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

I thank Senator Bernardi for his question and his very astute and accurate interest in the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit inquiry into the former government's Early Years Quality Fund. The inquiry found that the fund is yet another example of Labor's mismanagement when it comes to public funds.

It was not the first report to have a look at the Early Years Quality Fund and find Labor's failure in its management. In 2013 a PwC review found that some $300 million had simply been used as a vehicle to increase union membership. In fact, as a result of the fund that Labor structured to help its union mates, unionised EBAs in the childcare sector quadrupled in a short period of time from 100 to 400. In 2015 the ANAO found that the fund was inherently unfair and inequitable.

Here we are in 2016 and the public accounts committee has painted a similarly damning picture of Labor's fund. It unfairly benefited those in the know, ensuring that when the funds were made available they expired in only 13 hours, going to those who the Labor Party had no doubt tipped off. It was a union driven $300 million cash splash in which we saw 12 agreements being signed just one day prior to the election.

This is a clear example, along with many others, that the Labor Party cannot be trusted with money and cannot be trusted with childcare policy. Their 2008 increase in the childcare rebate simply saw childcare fees accelerate, driving increased costs for both families and taxpayers in the long run. It is a demonstration that in their policy settings the Labor Party will always put their mates and those preselecting them first and put taxpayer dollars last.