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

At the last election those opposite went along saying that they had no changes, no policies, no suggestions. They were going to put another tweet to the childcare rebate cap, just lift that a little bit. Of course, the last time the Labor Party did that we saw that completely gobbled up through price rises in the childcare sector. What we instead are proposing is to put in place an effective rate cap that will constrain future price rises and ensure that the additional support we give to hardworking Australian families will actually benefit those families, not simply flush through taxpayers hands and straight into the hands of childcare operators instead.

Labor have now talked—at the National Press Club the shadow minister spoke—of starting a national consultation about child care reform. Well, the coalition government has already done that. We had a comprehensive Productivity Commission inquiry that recommended the exact type of approach we are adopting. We have undertaken the regulatory impact statements. We have had multiple Senate inquiries. As Goodstart Early Learning has said, now is the time to act; now is the time to get these reforms passed and implemented. (Time expired)