David Gillespie (Lyne, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Assistant Minister for Education. As minister representing one of Australia's electorates, will the minister explain how the government's recently announced Productivity Commission inquiry into child care will improve availability and affordability of services in my electorate of Lyne and others across regional Australia?

Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, and welcome to the member for Lyne, a great loss to specialist services in regional Australia but a fabulous addition to this place. Prime Minister, I think I recollect a certain Pollie Pedal where you, I, and the member for Lyne struggled in the freezing rain across the Barrington Tops. The dedication shown on that occasion is the dedication that the member for Lyne brings on behalf of his constituents to this place. Wasting no time, he was in my office this morning banging the table about an early intervention centre for the people of Taree, something that he cares passionately about—Taree being an area of disadvantage in his electorate. One of the great things about new parliaments is that we get to welcome on this side of the House members from rural and regional Australia.

Once again I get to look at members of the Labor Party who have never risked a dollar of their own money in rural and regional Australia. The problem that we saw written large over child-care policy in the Labor Party was that one size always had to fit everything. There were no regional members to say, 'Things are a little bit different in my small country town, in my mobile child-care centre, in my small occasional child-care centre. In my community preschool with a hardworking volunteer board, things are a bit different.' Oh, no, the dead hand of regulation landed on everyone indiscriminately, and nowhere do we see that more than in rural and regional Australia. We know people in rural and regional Australia generally have less money than people in the city and they have to be careful about their expenses. But they desperately need child care and they need it at a price they can afford in an available way and particularly in a flexible way.

But everybody is coming on board with our Productivity Commission inquiry. People are lining up to talk about it. The Kalgoorlie Minerand another great new regional member, the member for O'Connor, is here—talked about the importance of child care for regional communities, and the mayor said that it 'cannot be understated'—

He went on:

Paying too much for child care—

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I hesitate to do this, Madam Speaker, but this is simply not relevant to the question that the minister was asked.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What is the point of order?

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a point on relevance. She should be directly relevant to the question asked. I would have thought she would know how to be directly relevant to a question she wrote.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I call the honourable assistant minister. There is no point of order.

Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I just want to refer to Kalgoorlie, a city that I went to during the election campaign.

Opposition members interjecting—

Madam Speaker, the question was about rural and regional Australia and, by the way, Kalgoorlie is in rural and regional Australia. The mayor of Kalgoorlie says that if you inhibit the ability to parents to obtain child care you inhibit the ability of the city to grow. On this side of the House, we desperately want rural and regional Australia to grow. I look forward to you coming on board with our Productivity Commission inquiry.

Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is also to the Assistant Minister for Education. Nine thousand six hundred families in my electorate of Rankin rely on the child-care rebate. Why is the government ignoring their needs by refusing to guarantee the rebate and exposing local families to the Abbott axe?

Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is a fascinating question. It tells us so much about the modern Labor Party. Yes, it is true that this week the Minister for Social Services introduced legislation to maintain the child-care rebate limit at $7,500 for three financial years starting from 1 July 2014, but it is really important to put this into context. The context, as usual, is Labor's debt—the debt that we on this side of the House have inherited.

We have heard a lot of numbers. The Treasurer talks about numbers and eloquently expresses them, but I would like to put this information on the table. If we run budget surpluses bigger than the budget surpluses ever run by the Howard government, it would take 20 years to pay off Labor's debt. The interest bill alone is over $10 billion a year. I could build the member for Lyne's early intervention centre with just a portion of that money. Labor has never delivered a budget surplus.

Let us go back to this budget. I want to talk about the budget the member refers to. Remember the budget that Labor put down in May this year, the one they never expected to implement, the one where they scrambled desperately to plug the leaks coming from their own reckless spending, the one where they tried to create a fig leaf of economic credibility. What they did in that budget was take the $100 million already in savings that we have had to implement this week from that budget, despite not having passed the legislation. So the $100 million that the member asks me about is long gone. This government has to legislate to mop up Labor's mess, a mess created—

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, I have a point of order.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I call the Manager of Opposition Business. You cannot go on relevance. What is the standing order?

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Um—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Good try. No standing order.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'll let it go.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I call the assistant minister.

Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do not know why the Labor Party do not understand that the $100 million is long gone from the bottom line.

Mr Snowdon interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Lingiari will desist!

Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is pretty outrageous to expect us with the economic credibility and the responsibility we bring to managing the nation's finances not to implement this measure which Labor has already taken into account. The Labor Party are without courage, without imagination and without competence. We make no apologies for cleaning up their mess.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I remind those on my left that we will have no more points of order on standing orders for 'um'.