Angie Bell (Moncrieff, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would say to the member for Lilley and to her constituent that our Prime Minister is obsessed with one thing, and that is to support all Australians during this pandemic—and the government is working very hard to do just that. The Morrison government's primary aim is to support families and the childcare sector during the COVID-19 crisis to ensure that quality early childhood education and care is available to vulnerable and disadvantaged children and families.

The Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Improving Assistance for Vulnerable and Disadvantaged Families) Bill 2020 makes improvements to the operation of the additional childcare subsidy (child wellbeing) and the childcare subsidy and makes some other technical drafting improvements. The Morrison government is improving access to childcare for vulnerable and disadvantaged children and families. We're cutting red tape that impacts providers, families and governments to improve access to services for vulnerable children. The period of time a provider can apply for an additional childcare subsidy, or ACCS, determination will be extended from 13 weeks to up to 12 months for children under a long-term protection order, such as those who are in foster care. This means that families and state and territory governments are no longer required to reapply for subsequent determinations with supporting evidence every 13 weeks. It recognises the support that vulnerable children need over longer periods.

Other amendments will enable providers to apply to backdate a family's additional childcare subsidy beyond the current limit of 28 days—up to 13 weeks in exceptional circumstances. This means that providers can receive the additional subsidy in respect of a foster child who is at risk of serious abuse or neglect while the foster family confirms its childcare subsidy eligibility. These children will have immediate and streamlined access to child care. Childcare providers will also be able to enrol children who are in foster care under the ACCS for an initial period of up to 13 weeks, giving an individual foster family sufficient time to lodge their childcare subsidy claim and have it assessed by Services Australia. Existing provisions, where providers are required to notify Services Australia when a child is no longer considered to be at risk, will continue to apply.

This bill demonstrates that the government remains committed to making life easier for providers and vulnerable and disadvantaged families and continues to make improvements based on feedback on how the childcare package is operating. The changes in this bill will reduce the regulatory and administrative burden on families and childcare providers, support vulnerable and disadvantaged families to access quality early learning and childcare and help parents to access financial assistance.

I take this opportunity to commend the Morrison government's commitment to child care during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the start of the pandemic the childcare sector was on the brink of collapse as many families withdrew from child care. Swiftly, the Morrison government introduced a temporary childcare relief package to ensure childcare services were available for essential workers, to ensure the sector remained viable and to ensure that childcare centres would be available after the pandemic. Under the childcare relief package provided at the onset of the crisis, around 99 per cent of childcare providers kept their doors open.

Now, as our economy starts to open up, a transition package has been put in place that provides fairer, more equitable and more appropriate support to transition the childcare sector. We are replacing one type of support with another type of support that includes a safety net for families who need it the most. From 13 July, the government has continued to support families by providing more than $8.3 billion a year, through the childcare subsidy, to help them with the cost of child care. We will provide around $2 billion in childcare subsidy in the coming quarter. The government will also provide support to childcare businesses in addition to paying the childcare subsidy, with a transition payment of 25 per cent of fee revenue in the reference period—a $708 million package. This is being paid from 13 July. In return, services will guarantee an average employment level. The Gold Coast based childcare company G8 Education says it expects to be in no worse a position under the revised federal government support package. They've said this would leave it financially in no worse a position relative to the prior support measures, even at more subdued occupancy levels. The G8 managing director, Gary Carroll, has welcomed the transitional arrangements. He said:

The transitional arrangements announced today are welcome as they provide operators with increased flexibility to support families as the economy recovers. We look forward to continuing to engage with government and other stakeholders to ensure the right settings are in place to support our families and team members.

The Gold Coast has not been immune to the economic blow of the pandemic. There have been jobs lost, and many businesses owned by mums and dads are still hurting. To help those families doing it tough, the childcare subsidy, CCS, is means-tested to ensure that those earning the least receive the highest level of subsidy. As a family's income decreases, the amount of subsidy it receives increases, up to an 85 per cent subsidy. If a family has experienced a decrease in income as a result of COVID-19, it will receive more subsidy and will pay less out of pocket for child care. In the September quarter last year, under the CCS, out-of-pocket costs were less than $5 per hour per child for the parents of 72.4 per cent of children in centre based day care. Further, out-of-pocket costs were less than $2 per hour per child for the parents of nearly 24.4 per cent of children in centre based day care. After nearly two years, our childcare package has a lower out-of-pocket cost than previous arrangements, with out-of-pocket costs still 3.2 per cent lower than they were two years ago. Our government supports families and services as we transition to the original CCS system. Stopping fee increases during the transition and relaxing the activity test will relieve financial pressure on families that may be doing it tough.

I want to thank everyone who works in our childcare sector, particularly in Moncrieff, for their hard work and commitment as we act to contain the coronavirus. Many services faced challenging circumstances in Australia's lockdown response to COVID-19, and, because of their perseverance and commitment, they have emerged intact and ready to continue to provide child care for around one million families nationwide.

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