Peta Murphy (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Cecilia is a mum of four who works as a personal carer in an aged-care facility in Mount Eliza. Cecilia says she can't afford to put her youngest daughter in child care and might have to give up her job. Why is the Prime Minister making it harder for aged-care workers to go to work because of the childcare scheme he personally designed?

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

I thank the member for Dunkley for her question and for her support for the constituents of the Dunkley, and I make it very clear, through her, to those constituents that the government has had the interests of the people of Dunkley at heart throughout the pandemic that Victoria is experiencing. This is one of the reasons why we have extended special help to Victorian childcare centres and Victorian families throughout this pandemic.

If I were measuring the success of the childcare system, I would look at a couple of things. I would look at whether the system itself is operating, whether operators have jobs, whether centres remain open, whether parents have access to affordable child care, whether out-of-pocket costs are going down and whether affordability is a key priority. I can tell you that this government ticks every single box. I can reassure the constituents of Dunkley and indeed all of Australia that we have done this properly. We have done this well—unlike the Labor Party, who have waffled on about, 'In the first term of a Labor government we might have an investigation and we hope we might one day get to 90 per cent, but we don't know because we are not actually coming out with anything solid or anything concrete, even though we've had a long time.'

Mr Albanese interjecting—

Well, you said—

Opposition members interjecting—

Yes, so what we've had to do is estimate this policy based on the Leader of the Opposition's words. But it's really, really important—

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

The minister needs to pause. No part of the question asked for anything to do with the opposition's policy or alternative policies.

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

Thank you, Mr Speaker. The childcare subsidy is means tested. We're proud of that principle. We believe that people who earn more should pay more. The childcare subsidy is means tested to ensure that those who earn the least receive the highest level of subsidy, up to 85 per cent. Importantly, we have a generous safety net designed to provide higher subsidies to families who are experiencing financial difficulties. We've approached this in a way that uses the Productivity Commission's recommendation, that introduces means tested and targeted child care, that puts a safety net for families in place, and that recognises the unique experiences in the pandemic and looks after every single worker and educator and family in that system.