about.

This means that those who need early education and care in order to work or to study will be competing for places with families who are not required to work at all. That's what I have issue with. The government estimates that this policy will cost $426.7 million over five years, but this figure doesn't add up.

Debate interrupted.

See this speech in context