James Paterson (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Education and Training, Senator Birmingham. Can the minister update the Senate on how the Turnbull government is clamping down on rorting in the federal government's childcare subsidies?

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Paterson for his question. This is a government that does not tolerate and will not tolerate the rorting of taxpayers' subsidies, especially subsidies that are provided to support Australian families—

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order on my left!

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We invest billions of dollars in supporting early education and childcare activities and we have strong record of clamping down on such behaviour. When we came to office the Jobs, Education and Training Child Care Fee Assistance program had no limits as to what parents on income support payments could claim for their childcare support while studying, leaving it wide open to abuse. In January 2015 we put in place an $8 per hour cap and linked qualifications for the payment to the skills list. These initiatives are estimated to have saved over $110 million. Later in 2015 we clamped down on the practice of child swapping—a practice where a childcare educator in one family day-care centre sends their children, or at least pretends to do so, to another family day-care centre which has children enrolled at their original house. These types of practices—effectively child swapping, sometimes only on paper—were reaping millions in federal government subsidies. In fact, since our clampdown occurred, more than $7 million has been saved on a weekly basis as a result of these measures.

In October this year further measures, saving an estimated $27 million, were introduced to ensure fee assistance is not available where there is no genuine liability for the care—where the care merely involves transporting a child to or from school; where a family day-care provider is operating in the child's own home or is in fact their parent or sibling—and by implementing more rigorous suitability criteria. We are now consulting on a further round of reforms to make sure that every dollar of support in early education and child care is going where it is meant to go, rather than in the pockets of those who seek to rort the system.

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Paterson, a supplementary question.

James Paterson (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the minister for his answer and his diligence in this matter. Can the minister advise the Senate as to what these ramped-up compliance measures have achieved?

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What we have seen is real action that has saved, for taxpayers, an estimated $421 million to date and a further $27 million in the savings from those measures already brought to law, with further expected as a result of the new measures we will bring about over coming months.

Just last week the District Court of New South Wales found a director of a family day care business called Aussie Giggles Family Day Care and Education Service, a Ms Melissa Jade Higgins, guilty of 66 counts of obtaining a financial advantage by deception, 14 counts of using a forged document and one count of dealing with money property believed to be the proceeds of crime. The director of this service received benefits exceeding $3.6 million to which she was not entitled. It is the result of a joint investigation between my department, the AFP, the Department of Human Services and the DPP. It comes on top of the work the AFP has undertaken, which has seen 15 individuals charged since July 2015 and 75 services suspended or cancelled as a result of our action to fix these problems. (Time expired)

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Paterson, a final supplementary question?

James Paterson (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can the minister please explain how families, children and the sector stand to benefit from these measures?

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Families and all Australian taxpayers should have confidence that their tax dollars are being more effectively used and not going in the pockets of rorters and that people who are caring for children are appropriate individuals.

Under Labor, in the two years to June 2013, there were zero cancellations of services, zero suspensions, only two fines issued and zero criminal charges laid. That is because compliance checks actually fell under the Labor government from 763 checks to 523. We have increased the number of those checks sixfold under our government to 3,100, ensuring compliance with the law, while we have simultaneously toughened and strengthened the law to make sure that it is actually effective in not only determining the suitability of people caring for children but also ensuring that our billions of dollars of investment in supporting early education and child care goes to supporting early education and child care and not into the pockets of the rorters.