Wendy Askew (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Improving Assistance for Vulnerable and Disadvantaged Families) Bill 2020, which was introduced into the House of Representatives on 26 February this year. This bill seeks to amend several acts relating to the additional childcare subsidy and the childcare subsidy. As we've heard, it will extend the backdating of additional childcare subsidy certificates and determinations from the current period of 28 days to up to 13 weeks in prescribed exceptional circumstances, and extend the period from 13 weeks to up to 12 months to allow a determination to be made for certain prescribed classes of children, such as children on a long-term child protection order, including those in foster care.

Additionally, the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) (Administration) Act 1999 will be amended to correct minor technical drafting errors to modify the calculation used at childcare subsidy balancing for individuals that change their relationship status through partnering, separating or bereavement during the year. The changes will bring the calculation into line with other government payments. The calculation method proposed in the bill will ensure families' childcare subsidy entitlements are fair, consistent and accurate. It will reflect the family's financial circumstances throughout the year by recognising periods when they were single with their own income or partnered with a combined income, and the actual incomes associated with those periods.

Lastly, the bill makes two minor technical amendments to add clarity. These amendments will provide exceptions where the secretary may vary the approval of a childcare provider to remove the service and will correct the omission of the civil penalty amount in section 204K(5).

This bill has been drafted to address feedback from the childcare sector. Stakeholders have raised areas where improvements can be made to streamline access to additional childcare subsidy in relation to the new childcare package implementation that occurred on 2 July 2018 and, more recently, in submissions to the Senate inquiry into the Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Building on the Child Care Package) Bill 2019. Additional childcare subsidy is part of the childcare safety net giving the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children a strong start through access to quality early childhood education and care. Additional childcare subsidy is a top-up payment in additional to childcare subsidy. The Australian government paid almost $50 million in additional childcare subsidies to cover childcare costs for 21,500 children in 2018-19.

This government's primary aim is to support families and the childcare sector during the COVID-19 crisis. We want to ensure quality early childhood education and care is available to vulnerable and disadvantaged children and families. As Australians return to work, businesses reopen and children return to classroom learning, the government resumed the childcare subsidy to support families to continue to access affordable child care.

Under the childcare relief package which was announced by Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the Minister for Education, Dan Tehan, in early April, around 99 per cent of childcare providers kept their doors open throughout this pandemic. Around one million families received free child care during the coronavirus pandemic under the Australian government's plan to support families and help the early childhood education and care sector. Like for so many of us here in this place, early in the outbreak of COVID-19 childcare concerns of both parents and providers were—