Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

My question is for the Minister representing the Minister for Education in the Senate. Minister, free child care has hugely benefited thousands of Australian families. While the package rolled out certainly had its faults and needed to be fixed, it was a signal that the government might start to recognise child care as an essential service which should be free and available to all and not just for those who can afford it. Returning to the old fee based system will put enormous financial stress on families and limit real choices for primary carers, who are overwhelmingly women. Why is the government plunging families into paying expensive childcare fees again when, just like public primary schooling, child care should be free and universal?