Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That made my day. My question as to the Minister for Early Childhood. How is the Albanese Labor government providing cost-of-living relief for Australian families accessing early childhood education? Why is cheaper child care so important?

Anne Aly (Cowan, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Early Childhood Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the wonderful member for Moreton for his question. Eighty-one thousand taxpayers in Moreton are getting an average tax cut of $1,554 right back into their pockets. This government, the Albanese government, is laser focused on delivering cost-of-living relief for families. That's why we took action to deliver cheaper child care last year—reforms that increase the childcare subsidy for one million families right across Australia. Those reforms, according to the ACCC, reduced out-of-pocket expenses for centre based care by an average of 11 per cent. More affordable early learning means that more children can access the transformational benefits of early learning in those key first five years, which we know are so important to child development. But it also means that the primary caregiver, who is often the woman, can go back to work if she so chooses, can take on extra work if she so chooses and can contribute to the family budget and also add to that cost-of-living relief.

Under this government, not only will families earn more; they'll keep more of what they earn, because from 1 July our tax cuts mean that every single taxpayer—that's 13.6 million Australians—will get a tax cut. Thirteen point six million Australians are getting a tax cut. For example, a family with a household income of $120,000 a year will get a tax cut of $2,676. Thanks to our cheaper child care reforms, which lifted the childcare subsidy for them, if that family has a child in early childhood education and care, they'll get a further $1,700 back into their pockets through our cheaper child care reforms. That's real money, real cost-of-living relief right back into the pockets of Australians.

We can compare that to those opposite, who, when in office, had keeping wages low as a centrepiece of their economic reform. That was their centrepiece. That was their policy. They were very clearly proud of that being their policy. Well, we on this side want to see wages moving again. Those opposite want people to work longer for less, but we want people to earn more and to keep more of what they earn.