Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

What I read is that childcare costs in a normal year are approximately $8.3 billion or about $2.07 billion over a three-month period. Now, I'm the older generation. I admit that. I had my kids in the seventies and eighties. I had four kids. At that period of time, I was a single mum. Did I have child care? No. Our responsibility was, if we had the kids, we looked after the kids. If you couldn't, grandparents looked after the kids. I worked part time, so I really did need that help. But it was my responsibility. I brought the children into the world. They were my responsibility. That was the older generation. You worked together as a family.

But now it seems that the government just wants to open up, and it's happened. Both sides of parliament are behind the vote. You're encouraging people out there to have kids and saying, if they're lower socioeconomically and can't support their own children, they can rely on the taxpayer or the tax dollars given to them. Then, on top of that, you're saying: 'You don't have to look after your kids. We will allow you to put them into a childcare centre. That's not your responsibility.' That's why the cost is coming to $8.3 billion.

I heard Senator Carol Brown's comments today that it's unaffordable for families, particularly women. Well, that in itself says a lot. I know a lot of men who have responsibility for their children as well and it is a huge cost to them. What we need an investigation into is the childcare centres and what they actually charge. I know that childcare centres charge on a holiday. They still get paid their money. On a holiday, they are still getting paid what it would cost to put those children in. The cost to families is outrageous. Some centres in Victoria are charging $150 a day. In Tasmania you're looking at $90 a day. It is terribly unaffordable. We've allowed it to escalate to that point where these childcare centres are making a fortune out of it because the federal government is picking up the bill.

If we want there to be free enterprise and people to take on their own responsibilities then they should be paying for their child care more so than the taxpayer. Taxpayers are footing the bill. You want to increase what we're paying out. Gonski is $22 billion, the NDIS is another $23 billion, you want the subs at $90 billion and here you want to put more money in, which could blow out to $15 billion a year. I want to know who's going to pay for this, because—I tell you what—the taxpayers out there have had a gutful of picking up the bill for all these people who are actually not facing their responsibilities. So I will say it: you can get a helping hand when you need it, but people have to start taking responsibility for their own actions. If you bring children into the world, they're your responsibility.