Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Government Services) Share this | Hansard source

As I said, I will certainly not be talking about the confidential deliberations of our party room. But I'm delighted to talk about the outcomes of that party room and the legislation that we bring into this chamber. Let me share with you some of the things we've been doing since we've been in government. We're spending 77 per cent more than Labor did in government on child care—a record $10.3 billion this year, including $9 billion to subsidise the fees set by childcare services. Today over 280,000 Australian children are in child care. And—wonderfully—women's workforce participation reached a record high of 61.8 per cent in March this year, up from 58.7 per cent. We overhauled the childcare system in 2018 to introduce one subsidy. The hourly fee cap we introduced is working to keep downward pressure on fees, with 87.5 per cent of services charging under that hourly cap rate in centre based day care.

But we on this side of the chamber know what really matters to parents, and that is their out-of-pocket costs. We have kept our out-of-pocket costs low—

Opposition senators interjecting—