Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for her question. Once again, on behalf of all the House, I thank those early childhood educators who have provided care throughout the pandemic. Ninety-nine per cent of all service providers have remained open during the pandemic, providing care for essential service workers and also for vulnerable children. The system that we put in place when demand was collapsing did exactly what it was designed to do, and that was to make sure that care could be provided during the pandemic. Now, as we've seen demand increase—and that demand has increased to 74 per cent—we are going back to the old childcare system that we put in place nearly two years ago. It is just worth noting—and the facts sometimes get in the way when it comes to the other side—that, at the moment, out-of-pocket expenses are 3.2 per cent below where they were nearly two years ago when we introduced our childcare system.

Ms Rishworth interjecting—

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