Wendy Askew (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Since the Albanese Labor government came to power two years ago, it has mandated pay rises for the early childhood sector on three occasions. To date, it has been the families who have borne the brunt of the pay rises through increased daily fees for their children attending care. The third mandated wage increase was announced on 8 August, just over a month into the new financial year, and has been tied to a promise that centres would not increase the daily fees by more than four per cent. I'm not here to say early childhood educators don't deserve a pay rise; however, the first two of these three increases over the past two years have already added a significant burden to the household budgets of those who have children in early learning.

Families have been struggling with the incremental increases in household essentials, with food, electricity, health care, insurance and petrol all increasing due to the action—or should I say inaction?—of the government. And a large proportion of these families have been burdened with 12 interest rate rises in a sustained period of high inflation. ABS labour force data from August confirmed wages for working householders are going backwards under Labor. Despite Labor's constant assurances that their fiscal measures are not inflationary, many hard-working families are finding it harder than ever to make ends meet.

Those with children in long day care have seen their daily fees, before the childcare subsidy is applied, rise by about 17 per cent in two years, and that's before this latest package is applied. The supposedly capped increase of four per cent, which the government has apparently made a condition for workers to receive this latest pay rise, will add another $6 per day. That might not sound like much, but consider that a child who is in long day care for five days per week will cost families $858 per week before the childcare subsidy is applied. While each family's subsidy is different, the average family who receives, for example, a 77 per cent subsidy is looking at an out-of-pocket cost of about $300 per week, which totals $15,600 a year.

Remember when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced Labor's signature 'cheaper child care' reforms, when he boldly declared that no family would be worse off under the changes to the childcare subsidy? That's just another broken promise. The Albanese Labor government promised that increasing the childcare subsidy would make things easier for families looking to re-enter the workforce and create a more affordable system for all Australians. These mandated wage rises might be a quick sugar hit for the workers in this industry and an election bid for their vote, but they do nothing to address the inequities in the system faced by parents looking for reasonably priced child care for their children.

We have all heard the stories of mothers-to-be signing their children up to waiting lists at the day care centres in their area before the child is even born, only to be unable to secure a place when they need it. This particularly applies in rural and regional areas, which are so often childcare deserts. Having a baby in Australia has become an incredibly expensive lifestyle choice. There are many couples who feel they can no longer afford to start or expand their family.

With countless people struggling under the burden of Labor's homegrown inflation and the uncertainty over our future housing and energy markets, to name a few, it is no wonder that more people are choosing to be childless. Birthrates are dropping. Data from KPMG released in July this year describes Australia as experiencing a baby recession. Birth rates have dropped to their lowest level since 2006.

While I will never advocate for the removal of a woman's right to choose whether she wants to have a baby, it's equally important for us to recognise the critical importance of the next generation for this country. We all know that women having babies is good for the economy. It's good for productivity, and it helps keep the economy ticking, as generations enter and leave the workforce. To do that, we need a safe, affordable and accessible childcare system, to give children a good foundation for future learning and to give their primary caregivers an opportunity to re-enter the workforce. Instead, this system has created a world where parents who may have received more subsidy have simply watched that subsidy decrease and, with it, the daily fees increase, which puts them back at square one. What's more is that many centres directly attribute the daily fee increases to the pay rises—effectively passing on the cost to parents.

The reality facing hard-working Australian parents is very different to the story Labor is claiming. The government's claim that these reforms are genuine cost-of-living relief needs to be called out for what it is: a policy that has done nothing to create meaningful change for many. Australian children deserve better—not a system propped up by bandaid solutions, as proposed by Labor.