Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

At the request of Senator Bilyk, I move:

That the Senate—

(a) expresses its support for public funding for early childhood education and care (ECEC), recognising that it helps increase the participation of parents in the workforce, especially women, thereby boosting Australia's economy, and contributes to the physical, intellectual, social and emotional development of children;

(b) notes that public funding for ECEC has been described by certain Government members and senators as a 'money pit', 'communism' and 'the hand of government reaching in and taking away our children's youth';

(c) recognises that the Government's child care policy:

(i) does not start until July 2022,

(ii) provides no additional benefit to families with only one child,

(iii) rips away increased subsidy support for families with two children in care when the oldest child goes to school,

(iv) creates confusion for many families as to whether they will be eligible for any support, and if so how much and for how long, and

(v) has missed the opportunity to boost Australia's economy by increasing women's workforce participation; and

(d) calls on the Federal Government to adopt Labor's Cheaper Child Care Plan, which will benefit four times as many families as the Government's plan.