Zed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr president, my question is to the Minister for Education and Training, Senator Birmingham. Will the minister update the Senate on what elements of the jobs for families package will support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and their families?

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for his question. Indigenous children are under-represented in the current childcare system, and the government is committed to increasing their participation, just as we are committed to increasing school attendance and, of course, workforce participation in Indigenous communities. The current system of funding for Indigenous focused childcare centres is historical and outdated. It does not respond to changes in communities or the increasing number of children attending child care.

The majority of Indigenous children that do attend child care attend approved childcare services as part of the mainstream childcare services, but around a third of Indigenous children who attend child care do so through services funded via the Budget Based Funded Program, or BBF. This program is a capped and closed program, meaning that new services are unable to be established in regional or remote communities where there may be demand or need. Historical inequities in the funding base of this program also mean that funding is incredibly skewed within it. Some services receive as little as $35 support per child per year, while others get up to $54,000 support per child per year. Families using BBF services are not eligible for any government assistance, such as the childcare rebate or childcare benefit. But, importantly, under our proposed childcare reforms those families will become eligible for the new childcare subsidy. They will be for the first time able to receive assistance for their childcare costs and they will be additionally supported through the $178 million Additional Child Care Subsidy, which provides a 120 per cent subsidy for at-risk children or parents experiencing temporary financial hardship, or additional assistance to parents transitioning to work. Further, the services themselves will benefit through the $271 million Community Child Care Fund, which can assist those services, including Indigenous services, to provide quality child care to children in these regional and remote areas in particular. (Time expired)

Zed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. How will the government support providers as they transition to the new arrangements?

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I was saying, the childcare reforms of our government will provide those providers with more flexibility and more support. For the first time ever, those services will be able to increase their income by expanding their service delivery instead of being constrained by a fixed amount of grant allocation. This expansion, of course, sits alongside the rights of parents accessing those services to be able to access government support for their childcare costs for the first time ever. The education department is already providing support to BBF services to enable them to transition to the new childcare system. All of the 300 or so BBF services have already been contacted and are being provided with regular information. Specialist consultants will provide one-on-one support to help services develop transition implementation plans and will fund the resources and provide training to support BBF services to connect with the new mainstream childcare system and the IT system as part of that. We want to support these services during this transition, to ensure that they are able to benefit from the full range of our childcare reforms. (Time expired)

Zed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Is the minister aware of any reports that misrepresent the proposed changes and might mislead families?

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today, the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care released a report commissioned from Deloitte. Unfortunately, this report looks at only one element of the comprehensive childcare package the government has release and disregards key areas. In fact, the report itself acknowledges:

… it does not present a comprehensive picture of the impact of the reforms once all resulting changes have been taken into account.

That is because the report only considers the potential impact from the childcare subsidy and ignores the significant support available through the $858 million Child Care Safety Net, including the support available via the $178 million Additional Child Care Subsidy, the 120 per cent subsidy available for children at risk or parents experiencing particular hardship—

Senator O'Neill interjecting—

And ignores, as the senator opposite likes to ignore, the $271 million Community Child Care Fund, which will assist services, including those Indigenous services, to be able to provide quality child care to those communities. We are committed to working with these services to make sure the transition is successful. (Time expired)