Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to take note today of answers given by Senator Payne to questions about early childhood education. We know from the COVID-19 pandemic that it has had a disproportionate impact on women in Australia. So the spin that's being put on over there by Senator Seselja, that we should all be celebrating, I think rings fairly hollow, especially to a lot of women in Australia.

Women are more likely to have caring responsibilities and more likely to be working in insecure jobs. So it's of little surprise to Australians that the government's policy response to this pandemic ignores this impact when of course the ranks of those opposite are dominated by men. It goes a long way to explaining why the gender gap in Australia is so high and why the Morrison government is failing dismally to engage women in the workforce. It explains why women are disproportionately represented amongst those workers the government has left behind through its design of the JobKeeper scheme, such as casuals with less than 12 months service with their current employer.

Research by the advocacy group The Parenthood found that most Australian households currently using child care will have a parent forced to reduce work when full childcare fees return, and that in most of these households that parent will be a woman. The same research found that over 40 per cent of Australian families using child care had at least one parent's income reduced as a result of COVID-19. Senator Seselja did his bit of spin, but what he didn't point out was that the cost of child care in Australia is among the highest in the world. Child care was already difficult enough to afford before COVID-19 hit, but now the families which are struggling financially due to the pandemic are going to struggle even more. The government has done no modelling—no modelling—on the impact on parents of ripping away JobKeeper payment from the early childhood education and care sector. But its own review of the relief package found that ending it three months early could put up to 86 per cent of services at risk of closure—86 per cent of services at risk of closure!

As a former early childhood educator, let me just say that that is abhorrent! That just frightens me, because child care is such an important issue. It's about access and equity. It's about making sure that people who don't have a high income can access child care for the good of their child. It's not just about getting people back to work, to be honest. Yes, that's a large part of it, but children need social interaction with other children, and children from disadvantaged backgrounds must be able to have that access that they so desperately need to help them develop both socially and emotionally, and even physically in a number of cases.

So don't stand there and tell me how good you have been in regard to child care! I worked in that sector for 12 years; I know that sector, and through COVID-19 I've had many, many people from that sector approach me and talk to me about concerns they have regarding JobKeeper and—especially this week—regarding the flip-flop where Mr Morrison, within 48 hours, said that JobKeeper would remain and then said, 'Oh well, except for early childhood educators.' We know what you guys on that side think about early childhood educators; it's in Hansard. Early childhood educators are some of the most dedicated workers in this country, and they take the responsibility of looking after people's most prized possession—their child—very, very seriously.

For this government to actually have a review of the relief package and find that ending it three months early could put up to 86 per cent of services at risk of closure is abhorrent. Many providers are already struggling because the government's free childcare announcement wasn't properly funded, but the snapback is going to make the situation even worse. There'll be a snap alright, let me tell you! It will be the snap of the doors closing on some of these early childhood education providers. While the government hasn't modelled the impact on parents, the modelling that has been done by others paints a very grim picture. As I said, a survey of 1,300 parents conducted by advocacy group The Parenthood found that more than a third will be forced to reduce days or remove their children from care altogether when we snap back to your— (Time expired)