Tammy Tyrrell (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Hansard source

Universal child care will end up making things worse if things keep going the way they're going. It's hard to take away anything else from last week's Productivity Commission report. The gap between rich and poor impacts every part of the childcare sector, and it's making things worse. The poorer you are, the lower the standard and quality of your childcare options, so poor kids are being enrolled in cut-rate childcare centres. The poorest 10 per cent of families are paying more money out of their pocket than the richest 10 per cent of families. Early education is supposed to be the way to bridge the gap between rich and poor, but it's actually amplifying it.

I know what it's like. I went back to work when my first child was only two weeks old. I was a single mum and I had to provide for my child and my nephew at the time. I couldn't afford child care, but I was lucky enough to have a mum, Nanny French and Aunty Elaine, who stepped in to look after him and Tyler so I could work. If I hadn't had that family network to support me, I'm not sure what I would have done. I know there are many people in the same boat who want to work but who'll have to pay through the nose for child care to do it. It's an impossible choice.

As the report makes clear, Tasmanian families have less access to outside-school-hours child care than any other state in the country. We're not getting a fair shot. When we do get lucky enough to access early childhood education and care, a family in Launceston is left paying more out of pocket than a family in Brisbane. We're paying more and getting less. The market isn't going to bridge the divide. If you want universal access to early education, the government has to make it work universally—and the universe, I hate to tell you, doesn't end at Bass Strait.