Senate debates

Monday, 22 September 2014

Questions without Notice

Child Care

2:46 pm

Photo of Zed SeseljaZed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party) Share this | | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Human Services, Senator Payne, representing the Assistant Minister for Education. Can the minister update the Senate on the progress of the Productivity Commission's inquiry into child care?

2:47 pm

Photo of Marise PayneMarise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | | Hansard source

I thank Senator Seselja for the question. We are very cognisant of the fact that access to affordable, flexible and accessible child care is more and more critical for workforce participation of Australian families, but particularly women.

We need a childcare system that suits today's 24/7 economy, not the old nine-to-five working week. That would mean that families are able to plan child care around their work life, not the other way around.

Photo of Sue LinesSue Lines (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | | Hansard source

When? It has been more than a year, and you—

Photo of Marise PayneMarise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | | Hansard source

As senators would be aware—at least those who are interested—the government has tasked the Productivity Commission to report on ways in which we can improve that affordability, that flexibility and that accessibility. The draft report of the Productivity Commission was delivered in July. They are now in their final stages and I understand that the final report will be delivered to the government later this year.

In the process of the inquiry, the Productivity Commission received over 900 formal submissions—a very significant input from both a wide cross-section of the Australian community and organisations—giving the Productivity Commission in its work an absolute wealth of ideas and evidence with which to conduct their inquiry. As well as those formal submissions, the Productivity Commission received almost 1,200 comments from ordinary Australians—from mums and dads and others who are part of the system—who wanted to make a contribution as well. In addition, over 85 individuals or organisations appeared in the public hearings process before the commission, giving them further invaluable feedback on their draft.

If you look at the multiplicity of responses to the Productivity Commission and the number of people who have engaged in the process, which had that informal opportunity—

Senator Lines interjecting

Photo of Marise PayneMarise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | | Hansard source

for Australian individuals to make comments, it is a great response from the Australian public and it really does illustrate how important this area of public policy is in the Australian community. (Time expired)

2:49 pm

Photo of Zed SeseljaZed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr President, I have a supplementary question. Will the minister explain what recent ABS data tells us about women's participation in the paid workforce? Why is it critical for Australian families to have access to affordable, flexible and accessible child care?

Photo of Marise PayneMarise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | | Hansard source

Again, I thank Senator Seselja for his question, because these are very important statistics. Most recent data released by the ABS showed that the women's labour force participate rate continues to be lower than men's in Australia. At the moment we have figures which show us that 57½ per cent of mothers with children under five years are participating in the labour force, compared to 94 per cent of men with children of the same age. That figure changes quite dramatically, though, to 78 per cent of women once their children hit school age. It is concerning data but, at this stage, not that surprising.

The Productivity Commission's draft report found that 'the affordability of child care was the most commonly reported barrier to workforce participation for parents with children under five years old'.

Senator Lines interjecting

It also showed that a substantial number of women working in front-line jobs are being forced to return to a nine-to-five desk job. (Time expired)

Photo of Stephen ParryStephen Parry (President) Share this | | Hansard source

Before I call Senator Seselja, I would say to Senator Lines: you have interjected on every question, and I ask you to cease interjecting.

2:50 pm

Photo of Zed SeseljaZed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr President, I have a further supplementary question. Can the minister explain to the Senate how the government's approach in this area differs to previous approaches?

2:51 pm

Photo of Marise PayneMarise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | | Hansard source

I think it is important to return to some of the information I was speaking about earlier, because I know how much colleagues opposite like to talk about women in work and the gender pay gap. We now have a wealth of evidence that shows that improving affordability, flexibility and accessibility will remove significant barriers to women returning to the workforce. Those opposite know all about this—and they spent six years doing absolutely nothing. They were happy to jump up and down. They were happy to adopt a soapbox whenever it suited them and complain about the issues, but when it came to actually doing something they were invisible—nowhere to be seen. In fact, they sat back and presided over a 53 per cent fee increase in child care. That is an absolute disgrace. It is a lazy, wasteful approach to governing in this area. We are taking real action to make child care more affordable, more accessible and more flexible. (Time expired)