Kate Lundy (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Thanks for indicating that, Senator Nash. The changes to family assistance law will increase controls of the recovery of childcare benefit and other childcare assistance payments made to childcare services by extending the offsetting and debt recovery provisions. Currently, the debts of one childcare service may be recovered only from that service. I mentioned this briefly in my summing up but I will just provide a little more detail. These changes will allow the debts of one service to be recovered from another service operated by the same operator and, as I mentioned, this will make them more accountable and provide for more flexible arrangements for services.

Where a service notifies that they are ceasing to operate, the changes will allow recovery of enrolment advances made to the service to commence immediately. This will also allow ceasing of further enrolment advances during the notification period. These changes will mean that services do not incur debts that need to be resolved at the point that they cease operating. Many services that cease are surprised when they receive debt notifications at this point, so I think it will be a very important clarification and change within the sector. Changes to the absence provisions will clarify when an absence can be considered to have permanently ceased and services will be less likely to be noncompliant through misinter­pretation of the family assistance law.

Another area that I think it is timely to mention is how the changes will improve childcare services through compliance with the childcare benefit requirements. The overnight collapse of ABC Learning took everyone by surprise. I know a number of senators have commented on that. We did take decisive action to ensure continued care for the almost 100,000 families impacted. We are continuing to support the sector and families to ensure that such an occurrence does not occur again.

I think the issue of strengthening the childcare approvals processes will place us in really good stead. It is something that the sector, I know, is very supportive of. It allows the secretary to refuse a childcare service's application for childcare benefit approval unless the operator has been previously approved for childcare benefit and has a history of noncompliance as I mentioned.