Cathy McGowan (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's my pleasure to present a petition to the House. The petition has been considered by the Petitions Committee and found to be in order.

The petition read as follows—

The p etition was unavailable at the time of publishing.

Petition received.

I acknowledge the principal petitioner, Gennifer Hamam from Bellbridge, Victoria. It concerns the provision of child care in north-east Victoria. The petition includes 339 signatures, and we therefore respectfully ask the House to put forward a bill to provide additional funding for rural childcare facilities and to help support rural families, whose options differ greatly from their urban counterparts. In bringing this petition to the House, I'd also like to acknowledge and thank the Minister for Education, Dan Tehan, his staff and departmental staff; Craig Laundy, for attending the roundtable in Albury-Wodonga; and Towrang shire and Wodonga TAFE for stepping up on behalf of the communities of Mitta Mitta, Walwa, Kergunyah, Baranduda and Bellbridge.

I would like to say it was no surprise to my communities when the childcare services were shown not to be economical. We predicted it happening. I call on the government side to pay particular attention to rural and regional Australia and their differing circumstances, particularly for families' need for child care. We've resolved this issue in the short term, but we haven't got a long-term solution. I'm hoping the National Party steps up on child care in the lead-up to the election. (Time expired)