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

If you listen to this government's rhetoric that Australian families have never been better off, it is far from the truth of the lived experiences of families right around this country. Australian families are groaning under the burden of the cost of child care. The Morrison government's spin cannot deny the cold, hard facts. We know that long day care fees went up by 2.4 per cent in 2020. Those on the other side might say this is a real coup, but, of course, that included four months of free child care. That has put a huge burden on Australian families. The fees have been hiked up by 9.3 per cent under Scott Morrison's new childcare subsidy. Under the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government, fees are now up by 37.2 per cent since their election.

This government doesn't like to talk about the fee increase data. It likes to refer to the ABS index of out-of-pockets costs. The government has regularly used this in this chamber as bragging rights for how good their new system is. Of course, if we use that figure, the ABS has now released and shown that the index is even higher under the new system. Out-of-pocket costs in this country, on average, have never been as high as they are under this government. Costs soared by 2.2 per cent in the March quarter of 2021, which is three times the rate of inflation. This shows that childcare costs are eating a bigger and bigger hole in household budgets and putting more financial stress and strain on Australian families. The cost of child care is having real impacts in other ways. Research released today by the Front Project, based on a survey of 1,700 families, found that 73 per cent of families say the cost of child care is a barrier to them having more children. Families are deciding not to have more children because of the cost of child care. Fifty-two per cent agreed that, once the cost is factored in, it's hardly worth working. This is the lived experience of Australian families. No matter how many times the coalition wants to tell them that the cost isn't that high, they're only paying such and such per hour and they've never been better off, that is not the lived experience of Australian families, and the government should not insult their intelligence by trying to say otherwise.

Labor knows the government's system is busted. That is why we have announced an ambitious plan to make child care cheaper for one million Australian families. Despite the government bragging over the last number of years that families have never been better off, their system is great and there were no eroding out-of-pocket costs, they have suddenly, in this budget, been dragged kicking and screaming into an admission that their system—Scott Morrison's system—has indeed failed. But like everything with this government, when they were putting together their response in the budget after mounting pressure from economists, families, business—from everyone, really—they focused on the announcement and not on getting the policy right. In fact, they didn't listen to any of the groups calling for long-term change. What they did was cook up something that no-one had suggested. No-one had suggested this policy. They even made a childcare centre open on Sunday—childcare centres are not open on Sundays, Minister—and made some families come in on the weekend so they could get the cameras and the TV crews in just to spruik their system. There is not enough time on the policy, too much time on the announcement.

The problem with the government's announcement—one of the many problems with the government's announcement—is that it will not see an extra cent of support in the subsidy increases for three-quarters of the families using the system. Families paying out-of-school or after-school-hours or vacation care costs don't get extra help from this government. The government has picked and chosen which families deserve support and which don't. We hear time and time again from families that this just isn't fair. The government is once again ignoring the lived experience. The government has announced a complex and restrictive policy that only benefits families who have in care at least two children below school age. We are still not sure. I asked the minister yesterday in consideration in detail whether, if a 4½ year old was in after-school-hours care, they would attract an extra subsidy. He hasn't been able to answer that on television, and he wasn't able to answer it yesterday.

An analysis comparing Labor and Liberal childcare policies shows unequivocally that Labor's policy provides more support for more families for longer. Indeed, 86 per cent of all families with children under the age of six in the system would be better off under Labor's policy. The families of children in after-school-hours care or in vacation care would get more support under Labor. Every single family with one child aged five or under in care—that's 727,000 families—with a combined family income less than $530,000 will receive no extra support in their childcare subsidy under this Liberal government but they would under Labor. The vast majority of families with a combined family income between $69,000 and $174,000 with two children in child care would be better off under Labor. So people should not fall for the rhetoric of this government. The government will come up and say, 'Ours is more targeted. We want to help families in a targeted way.' That means if you've got one child in care or you're a low- or middle-income earner with two children in care the government won't support you as much as Labor will. That's the truth of it. Don't be mistaken by this government's spin.

In addition, extra support that the Liberals do provide to families with two or more children is only temporary. With their complex system this extra support is ripped away as soon as the child goes to school, somehow suggesting that families don't need the extra support in after-school-hours care or vacation care and, indeed, that having one child in child care is actually quite a significant cost. In contrast, Labor's boost in support will be provided to every child for the entire time they are in care. We will move towards a universal 90 per cent childcare system. We will also get the ACCC to design a price regulation mechanism that will shed a light on costs and fees and drive them down for good.

It's no wonder that the Prime Minister was too embarrassed to turn up at the announcement of the government's new childcare policy, because it was he himself who designed the failed current system. He handballed that to the Treasurer, and the Treasurer hasn't spoken about it since. I'm so pleased that the Minister for Education and Youth is going to do the MPI today, because, since the announcement, we haven't seen him get out and proudly talk about the childcare announcement. We haven't seen a question in question time for some time. Even when the Minister for Women is asked about economic security the government won't talk about their childcare policy. That's because they've realised it's a dud. Families around the country have realised it's a dud. This was about papering over a failed system, trying to paper over the criticism that has come from all quarters and make this issue go away. Of course, the government didn't take it that seriously. Guess when their policy starts. You'd think maybe on 1 July coming they'd like to give families some relief, that, if they've acknowledged it's a problem, they would give families relief on 1 July this year. But this policy doesn't start until 1 July 2022. That is actually after an election. It's actually the same date that we propose to start our policy, if we're elected.

Clearly, this government is all crocodile tears when it comes to the cost of child care. In one breath they say, 'Families have never been better off,' and in the next breath they say, 'We'll tinker around with the system, because we're under increasing pressure.' This is really about fixing mistakes. It is really about trying to paper over a failed childcare system, and it will not lead to proper long-term change. It won't lead to long-term relief for families. It won't even lead to workforce productivity. In fact, the budget papers show that workforce participation is actually going to go down. This government has designed a childcare policy that reduces workforce participation not boost it. This government could not design a childcare policy if their life depended on it. We need a Labor government to introduce cheaper child care. (Time expired)

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