Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

Indeed, Senator Gichuhi, it is important to recognise that the Turnbull government's support for early childhood education and care is not just limited to preschool support but of course is underpinned by our substantial overhaul that will occur in July of this year to the childcare subsidy arrangements—an overhaul that will ensure greater support and access for hardworking Australian families, particularly low- and middle-income Australian families, who in many instances will be some thousands of dollars per annum better off as a result of our reforms to help them meet the cost of childcare services. Of course, the support in the childcare sector importantly provides additional support for preschool access for those children who access preschool via long day care settings. That means especially high levels of extra support in states like Queensland and New South Wales, but, in doing so, it does distort aspects of the way the partnership agreement works, which is another reason why we have flagged to the states and territories the need to work on a longer term basis that deals with some of these discrepancies.