Matt Williams (Hindmarsh, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Social Services. Will the minister inform the House how the budget is supporting Australians making the choice to support themselves rather than rely on welfare, especially in relation to child care?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Hindmarsh for his question. I commend him on being a great listener in his electorate and for the contribution that he has made to the Jobs for Families package and our package for fair access to a sustainable pension as well—listening to both those families in his electorate and those older Australians.

This budget is for those who got up early this morning and went to work to give their family the greatest choice they could have and hope for for their family. If you want to earn more from working rather than take more in welfare then this budget is for you. If you are running a business that is creating jobs for someone, especially someone who has not had a job for a long time and really needs one, then this budget is for them. If you save for your retirement, so you can have strong and viable support through your own investments to live off and stay off the pension and not be taxed on that income, then this is a budget for you. This is a budget for you, because this is a budget that gives a fair go to those who have a go and it does it in so many areas.

Ms Ryan interjecting—

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

The member for Lalor will leave under 94(a).

The member for Lalor then left the chamber.

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

But it particularly does it for families who are having a go—families who know they need to be in work and they have to stay in work to ensure that they can pay the bills and support their families in the way they want to. That is why we have invested $3.5 billion—that is what we are seeking to do—to make child care simpler, to make it more affordable, to make it more accessible and to make it more flexible. That is what we are doing for families who know they need to be in work to pay those bills and give their families the choices they want for them.

We are especially doing that for families on low to middle incomes. That is where this money is going—to low- to middle-income earners. It is especially going to families that are at disadvantage and are vulnerable, particularly those families who have children with disabilities and particularly families in rural and remote areas who cannot access the services that they need to access—families who are dairy farmers, and others who need to have access to that level of services that the system currently does not provide.

Ms Plibersek interjecting—

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

The member for Sydney will desist or leave the chamber. The choice is hers.

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It also provides flexible support for nurses, for police officers, for firies, for those who are working shift work who cannot get access to child care now because their work hours do not give them that access. Under our program, that will be provided—something that was missing for years and years. Those opposite drove up the cost of child care year in year out. What this government is doing with this package of measures is giving those families choice. And we are going to support early childhood education by continuing universal access for preschool education—funding that those opposite left short.