Tammy Tyrrell (Tasmania, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is for the Minister representing the Minister for Early Childhood Education, Senator Watt. In Tasmania's north-west there are two co-located family day care centres that provide care for 90 families in the region and have a healthy waitlist for new families. It is a good business model that has potential to expand—it works, but it cannot expand. Because of government rules, only one childcare centre is able to run per property title. This means the centres are at risk of being shut down. The state education minister says her hands are tied due to rules made in Canberra. Minister, is she right, and what do you have to say to Tasmanian families who may end up without child care as a result of these rules?

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Tyrrell, for the question. I will need to get further information for you about the specific issue you have raised, regarding the number of services per title, and I am happy to come back with that information as soon as I can. What I can certainly tell you is that not only is the Albanese government committed to providing much more accessible and affordable early childhood education services than we have seen in this country before but it is ensuring those services are accessible and affordable, and regional and rural Australia is a particular priority of our government.

What we're trying to do is make sure that regional services can open and stay open, through a range of targeted funding measures. For example, through round 4 of the Community Child Care Fund, we will shortly be providing around $80 million to over 430 early childhood education and care services that support disadvantaged and vulnerable communities, including in regional and rural areas. I am happy to come back to you, as well, about exactly what that will provide for regional Tasmania. Of course, our broader cheaper childcare reforms are also making early learning cheaper for over one million families, including 265,000 families in regional Australia, and I would be confident that within that number there is a pretty significant number in regional Tasmania as well.

We have recognised that the former coalition government simply did not invest enough in early childhood education and care, which meant that too many families were unable to access the care that they needed and that the kids needed. We all know the wider economic benefits of ensuring that families have access to early childhood education and care, quite apart from the benefits that kids get from that as well. If I have any further information I can add about the specific issue you raised, I will come back to you as soon as I can.

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

Senator Tyrrell, a first supplementary?

Tammy Tyrrell (Tasmania, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Tasmanian state government says it cannot do anything to save these centres. Their hands are tied because the federal government does not recognise a multi-educator model for family day care. Centres have already shut. Will the government relax the rules around the multi-educator family day care centres to enable these facilities to share costs while also providing high-quality care for local families?

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Again, I will need to come back to you on the specific question you've asked that you've said the Tasmanian minister has complained about. I would obviously want to make sure that the Tasmanian minister's views are accurate and that it's not an example of a state government trying to pass the buck to a federal government. I think we know that from time to time that does occur.

As I said, in general, the Albanese government is doing everything possible to ensure that families in regional parts of our country, including in your state, have access to the early childhood system that they need. I've already indicated some of the funding that is going to be flowing soon. In fact, all up we've provided about $614 million in funding through the Community Child Care Fund, which is designed to address barriers to participation in early childhood education and care in disadvantaged regional and rural communities. I've got no doubt there's a need for more in rural Tasmania, and we'll be doing everything we can to make that happen.

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

Senator Tyrrell, second supplementary?

Tammy Tyrrell (Tasmania, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

These family day care centres are providing an essential service to families in a regional area of Tassie. We should be championing these day care centres, not trying to shut them down. If they close, families will be left in the lurch and forced to find care elsewhere or give up the jobs that keep the lights on and food on the table. Will the government consider Tasmania as a suitable place to test a pilot project for this model of child care that could help provide a solution for families around the country?

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Of course, it would be a matter for the minister, Minister Aly, to determine what types of models she is in a position to fund, but I'm sure she'll give your suggestion some consideration. I've been advised that Minister Aly's office had been working with you on these issues, so thank you for your constructive engagement on that. I'm told that Minister Aly hasn't heard anything from the Tasmanian minister about this issue, so maybe it would be a good idea for the Tasmanian minister and their office to pick up the phone if it is an issue of concern to them and try to work constructively with Minister Aly's office in a way that you seem to be doing yourself.