Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Lindgren for her question and her very strong interest in and commitment to effective childcare policies and effective early learning support for children and families. Today, the Turnbull government introduced into the House of Representatives the new childcare reform legislation. Our Jobs for Families package is about making Australia's childcare system simpler and fairer for the 1.2 million families who access child care in Australia. We want to ensure that we get the best possible outcome from the $40 billion that we will invest in supporting child care and early learning over the next four years. We want to make sure that we get the best outcome for taxpayers. But, most importantly, we want to make sure that we get the best outcome for the families who rely upon child care and for the children who attend childcare services, because they are our No. 1 priority.

We are committing some $3.2 billion in additional funding to our childcare reforms. This is funding that will help to ensure we can deliver a simpler system of child care—simpler, because we are taking more than three different payment structures and arrangements and converting them into one new child care subsidy, and fairer, because at the heart of our new child care subsidy is the premise that the more a family works the greater the hours of subsidised care they are entitled to and the less a family earns the greater the rate of subsidy they are entitled to. I would have thought that those opposite would welcome the very premise that the more you work the greater the hours of child care you can get and the less you earn the greater support you are provided with. That is what this government is committed to. It is committed to complete fairness in our childcare system, with a strong safety net in place to ensure early learning opportunities for preschool children, for children in lower income families, for children who are at risk and for children whose grandparents are the primary carer. It is committed to strong safety nets and strong and fair policies that ensure those who most rely on child care get the most support. (Time expired)