Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities, Carers and the Voluntary Sector) Share this | Hansard source

The interjections from the other side only highlight the fact that we have a couple of people there that are going to come out and attack the previous government. I challenge them not to. I ask them: when is the blame game going to stop? That is what the Prime Minister promised. He promised there was going to be a new deal. We now know that ‘a new deal’ is shutting down private industry and attacking private industry. We now know that ‘a new deal’ is to bring in state-run centres and overpowering for-profit industry. I say that is wrong, and the coalition does not support that. But the coalition does support the mums and dads, particularly in rural Australia, who are worried about the potential closure of their childcare centre. That means that mums and dads might not be able to go to work because it is the only option available to them.

We are not indifferent to their pain and to the potential damage that that can cause for them as individuals, as families and as communities. But this government is. This government does not seem to care. It thinks: ‘I’ll just throw some money at it and it will go away. I’ll hide my head under the pillows and the monsters won’t get me anymore.’ Let me tell you that the monsters, the gremlins, are right there in action. They are hiding on their front bench, because there is this effort to supplant and undermine the enterprise spirit in this country. We have a government that, rather than saying, ‘How can we make this better and help to provide more and different alternatives for people?’ simply says: ‘I’ll whack away a bit more of the surplus. I’ll put it in there and buy myself a couple of months and hope the people of Australia will forget about this issue.’ But they will not forget, they cannot forget, because it goes to the very structure and the very heart of their lives.

For those of us who have children, if we want to go to work we need to make sure that our children are well looked after in the event that a parent cannot be at home with them. But what is going to happen on 1 January? Are the government banking on so many people losing their jobs between now and then that they will not need childcare facilities? You would think so, because they have been pushing and advocating that there are going to be job losses in this country. It is in the budget statements; it is in the Treasury documents. It is a great shame. Rather than looking to create and sustain jobs they are driving our economy into the ground and taking families with them. There is nothing more important than to ensure that families have every opportunity available to them, including children.

In her 15-minute speech Senator Collins did not acknowledge that there was a single problem that the government could deal with. She talked about a plan. I would suggest to you, Mr Deputy President, that their plan is a concept that is unknown to any of them yet. They are looking at a plan? They have had 12 months to work on it and they still do not know what it contains. That is an indictment of this government. It is a shame for this government. And the challenge for them is to come clean, make that admission and stop blaming other people for their failures.