Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

We know that those opposite fought tooth and nail to stop this package coming into place, so a package that in the end has seen more Australian families and more Indigenous children accessing early childhood education and care and has seen a 10 per cent reduction in out-of-pocket costs for hardworking Australian families was opposed by the Labor Party and their co-conspirators in the Greens. It's remarkable, of course, that they could come in here and oppose reforms that have made life easier for so many hardworking Australians. It shows that they just never understood the failings of their policies when they were in office, because, under their six years in office, childcare fees increased by 53 per cent.

We then worked—and we had to work long and hard to get the support of this Senate—to actually put our reforms in place, but we have delivered reforms that have driven costs down for Australian families, enabled more to access that and, in doing so, made it easier for families to choose to work, work more hours and work more days to help their family circumstances. (Time expired)