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

I thank Senator Reynolds for her question today and, indeed, for her commitment to ensuring that Australian families receive the best possible deal for their childcare support—the best possible deal that encourages them and assists them to work the hours that suit, to do so in a manner where they receive support for their childcare fees commensurate with their income and earnings as a family, and to do so at the lowest cost to both themselves and the Australian taxpayer. Indeed, all of those things are what the Turnbull government's sweeping childcare reforms accomplish.

Our reforms will ensure that a new model for childcare payments takes effect in Australia next year—a new model that delivers the greatest level of support to those Australians who work the hardest and who work the longest hours but who earn the least amount of money. We will increase the rate of subsidy across low- and middle-income-earning Australians. Those Australians will see, often, thousands upon thousands of dollars of benefits in increased support for their childcare fees throughout the course of the year. Those Australians will see, as well, abolition of the $7,500 childcare rebate cap that constrains the working hours and working decisions of so many Australian families. It will liberate Australian families to be able to decide to work the hours that best suit them and their needs and to know that childcare costs will not be an impediment to doing so.

Families can indeed now access clearer information about the Turnbull government's reforms to see how they will benefit and to be able to plan for next year. They should visit the estimator tool we've made available on the education.gov.au website. Indeed, they will also be provided with more transparent information when our childcare rules come into effect. They will be able to see clearly not just what they have been billed for but the childcare attendance hours they have used, making the whole system more transparent as well as more affordable for hardworking Australians.