Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I have not been made aware of the survey. I am not familiar with the group that Senator Bilyk referred to. I think it is important to be clear here about the response that the government has worked through, which is something that's never been done before. Australian families were indeed facing a crisis that was unprecedented. We took an important and temporary measure to help Australian families get through the crisis. We are supporting the childcare sector to keep it strong and to keep its workers employed, both of which are fundamental to any provision of any childcare at all. We also know, as those opposite have raised, that we have seen women do an even more disproportionate share of unpaid caring and domestic work, and that's an issue that we believe needs to be addressed irrespective of COVID-19. We know that working or returning to work needs access to child care.

What many service providers and sector peak bodies have told the government is that that rise in demand could not be supported on what were, then, the business continuity payments that formed the basis of the emergency relief package. Parents were also reporting, and I have said this in the chamber before in response to other questions, that they couldn't access the level of care that they needed, into the future, under the relief package as it stood. But we don't believe and we don't agree with those opposite on a number of the points that they have made. Parents who are able to afford to pay for child care, of course, will continue to be expected to do that. That is how the system works. But there are always those, as Senator Bilyk has pointed out, who face further challenges, those who cannot afford it because of— (Time expired)