Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Sustainability and Urban Water) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Bernardi. This piece of legislation was approved by the Australian people at the last election. That is who we took it to for approval. We made it very clear to the Australian people what our policy was. We made it very clear to the Australian people before the last election what it was that we would do if they re-elected us. Sure enough, they did re-elect us and now we are doing exactly what we said we would do.

I think it is important to point out that the savings that will be made through this change in the cap will be reinvested in quality improvements to centres that service our most vulnerable children. Okay, some savings are being made, but they are being reinvested in quality improvements. I will go through some of the things that we have done in this respect. Over the next four years we are going to invest $20 billion in early education and care. This is $13 billion more than was provided in the last four years of the government that you were a member of, Senator Bernardi.