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

Thanks, Senator Paterson. And to help Senator Collins, let me give the Senate a couple of examples. Let's take a single-parent family earning $50,000 a year, with one child in long day care for three days a week. That family, that single parent, will be around $2½ thousand a year better off net of the family tax benefit changes, net of the entire package. A hardworking family earning around $80,000, with both parents working and two children in long day care for three days a week, will be around $3,000 better off in net terms. Yet the Labor Party sits there and says that they will oppose, they will vote against, reforms that in totality will ensure that those hardworking Australian families who are juggling work and family responsibilities are going to be denied additional support because of the Labor Party's votes. But thankfully, hopefully, those on the crossbench will be more considerate, will help us to deliver for those hardworking families. (Time expired)