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

I thank my good friend and colleague Senator Bernardi for his question. I know that all in this chamber will miss Senator Bernardi while he is not with us for some of the later sittings this year—perhaps none so much as Senate Dastyari!

But Senator Bernardi is of course a great champion for the interests of Australian families and, in this instance, his question goes to the heart of support for Australian families and their participation in the workforce. Today, the Australian government, the Turnbull government, reintroduced into the House of Representatives comprehensive reforms to Australia's childcare system—$40 billion worth of investment; $3 billion worth of additional investment in early education and child care—which are designed to introduce an activity test to ensure that taxpayers' support for childcare services is targeted to those who depend upon it for their work and their contribution and effort in the workforce, and that it is targeted as effectively as possible to those earning the least amount of money and those working for the greatest number of hours. We are introducing hourly fee caps in terms of the subsidy provided to put downward pressure on fee growth—something that the Labor Party fails to understand—and reforms that abolish the $7½ thousand cap on the childcare rebate, importantly ensuring that parents in middle- and low-income families no longer reach a cliff in their childcare support but can work right through the 12-month period.

Our reforms are fundamentally fair, carefully targeted and the result of extensive consultation, and have only been held up by the fiscal irresponsibility of those opposite, who refused to support the savings measures required to fund these reforms. We want to make sure that we redirect government support to those working and who need it most, and those opposite should support us to do so.