Jana Stewart (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Early Childhood Education, Senator Watt. We know Australian families are feeling the pinch of cost-of-living pressures. Anyone with children in child care knows how expensive this is. The cost of early childhood education is one of the first things families have to factor in when they sit down at the kitchen table to do the household budget. How is the Albanese Labor government dealing with the cost-of-living pressures by making early childhood education and care more affordable?

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Stewart. I'm not surprised that you would be asking a question relating to these issues, given that they have a very personal touch on your family—and I know we've all come to love baby Ari on his regular appearances to parliament. Since taking office 12 months ago the Albanese Labor government has been working hard to support Australian families with cost-of-living pressures. That's why we're investing $4.5 billion over four years to make early childhood education and care more affordable for more families. From 1 July this year, for families earning $80,000 a year or less, we are increasing the childcare subsidy rate to 90 per cent. More broadly, we're increasing the subsidy rate for around 96 per cent of families, being those earning less than $530,000 each year with a child in care.

These changes will make early childhood education and care more affordable for around 1.2 million families across Australia, and this includes over a quarter of a million families in rural and regional Australia. So, we look forward to the support of the National Party, the self-proclaimed representatives of rural and regional Australia, when we see this support roll out into those regions. These changes will mean real cost-of-living relief in household budgets. For example, a family earning $120,000 a year with one child in early learning and care will save as much as $1,700 each year. So, the Albanese government is a strong supporter of supporting families in obtaining the child care they need and want and assisting them with the cost-of-living pressures they're experiencing.

That of course is in contrast with the coalition's record when it comes to child care and early childhood education. I think all of us remember the contribution from Senator Rennick when he gave his views on child care when he infamously said that Dorothy didn't tap her shoes together and say 'There's no place like child care'; she said. 'There's no place like home.'

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That's the kind of people we've got running policy in the coalition, and that's why they're still yelling on the back benches. (Time expired)

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Stewart, a first supplementary?

Jana Stewart (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Affordable early childhood education and care will soon become a reality for around 1.2 million Australian families. Why is the Albanese Labor government making these changes in the early childhood education and care system? And when do they commence?

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Stewart. Well, I'm pleased to tell you that our changes will commence on 1 July, which of course is just a few weeks from now. As I said, they will increase the maximum rate of the childcare subsidy to 90 per cent for families earning $80,000 a year or less. As I also said, we've also extended the childcare subsidy to families earning up to $530,000, and we're doing this because this is an economic measure, not a welfare measure. Reducing the cost of early learning, which went up by over 40 per cent under the previous coalition government, will help lift participation, particularly by women.

No government has done more to put women at the centre of its economic strategy than the Albanese government, and cheaper child care is a key part of that strategy. Women are the vast majority of primary carers of young children. When the cost of early childhood education and care is too high, it's often their careers that are put on hold. Making early childhood education and care more affordable for families will enable thousands of skilled workers to return to the workforce.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Stewart, a second supplementary question?

Jana Stewart (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We know that access to quality, affordable early education and care is great for kids, great for parents and great for our economy. How will children, families and the economy benefit from the government's reforms?

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thanks, Senator Stewart. I'm pleased to say that access to quality early childhood education and care is an investment with a triple dividend. More affordable early childhood education and care gives families the opportunity to participate in the workforce. This could be primary carers, usually women, having the opportunity to take up employment or giving them the opportunity to increase the number of days they work each week. Children having greater access to quality early childhood education and care gives them learning and development opportunities. These opportunities are critical to help equip them for life and learning, giving them solid foundations to build on when they start school. Investing in early childhood education and care is also an investment in the economy, supporting families to work and children to learn has immediate and long-term implications for our prosperity and productivity as a nation.

I think we were all concerned when we read the reports in the last term of parliament to see that an unnamed coalition MP had described working women as 'outsourcing parenting'. That is not the view of the Albanese government. We support parents' right to work, if that is what they would want to do, and we will back them with financial support. (Time expired)