Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education) Share this | Hansard source

I haven't gotten anywhere with getting answers about fees for families. I know that many families will be very, very disappointed that they haven't been able to get an answer about what this government's plan is to reduce those out-of-pocket costs. Of course, without the answers, we can only assume the information I've given to the Federation Chamber is correct and that out-of-pocket costs are going to continue to increase over time, with no plan from this government. What we do know is that there was a report in The West Australian newspaper saying that the reason the government haven't acted—and this was from an unknown source—is that they wanted to convince taxpayers of the benefit before they reformed the system, and they said they were going to embark on a six-month informal education campaign. What is the time frame for this informal education campaign? What will it look like? How much money will be allocated? Will there be TV advertising? Will there be some focus groups? Will there be letters out to all parents? What type of education campaign will this take?

Alternatively, will the government consider Labor's proposal to make childcare fees cheaper, to improve the taper rates, to get rid of the annual cap and to make it easier for 97 per cent of families in Australia to afford child care? Will the minister accept our plan, our constructive suggestion? We've done the work for him. He doesn't have to do the six-month informal education plan. We've done that work. We've consulted widely. This is a policy idea that's been welcome right across the spectrum—by businesses, by economists, by trade unions and by families. So we've done the work for the minister. Will he accept our homework? We will support him in the implementation of that. Will he outline this informal education campaign? Senator Simon Birmingham actually denied it existed, so we're unclear about that. Will the minister also answer my questions about the fee increases that have happened, the eroding nature of the subsidy and, therefore, the increasing out-of-pocket costs? Into the future, what will this mean for families and how is the government going to deal with that?

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