Jess Teesdale (Bass, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Education. What is the Albanese Labor government doing to lift child safety in early education and care services?

Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the brilliant member for Bass, a former schoolteacher, for her question. The member for Bass's concern for children in Tasmania and her dedication to their future is a big part of why the people of Bass have sent her here.

Australians right across the country have been shocked, sickened and appalled by the news in Victoria in the last few weeks. A person has been arrested and charged with multiple heinous offences against children—offences allegedly committed in childcare centres. I've been pretty blunt in the last few weeks, and I will be again now. People have been arrested and convicted before for offences like those alleged, and governments, Labor and Liberal, state and federal, have taken action, but not enough, and not fast enough. That's the truth.

We have to do everything that we can to ensure the safety of our children when they walk or when they're carried through the doors of a childcare centre. That's why we introduced legislation today to give us the power to cut funding to centres that aren't up to scratch. This is the biggest weapon that the Australian government has to wield here. The Australian taxpayers are the biggest funders of childcare centres. We do that through the childcare subsidy, $16 billion a year. Centres cannot operate without it. It covers about 70 per cent of the cost of running a childcare centre. This legislation will give us the power to cut that funding off to centres that aren't meeting quality and safety standards. Let me be clear: the purpose of this legislation isn't to shut centres down; it's to raise standards up. But this is also not an idle threat.

I want to thank the Leader of the Opposition and I want to thank the shadow minister for education and the shadow assistant minister for education and your teams for the serious and professional and bipartisan way in which you've engaged with us on this legislation. I mean that.

This is what mums and dads watching across the country want of us and expected of us and deserve of us. No party, no government, state or federal, has done everything that we need to do here. That's obvious. But I think everyone here is determined to do what needs to be done to rebuild confidence in a system that parents need to have confidence in, and the legislation that I introduced today is part of that. It's not everything. There's a lot more that needs to be done, and the terrible truth is that this work will never end. But this is an important step in helping to keep our children safe.

Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

on indulgence—I thank the Minister for Education for the way he has engaged with me, with my team and with our shadow minister for education. I reiterate my strong desire to work positively and proactively on this incredibly important issue. I can't think of many issues in my time in this parliament that have made me feel as physically sick as this one has, and I know this feeling is shared by members across the aisle. To consider that these criminals have found their way into our centres and into the lives of our precious, innocent children is just appalling. So we do stand ready to continue to make sure that we get this right.

The legislation was introduced this morning, and we want to examine it closely, as we should. The scrutiny of all members will make better legislation—if, indeed, amendments do need to be made. But, ultimately, I want those listening and viewing today to be confident that this is an issue well and truly above politics. We will all work incredibly hard to get this right.