Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Childcare and Early Childhood Learning) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Child Care Rebate) Bill 2011. The coalition went to the last election committing to pay the childcare rebate weekly in order to ease the upfront cost of child care for families and to ensure that child care remained affordable. We listened to and heeded the pleas of Australian families struggling with mortgages, the rising cost of groceries and their battle to find affordable, accessible child care. Fortunately the Labor Party has now listened to families and to our arguments and has put forward this bill.

The bill seeks to pay the childcare rebate either weekly or fortnightly depending on the frequency at which the childcare centre reports their childcare occupancies. Information provided by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations indicates that, as the majority of childcare centres report weekly, there will be provision to pay the rebate on a weekly cycle. Where the providers report their attendance data on a fortnightly basis, parents or the centre will be paid every two weeks.

In addition to increasing the frequency of payment, the bill enables the rebate to be paid directly to the childcare provider. Given that a number of providers have raised concerns with me about parents defaulting on childcare payments this will certainly assist providers. Parents may still elect to receive the rebates directly and this will be the default mechanism if they do not advise otherwise. The coalition certainly welcome the decision by the Gillard government to copy our lead and offer weekly or fortnightly payments of the rebate. However, this leads me to address the real reason why this legislation is so necessary.

The Gillard government has sought to decrease the childcare rebate from $7,778 to $7,500 a year while ceasing indexation. Whilst this bill is yet to be passed, Centrelink has already enacted the reduced rebates slashing the amount paid to thousands of parents. This is a clear sign of the sheer arrogance of this government. Despite evidence suggesting the legislation will not pass, they are intent on pushing forward with it, like a bull at a gate, to push through these changes—all this from a government that went to the 2007 election promising Australian families that it would make child care more affordable. Remember, the government committed to an additional 260 childcare centres, but alas child care has increased in cost and the promise to end the double drop-off with the building of those 260 childcare centres has been whittled down to 38.

Now the government claim they need this $86.3 million in savings from cutting the childcare rebate to help fund their national quality framework. Considering the wasteful spending of this government to date I am amazed they are not asking the nation’s children for interest-free loans from their piggybanks. Yet the real issue here is that once again this is poorly designed, haphazard policy much like the pink batts debacle, the Building the Education Revolution fiasco and the hideously wasteful National Broadband Network.

The government want every childcare worker to be qualified. They want to increase the staff-to-child ratio. These sound positive measures. However, if you want to enact policy measures such as these, they need to be realistic. Given the current critical shortage of qualified workers, exemptions will need to be offered left, right and centre to ensure that childcare centres can even keep their doors open. This is an industry which has a very high staff turnover and many qualified staff opt instead to use their qualifications in early-school-years teaching where the pay rates are higher and the holidays are longer.

In today’s Age, the critical shortfall of childcare workers is made very clear. Hundreds of centres are desperately searching for qualified staff. However, there is a chronic shortage. Three out of every 10 childcare workers in Victoria have no qualifications, according to the workplace survey undertaken by the government in 2010. I question the intent in forcing through these changes that, quite frankly, cannot be met and will lead to further shortages in the number of childcare places available as providers decide to reduce vacancies if they cannot find or afford additional staff. Particularly in rural and regional areas the shortages of skilled staff will see a real two-tiered system develop, and country areas will be made to feel like the poorer cousins compared with the cities.

The problems will not be confined just to rural areas. There will need to be a substantial increase in infrastructure nationwide. More childcare workers will need to be trained and providers will need to negotiate issues, such as additional car parking, with local councils. I come back to the article in today’s Age mentioning that there are some 29,000 childcare workers in Australia who are unqualified. The Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth insults those unqualified childcare workers by suggesting that our children in the nation’s childcare centres are somehow at risk from unqualified staff. I take great exception to that.

As we in the coalition know and understand, you can have workers in childcare centres supported by adequate qualified staff and high-quality systems that are in place that can balance the needs of every child in that centre. To suggest to those 29,000 workers that they should be made redundant, that they should get qualifications quick smart and that they have to meet a new framework says that something about the skills and the passion that they bring to their job every day are not worthwhile. We strongly resist that suggestion. Whilst I strongly support improving quality in the childcare sector, we do need practical, realistic goals. We need to re-examine the current auditing process to weed out the few providers who are not making the grade We need to recognise that, whilst many childcare workers may not have formal qualifications, their years of experience on the job give them an understanding that no classroom can teach.

Instead, with the release of some quality statistics last week from the national childcare association which indicated that only 87 per cent of childcare centres were meeting all of the high-quality ticks in the boxes and the measures that are used when those auditing visits are done, the minister reacted, assuming that parents across Australia would be horrified at the lack of hygiene and the lack of quality in the centres that were highlighted by this report. The point is that if, as a school child, you brought home a report that said you were 87 per cent across the line, your family would be happy with that. I think, likewise, that the nation’s parents should be very happy with the quality of child care that we receive in our centres, and the minister needs to remember that she is the minister for child care, not the minister whose job it is to offend, insult and denigrate Australia’s hardworking, viable and, in a world measure, very high-quality childcare centres.

The report that was released last week—and there were some headlines as a result of that report, and the minister insisted that the nation’s parents would be horrified—does not give parents the assurance that they should be getting from the minister for child care that our Australian child care is very good and parents should have confidence in it. The last thing we want is for parents not to have confidence in their childcare centres and in childcare generally. Certainly, where there are issues, as the accreditation process indicated, then the accreditors, the state agencies and the numerous people who are constantly sticking their nose into every childcare centre—and we accept that that is necessary—need to work with those who run the centre, with the parents and with stakeholders and make sure that the standards are met. Instead, the minister’s response has been that they should be named and shamed, that they will be appearing on the My School website in a few months time and that parents can go on there and perhaps see their local childcare centre named and shamed.

It is very important that we make a distinction between indicators that demonstrate genuine shortfalls and genuine failings in how a childcare centre is operating and indicators that perhaps do not demonstrate those. I notice that one of the accreditation criteria was that children should have a positive experience while toilet training. Maybe there is not a tick in the box every time that that happens. There were some indicators that hands were not washed as frequently as they should have been before eating food and that children did not get as much sleep as they perhaps should have. But I say to you, Mr Deputy Speaker, that if you went into any household there would be days when those things might happen. It is quite difficult for every toileting experience to be positive. It is quite difficult for a harried mother to manage to meet every single tick in the box, so we accept that that happens in households.

Again, I am not suggesting that our childcare centres should suffer any lack of standards. I know that things should be done properly, but we have to be realistic. I come back to that: we have to be realistic. Another of the criteria mentioned was that children should be given an opportunity to appreciate the expressive arts. Finger painting, potato painting, hands in water—they are all expressive arts. But maybe there are some days when the opportunity to appreciate the expressive arts is not as good as it is on other days, and maybe they get fewer ticks in the box as a matter of course because of that. All of these indicators lead to a set of circumstances where, as I said, the accreditors and the agencies need to work with centres that are almost making the grade and make sure that things are fixed up. Instead, we have the minister noting that families must be horrified and centres will be named and shamed. That is an appalling response from a minister who should be supporting the childcare sector in this country. I am very proud of it. The centres that I meet have much to offer and are offering much to the nation’s children.

Australian families are really struggling to meet the cost of childcare as it is. The government has reduced the rebate and is intent on bringing in this national quality framework agenda, which will further exacerbate the pressure on families because they will have to cover the increased overheads of business required by this model. It is estimated that around 20,700 families will be affected by this reduction in the childcare rebate cap and will suffer financially as a result. The government, however, has been quick to dismiss these concerns, playing down the financial impact on families. Yet research undertaken by the Childcare Alliance shows that 74 per cent of parents surveyed would have difficulty meeting additional costs of $13 to $22 a day. For a couple of children over a year of working, that is a significant additional impost on any family. If both parents are working fulltime, with one child in formal care for 40 hours or more a week, it may cost $140 a week after the federal government’s childcare benefit and childcare rebate. This is a huge additional burden to families already struggling to pay mortgages and put food on the table.

Many parents have to question whether it is finally worthwhile for one parent to return to the workforce when they consider the costs of care for their children. In all likelihood, it would be the mother who stays home to care for young children, possibly losing the opportunity to re-enter the workforce for a number of years. We have to remember: it is not just a childcare issue, important though that is; it is a productivity in the workplace issue, and you cannot look at any newspaper or report today in any state or territory jurisdiction across Australia that does not mention the skills shortage and the need for workers. Many skilled workers come from overseas. We cannot possibly meet the shortfall in Australia. But we have here a significant demographic of working women who we need to support and encourage in their family and childcare choices so that when they are ready to go back into the workforce—and many of them are skilled when they step out of the workforce to have children—they have all of the support that they need. But it will come down to budgets; it will come down to payments. Additional costs of childcare could make the difference between them staying at home or going back to work.

Lack of access and increasing costs will undoubtedly force many parents to either withdraw their children from childcare or seek alternative, less attractive care options. If parents have no choice but to work in order to meet their mortgage repayments or pay off their car, they may resort to placing their child in backyard care. That is not scaremongering. The other type of care that I must mention is care with grandparents. Another report in today’s press showed that the proportion of child care being done by grandparents has increased quite dramatically since 2002. Those grandparents do a magnificent job. I salute every one of them. It is not always easy when your own health is not what it was when you were a younger mum and you have very energetic toddlers and babies to look after, but you do it to help your children—to help them pay the bills and, of course, because you love to see your grandchildren. But sometimes it gets just a little bit too much and sometimes it is quite a burden that families are asking their parents to take on in looking after the grandchildren.

We have seen an increase, as I have said, in grandparents assuming those caring responsibilities, and the recent Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey indicates that approximately 47 per cent of grandmothers look after grandchildren for at least one day a week. Certainly, grandparents are willing to assist but many, due to geographic separation or their own employment, would be unable to care for their grandchildren on a regular basis, meaning that child care is the only viable option for parents. These difficulties bring stress to families. It really is important that with the lifestyles that we are living today we try to remove as many of those sources of stress as we possibly can—all of the balls young parents have to have in the air when there are jobs, mortgages, payments, bills and family issues to deal with and when there are young children in child care. Our job, as policy makers, should be to try to make those choices easier and to try to support the options that parents have.

The rollout of the National Quality Framework will further increase financial pressure on families, with many industry groups predicting increased costs of $12 to $22 a day—costs which, for the most part, will inevitably be borne by families. So, whilst we welcome the government’s decision to introduce weekly or fortnightly payments of the child care rebate, this is just one small positive in a sea of negative decisions. If this government is truly serious about helping Australian families source affordable child care it will reconsider its national framework and reinstate the indexation of the childcare rebate immediately.

Michelle Rowland (Greenway, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Child Care Rebate) Bill 2011. This bill is a timely reform and of extreme importance to many young families in my electorate of Greenway, balancing both the financial and non-financial challenges that are part and parcel of raising children. In a moment I will get to the hide of the member for Farrer, who just spoke, when it comes to our respective records on child care when in government. Firstly, I would like to talk about some of the rationale for the bill.

This bill is another realisation of this government’s commitment to Australian families, and child care in particular. In July last year, the government announced that families would be able to receive their childcare rebate payments more regularly from 1 July 2011, so that assistance may be provided when childcare fees are incurred. This bill delivers on this commitment. It is a direct response to an issue which has been consistently raised with me by many families in my electorate whom I meet and listen to on a regular basis. I congratulate the form minister Jenny Macklin and the current responsible minister, Kate Ellis, for championing this initiative and for being so responsive to the issues of constituents I have raised with them.

I have always believed that child care is a basic right for all families. Governments have an important role in ensuring that families are able to access quality and affordable childcare services. This government is committed to making positive changes for all families, including those with young children. We can see this commitment in amendments such as this one, and other legislation such as our landmark paid parental leave scheme, which has been enthusiastically welcomed by my constituents.

I am a passionate believer that government has a role in directly assisting families with child care, and the positive externalities that flow from this. The great thing about improving childcare legislation—which is what this amendment does—is that it facilitates at least two other major developments.

Firstly, a flexible and affordable childcare system allows our children to have access to early education. And early education allows for enhanced social development and learning opportunities at a young age. According to the Child care and early education in Australia report from 2009:

Children who did not attend a formal early childhood program had lower scores for receptive vocabulary than children in pre-year 1 and preschool programs.

Quality child care is therefore an integral stepping stone to prepare our children for the new environment that is primary education. I am reminded of this on a daily basis as I go to and from work and I drive past the Lalor Park Preschool Kindergarten, which I attended as a child. The second benefit that child care affords to families is workplace participation, particularly for women. This amendment makes it easier for parents to be afforded the dignity of re-entering the workforce and receiving the economic benefits that employment provides.

With around 690,000 Australian families eligible for childcare rebate payments, it is clear that a more flexible system is necessary to handle the myriad of different needs associated with such a vast number of families. Recently we celebrated International Women’s Day, a time to highlight some of the issues surrounding women. Of course, child care, access to work and access to other opportunities for women was an issue that was raised during many of these forums and discussions. I participated in many of these and at the forefront was the issue of managing the work-life balance. While we can never completely fix everyone’s challenges in this regard we can always work to make improvements to individual circumstances. This bill will work to increase flexibility and help the process of balancing the often competing responsibilities of employment and child care.

I would like to turn to some of the main provisions of this bill. In bringing forward this legislation the government has injected over $42 million into child care. The option of weekly or fortnightly childcare rebate payments will directly ease the pressures associated with child care, and is indicative of this government’s commitment to reforming what could be, for some, inflexible legislation, and amending laws to better suit the individual needs of families.

It is clear that a one-size-fits-all method of administering childcare rebate payments is not optimal. Not all children receive the same amount of childcare hours and not all children attend the same type of childcare provider. This bill will allow for a much more dynamic approach to managing childcare payments.

As there is no blanket method we can throw over all families, this bill will allow for a range of different options that families can use to achieve their childcare rebate payments. Families will have the option that operates now—that is, of receiving payments on a quarterly basis—as well as the option of payments going fortnightly into their bank accounts or to the childcare provider and the option of receiving an annual lump sum payment. This amendment to the act will allow families more freedom to decide when they receive this essential payment and where they want it distributed.

As a safeguard, families who choose to receive the fortnightly payment will see 15 per cent of their rebate withheld. This will ensure that overpayments do not accumulate throughout a financial year and clashes with childcare benefits do not occur. The balance of the funds withheld will be reconciled after the final quarter of the financial year to help balance out any changes in childcare benefit entitlement that might arise through families underestimating their income or through changes in circumstances.

I want to turn to the issue of council provided childcare services, specifically those of Blacktown City Council. Costs related to raising a young family are something felt by many in my electorate. Greenway—and west and north-west Sydney as a whole—is a rapidly growing area. Many of my constituents are hardworking young families who know the pressures of raising young children. The local government area of Blacktown, which falls across most of my electorate and across that of the member for Chifley, is the most populous in New South Wales and the fifth most populous in Australia. With 23.3 per cent of people in the Blacktown local government area aged between zero and 14, child care is a vital issue. According to the 2006 census, 12 per cent of families in Blacktown are single-parent families with children aged zero to 14. As I have said in this place on a number of occasions, it is for this reason that I often refer to Greenway as Australia’s nursery. The numbers speak for themselves. Flexible and affordable child care is critical. The rapid expansion, facilitated by new housing developments and other factors, has seen Blacktown’s population explode. With this comes the inevitable demand for increased community services.

Given the circumstances, I want to put it on record that Blacktown City Council has done an admirable job in trying to accommodate the rapidly growing need for child care. With around 25 childcare facilities in the Blacktown area operated by the council, the needs of many families are being very well met—although, due to economic constraints, it is impossible for local councils such as Blacktown to carry the weight of all childcare provision in our communities.

As Blacktown council has openly acknowledged, hardworking Australian families are still being adversely affected by the overhang from the childcare cuts of the last coalition government, the Howard government. Local councils have been left with the job of filling the void created by the coalition’s historic lack of funding when in office. Recently, the former member for Greenway, Mr Frank Mossfield, contacted me to discuss his concerns about long-term provision of childcare services in our area. His concern was about something he saw coming when he was Greenway’s local member. He was very perceptive. He knew during the coalition’s time in government what damage they were doing to the childcare sector and to families and what the result would be in the future. Speaking in this place in 2004, Mr Mossfield attributed the poor state of child care in this country to:

… a problem that has existed in Greenway since the first year of the Howard government. In the 1996-97 budget, there was an $820 million cut in child care, which led to increased fees, reduced child-care assistance and the closure of several services.

This is what the coalition did to child care in this country. Whatever way you cut it, it was a blatant disregard for Australian families. The 69,000 young people living in Greenway and Chifley using childcare services are still paying for it.

Not only were childcare services devastated by the Howard government’s cuts but employment opportunities for women were adversely affected as a result. I was on council from 2004, and during this time every local council throughout New South Wales, regardless of political make-up, agreed that local councils were not equipped to handle the unmet demand for childcare services that was a direct result of the Howard government’s cuts. Local government conferences were rife with discussion and motions of concern about the viability of childcare services in local government areas.

Due to the closure of childcare facilities and the increase in fees, many families could not afford child care. Consequently, many parents, including females, were forced to withdraw from the workforce. To give you an example, from 1996 to 2000, women’s employment participation in Fairfield and Liverpool, areas close to my electorate, fell from 49.9 per cent to 47 per cent. This bill is to redress the adverse affects of the former government’s actions. It represents this government’s commitment to child care and to supporting hardworking families.

I want to talk about some of the challenges we need to face and hurdles we need to get over to improve childcare services in this country. Flexibility and affordability are key concerns for this government. This bill is specifically targeted at improving these two aspects of child care for families. After the historical harm done to child care in this country by those opposite when in government, this government is committed to improving services for young families. The flexibility that this bill creates builds on this government’s reforms in the past, such as the 2008 increase in the childcare rebate. By providing more freedom to choose when childcare payments are received, families can better manage their budgets and thus better cope with the economic pressures associated with raising a young family.

I would like to take this time to mention an associated development in young children’s care and education. Today marks the beginning of National Playgroup Week. It was announced today that this government is providing $5 million as part of the Helping Children with Autism package to deliver playgroups that support children with autism spectrum disorder and their families. I thank the minister for this initiative. As I have mentioned a number of times in this place, including in my maiden speech, disability support in education is something that I feel very strongly about. As I mentioned, quality child care provides the necessary stepping stones for social development and academic success, and disability specific child care is no different—in fact, I believe it to be even more crucial. Today’s developments on this issue provide another example of how this government is supporting families with young children with disabilities. This bill will fundamentally improve affordability and flexibility for Australian families and make managing child care an easier task. That is why I strongly support this bill.

Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Child care provides an important service to our society. It allows children to interact with their peers and become more independent from a young age, and it gives parents flexible options with regard to work and family arrangements. It is vital that child care be easily accessible. The bill before us, the Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Child Care Rebate) Bill 2011, goes some way towards supporting that.

The coalition agrees with the measures taken to pay the childcare rebate in weekly arrears. Indeed, we took that promise to the last election ourselves. Such a step, although it will make no difference to the budget bottom line, will make a significant difference to families by reducing their upfront costs by up to half—from $220 down to $110 in some cases. It is reported that up to 630,000 families will benefit from this change. This will also mean that childcare centres will have more certainty in receiving fees. Currently, up to 25 per cent of fees are going unpaid as parents wait for the quarterly rebate payment.

The benefits of such a simple change are clear. The benefits that this change will provide are also necessary. Child care is becoming more and more expensive for families. The myriad changes implemented by state Labor governments are putting increased pressure on both the sector and the families it supports. In my home state of Queensland alone, proposed changes to the DECKAS funding arrangements have caused the largest provider in the state, C&K, to advise its affiliates that they will need to increase their prices. Most are now looking at charging $25 to $28 a day. This is a sharp increase on the current daily out-of-pocket expense and may well price many families out of early education altogether.

These increases are not confined to Queensland. Changes to staff-to-children ratios regulations introduced by the New South Wales Labor government in anticipation of the proposed national reforms have resulted in some Sydneysiders paying up to $100 per day for child care. There have been reports of families being on the waiting lists of childcare centres for up to two years, and the industry fears that these waiting list times will balloon even more under the new staff-to-children ratio changes. Whilst all would welcome improvements to the childcare industry, we must ensure that the industry is not left under-resourced as a result of these rather questionable changes. With no additional funding yet announced, I fear this is what will happen, and that would make it increasingly difficult for families to access child care.

We have heard a lot of debate recently about the number of women in boardrooms. It has been reported that 40 per cent of families believe that child care is so expensive that it is not worth their while to work but that only 12 per cent say they do not need it. Perhaps factors such as the increasingly difficult access to child care need to be taken into account when analysing why there are so few women in senior positions within our companies.

It is worth noting that there have been no new announcements of funding for child care, particularly considering all the hype surrounding child care in the Kevin07 federal election just over three years ago. In fact, other than the steps taken—which only address the timing of payments, not the amount of payments—in the bill we are debating today, the only announcement made on childcare funding has been about a funding cut.

It is fair to say that, when it comes to child care, the Rudd and Gillard governments have both been failures. This was as true when Mr Rudd was opposition leader, then Prime Minister and when Ms Gillard was Deputy Prime Minister and minister responsible for child care as it is now that Ms Gillard is Prime Minister. Yes, it is hard to keep up to date with who is in charge of what area in the Labor government, but it does not matter which minister or Prime Minister we are speaking about—Labor has failed when it comes to child care. They have let down the very working families they always seek to claim as their own.

The government announced under last year’s budget that the childcare rebate would be decreased by $279 per child per year. At a time when the industry and families were expecting to receive at least some compensation for the significant increase in cost that the COAG ratio reforms are causing, this cut was at best disappointing and at worst potentially priced many families out of childcare and early education services.

When you are working full time and child care is costing you huge amounts every week, you quickly reach the $7,500 rebate. Additionally, the national quality framework that is currently being proposed by the government is expected to increase costs from $13 to $22 a day, despite the fact that the 11 per cent of families using childcare services at present are already paying more for child care than they earn.

Indeed, this cut of almost $300 a year is not merely an announcement; after the legislation that provided for the cut passed through the House of Representatives last year, Centrelink adjusted payments to families immediately, so reducing childcare rebate payments before the legislation had passed through the Senate. Should this legislation fail to pass through the Senate, the government will have to reimburse hundreds of Australian families who have unfairly had their payments cut before their time. Additionally, should this legislation not be passed, the government are reportedly facing an $87 million hole in their budget. This tells us a lot about just where ‘government savings’ are coming from: with one hand cutting assistance for services families use while, with the other hand enforces new taxes on them, causing rising basic costs of living.

You would think that, after scrapping the building of 222 new childcare centres around the country and so breaking another Labor promise, the government could redirect some of that $390 million saving towards alleviating cost-of-living pressures on Australian families, particularly in relation to child care. Instead, the government has done the opposite—it has tried to decrease the childcare rebate paid to families and to freeze indexation, which could cost families up to $1,000 per year and result in 72,000 families receiving a lower subsidy by 2014, according to the Australian Childcare Alliance’s President, Gwynn Bridge.

This shows just how out of touch this Labor government is and how they genuinely do not understand how much Australian families are hurting. It is becoming increasingly clear that this Labor government do not care about Australians but care only about political infighting and succumbing to the demands of the Greens.

Let me give you two examples of this. If Labor cared so much about helping families with their living costs, they could have put this weekly payment option into place in June last year. As Dr Sharman Stone said at that time, ‘With Labor support, parents could have had the money in their pockets from July 1, 2010, but will now have to wait a full 12 months to receive this fee relief.’

Why was this amendment not passed last year? The proposal was debated in the winter sitting—in the last week of the winter sitting, in fact. To be exact, the government could have passed this amendment on June 24 last year, but I guess Labor members had other things on their minds that day. Who could forget that on June 24 last year Labor knifed a first-term Prime Minister, replacing the Member for Griffith with the then responsible minister—and now Prime Minister—Ms Gillard. Clearly, the then minister was too busy with internal party fighting to worry about the relief such legislation could have provided for Australian families. This is just another example of how Labor cares more about what is happening in their own political family than about what would actually help Australian families.

There is another interesting aspect to this bill. In June last year, newly appointed Prime Minister Gillard refused to cave in to demands to make the childcare rebate payable weekly. However, the Greens then said, and continue to say today, that they will only support the government’s slashing of the childcare rebate in exchange for a higher frequency in the payments. Lo and behold, here we are speaking about a higher frequency for childcare rebate payments. This is of particular significance now, given that Centrelink has already begun deducting payments from families. So, does Prime Minister Gillard really believe that this is the right thing to do for Australian families, or is she just, once again, succumbing to Green demands so she can cling to power?

The coalition certainly believe it is the right thing to do. That is why we took this promise of weekly payments of the childcare rebate to the last election. Childcare services in Australia provide a vital service for society and our economy; however, the rising costs are beginning to seriously jeopardise its value. Paying the childcare rebate weekly goes some way to relieve upfront costs for parents and families, although there is a lot more that can be done.

I support the bill before the House, but I wish to place on record my extreme disappointment with this government and the Labor Party. Right from the day Labor was elected in November 2007 they have shown no interest in child care and, sadly, that seems set to continue. I commend the bill to the House.

Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I speak in support of the Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Child Care Rebate) Bill 2011. For the benefit of the member for Ryan, I will give a bit of a history lesson when it comes to the Howard government. The first thing the Howard government did was rip $1 billion out of the childcare sector, because in their fantasy land of ‘leave it to Beaver’ they thought it was the case that women did not need child care and families did not need child care, because that did not fit in with their social mores and their perspective of what family life is like in this country. They thought that the reality was that every family was a nuclear family with 2.5 children and a mum and a dad. We know that families come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. We know that families are what people make of them, with love, affection and affirmation. That is what family life is like. I live in a nuclear family, with a wife and two daughters, but many families are not like that. We need to provide financial and household support for those families so that those children can complete school. We want to raise the rate of children completing school in this country from 75 per cent to 90 per cent. We want to make sure that women have the opportunity to go back to work and have choice. We want to make sure that they have a choice, not just over their financial circumstances but their vocational opportunities. We want to make sure that is the case, but clearly those opposite, when they were in government, did not believe that.

You really need to look at what those opposite did, not what they say today. We have seen crocodile tears from those opposite, saying, ‘This Labor government is not looking after working families.’ But let’s have a look at the history of it. Let’s look at what we did. Let’s look at their record. Their record was abysmal in the area of child care and education. They know it. In their heart of hearts, they know they failed. We were the ones in 2008 who raised the childcare rebate from 30 per cent to 50 per cent. Did I ever see a private member’s motion from those opposite at any stage during the whole period of the Howard government in relation to raising the rebate from 30 per cent to 50 per cent? Did we ever see that? Did they go into the 2007 election campaign arguing that? No. They did not argue that it all. It took a Labor government to raise it from 30 per cent to 50 per cent. We effectively saw a maximum rate of $4,354 per year per child under the Howard government raised to $7,500. That is a massive increase for families. Under the coalition it was $4,354 per child per year; Labor got into government and increased it to $7,500 per child per year. That is real money. This is the reality—not the fiction perpetrated and perpetuated by those opposite. The real situation is that, when Labor got in, they increased the assistance to families in that regard. Those opposite forget the fact that we have cut taxes for the last three years. That is three years of tax cuts for those opposite to enjoy, for us on this side to enjoy and for the Australian community to enjoy. Those tax cuts put more money in people’s pockets so that they can spend money.

If those opposite want to talk about assistance to household budgets, let’s have a bit of a look at their record. That is the party of Work Choices, which drove down wages. That is the party that made child care more difficult by inflicting Work Choices into the workplaces of this country. That is the party that went to the last election proposing a Woolworths and Coles tax, effectively, which meant that $6 billion of tax would be foisted onto the retail sector. That would have put more cost-of-living pressures on working Australian families. So they should not come into this place and give us lectures about how their so-called affection has always been there for working Australian families, because they did not have it when they were in power.

What did they do with respect to education? There were cuts to education. What happened to health care? There were cuts to health care. They even fessed up, just before the 2007 election, with respect to health care. That is so important in the area of child care as well. They fessed up that it went backwards under them. The now Leader of the Opposition fessed that up when he was health minister in 2007, just before the election. They ripped $1 billion out of the health system. So it was not just health and education, and it was not just Work Choices; it was child care as well. Those opposite failed miserably. They come in here and give their sanctimonious and self-righteous nonsense on child care. The truth is that under our policies we have massively increased childcare assistance—$14.9 billion to help 800,000 Australian families annually with the cost of child care through the childcare benefit and the childcare rebate. That includes $8.7 billion over four years to 2013-14.

We are effectively reducing childcare fees and reducing the household burden with $6.2 billion to assist working families with out-of-pocket childcare expenses under the childcare rebate. That is the reality; I am not making it up. It is in the budget papers—it is on record. Those opposite can perpetuate their fiction. We will talk about the facts over here with respect to child care. We have a good record on child care. Those opposite have a 1950s perspective on families.

In this legislation we are giving people options. We are enabling families to access the childcare rebate at least on a fortnightly basis. That means about 700,000 Australian families across the length and breadth of this country, from the Torres Strait to Tasmania and from Perth on one side to Palm Beach on the other, are getting access to the kind of crucial help that they need to meet their childcare fees each day.

I have some fantastic childcare facilities in my electorate. The member for Ryan talked about our record with respect to childcare fees. She can come to the Yamanto Early Learning and Care Centre, which ends a double drop-off situation by being located at the new Amberley District State School. It was a $1.6 million election commitment which we made. It means that about 75 local kids can get the benefit of attending the learning centre and going on to the Amberley District State School next door. Minister Ellis opened it with me on 22 April 2010. That is the fulfilment of our election commitment with respect to child care in my electorate of Blair.

We have eased the burden of taxation on families. Those opposite are the ones who, in the Senate, have stalled the kinds of savings that we need to ease the burden on working families. They keep attacking our budget commitments and measures and knocking them off in the other place. They say we are not spending enough money on child care and certain things, but then, inconsistently, they lop off the very measures we are trying to implement to get the budget back into surplus. They always criticise us by saying we are creating a burden with respect to child care and tax. In the mid-2000s, when in government those opposite had a tax-to-GDP ratio of 24.1 per cent under their beloved leader, the Hon. John Howard. This year ours is 20.9 per cent, easing the burden on the Australian community and on working Australian families with respect to taxation. We are cutting tax, increasing childcare rebates, making sure that people have more money in their pockets and getting rid of Work Choices. That is our record. They are the facts over here, not the fiction over there.

This is good legislation because it enables families to have a better and more flexible arrangement with respect to child care. They can elect to have their CCR paid via their childcare services by way of fee reduction; 98 per cent of childcare benefit customers elect to have their payments made this way so as to receive fee reductions.

I want to diverge for a minute and pay tribute to a number of the childcare facilities in my electorate, which played a great role in the flood crisis in South-East Queensland, particularly in places which were affected. I mean places like Bush Kidz in Brassall. Brassall, in Ipswich, is the suburb in my electorate with the highest population. My electorate office is actually in the Brassall Shopping Centre. Bush Kidz and a number of the other childcare facilities in that area looked after kids at this time while their mums and dads were out there volunteering and cleaning up after the floods in the dozens and dozens of homes which are affected in Brassall. Community childcare facilities around Riverview did the same thing for those people around Duncan Street in Riverview who were also inundated by water. I pay tribute to the Riverview Neighbourhood House for the great work they did during this period.

In fact, I was at Riverlink Shopping Centre on Saturday and had someone praise the childcare centre and the Riverview Neighbourhood House for the work they did during the flood. A guy came up to me and tapped me on the shoulder while I was at Mister Minit getting a watch fixed and told me that. Childcare facilities did a great job during the flood time. We saw that at places like One Mile, Leichhardt, Churchill, Yamanto and other places. Childcare facilities enabled mums and dads to go out there and work in the flood relief, mitigation, recovery and reconstruction. Whether it is Cribb Street Child Care Centre, the one at the great One Mile and Leichhardt Community Centre, Bush Kidz at Brassall or any one of the many, many childcare facilities in my electorate, I want to thank them very much for the work that they did during the flood crisis. They played their role and I know that the mums and dads in my electorate were very appreciative of what they did.

As I said before, this legislation introduces more frequent childcare rebate payments for families from the first Monday in July 2011, either through the childcare services on behalf of the parents or carers as an immediate fee reduction directly or by way of a payment to a nominated bank account. That is a good, flexible way. They are still able to receive the CCR quarterly or on an annual basis, should they so wish. This is important legislation.

I also want to mention the number of options that they have, because I think it is worthwhile for those who may be listening to know that there are a number of options people can claim. I want the people of my electorate of Blair to understand that. From July this year you can have a choice with respect to receiving the childcare rebate. You can have the childcare rebate payment made to your childcare service—for example, the Yamanto Early Learning and Care Centre—weekly or fortnightly as a fee reduction, subject to the provision by your service of a childcare usage report on your behalf. As I said before, nearly 100 per cent of people choose to do that. Or, if they want, they can receive their childcare rebate payment directly to the bank account weekly or fortnightly, subject to the provision by their service of childcare usage reports. Or, as some people have in the past, they can have their childcare rebate paid to their bank account quarterly. They can do it annually if they wish to, but I do not think it is likely too many people would do it annually.

The annual payment is another point which brings me to those opposite. Under the Howard coalition government, families had to wait until the end of the year to receive this important assistance. That was their policy—that is what they did when they were in power, not what they said in this chamber or to various childcare centres, groups and communities across the country. Look at what they did. You had to wait and claim it on an annual basis. It took us being elected in November 2007 for important reforms to take place in this area. When it comes to improving affordability of child care across the country, for those opposite it is fiction; for us it is fact.

Overall, we have committed, as I have said, over $18 billion over four years to make early childhood education more affordable to mums and dads and carers across the country. The thing that those opposite never say is: that is twice the amount they ever put in in the last four years in their forward estimates and their budget measures under the John Howard coalition government. We have put twice as much in as they did with respect to early childhood education. Those opposite in 1996 ripped a billion dollars out, paid it annually, only $4,300-odd; we increase it to $7,500, pay it weekly or fortnightly, make it more flexible and make sure that we put in more resources—twice as much as those opposite across the four-year cycle. Fiction from them; fact from us.

Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise this afternoon to support the government’s Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Child Care Rebate) Bill 2011. Before I talk about the bill, I would like to thank my colleague and commend him for his kind words about the construct of families and the 1950s view that those opposite have on what a family today looks like.

I find it quite offensive, coming from a single-parent family. I said in my first speech that my father left us when I was 11 and my mother did a fantastic job of bringing up my sisters and me on her own. She worked very hard to get us educated and to put food on the table. She worked a number of jobs to do that. She came from a tradition of working-class matriarchs, as I call them, who also did the same for their families. I commend my colleague for his comments on what actually makes up a family. What actually makes up a family is a loving parent, grandparent, aunt or uncle who loves the children that are within that family. I commend him for expanding the view on what a family can be, so thank you.

As I said, my mother worked very hard to put us through school, secondary school and tertiary education and she was greatly assisted by a number of Labor schemes that supported us financially during secondary and tertiary education. Those Labor governments were deeply committed to easing the burden on working families as is the Gillard government.

I can cite so many examples. My colleague has mentioned a number of them: first of all, there is the reduction in income tax to reduce the tax burden on working families; the education tax refund to reduce the burden on working families; and paid parental leave, which has been a huge hit. I understand that 22,000 families have now applied for the scheme and 2,000 are already signed up for the scheme—a long overdue initiative that women, particularly the feminist movement, have been fighting for for years. We introduced it, and congratulations to us for that—all designed to ease the burden on working families. We have also got plans for the resources tax to, again, cut income taxes for working families and also plans to boost superannuation for working families to secure their retirement futures.

We have also introduced, most importantly, workplace conditions so that working families are protected in their workplaces, so they do not have to fear draconian conditions. That is another way that we are easing the burden. Most importantly, we saved this economy from recession as a result of our economic stimulus package, which meant that working families continued to be able to work. Their jobs were saved. The economy was saved. That is a major achievement and it underscores our deep commitment to easing the burden on working families.

I also want to talk today about National Playgroup Week. I attended the launch this morning with the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, the Parliamentary Secretary for Community Services and the Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Carers. National Playgroup Week is designed to draw attention to and celebrate the need for children to play in an unstructured way with building blocks or whatever to get their imaginations stimulated, get them physically stimulated and to enjoy the benefits of play. I commend the minister and the parliamentary secretaries for launching this week, which was conducted at the Parliament House childcare centre, which has been a long overdue and much-awaited development. How old is Parliament House? Twenty-five years old, I think, and everyone has been waiting for the last 25 years for this childcare centre to be developed.

All the parents I spoke to today, both the mothers and fathers—most of them work—were absolutely delighted with the childcare service, with the quality of service that their children are getting and the quality of support they, as parents, are getting. It is another major development and, again, it underscores our commitment to child care.

This legislation gives effect to a pre-election commitment to make accessing child care easier for Australian working familles to ease the burden. This legislation will enable working families to receive their childcare rebate in a number of ways. A family may elect to have their childcare rebate paid to them via a fee reduction from the childcare service provider. We know that 98 per cent of families chose to receive the rebate this way, and I imagine that that will continue. A family may also elect to have their childcare rebate payments paid directly into their bank account on a fortnightly basis, and anyone who has gone from a fortnightly to a monthly pay would realise the flexibility benefits of fortnightly pay, so I think this is a great development. Families may also elect to have their rebate paid to a nominated bank account on a quarterly basis or to have their rebate paid to them as an annual lump sum. In order to enable this, the government has made available just over $42 million for the provision of fortnightly rebate payments.

This legislation will provide some much-needed flexibility to the childcare rebate scheme and continues a long legacy of this government and previous Labor governments ensuring that access to childcare is easily available and affordable to all Australian families. This current proposal builds upon previous changes from the government to increase the rebate from 30 per cent to 50 per cent of out-of-pocket expenses. That is nearly double the rebate for out-of-pocket expenses; it is a significant development. This government has also increased the maximum annual rebate to $7,500. Under the previous government, families could claim only $4,354 a year. We have provided nearly 40 per cent more than what the previous government provided. As a result of this change, the out-of-pocket costs for a family with one child in childcare and earning $55,000 a year have dropped from 13 per cent of disposable income under the previous government to seven per cent in 2010.

Overall, the government has invested $6.2 billion to assist with out-of-pocket expenses through the childcare rebate. However, these changes, while positive, will ultimately remain unutilised if parents and working families cannot access their rebate when they need it most. It is a reality that most Australians live from pay period to pay period, from fortnight to fortnight. It is therefore of little use to many that they receive their rebate on a quarterly basis, or each year as was the case under the previous government. This legislation recognises the fact that families are living from pay period to pay period and provides the flexibility for them to receive their payments in a time frame and manner that best reflects their needs. This legislation will potentially benefit almost 700,000 families. This legislation will also assist providers who are concerned by the issue of unpaid fees. It is anticipated that, by increasing the frequency of payments, families will be in a better position to meet the costs of their child care on a more regular basis.

Most importantly, the government consulted widely when developing this legislation and it received broadly positive views from the various peak bodies in the sector. I also note that the department has worked hard with the industry to answer its concerns and to provide information to providers and families.

As I have said, this legislation builds on a proud history of this government and previous Labor governments in assisting working families. The Gillard government is investing massively in improving the affordability and access to early childhood education and care. We have invested $8.7 billion over four years to help 800,000 families with the cost of child care through the childcare benefit. We are also professionalising the workforce in childcare centres and improving standards to give parents peace of mind, and we are reducing staff-to-child ratios.

In the second reading speech the minister labelled this legislation an ‘ambitious agenda’ and was unapologetic for that. I would like to thank the minister for agreeing to engage in this agenda and I join in the sentiments. In my own electorate I have heard so many stories of working families who have challenges with the cost of child care. Canberra has a large number of families where both parents are in the workforce and a number of families where the grandparents live interstate—so there is not that support network where the grandparents can look after the kids. For many families in my electorate it is simply not an option for one parent to remain at home to look after the children.

We need to recognise the reality that many families simply cannot afford child care, which is why this is such a great development. Canberrans pay the highest rate in the nation for child care and have some of the longest waiting lists. It is a common story in Canberra to hear of families who have had to add their unborn children to waiting lists. The Productivity Commission reported this year that Canberrans paid $60 more than the national average for child care. However, this government recognises these costs both for Canberrans and for the nation. We are deeply committed to rising to the challenge of costs of childcare and doing all we can to assist those families and ensure their children have access to high-quality and affordable child care—child care where the teachers of the children are actually professionalised and committed to quality education.

We are committed to ensuring that families have the flexibility to choose the work-life balance that best suits their families—whether that be through the eradication of antifamily workplace legislation or the introduction of Australia’s first paid parental leave scheme or, in this case, enhancing access and affordability of child care. The Gillard government’s reforms have already reduced the out-of-pocket expenses of Canberra families by seven per cent. I am proud to serve in the Gillard government. It recognises this need and is acting to improve the situation. I am proud to serve in a government that is determined to make the lives of these families easier and I am proud to serve in a government that has made child care a priority.

Before closing, I would also like to commend my ACT Labor colleagues for the work that they have been doing on child care. Since the ACT Labor government was re-elected in 2008, an additional 1,200 childcare places have been licensed, bringing the total to a historic high of more than 15,500 places. There are now 245 childcare service providers, employing about 2,200 staff. A number of centres opened last year and more are expected this year. So there have been major developments on the childcare placement front here in Canberra over the last three or four years, and I commend my ACT colleagues for the work that they have been doing in that area, as I commend the support that the Gillard government has given to the childcare issue. I commend this bill to the House.

Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about the Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Child Care Rebate) Bill 2011. I would like to start by pointing out that a recent Yellow Pages Sensis study ranked the suburb of Malvern, in my electorate of Higgins, as the best place to raise a family. According to the study there are a total of 277 family friendly business listings, including baby and children’s wear retailers, schools, doctors and baby accessories stores. Most suburbs have between 40 to 60 listings.

The ability to care for and raise a child is of great importance to the people of Higgins, as it is for all families throughout Australia. But it is not just the availability of clothing retailers and doctors that matters; the availability and affordability of childcare centres are also of vital importance. Often the largest difficulty faced by families raising children is the ability to sustain an adequate income. This requires one or both parents to be working regularly in order to provide for their family. This is why the availability and affordability of a range of childcare services is so very important for our society, whether it be for after-school care, occasional care or long day care. This legislation will make it easier for families to access child care, primarily by giving them the choice of having the childcare rebate paid fortnightly rather than quarterly or annually. This will have clear benefits for those eligible for the childcare rebate. However, the coalition is concerned that the government is not doing all it can to assist families, as we will soon see when this government introduces legislation in the coming weeks to cap the rebate at $7,500.

The coalition’s record on assisting families with the costs of raising and caring for a child is very strong indeed. It was the coalition that implemented the most significant childcare reforms, including the 30 per cent childcare rebate. From 1 July 2000, we introduced a new childcare benefit that replaced two existing forms of childcare subsidy—the childcare assistance and the childcare cash rebate. The benefit provided for significant increases in assistance for families, particularly for low-income families, and greatly simplified arrangements for claiming assistance.

In 2005 we introduced the childcare tax rebate, which was the most significant childcare reform introduced in Australia—and one that has enjoyed strong community support as well as bipartisan support since its inception. The purpose of the childcare rebate was to ensure that parents who worked fewer than 15 hours a week continued to be eligible for the childcare tax rebate. The Welfare to Work package introduced a requirement that a taxpayer must work, train or study for at least 15 hours a week, or 30 hours over two weeks, to meet the childcare benefit work-training or study test. This meant that those who were in genuine need of childcare assistance could receive the rebate and continue to engage in work or study and contribute to our economy.

These reforms, by assisting families with the cost of approved child care, have built on the childcare benefit system and family assistance packages, such as the family tax benefit, which were set up by the coalition. They remain central to Australia’s social policy framework today.

The baby bonus, implemented in 2004, provided one-off payments to families to assist them in making the necessary changes to work and family arrangements required after the birth of a child. The greater flexibility provided by the baby bonus increased fertility, with the number of babies born per woman rising from the average of 1.77 to 1.81 in 2005 and breaking a 40-year decline. These reforms have ensured that families with children can remain productive, even if faced with significant childcare costs.

We know that access to affordable child care is one of the most important determinants of whether a family is able to remain working, whether it is access to long day care, family day care or after-school care. The coalition in office implemented this important reform that has allowed so many families the benefit of affordable child care, giving them greater choice, flexibility and, more importantly, the chance to sustain their income and continue to build Australia. Despite Labor’s claims that what they have delivered is landmark social reform, what they have in fact done is continue with longstanding coalition policies.

Where to from here? When the coalition went to the last election, we had a set of policies to improve the access to and affordability of child care. We went to the election with a policy of reintroducing indexation of the childcare rebate. For those parents receiving the maximum amount of childcare rebate, this would have provided a benefit of around $300 per year for every child in care. We went to the election with a policy to reinstate $12.6 million of occasional-care funding cut by Labor. Occasional care offers flexible part-time places or emergency care when a parent needs it, whether they are visiting the doctor, commencing study, seeking work or attending to an unforeseen crisis. This measure would have provided funding to help ensure parents were able to access childcare at times of greatest need. We went to the election with a policy that would have seen the childcare rebate paid weekly direct to childcare providers to ensure that families have sufficient cashflow to meet the costs of care. This was to allow parents to pay childcare providers immediately, reduce the potential for fraud and eliminate unnecessary red tape.

This bill will make payments fortnightly and parents will have the option of having the payments paid directly to the childcare provider or continuing to receive the payments themselves, which of course gives parents choice and flexibility. The coalition is supportive of these measures. We know that caring for children can involve not only upfront costs of care but also transport costs and costs involved with locating an appropriate provider. These are not insignificant burdens on families, and any additional help that they can receive through more-flexible policy arrangements is a most welcome development. The ability of childcare providers to receive the rebate on behalf of families is a very beneficial outcome, and 98 per cent of families currently choose to receive their childcare benefit through this method.

However, despite these welcome improvements, this government will be introducing another bill to the House in the coming weeks that will reduce the childcare rebate to $7,500. As parents with children in full-time care would know, Labor’s $7,500 cap will easily be reached and the inevitable extra costs of care will have to be met out of their own pockets. It is a huge disincentive for parents wanting to return to work or to remain in the workforce. What is more, Labor’s removal of indexation of the childcare rebate during the last budget has forced up the cost of child care by up to $300 per child per year. This is how Labor operates when it comes to policy—give with one hand but take more with the other.

It is interesting to hear Labor talk of all the good that they are doing for Australian families, because any success we have had in improving the lives of families has of course very little to do with this Labor government and their changes. Unfortunately, this government refuse to face up to their failure to deliver on their promises. This is a massive problem for everyone, but families in particular were promised a very great deal when it comes to child care and, sadly, they have been let down by this government. It is not due to the efforts of this government that we are seeing greater choice and opportunity for Australian families. Insofar as we have been successful in creating positive outcomes for child care, it is because this government have continued the policies of the previous coalition government. But we have also seen significant missed opportunities and an attitude from the current government that their undelivered promises do not matter—that they can promise and not deliver.

Before the 2007 election Labor promised to build an additional 260 childcare centres. Then the government scrapped this idea and instead decided to build only the 38 that they had actually started. This was one of the Rudd government’s many broken promises, something which this current Prime Minister was supposed to fix—although we all know how that has worked out. This broken promise was particularly bad for families facing rising childcare costs, which are significant and a significant impediment to continued work and sustainable incomes.

In response to the government’s failure on childcare centres, Julia Gillard, in a rare display of contrition said:

We can always do better. There’s always more to do.

This, of course, is the closest we could ever hope to get for an admission by this government of failure—very telling indeed.

The coalition continues to prove its commitment to advancing the economic position of women. Our paid parental leave policy is in every respect superior to Labor’s, which fails to meet the financial needs of families. Our policy provides maximum social benefits, whereas Labor’s scheme falls short on delivering real outcomes. The government’s reckless spending and deficits are having a real effect on families, especially those with children. This is having a negative impact on the financial freedom of families, including their ability to access child care. Previously, the government tried to use the quick political fixes of GroceryWatch and Fuelwatch, both of which were unmitigated policy failures. Meanwhile, the price of petrol, electricity, groceries, housing and medical services continues to rise. The government is concerned about affordability for families but at the same time they are proposing a new carbon tax that will increase the cost of all goods and services throughout the economy.

Labor’s claim that it will continue to reduce the taxes in order to pay for the carbon tax is false, and Labor has proved well and truly that it is unwilling to lower taxes but it is all too willing to raise them or to create new ones. Whether it is the mining tax, the flood levy or the most recent carbon tax, Labor has proved that it is in capable of offsetting these new taxes by lowering or abolishing others. This means that prices continue to rise, putting more pressure on families and reducing their financial flexibility.

This government talks about helping families to meet the extra cost of raising a family while at the same time it caps the childcare rebate and introduces new taxes that force up the cost of living. This is the great lie that Labor is living. It talks about helping families but it is failing to get even the basics of economic management right.

Deborah O'Neill (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Child Care Rebate) Bill 2011. This bill represents another important step by the Gillard government to support Australian families as they try to juggle their important participation in the Australian workforce while maintaining the joy and lifetime responsibility of caring for their children.

My electorate of Robertson has a high proportion of families with young children, and the childcare rebate is already delivering for many of them. At last count, there were 5,333 Central Coast families in the seat of Robertson who were availing themselves of the government’s childcare benefit and childcare rebate across 100 services. According to those latest figures, that adds up to almost $5½ million in support for 7,230 children—no small achievement. That is a proud contribution by this Labor government to family life on the Central Coast.

Many of these families rely on childcare services, and rely on them being accessible. Indeed, I am often reminded as I meet people in my community of the need for more childcare places and the need for greater accessibility. Our work in making sure parents and providers meet at the point where our kids get the best possible learning and social growth experience continues.

I was particularly reminded of the importance of child care, during last year’s election campaign, when I ‘walked a day in the shoes’ of the childcare workers at ABC Green Point with the Minister for Early Education and Child Care. It was a great event organised by the United Voice union. We danced, we sang and we nearly got to participate in dress-ups. As a professional educator from the secondary and tertiary sector it was also a great experience on that day for me to be among fellow professionals in the early childhood sector and to more deeply understand in their context the very valuable work that they do.

In the previous government, Labor took great steps to improve access to childcare for Australian families. Indeed today’s bill follows up on previous legislation arising out of the 2008-09 budget, which raised the childcare rebate from 30 per cent to 50 per cent. What a difference that made for people in my electorate and across the nation. This investment in early years learning stems from our fundamental belief as a party of working people that access to child care is not just a necessity for Australian families, it is a right that enhances family living and certainly enhances experiences of learning for the very young. The Commonwealth government has a very vital role to provide assistance to ensure that child care is accessible, affordable, and of a quality that will set our kids up not just to be learners but happy, confident learners as they enter more formal schooling settings at primary and infants school.

Because we are a Labor government we continue to support working families, and today in this legislation we seek to build on what we have already achieved. In providing for more flexible options with regard to how the childcare rebate is paid, this bill increases the flexibility and the accessibility of this rebate to very many families. Also, this bill provides much needed flexibility with regard to how this rebate is to be paid.

In my opinion, the most important provision of this bill is the ability it gives to families to elect to have their childcare rebate paid on a weekly basis direct to their childcare provider. This option enables the childcare rebate to come in the form of a fee reduction when paying for the childcare expenses. The provision of this option also enables far greater certainty in regard to the payment of this rebate. Firstly, it offers certainty to the parents in that the rebate is paid and fee reduction offered on a weekly basis and when the usage report of a child’s attendance is due. For childcare operators, it provides the benefit of the childcare rebate being paid directly to them, and that is an efficiency improvement. This reduces the transaction cost and provides for a more efficient allocation of payment.

Whilst this option has been provided, I also support this bill because of the increased range of choices it provides parents. Parents who still wish to receive their childcare rebate directly to their bank account have that option. They can have it paid either weekly or fortnightly into their accounts according to when the attendance report is due. There also remains the current option of having the rebate paid directly to the parent’s bank account on a quarterly or yearly basis.

This flexibility is in stark contrast to the situation that existed under the Howard government, when parents had to wait until the end of the year to receive the assistance, with no other options. We get it. We on this side of the House understand diversity and the diverse needs of parents across Australia. This legislation makes it absolutely clear that Labor listens to the people. Labor is the party of paid parental leave. We continue to legislate the changes necessary to support families and our young people, including our very youngest, who have their first experiences of sharing in a larger community than their family in early childhood settings. I recognise that some parents may prefer the yearly lump sum payment, but many more parents have made it clear that the direct payment of the rebate to the childcare provider is an option that is far more appropriate and is a means of administering this rebate that they are happy with.

This legislation will benefit all areas of the Commonwealth similar to mine—areas that have a high proportion of young families. In my region, the New South Wales Central Coast, we have a very high proportion of young families, mainly because this is a regional area not far from Sydney that offers a great quality of life. But it is an area where many young families have moved away from the network of support of extended family and friends in Sydney and moved to the coast, where mum, dad and a couple of kids really have to manage amongst themselves. In that sort of context, while the Central Coast is an ideal place to bring up a family because of its natural beauty, healthy environment and warm and welcoming community, there is still the pressure of trying to have support for the care that you are undertaking while you are continuing to work and participate in the national economy.

One additional feature that puts pressure on families in places such as the seat of Robertson is that many people commute for their work, either to Sydney or to Newcastle for employment. Indeed, around 30,000 workers on the Central Coast make a daily journey down the F3 Freeway or on the CityRail train service to employment away from the coast. They are willing to do so because they love living on the Central Coast, they love its environment and they love the people. They also love the opportunity that they are providing for their children to enjoy all of the amenity of where we live. As a result of our particular geography, we have families with young children and with mum and dad both commuting daily. For these families, access to reliable, quality childcare is absolutely critical. We do need more families to access this benefit, and clearly we can continue to improve in this area. But this bill will make a difference and it will make the childcare rebate far more accessible to families with young children.

The Australian Labor Party will always be the party for affordable, accessible and quality child care. Let us not forget that this government has had to undertake change and reform to the childcare sector due to the terrible mismanagement by the previous Howard government. The mismanagement included but was not limited to allowing an unsustainable monopoly to dominate a quarter of the childcare market. Let us not forget the unsustainable situation brought about by those opposite, which caused so much stress to so many parents and childcare workers, when they were uncertain whether their childcare provider or their workplace would remain open. The previous government’s actions—or inaction as the case may be—resulted in this market situation where child care was often unaffordable and inaccessible to many Australian families. Child care is too important to allow a situation where one company is allowed to dominate and then collapse.

The contrast could not be clearer between this government and those opposite, who presided over the whole ABC mess. The member for Indi knows well that the Prime Minister brought the industry back from the edge of the precipice to which the member for Indi and her colleagues in the late unlamented Howard government pushed it in a fit of free market ideological zealotry—lest we forget the incompetence and indifference to Australian working mums and dads of the ideologues opposite. By contrast, this government’s reforms will continue to provide a stable base for the childcare industry to benefit both providers and parents.

I understand the immense importance of early childhood education. As a former educator I know that early identification and early intervention in childcare contexts provides an important opportunity in addressing learning and behavioural concerns that are identified in children. Early intervention improves the prognosis for children with learning and behavioural difficulties. Early education providers have a fundamental role in preparing children for the next stage of schooling and identifying any issues that individual children might face in transition. Whatever the issue, it is certain that support and identification is enhanced when early childhood carers and parents share their concerns and support our kids in early education settings.

If child care is hard to access or unaffordable, children miss out on an important foundation for their future life and learning. The provision of quality education for all children and young people has always been a fundamental Labor value. As the member for Robertson, I will always fight for quality education for our kids. A quality early childhood education is essential for our young Australians. It needs to be accessible to all the children in Australia. This bill achieves this and I commend it to the House.

Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I welcome the opportunity to also speak in support of the Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Child Care Rebate) Bill 2011. This bill builds on the government’s previous measures to assist families with childcare costs. After the 2007 election, the government increased the childcare rebate from 30 per cent to 50 per cent. The government increased the annual cap to $7,500 and gave families the option of having the rebate paid quarterly.

Under the measures in this bill, as from July 2011 families will have the choice of four options for receiving the childcare rebate. It can be paid weekly or fortnightly directly to the childcare service provider, it can be paid weekly or fortnightly directly into their bank account, or it can be paid into their bank account quarterly. Families will retain the existing option to receive the childcare rebate annually as a lump sum paid into their bank account. The childcare sector has grown over the last couple of decades as, more and more often, both parents remain in the workforce in order to meet their cost of living. Increasing the frequency of payments will assist families and childcare centres with their cashflow.

The childcare industry has become very competitive and, not surprisingly, providers under competitive pressures may be cutting costs, resulting in centres not meeting accreditation standards. This was exposed in a report released by the National Childcare Accreditation Council only last week. That report revealed amongst other things that 29 per cent of the centres failed to implement effective and current food, safety and hygiene practices. Whilst many centres were doing well, too many failed to meet basic standards. The proposal to establish a public rating standard for childcare centres next year should lift standards and help parents with their choice of childcare provider. Noncompliance with standards, I believe, highlights the pressure and demands childcare workers are under—work pressure for which childcare workers are inadequately valued and remunerated.

Over the years, I have visited numerous childcare centres and spoken with childcare centre operators and their staff. On 10 August last year I participated in the United Voice—formerly the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union—Big Steps in Childcare national campaign aimed at reforming the childcare sector. On that day I went to the Golden Grove Bubble ‘n’ Squeak Child Development Centre in my electorate of Makin. For almost 2½ hours I walked in the shoes of a childcare worker by working as a childcare worker. I was very thankful that I had a terrific crew from Bubble ‘n’ Squeak to guide and assist me on the day. I not only thank them for allowing me to work with them and making my time there so pleasant but also commend them for how well they all went about their tasks and for the relationships they had developed with the children.

The experience provided me with an insight into the skills, the responsibilities, the professionalism and the physical and mental demands of the work required to care for infant children, each with their individual personality, behaviour and needs. It requires an extraordinary ability to be a childcare worker. Their duties and skills include but are not limited to: caring for the children; tending to the children’s emotional and physical needs; teaching them; keeping track of how the child is growing, learning and behaving and discussing any needs with their parents; helping children with their dressing, eating, sleeping and toileting; having first aid knowledge and attending to any injuries, illness or medication that is required; and organising activities that stimulate children’s physical, emotional, intellectual and social growth. In addition to all that they have to provide children with healthy meals and ensure that they are kept in a safe and clean environment. It is a huge responsibility.

The childcare workers I have met have all been committed to delivering the highest quality care and ensuring that the professional standards of the industry are met. The children’s wellbeing is upmost in their minds, but they too need to be better supported with better wages and upskilling opportunities if they are in turn to comply with all of the standards expected of them and if they are to stay in the industry. We must ensure that we do not place them—that is, the staff—under more pressure by expecting higher standards without providing them with the support they need. We entrust into their care our precious infant children. We expect them to have relevant qualifications, we expect them to comply with extensive public standards, but then we ask them to work for low wages and inadequate upskilling opportunities.

Given the level of responsibility of childcare workers and the remuneration and career advancement pathways available to them, it is little wonder that there is a shortage of childcare workers and that they exit the industry in the numbers that they do. The shortage will only be exacerbated if we want them to lift their qualifications without a commensurate lifting of their wages. It is expected that by 2013 there will a shortage nationally of around 7,300 childcare workers. It is not surprising that, given the range of compliance standards that apply to the industry and the excessive demands on workers, standards are not always being met. United Voice are to be commended for their campaign in support of childcare workers, and I am pleased to add my voice to their campaign and to their efforts on behalf of childcare workers throughout Australia.

Over the four years to 2013-14, the government will be providing $14.9 billion to help 800,000 Australian families with the cost of child care. This is made up of $8.7 billion from the childcare benefit and $6.2 billion from the childcare rebate. Overall the government has now committed more than $18 billion over four years to early childhood education and child care, which is more than double that provided by the Howard government in its last four years in office. This is one of a number of measures that the government has taken to assist families in raising their children.

In 2008, the government introduced the education tax refund, which allows families to claim 50 per cent of eligible education expenses. To preserve its value, the education tax refund is linked to the consumer price index. For the 2010-11 tax year, the maximum refund is $794 for high school children and $397 for primary school children. Eligible expenses include the cost of buying, establishing, repairing and maintaining any of the following items: home computers and laptops; computer related equipment such as printers, USB flash drives and disability aids to assist in the use of computer equipment for students with special needs; computer repairs; home internet connections; computer software for educational use; school textbooks and other printed learning materials, including prescribed textbooks, associated learning materials, study guides and stationery; and prescribed trade tools for secondary school trade courses. From 1 July this year, it will be extended to include school uniforms bought in the new financial year.

The Medicare Teen Dental Plan was also introduced in 2008. It provides a voucher for a preventative dental check for eligible teenagers each calendar year. By the end of October last year over one million dental checks had been provided to teenagers under this scheme. Under the Medicare Teen Dental Plan eligible families can claim up to $159.85 for teens having a preventative dental check consisting of an oral examination that may include X-rays, a scale and clean, fluoride treatment, oral hygiene instruction, dietary advice and fissure sealing.

The government also delivered its third round of tax cuts in 2010, as promised in the 2007 election, providing further assistance to help families with living costs. For example, these tax cuts will mean that a family with two young children—where one person earns $60,000 and their partner earns $27,000—will be $40.38 per week, or around $2,100 a year, better off.

As a number of other speakers have pointed out—and it is perhaps the most important thing that the government could do for child care in this country—there was also the introduction of 18 weeks paid parental leave. I understand that some 148,000 families per year are expected to be eligible for that 18 weeks of paid parental leave. If we want to support children, I do not think that anyone would disagree that the best thing that we can do is ensure that their parents are able to be with them, particularly in the early months after their birth. I could go on with other examples of how this government has assisted families, whether it be in health, in education or in housing. This is simply another measure with which the government has made a clear differentiation between this government and the previous Howard government in showing its respect for families.

There is another group that will also benefit as a result of having quality childcare services available to parents, and that is grandparents. One of the realities of today’s society is that many parents leave their children with grandparents to care for them because both parents work. Sometimes it is a case of single parents who have no choice other than to leave them with grandparents if they do not have access to a quality childcare centre in close proximity or if they cannot afford one. There is no question at all that grandparents are increasingly taking responsibility for the care of infant children. By ensuring that we have an affordable and quality childcare service available, I believe that more parents will place their children in the care of an accredited childcare centre. This in turn, I believe, will free up the lives of the grandparents who are otherwise having to devote their lives to assisting their children. So there are benefits all round in having quality childcare services available.

I started by saying that this is one a number of measures that the government has implemented in order to assist families with the cost of living. I believe the amendments in this bill do that, and for that reason I commend the bill to the House.

Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Child Care Rebate) Bill 2011. I am struck with that same sense of deja vu that other members of the House have spoken of, in part because this bill does precisely that which the Australian Greens have tried to do since June last year, when we moved amendments to the relevant bill. Instead of facilitating quarterly payments to parents, the bill allows parents to access the rebate in fortnightly payments. This brings the childcare rebate into line with other similar payments, and this a healthy move. There are still unresolved questions in the legislation itself about the lack of indexation and also about the government’s commitment to fund child care commensurate to its importance, about which I will say something in a moment. Moving to fortnightly payments will have the effect of helping make child care more affordable for parents. It is a way of helping parents budget with reliability and regularity in the context of increasing childcare costs.

I cannot stress enough to the House the extent to which people in my electorate of Melbourne view the importance of accessible, affordable and quality child care. It is vital, especially if we are serious about women’s participation in work, particularly after they have had children. In the electorate of Melbourne there certainly was a sense of relief and excitement when there was a proposal from the government to expand the number of childcare centres and especially community childcare centres. There was a similar sense of disappointment when 222 childcare centres that were slated to be built were no longer to be built. Part of the reason that was given at that time was that the government would wait and see how the market sorted itself out after the collapse of ABC Learning and the incorporation of GoodStart Centres into the electorate.

Also at the time the astounding claim was made—which came as news to many parents in my electorate—that vacancy rates for children between zero and two in major capital cities in Victoria were in the order of 92 per cent. We conducted a survey in the electorate, because this simply did not gel with parents’ experience, and found that at community centres in the capital city and in the electorate of Melbourne the vacancy rate for children between zero and two was somewhere in the order of 10 to 20 per cent and that the waiting lists were, on average, around 18 months, with some well over two years. What we also found was that a number of parents were preferring to wait and not send their children to private centres, because they wanted the quality and accessibility that comes with having your children in a community centre.

This bill is an important step towards making child care more affordable, but there is no point in having money in the pocket if there is no place to send your children to or you have to go onto an exorbitant waiting list to get them in there. I know that there are many community childcare centres in my electorate which would dearly love to have an immediate grant of funds to enable them to expand their infrastructure, their capital and, basically, their buildings so that there would be more space for them to take on the large number of children who are already on their waiting list. I hope that in the context of the upcoming budget the government considers our proposal to allow community childcare centres to have access to a pool of money for capital expansion. We have had expansion of schools and we have had money put aside for expansion of universities. It is time to do the same for child care. Capital expansion would go a very long way to making child care more accessible, more affordable and of greater quality.

So, in closing, we support the bill. Fortnightly payments help families manage the increasing costs of child care and we especially support it given that the government is adopting, wholesale, the Greens amendments.

Kate Ellis (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment Participation and Childcare) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

in reply—It is my great pleasure to commend the Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Child Care Rebate) Bill 2011 to the House and to thank the members of the House for their contributions to the debate today. This is very good legislation. It is very important legislation and it is legislation which will help the lives of families right across Australia. This bill will, for the first time, enable families to access the childcare rebate no later than fortnightly. This bill delivers upon our pre-election commitment taken to the families of Australia just last year, 2010. As a result of this bill we know that around 700,000 Australian families will be able to receive this essential assistance at the time that their childcare fees are due.

Importantly, many families will be able to receive this payment weekly because the majority of childcare centres submit attendance information weekly. From July this year families will have the choice of four options for receiving the childcare rebate. Families will be able to elect to have their childcare rebate payment made to their childcare service fortnightly, at a minimum, on their behalf as a way of fee reduction; they will be able to elect to receive their childcare rebate payments direct to their bank account fortnightly at a minimum; they will be able to elect to have their childcare rebate made into their bank account quarterly, or they will be able to have their childcare rebate payment made annually as a lump sum payment.

By providing families with these choices the Australian government is ensuring that families have significantly more flexibility to manage their childcare costs within their family budget. For the first time childcare services will be able to receive the rebate on behalf of families, delivering a direct fee reduction for those families that elect this method of payment. We know that families will welcome this option—98 per cent of families currently choose to receive childcare benefit this way.

To ensure that families do not accumulate any unforeseen debts as a result of overestimating their income, this bill also contains amendments to temporarily withhold 15 per cent of each rebate payment for families receiving a higher than zero rate of childcare benefit. This is consistent with the current arrangements for quarterly childcare rebate payments, where the final quarterly payment can be used to offset any childcare payment debts incurred by a family.

The measures outlined in this bill today build on the government’s impressive record of improving the affordability and quality of early childhood education and care. We have committed more than $18 billion over four years in funding for early childhood education and child care. This is more than twice the amount provided in the last four years of the Howard government. In 2008 we delivered on our election commitment to increase the childcare rebate from 30 t 50 per cent of out-of-pocket costs—from a maximum of $4,354 to $7,500 per child per year. Under the Howard government families could only claim a maximum of $4,354 per child per year—some 72 per cent less than under the Gillard Labor government. What this means is that since 2004, out-of-pocket costs for families earning $75,000 have reduced from 13 per cent of their disposable income to seven per cent of their disposable income in 2010.

We have also increased the frequency of childcare rebate payments to families from yearly to quarterly. Under the Howard government, families had to wait until the end of each year to receive assistance with their childcare fees. Overall we are providing $14.9 billion to help 800,000 Australian families annually with the cost of child care through the childcare benefit and the childcare rebate. This includes $8.7 billion over four years to 2013-14 to reduce childcare fees for low-and middle-income earners under the childcare benefit and $6.2 billion to assist working families with out-of-pocket childcare expenses under the childcare rebate.

When it comes to improving the affordability of child care our record stands head and shoulders above all others. Our government understands that child care is an essential enabler to parents—and particularly to women’s participation in the workforce—but we also know that when parents drop their children off at care they need to know that they will be safe and that they will be well looked after during the day. That is why we are working with the states and territories to roll out the national quality framework, which will deliver better staff-to-child ratios so that each child gets more individual care and attention. And it will boost the staff qualification requirements so that our dedicated childcare workers can better lead activities that help kids to learn and develop.

These are major reforms which will have a dramatic impact on the future health, learning, and social development outcomes of children right across the country. However, we also recognise that parents needs to be able to manage their care costs in what are, for many, very tight family budgets. We have already made massive inroads to ease this pressure and through this measure outlined in this bill we will give 700,000 Australian families real assistance with child care at the time that they incur those childcare fees.

The Australian government has an unapologetically ambitious agenda to improve access to affordable, quality early education and care for Australian families. This bill represents another massive step towards achieving this worthwhile goal and I commend it to the House.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

Message from the Administrator recommending appropriation announced.