Andrew Laming (Bowman, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Education. Will the minister update the House on action our government is taking to provide child care to Australian families to help parents get back into the workforce quicker? What are the alternatives to supporting families in this way?

Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'd like to thank the member for Bowman for his question. As he knows, the best start in life is a good education. I know this is an issue he takes incredibly seriously. The Liberal and National government's new childcare package represents the most significant reforms to the early education and care system in 40 years. When it commenced on 2 July 2018, more than one million families had successfully transitioned to the new arrangements.

Ms Rishworth interjecting—

For the few families left to transition—and the member for Kingston might want to pay attention here—they have until 23 September, this Sunday, to access their Centrelink online account via MyGov and complete their childcare subsidy assessment. This is very important, and I would ask all members of the House to ensure that this message is made known to all those parents. They will have their subsidy backdated to 2 July 2018. Over 99.9 per cent of all eligible childcare providers have transitioned to the new system.

The coalition is committed to quality, affordable child care. The new childcare package is providing more access to subsidised child care to the families who work the most, and more financial support to the families who earn the least. Around one million Australian families who are balancing work and parental responsibilities are benefiting from the package. Families will benefit from the introduction of the activity test, which will provide them with more hours of subsidised care, by increasing their level of recognised activity. For example, if a parent undertook just four hours of volunteering per week, they could receive 18 hours of subsidised care per week. Families who won't benefit are mainly those who don't meet the activity test who are earning high incomes over $350,000.

The new package also includes a childcare safety net to help families who need a little extra support, such as grandparent carers, foster carers and parents battling serious illness. As I've said, we wanted to make child care more affordable, more flexible and more accessible. Contrast that to those opposite, who saw a 53 per cent increase in childcare costs when they were in office.