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

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

  (i) the government has decided to scrap free childcare and begin forcing parents to pay expensive childcare fees again from next month,

  (ii) this move will force many parents to reduce their work days or remove their children from care,

  (iii) childcare is an essential service which should be universally available for everyone, and

  (iv) the move away from free childcare will disproportionately impact women;

(b) commends the vital and hard work of early childhood educators and care workers, who have been fighting for better wages and conditions; and

(c) calls on the Government to invest to make childcare free permanently, with higher wages and better conditions for workers to reflect the value of what they contribute to our communities.