Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Working families in the Scullin electorate and right around Australia are facing real cost-of-living pressures—pressures which have been exacerbated by the cruel budget handed down by Treasurer Hockey and the Abbott government. When I think about the cost-of-living pressures that families are facing, I think about access to affordable and accessible child care, which impacts significantly on the life choices of families and the life prospects of our children. So I rise to join the member for Adelaide in condemning the Abbott government's cuts to the childcare benefit.

The Abbott government is pushing through cuts to child care support that will impact over half a million low- and middle-income families, many of them in Scullin—

Mr Nikolic interjecting—

and many of them in Bass, so do not laugh about this—it is serious. This will mean higher fees for over 80 per cent of the families who rely on child care—

See this speech in context