Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for School Education and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

While officers deal with a more detailed aspect of that question I should highlight the most ideal component, which of course is that half of any increase in fees as a response to changes in the National Quality Framework is met, essentially, by the child care rebate. The first point is that some of the figures that have been bandied around, certainly that I have seen in the media, have failed to take into account that the Commonwealth is indeed meeting half of the extra increase in fees by virtue of the rebate payments to families. With respect to the New South Wales Department of Family and Community Services research, perhaps the additional comment I can make is that indeed in New South Wales many years ago many centres moved to the one to four ratio. I have just been informed that New South Wales generally has moved to the ratio of one to four and that has not shown any significant impact.