Kimberley Kitching (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Government Accountability) Share this | Hansard source

In the other place, the Prime Minister rose in the past hour and said, 'Our plan is to get workers who are not in jobs back in jobs,' but there was no detail whatsoever. What I would say is that it is the Labor Party that has actually thought through how to people get into jobs. One instance of that is our proper plan for child care, acknowledging the proper place of female workforce participation, and in turn a proper plan for the economy. The government has shown great unwillingness to support working Australian families by providing a fair and properly funded childcare scheme. The coronavirus pandemic and the economic destruction it has wrought have left us with a once-in-a-generation chance to build the economy that we want, that Australians deserve. Policymakers learnt this lesson during the Great Depression: you do not cut spending during a crisis. Now is the time for a bold plan to restructure the economy, yet what do we hear from the current government? Nothing like that whatsoever; it is all just announcements.

The Morrison government would rather withdraw support early for struggling Australians. They would rather ascribe debt unlawfully to Australians under the robodebt scheme than put money into brave policies and nation-building legacy projects. Fixing the unfair childcare system in this country would be just that. Australians pay some of the highest childcare costs in the world. Fees have increased 35 per cent under the Liberals. That is simply not sustainable. It is only under a Labor government that it will be remedied. Our plan, which the Morrison government refuses to support, will scrap the $10,560 childcare subsidy cap. This cap often sees women losing money just because they undertake an extra day of work. That is just not acceptable. Don't those opposite want to reward ambition, hard work and aspiration? That's what they say, but again it's all just words. Labor will lift the maximum childcare subsidy rate to 90 per cent. Not only will our plan help more women get back into the workforce; it will also help families with the increased living costs that the Morrison government has overseen in this term of government. It will provide for better early childhood learning opportunities.

The way the Morrison government have designed their system, women actually lose money should they wish to return to the workforce and work more than three days a week. The current system locks out more than 100,000 families who simply can't afford it. Our plan is good for the economy, and if the Morrison government were serious about being good economic managers, as they so often say they are, they would support it. Our plan will both lift workforce participation and spur economic growth. Both KPMG and the Grattan Institute have modelled the economic benefits of increased investment in child care. KPMG noted that further investment in this sector could create up to 210,000 more working days a week. That is the equivalent of 30,000 to 40,000 full-time jobs. Now, if those opposite don't like KPMG, the Grattan Institute found that women would increase their hours by up to 13 per cent if the childcare system were reformed to make it cheaper.

As we know, the Morrison government is squibbing its response to the coronavirus induced economic crisis. It isn't building a plan to create jobs; it isn't investing in critical infrastructure; it isn't easing the burden on families that this awful year has inflicted. Rather than put in place a proper plan for child care in this country, the Morrison government—particularly the bungling former flatmate, the Minister for Government Services—would rather hound people with robodebt notices, all the while knowing that that was unlawful. It is perhaps the most cruel act committed by an Australian government against its citizens that has ever been seen.

The economy was already in trouble before last summer's bushfires and coronavirus, because of seven, going on eight, years of inaction by the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government. Government debt will soon reach $1 trillion. The Morrison government has been relying on outside forces to keep the economy ticking over, at every turn unwilling to intervene to protect the livelihoods of working Australians. Many Australians haven't had a pay rise in real terms for years. Business investment has been weak for years. But now, when faced with the opportunity to support a policy that would not only alleviate the financial stress felt by working mothers and families— (Time expired)