Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Early Childhood Education) | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Tyrrell, for your first question as a Labor Senator for Tasmania. It is good to have the opportunity to clear this up, because it seems that there's been a little bit of confusion lately about the importance of early childhood education. Last week, the One Nation leader was asked what she would do to improve the childcare system. She said, and I quote, 'Child care is completely out of control. Who's utilising those services? Do they require those services?' Well, let me help One Nation out. The answer is that one million modern Australian families rely on the early education and care system every week. That is, who is utilising these services—one million Australian families and 1.4 million Australian children. And, yes, Senator Hanson, those children and those families do need those services. Australian families need the childcare system to make their busy lives work and to help give their children a great start in life. On this side of the chamber, we back those families. We're backing them by investing in our nation's essential early childhood educators with our historic pay rise, we're backing them with our three-day guarantee and we're backing families by building more centres in the places where they are needed too. This is the practical support that one million modern Australian families need. So, while One Nation are scratching their heads over what modern families actually look like, and while One Nation scratches around for a guide to modern family life today, Labor is getting on with the job of backing Australian families with the practical support that they need.