Chris Crewther (Dunkley, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to discuss the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Omnibus Savings and Child Care Reform) Bill 2017 and the important benefits it brings to families in my electorate of Dunkley. This savings package was announced before my time in the parliament, in the 2015-16 budget, but it is a package that I wholeheartedly support and want to see passed through this House. This is the single largest investment in early learning and child care that this country has ever seen. We are working to ensure that every child has access to high-quality education and care but through reforms that are fairer and sustainable. It would be a disservice to our own children to implement a high-cost, sensationalist type program in the style of those opposite, only to find that there is no funding and no long-term perspective and for the program to be withdrawn again. What kind of care does this provide for our children? We need these reforms to support the nurturing of all Australian children in a responsible, sustainable and fair way. The reforms contained in the omnibus legislation ensure a high standard of child care for all children, not just those whose parents can afford it. We are enabling young parents to get back to work, to develop self-sufficiency and to provide for their families. By providing an increase in the safety net for paid parental leave and increased fortnightly rates of family payments, I am proud to say that the Turnbull coalition government is empowering young families and helping them participate in an economy that will construct their children's social environment in the future.

The Turnbull coalition government has always stated that the childcare reforms need to be paid for by the savings from the family tax benefit. The family tax benefit funding has always been for families—for children—but every dollar spent on child care must provide both a productivity lift and a participation lift to the economy. In September last year, in my electorate of Dunkley there were over 10,000 families receiving family tax benefit A and over 8,000 families receiving family tax benefit B, both figures a little over the national average for that quarter. This legislation is of great importance to my electorate and the young families who have chosen to make Dunkley their home. This legislation gives parents more choice and more opportunity to work while knowing that their child is not going to be prevented from having access to quality childcare facilities.

The Turnbull coalition government, indeed, has a plan to provide children with a high-quality early education. Some of the most important social and intellectual skills develop at an early age, particularly between the ages of zero and five. This means that, by improving our childcare system, we are setting our children up with a better start for their educational life. We believe in giving people the opportunity to get ahead—both families and the 8,530 Dunkley children currently using childcare services locally.

We have no reservations in supporting families who rely on child care to go to work. For some families, access to child care can mean the difference between working and not working. More affordable access to child care puts the opportunity of work within reach for many more families. These families are the primary beneficiaries of this legislation. These are the families who may need only a little more assistance, a little more support, to go back to work. We, the coalition, are giving them that opportunity.

I spoke in this chamber during the last sitting week about my concern for the fate of this legislation in the hands of the opposition. They have previously indicated their intention to block the savings measures. You really do have to wonder: 'Is it recklessness? Is it apathy?' Or do they just not care about families who work hard to give their children the best opportunities possible?' These reforms to social services and child care are long overdue. Labor did not support reform to family payments in the previous parliament, but I urge them to do so now.

Our reforms will give hardworking low-income families an 85 per cent subsidy. This means, for example, that a family under an income of $65,000 per year—of which there are many in Dunkley—would only pay around $15 per day at a childcare centre whose daily fees are around $100. These reforms deliver the highest rate of subsidy for those who most need it. This bill and the resulting reforms strike the right balance between efficient investments in family welfare and quality education for the children of some of the most vulnerable members of our society. The hardest-working, lowest-earning families are the ones in Labor's sights, should they oppose this legislation.

This package is expected to help more than 230,000 families to increase their involvement in paid employment, and the overall investment is estimated to benefit almost one million families. We want families to choose their child care around their work rather than limit their work hours to suit their child care. We should not be inhibiting parents and carers who seek employment and attempt to support their own families through work. This is a wonderful piece of legislation. This is about spending taxpayers' money smarter and spending on those who need it most for the greatest benefit to our communities. We, the Turnbull coalition government, understand that parents are under enormous pressure every day that goes by to make choices that are in the best interests of their families. My wife, Grace, and I are constantly seeking the best opportunities available for our 18-month-old daughter, Yasmin. So we fully appreciate and understand the importance of giving parents access to quality childcare facilities and of having the opportunities to go back to work. That is why it is with the utmost respect and sympathy that I fight for my constituents and I fight for the families of Dunkley in this chamber and on this bill today.

There are a couple of select features of this legislation that I would like to focus on a little further. First, we are abolishing the current $7,500 childcare rebate cap for families earning up to about $185,000. Second, the cap will be increased to $10,000 for families earning above this amount. There should be no limit to the amount of assistance that parents can receive in order to work more to support their families and to provide opportunities for their children. Without the successful passage of this childcare legislation, around 130,000 families are expected to hit the childcare rebate cap in 2018-19. Our reforms will mean that 90,000 of these families will no longer have to worry about a cap and a further 40,000 families will still benefit from the planned increase in the annual cap for high-income earners from $7,500 to $10,000. These amounts are for each child, meaning that families with more than one child will not be disadvantaged.

Conversely, contained in an earlier part of the omnibus legislation, an hourly fee cap will be implemented to put pressure on childcare fees to decrease. The Productivity Commission found that the average annual increase in long-day daycare fees accelerated when the childcare rebate was increased in 2008. This increase was accompanied by neither control over the artificial inflation of childcare fees nor a proportionate increase in workforce participation. Families have a right to a reference point to hold to account providers who raise their fees unnecessarily and to know what acceptable fee rates are.

The other component that I want to draw attention to is the activity test that we are implementing to ensure that the greatest assistance is given to those who need it most. Currently, recipients do not need to demonstrate any activity or need for childcare support to receive a degree of subsidised care. Therefore, in order to provide support to those families reliant on child care to work, train, study or volunteer, it is critical to distinguish between those families and the families who do not require the assistance. Assistance of this manner must be prioritised for those who need it the most. Therefore, the more hours that a parent works, studies, trains, volunteers or looks for work, the greater number of hours of subsidised child care they will be able to access. Up to 100 hours of subsidised care will be available per fortnight. This is how we, as a government, are accountable to the Australian people. Faith has been placed in us that we will use taxpayers' money in the most productive way possible, so I am very pleased that included in this legislation is a method like this that ensures the funding goes to those who need it most.

Critically, however, welfare of the children from some of the most disadvantaged families comes first. The activity test is based over a three-month period, recognising the unpredictability of casual work and irregular hours. The activity test will be waived altogether for families on incomes of $65,000 or less and for grandparents who are the primary carers. We know that children from disadvantaged backgrounds benefit the most from quality child care and early childhood education. Central to this legislation is the consistency and quality of child care, and we will not let children from disadvantaged backgrounds—in Dunkley or elsewhere in Australia—miss out.

I am proud to be a part of the Turnbull coalition government presenting this bill. In addition to committing $840 million over 2016 and 2017 to guarantee federal support for a maximum of 600 hours of preschool in the year before a child begins formal schooling, we are providing increased access to better-quality childcare centres for thousands of families, including the 6,040 families using approved childcare providers in my electorate of Dunkley. Approximately 10,000 families in my electorate will receive an additional $20 in family tax benefits per child per fortnight, in addition to the childcare rebates and subsidies that I have been discussing. We have 105 approved childcare provider services in Dunkley looking after the early childhood education for thousands of young children, such as my daughter Yasmin—for example, Long Island child care on the edge of Frankston and Seaford; Mount Eliza House in Mount Eliza; and Good Start Early Learning in both Frankston and Langwarrin.

I am proud to be a part of a government that is ensuring all children have access to quality early learning and care and is helping thousands of parents get back to work and increase their work hours without some of the financial barriers they were subject to previously. I call on those members opposite to support this legislation for the sake of my constituents in Dunkley, for families in Dunkley, for the children in Dunkley and for families and children right across Australia.

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