Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Since this government came to power in 2013, childcare costs have increased, on average, by $4,200 a year for Australian families, while wages have stagnated. Wages stagnating, going nowhere; childcare costs going up—does that make families better off or worse off?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will ask the Minister representing the Minister for Education to add to the answer. I simply note that, under Labor, childcare fees increased by 53 per cent, and since our package of changes to child care were introduced—

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker—

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I've only been going for about 15 seconds—not even that!

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'll call the Leader of the Opposition if he wishes, but, in fairness—

Mr Shorten interjecting—

The member for Maribyrnong, I can tell, is back! Because there can only be one point of order on relevance, I was listening to the Prime Minister, with his preamble—

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Okay. Alright. The Leader of the Opposition, on a point of order.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This was a very specific question that went to the government that he leads, the childcare system that he designed—not to any previous government. It went to what he is responsible for, which is Australian families being worse off because of his childcare system.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I've said before, the Prime Minister was only a few seconds into the answer and he was comparing and contrasting, and I'm sure he'd just done the first bit and he was about to move on. That's why I was listening carefully. The Prime Minister has the call.

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And, Mr Speaker, you indeed perceived that correctly, because I was about to say that, once the reforms and changes we introduced into child care were implemented, the cost of child care, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, fell by over three per cent. It actually fell. So, when the reforms came in, with the design changes that were put in place, the costs actually fell by three per cent. And that's what they were designed to do—to take that pressure off, to ensure that they were targeted and that they were means tested so that, more broadly, with the other arrangements we as a government put in place to support families and hardworking Australians all across the country, we would continue to support them by ensuring that they paid lower taxes. That's what our government's been doing. But I'm happy for the minister to add to the answer.

Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What this government has done is make national decisions about families, in the national interest. And, yes, the cost of child care for families has come down. Child care has become more affordable. Our once-in-a-generation reforms have delivered a three per cent reduction in out-of-pocket costs for parents since our package was introduced, and, more importantly, they've increased female activity levels. This is really important. The proportion of female parents reporting more than 48 hours of activity per fortnight rose from 56 per cent before the introduction of our package to 63 per cent in November last year.

Managing a budget and managing the interests of families are difficult decisions that this government has made well. We did it this way: we had a Productivity Commission review, we took the advice of the Productivity Commission and we implemented the recommendations through the parliamentary process. That review recommended that means-tested and targeted funding be applied to child care and that a childcare safety net support those who need it. So it is means tested and targeted, with a childcare safety net to make sure that we support families who needed it. Labor's policy is lots of money for the top end of town.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Labor has baked in $6 billion for child care over the next four years, and I want to give you one example. A family—

Opposition members interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister will pause for a second.

Ms Rishworth interjecting—

The member for Kingston! The minister will pause for a second. I'm dealing with the levels of interjection. But what the minister can't do now—notwithstanding there are only 10 seconds left—is start talking about the opposition's policy, because that was not in the question. The Prime Minister of course did so by way of preamble, to lead into what the government's response had been. There was no question about what alternatives there were. The minister has the call.

Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Labor won't give a tax cut to a worker on $180,000 but they will give them $6,000 a year in subsidised child care. (Time expired)