Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I welcome the opportunity to speak at this stage of the debate tonight. I would like to open by saying that Labor has always been willing to work with the government to improve the early education and care system in Australia. We have been consistent about that for two years and about what needs to be fixed in the government's child-care changes. Indeed, two years ago the shadow minister, the Hon. Kate Ellis MP, wrote to the then minister, Scott Morrison, outlining Labor's preparedness to work with the government around improvements for early child care and education, making it clear that we want those discussions to be as productive as possible and really putting out the hand of collaboration and cooperation to make sure that particularly low- and middle-income families, single parents and disadvantaged and vulnerable children were appropriately protected in any reforms to the child-care system. That letter goes back two years now to where we find ourselves this evening.

We still have some serious concerns with what the government is proposing through this package. I think we all realise that we are here until the bitter end tonight and that this really is the last chance for the parliament to fix the outstanding problems with the government's reform package. There have been around two years of warnings about how many children will be worse off and how in particular vulnerable and disadvantaged children will be hurt. Unfortunately, the government has chosen not to listen to that nor change its position.

The changes will cost $1.6 billion but will halve access for some of Australia's most disadvantaged children, as Senator Hanson-Young has already drawn the chamber's attention to. It is hard to believe that the government can actually be spending so much money and at the same time leaving so many of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children worse off. Over the last months of debate, particularly as this legislation has been nearing its conclusion in the Senate, early education experts and the sector have been calling on the government to fix particular elements of the child-care changes and this really is the last opportunity to do it.

Labor will strongly argue that the government and the crossbench have a moral obligation to join with Labor to simply make sure that these changes will not damage some of Australia's most vulnerable children, the exact children that this parliament should be working to protect. The early childhood sector issued a final plea to the Senate today, with Early Childhood Australia's Sam Page saying:

We call on the Senate to block the bill today unless there's an amendment to increase the base entitlement to 15 hours a week.

That goes to the request that is before the chamber. The Australian Childcare Alliance has written to all senators warning that the sector cannot be satisfied with the current reduction in access for low-income families. Goodstart Early Learning has claimed that up to 100,000 lower income families could be worse off if the activity test is now fixed.

For two years now Labor has been campaigning on the changes we need to see to support this package. Along with experts and the sector, we have been trying to convince the government of the changes that are needed. We strongly believe and urge the government to fix the activity test so that vulnerable children do not have their access cut in half and at the very least increase access from 12 to 15 hours a week so children can access two days care in line with what experts and the sector have been recommending.

I note the comments of the minister in the second reading stage that he believes that two sessions from nine to three are adequate. For many children that does not necessarily fit. Their life does not fit into convenient nine-to-three boxes. Anyone who has worked in child care and anyone who has any understanding of the children who would fit into this category would understand that two sessions from nine to three probably do not meet the needs of this particular group.

So we strongly support the request that has been put by the Greens tonight. We do believe it represents some improvement for vulnerable and disadvantaged children, although we note it is well short of the 24-hours access currently received. This is what the sector and experts have outlined as the absolute minimum if two days a week are to continue to be provided. However, Labor does not think that this is the best solution. There is no clear explanation of how it would work for all children in all centres. We have concerns about the workforce implication for the educators if it means moving to a system where shorter sessions become common. The same is true for parents looking to get back into the workforce. Short sessions are not much help when telling an employee your availability. If this request is successful, it is vitally important to see that this is delivered as two or more days in practice and we would want to see the government work with the sector and with employee representatives to do that in a way that protects the workforce and delivers the best educational outcomes for those children.

We do support this request, despite serious reservations, which I think also Senator Hanson-Young touched on, because Labor have maintained through the whole process that we are willing to compromise. This is indeed a compromise. I hope the chamber will be able to support it tonight.

Before I conclude—and I do not wish to delay the chamber unreasonably—I want to respond to the minister's comments in his second reading speech around BBFs and the commitments he gave in the second reading stage around ensuring access to the quarantined funding that will allow them to continue to provide care to the children who use that service. We welcome that commitment. It is something that the Hon. Kate Ellis has been arguing for and certainly raising as a major concern with the legislation. We are pleased that the government has come to the chamber and given that very strong commitment to ensure that those services will continue and that they will be given funding certainty and adequate funding to enable them to do their job.