Kate Lundy (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Nash. I am advised that the debt, as you say, was around $70 million but that is now down to around $10 million and it is expected that these measures will continue to see that level of debt fall.

Given we are talking about the general issue of this bill, it is probably useful for me to share with you at this time some of this government's credentials with regard to child care and improving affordable access to quality child care. Senator Nash, I know you are aware that overall we are investing $18.2 billion in funding for early childhood education and child care over the next four years, almost $11 billion more than provided in the last four years of the former government.

In the June quarter of 2010 we provided $812.6 million to assist Australian families with the cost of child care in the form of the childcare benefit and childcare rebate. We know that some 627,980 Australian families and 869,770 children in approved child care were benefiting from this assistance across some 13,899 services. Since the September quarter of 2000 there has been a 40 per cent increase in the number of families and a 37 per cent increase in the number of children using approved child care. This is a huge increase over many years and justifies the ongoing investment, which includes $126 million through the 2008-09 budget over four years to train and retain high-quality early education and childcare professionals; $32.5 million over five years to roll out the Home Interaction Program for Parents and Youngsters to 50 disadvantaged com­munities; $59.1 million to support budget based funded services to provide care to some of Australia's most vulnerable children; $273.7 million over four years to support the introduction of the new national quality framework; and $14.9 billion to help some 800,000 Australian families annually with the cost of child care through the childcare benefit and the childcare rebate.

The Family Assistance and Other Legislation Amendment (Child Care and Other Measures) Bill 2011 also makes a number of administrative amendments, which I have outlined earlier in my summing-up speech on the second reading debate.

Bill agreed to.

Bill reported without amendments; report adopted.