Libby Coker (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Child care costs too much. It costs women too much, it costs families too much and it costs our nation too much. In the 12 months to March, my electorate saw childcare costs rise substantially. The increases in my electorate ranged from 4½ per cent to 21½ per cent. At a 21½ per cent yearly increase, the cost of child care would double every 3½ years. Child care costs so much that many, many people are forced to work less. Instead of working full-time, a parent—generally, the mother—will work only three days, or will not work at all, because the cost of full-time child care is just too great.

The consequences of this are significant for our economy, for our productivity and for the health and wellbeing of families, women and children. Kids lose out, women lose out and the economy loses out.

But Labor has a plan. Under this plan, Labor will scrap the $10,560 childcare subsidy cap, which often sees women losing money from an extra day's work; fix the maximum childcare subsidy rate to 90 per cent; and increase childcare subsidy rates and taper them for every family earning less than half a million dollars a year. I strongly encourage all families in my electorate to visit childcarecalculator.com.au, enter your personal details and find out for yourself how much better off you'll be under an Albanese Labor government.