Jenny Macklin Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Families and Community Services
3:20 pm
Mr Speaker, I wish to make a personal explanation.
David Hawker Speaker
Does the honourable member claim to have been misrepresented?
Jenny Macklin Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Families and Community Services
Yes.
Jenny Macklin Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Families and Community Services
On ABC radio in Brisbane today the Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs accused me of misrepresenting new figures from the ABS survey about people not in the labour force. These figures say, as I did, that there are nearly 100,000 people who are not working because child care is either too expensive or too far away or because parents are not happy with the quality of it. This is a fact. I also make clear—
Mrs Bronwyn Bishop Mackellar, Liberal Party
Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The member opposite, as so many of them do, uses this personal explanation as a debating point. She is debating the issue, not showing where she was misrepresented.
David Hawker Speaker
I thank the member for Mackellar. I am listening carefully to the member for Jagajaga. I think she has explained where she feels she was misrepresented. Does the member for Jagajaga have a further point?
Jenny Macklin Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Families and Community Services
Yes, I do. The minister for families, in the same interview, also suggested that I did not understand that these figures excluded parents who want to stay home to look after their children. We specifically excluded those figures because we understand that there are many parents who want to stay home and look after their children.
David Hawker Speaker
Order! The member will resume her seat. She will not debate the point.