Maria Kovacic (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

I also stand to take note of answers to all coalition questions. I'm going to start with the questions that my colleague Senator Duniam asked in relation to child care. This has been a very disturbing series of allegations over the recent period. As soon as they came to pass, our leader, Sussan Ley, came out and said that we would immediately work with the government and that we stood ready to work with the government on any changes required to strengthen protections for our children. In addition, our leader, Sussan Ley, wrote to the Prime Minister to reiterate that to which she had spoken, and that is really important. We are here to work with the government to ensure that we can protect our children in any way that we can. We are grateful to the government for the work that they have already done in this space.

The bill that was referenced relates to funding arrangements being able to be withdrawn from operators that do not do the right thing. That is a good thing, but it doesn't go far enough. Our questions related to timelines for what states and territories needed to do in order to ensure that protections were strengthened for children. We didn't receive an answer in relation to those timelines. As I said, we are supportive of the laws in relation to funding, but that is only a part of the issue that needs to be addressed. We need to look at the work that the states and territories will be doing, because they are the regulators. The balance of that work needs to be done without delay, and we need to understand when that will happen.

The government is the leader in relation to driving these reforms. They are the ones that can make this happen. They are the ones that can set the deadlines and ensure that states and territories meet those deadlines. Parents expect them to do that. Parents expect them to do that expeditiously, and they expect them to do it now—not in a few weeks or months. That is a fair and reasonable expectation, given the nature and depravity of the allegations that we have heard.

We have such a breakdown between the individual states and territories when it comes to information sharing. We should ensure that no individual who has been sacked from any childcare centre, or from any environment where they are working with children, should ever be able to get any kind of employment in another childcare centre or another environment where they are accessing or working with children. That should never be allowed. If somebody has been terminated on the basis of their conduct, then why should we expose other children and other families to them?

We need to act on this very quickly, and we need the government to explain why there hasn't been a deadline set for this. That is a very fair and reasonable expectation from us as an opposition not only in dealing with this matter constructively but also in highlighting a criticism of a delay that perhaps shouldn't be there. We have breakdowns between government departments at the state and territory level. That also needs to be dealt with. It needs to be addressed urgently. There is bipartisan support to get these things done. We are here to help you do that. We just need you to show the leadership that is needed in order to get this done expeditiously, because our children deserve that.

I don't think any of us in this place ever wanted to hear of the type of allegations that we have heard in the past few weeks. It has distressed all of us. And the people outside this building—the people who we represent—expect us to act in a manner that is clear-minded and efficient and that ensures that these kinds of things can never happen in our country again. We need to ensure that we deliver on that expectation.