Chris Ketter (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to use my time in senators' statements for the very practical purpose of alerting working families who rely on child care that the system is about to change and their payments may well be at risk.

To anybody listening, I want to place on record my serious concerns about the Turnbull government's changes to our childcare system. Putting aside the fact that thousands of vulnerable Australians will be worse off after 1 July—and I'll come back to that—Labor is worried that the way in which the changes are being implemented will cause hardship for families around the country. The onus has been placed squarely on parents and caregivers to contact Centrelink to transition to the new system, and the government has largely left it to childcare centres to follow up with families and support them through the transition. Unfortunately, despite the good work of thousands of proactive centres across Australia, we know that hundreds of thousands of families are yet to complete the new paperwork. The minister tried to dress up these numbers in this place yesterday, talking about how many families have signed up, but he failed to mention that 23 per cent of families, or around 275,000—that's around one in four—are yet to sign up and the deadline is imminent.

What does this mean for families? Parents and caregivers who have not yet transitioned should urgently visit the my.gov.au website or visit a local Centrelink office. Unfortunately, those who fail to complete the new paperwork risk losing their subsidies from 1 July. Of course, it will be the childcare facilities who have to pick up the pieces, dealing with confused and anxious families—families who can't afford to pay their bills and may not understand why—or, worse, dealing with families who don't realise their subsidy has been cut until their childcare fees are direct debited that week, families who live pay cheque to pay cheque, where every dollar counts. Without a subsidy, those families may see their grocery money disappear and be left with literally nothing to live on. I'm very worried about the impact of these changes on families.

I don't believe the government have done enough to support families through this transition. As I said, they've essentially left it to childcare operators to tell families about the changes, and we've heard nothing from the government on how long it will take Centrelink to process each family's transition. Given the blowout in Centrelink payment processing times, the wait times on phone calls and the volumes of calls that simply go unanswered, I am not brimming with confidence about families getting timely results from Centrelink under a coalition government ever.

I return now to the issue of families that will be disadvantaged by the Turnbull government's changes. Under these changes, access to early childhood education will be cut for around one in four families across the country. Access will be cut for over 62,000 families in Queensland alone. Amanda Rishworth, Labor's shadow minister for early childhood education and development, was in Queensland recently, and I thank her for visiting my duty electorate of Petrie. Unfortunately, I was required in Canberra for estimates that week, so I sent my apologies to the Goodstart Early Learning centre in Rothwell. I thank them very much for hosting the shadow minister and our federal Labor candidate for Petrie, Corinne Mulholland. I look forward to visiting one of the great Goodstart centres across Petrie at another time in the future, but I know Corinne Mulholland has been very active in campaigning against these Liberal and National cuts, and she's out there every day talking with local mums and dads about the affordability and accessibility of our childcare system, while the Liberal member for Petrie stays silent on the issue.

Labor has a very proud record when it comes to supporting parents back into the workforce and advancing early childhood education. We have a proud record of making child care more affordable to parents and caregivers. It was the Whitlam government who took on the implementation of the Child Care Act 1972, and in 1974 the Whitlam government broadened funding to include preschools and childcare support for all families, not just for the poor. I note the assertions by Brennan and Wales and by Brennan and Adamson quoted by Sumsion et al in an article in the Australasian Journal of Early Childhood in December 2013:

Both the Act and the Whitlam era … have been identified as a 'turning point' in childcare politics …

Then, from 1983 to 1987 under the Hawke Labor government, the Commonwealth worked with states and territories to expand the childcare system, together with funding capital development and around 20,000 places. In 1984 childcare assistance was introduced and a more needs-based planning approach to places adopted. In 1986 Labor put caps on fees that facilities could charge, and in 1988 the National Childcare Strategy was announced, aimed at providing an extra 30,000 childcare places. In our last term of government we raised the cap on the childcare rebate, enabling more parents and caregivers to participate more fully in the workforce without being penalised by fees and facilitating more time for parents to look for work or study.

I am also proud of the fact that Labor works hand in hand with the union movement to fight for fairer wages and good conditions for early childhood workers and educators. I want to particularly acknowledge the efforts by the Big Steps campaign run by United Voice, pushing for fair pay for fair work by workers in childcare facilities across the country. My wife re-entered the workforce when our kids were young. As a father of four, I note that we could not have achieved all that we have achieved in our family without the support of early childhood educators. We entrust our children to these workers in some of their most formative developmental years. We know the transformative power that education—even just regular reading—provides for our children. Labor recognises that quality early education and care can only be provided by a skilled, professional and well-paid workforce. We don't think it is right that those who educate our youngest minds earn less than half the national average wage.

In conclusion, right now big-business profits are hitting record highs, but workers' wages are standing still. Inequality is increasing, and the gender gap has never been more obvious. The ABC reported earlier this month that, for the first time in recorded history, less than half of all working Australians have a permanent full-time job with leave entitlements. Cost-of-living pressures are hurting families, and Labor recognises that it can be an incredibly difficult decision for families weighing up the pros and cons of returning to work and putting a child into care. We have heard information about effective marginal tax rates in the past couple of weeks in the debate about personal income tax cuts. We have heard about how the cost of child care contributes to effective marginal tax rates and can act as a significant disincentive to parents re-entering the workforce. Yet this government does nothing to address these issues, and it has form when it comes to neglecting issues facing our early education workforce.

In conclusion: the government have done a number of things. They've allowed the Early Years Workforce Strategy to expire, abolished the Long Day Care Professional Development Program and ended funding for professional support coordinators. Now they're cutting access to early childhood education and care for some of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable parents and children in the country. The last thing we should do for these families is further entrench the cycle of disadvantage, but that's exactly what the Liberals and Nationals are doing. Now more than ever we need a federal Labor government to support families and children by getting the policy settings right. Labor will make sure that early childhood education takes priority over tax cuts to big business. Labor will make sure our educators and our workers are valued. Labor will ensure that our childcare system supports our most vulnerable children and families to reap the benefits that we know early childhood education can offer.

In closing, I just want to remind people to go to the my.gov.au website or visit their local Centrelink office.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! We will move to questions without notice.