Mal Brough (Longman, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

The member for Jagajaga says we have one place. When confronted in Adelaide she said that there were places needed in a suburb there and it turned out that she was wrong. When in Brisbane she was wrong again. In the Torrens Road Child Care Centre in my electorate she said, ‘There are shortages, but not here. We’ve got lots of places across the board and, by the way, so do all the other centres around here. In fact, there are a thousand vacancies.’ So never let the truth on childcare places get in the way of a good story says the former Leader of the Opposition. She is wrong. Those opposite are saying one thing to the Australian public when they know it is undeliverable.

There is no shortage of child care for the zero to two age group, preschool age or any other age. The former Leader of the Opposition can say this as long and as hard as she likes. We have before us tonight a piece of legislation that will take us from the rudimentary work that we have at the moment—phone calls of availability from every childcare centre—to having information electronically available and being able to get the best information to the market and also to the parents.

While we are on the issue of availability, I would point out to the shadow minister that a number of centres in my own electorate, ones at which she stood only a few weeks ago and said that there was a shortage, have closed. Why? Because there is a more than adequate supply. So the hurt that the Labor Party has done to those people’s businesses, to which families have contributed millions of dollars to set them up, should be in the consideration of the former Deputy Leader of the Opposition if she cares at all for small businesses and what they are trying to contribute to the Australian economy. It is one thing to sit there and laugh; it is altogether another thing when you consider the pain that your sorts of comments are creating for those people as families do not go and seek a quality childcare place because of your living this misconception—living a lie, you might say, Mr Deputy Speaker—in saying that there are in fact shortages around the country when that is simply untrue.

The shadow minister also talked about the OECD report on early childhood education. What this report failed to take into account is that the state governments are the primary providers of preschools and that this is about the Commonwealth contribution. It also did not take into account that many of our childcare centres actually do provide a preschool. Once again, just as Sharan Burrow likes to go overseas and prattle on and tell fibs about the state of workplace relations in Australia, here we have the shadow minister once again misleading people about the real level of government—state and federal—support to Australian families so that their children can get a preschool education. In fact, take the most recent data in the report on government services for 2007. It estimates that 86 per cent of children attend a state or territory government funded and/or provided preschool in the year before full-time school. That is about 216,000 children, so I am not sure where the shadow minister gets her figure of 100,000 from. These figures do not include the many thousands of children who do receive a preschool education program through childcare centres.

A couple of other issues that were raised by those who sit opposite are worth commenting on and highlighting for their benefit. We were criticised over the consultation for this bill. This consultation was incredibly extensive and is ongoing. Briefings with childcare peak organisations and third-party software providers were undertaken. We had the release of the childcare management information paper. We had national consultations and information forums held throughout Australia. There was a web page. There was a mailbox for feedback and questions. We established an industry technical reference group which the government is still consulting, and the last time I spoke with them they had been extremely happy with the consultation. Most importantly, to take up the member for Throsby’s point, because some of the issues she raised were the very issues that they had raised with us several months ago, I note that all of those issues, such as the reporting time lines et cetera, have been dealt with. The whole idea of having a consultation task force or a technical reference group is to listen. As this is about the industry, that is exactly what we did.

Opposition members have run around the country having people believe three things about child care. Firstly, they say it is unavailable, yet they cannot tell us where they are going to put their centres. Why? Because they know that as soon as they do they are going to be blown out of the water by everyone around there demanding to know what compensation they are going to give them for destroying their businesses when they have vacancies. Secondly, they have said as to the cost that child care is unaffordable, yet they have a policy which will actually drive the cost up and do nothing whatsoever for the quality of child care because it does not take into account a large percentage of the childcare industry. Thirdly, they talk about the quality. Right now we are looking at the accreditation process. We are trying to improve that accreditation process so that parents can actually know that the most senior person in a childcare centre, the director, is overseeing the workers and having their time freed up to do so, not filling out bits of paper. The childcare management system will go a long way to directing that.

I have huge faith in the childcare service providers of this country, whether they be private providers, not-for-profit providers or councils that have invested in child care. I do not distinguish one from the other. I do not go around the country telling people that there is a shortage and telling them not to look because they cannot afford child care as they would be paying $350. We face up to issues, we get information, we deal with the crucial issues and we invest in child care because it is a good decision by the federal government to do so on behalf of families. It helps families be involved in the economy of this nation and to be more self-sustaining and it gives families real choices about the decisions that they make. We will continue to build on the success of doubling the places, doubling the funding, improving the accreditation, improving things like IT and making better information available to parents and to the sector so people do not find that investing their hard-earned money has been a mistake. We will not mislead the Australian community, as the opposition continually does, day after day after day, without any basis for their allegations. This is an important piece of legislation. It is another downpayment by the Howard government on trying to assist the professionalism of the industry on behalf of the whole nation—not just the parents who use the child care and not just the directors and owners—because it contributes to people’s capacity to be a part of this strong economy and to be able to make their way in the world. I commend the bill to the House.

See this speech in context