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

If there were an example of a government in denial, that last speech was it. I've sat in this parliament and watched minister after minister refuse to get to the dispatch box when questioned and refuse to back in a minimum hourly rate for Australian workers. They have gone time and time again refusing to back in a minimum hourly rate. So to hear the previous speaker come up here and say everyone gets paid the minimum rate here in Australia—guarantee it. Back it in and guarantee it. Legislate it, and then we might believe you.

Of course, there are a lot of things that keep increasing under this Morrison-Joyce government. It's certainly not wages. It is dishonest statements, scandals, rorts, marketing slogans, glossy brochures and, of course, desperation. These are all things increasing under the Morrison government, but it is certainly not wages.

But there's also something else of critical importance to the Australian people and Australian families that is increasing—that is, the cost of living. When you listen to those on the other side, you would think—and they're coming pretty close to saying 'Australian families have never been better off.' That is the type of denial this government is in: 'There's nothing to see here. Everyone's happy. Everyone's got a job. Everyone's getting paid the most they've ever been paid.' Well, it's simply not true. They need to go back to their electorates and actually spend some time listening to the struggles of Australian families.

I can give them a tip on where to start: they can start by listening to families with young children and their struggle when it comes to child care. Families using early learning and care are feeling cost-of-living pressures every day. The latest data shows that childcare fees rose by 2.4 per cent over the 12 months to March 2021—that's 2.4 per cent, despite fees having been frozen for six months in 2020 due to the pandemic. That is more than double inflation. It means the value of the childcare subsidy keeps being eroded. The subsidy is tied to inflation, so parents are paying more and more out of pocket every single time these fees go up. What does this mean for people's back pockets? This is an extra $390 in fees, just like last year. At the same time real wages have fallen by $700. Childcare fees have now gone up more than 39 per cent under the coalition. It has been a massive hit to families' budgets.

Rather than confront this issue, rather than acknowledge this issue, we hear the minister get up and explain it as a childcare hourly rate. He is trying to convince Australian families that child care is cheap by using the hourly rates, whether it's $5 an hour or something else. But what he doesn't realise—or maybe he does, and he's just trying to pull the wool over people's eyes—is that parents don't use one or two hours of child care; they often need between 30 and 50 hours a week, because that is what they need to work to make ends meet. At times the minister thinks he has been very clever. It's obviously in the talking points: 'If we talk about the hourly rate, it doesn't sound so bad.' But it all adds up.

Out-of-pocket costs have gone up more than 12.5 per cent since the introduction of this government's new childcare system. They are the highest they have ever been in this country—and that is out-of-pocket costs, not overall fees. The average Australian family pays 19 per cent of the average wage in out-of-pocket costs. Instead, the response we get from this government is to make the system more complex and tinker around the edges—but no real plan to rein in out-of-control fees or make the system more easy to navigate. Indeed, they won't do a thing about raising the subsidy for 75 per cent of families using the system because, according to this government, those families don't deserve any extra help. Well, Labor thinks 97 per cent of families using the childcare system need extra help. That's what the election of a Labor government will do; we'll provide cheaper child care right across this country to 97 per cent of families using the system. For real change at the next election, vote Labor.

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