Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would also like to make some brief comments—in the interests of time, given the number of reports being presented today—on the two reports that have been presented by the Senate Education and Employment References Committee. From the coalition's perspective, access to flexible and affordable child care is essential for every young child and every working family in Australia—throughout regional and urban Australia. We have been very clear that we are committed to ensuring, in particular, women's participation in the workforce and that the child care underpinning that is appropriate.

We are equally committed to quality child care. For Senator Lines, and sometimes Senator Hanson-Young, to attack the coalition as if somehow we do not care about the quality of education for young Australians is completely spurious. But we do have to ensure that families can access child care that suits the purpose, that means that they can get on with doing their work. Not everybody is a public servant and not everybody works nine to five. I think about young families out on dairy farms where they have the morning milking and the evening milking, and police officers and nurses et cetera who need child care that is outside the hours of long day care.

We are committed to finding a holistic solution to a very modern and complex problem for the 21st century which will underpin productivity gains for our nation going forward. That is why we look forward to the Productivity Commission bringing down its report, for which it has actually gone out and consulted. Rather than continually, in an ad hoc manner, adding and subtracting to an increasingly complex childcare system, we have taken a step back and we are looking forward to receiving the recommendations from the Productivity Commission, which we can then have a think about, combine our philosophical approach to these matters and come up with a policy that will serve Australia going forward into the 21st century.

I want to note some comments made in the House of Representatives by the Assistant Minister for Education, Sussan Ley:

When you consider that childcare fees skyrocketed 53 per cent under Labor and out-of-pocket costs increased by up to 40 per cent for families in Labor's last four years, it is abundantly clear that the current situation is unsustainable for families and for government, making it critically important that we shape new policy for the next generation.

When Senator Lines comes in and trumpets the ALP report card on child care, I think it is very pertinent to put the facts on the table. 'Don't let the facts get in the way of a good smear campaign,' seems to be the modus operandi of the opposition at present. I just wanted to get that on the record. A recent Department of Education report confirmed what the minister said—that, under Labor, the average hourly long day care fee went from $5 per hour in September 2007 to $7.65 per hour in September 2013. That is almost $75 extra per week in fees for an average family using long day care, or more than $3,500 extra per year. That rises to more than $130 per week, or $6,300 per year, if you use child care full time for 50 hours per week.

We heard a lot of evidence through both these inquiries that spoke to the regulatory burden of the national quality framework, but, additionally, to its implementation, and that is one thing our government is committed to doing: actually reducing the regulatory burden, not just on child care, and not just in higher education, or, indeed, primary and secondary education, but in early childhood education as well, because we know that childcare providers, education providers and small businesses would actually rather put that saving—rather than dealing with regulatory red tape and the cost to them of that in doing business—back into the resources that will assist them to professionally develop their staff. We heard some great feedback on the government's initiatives in that regard.

I wanted to briefly touch on a couple of other matters but I know that, in the interests of time—I had a long speech which is now being severely truncated—I cannot. But I do recommend to the chamber that you read the government dissenting report to both the reports handed down today, and that, if you are interested in this area, you get the Productivity Commission's inquiry next week so that we can actually begin having a mature, holistic conversation as a nation about the next steps to ensuring that our early childhood education framework suits 21st century parents and children, and ensures that men and women can participate fully in the workforce and continue the productivity gains that are so necessary.

Question agreed to.