Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Minister for Community Services) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for her question. We have heard much about this and I certainly have been reading in the papers some criticism from those on the other side in terms of the provision of child care and the cost of child care. I can make one absolutely categorical statement to this place: child care is more affordable and more available under this government than it ever was under Labor. We will invest $10 billion over the next four years. We have doubled the money and we have doubled the number of places.

It is interesting to hear from those on the other side that they have a whole range of new policies in this area. In terms of availability, they have said that they have a brand new policy. Of course I have touched on some of the government’s own policies, and I am very confident to be on this side. I recognise in their new policy that they are going to have a new hub, a new hotline. But our hotline, of course, has been widely available to Australians for the last six months. I am not suggesting in a cynical sense that they are looking for leadership on this matter from this side, but one suspects it is all too little too late. Their hub—