(Deputy) Speaker, when it comes to the legislation before us this (afternoon/evening/morning), the question must be asked – does this Bill help working families who are doing it tough in a cost-of-living crisis, trying to make ends meet and put food on the table? And importantly, does it help working families living in rural and regional parts of the country who are frequently unable to access the childcare they need at present?

Unsurprisingly, the answer is no.  

If this Bill passes, families – particularly rural, regional and remote families who need childcare so they can work - will be competing against families who will now be eligible for taxpayer-subsidised access but may not be working or studying or volunteering at all. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand that this will increase demand. And increasing demand without increasing supply is a real issue, especially in the regions where the private market is struggling to meet the needs of communities for childcare services at present. Supply is already an issue in the regions. While the Albanese Labor government crows about increasing wages and subsidies for childcare, Mallee families are stranded in a childcare desert, with long waiting lists and in some towns – no childcare service at all.

Nothing to crow about in the childcare deserts, just crows squawking with no childcare place in sight.

I have been meeting and listening to families all over Mallee about the challenges they face in childcare deserts. Mallee parents regularly contact me desperately seeking help. So much so that in October 2024 I invited the Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education, Angie Bell, to my electorate to meet with families in the desert, visiting Robinvale, Cohuna, Hopetoun and Beulah.

Parents came to see Angie and myself to share their personal grief and struggles at not being able to find childcare places locally or within a 100 km  driving distance. At Robinvale, for instance, there is just one service run by the Murray Valley Aboriginal Corporation which takes all children from the community.  Robinvale is one of Mallee’s worst childcare deserts, which are defined as having less than one place for every three children needing it.  In Robinvale, there are ten children needing each place.

In Hopetoun, mothers told us of the mental health struggles they have endured not being able to obtain childcare for their children. The local provider ceased operations recently, and local shires (Yarriambiack and Hindmarsh) have been working hard with Wimmera Southern Mallee Development’s By Five initiative to strengthen childcare in the region.  I am working with them at state and federal levels to cut through the red tape and promote policy that will bring sustainable childcare to the region. By Five reports that over 50 per cent of the Wimmera Southern Mallee alone is considered a childcare desert.

Cohuna residents and stakeholders said their number one priority is to have a date to work towards, after the Victorian Government made an in-principle commitment to establishing the town’s first childcare centre sometime in 2027 or 2028. A long way off when families need care now!  Funnily enough, the very day the Shadow Minister and I were meeting Cohuna residents about their childcare desert, the Allan Labor Government mysteriously finally set a date for when the childcare centre would open there.  

Beulah’s Heather Sherwell has two young children and says re: the lack of childcare:

“We’re essentially killing small towns … we’ve got to choose between, does one of us stop working, does a farm lose an essential worker, … or whether we just have to pack up and forget about everything we’ve built.”  

In Gannawarra shire late last year, 86 children were waiting for a place in long day care, with some waiting since January 2023, while 42 Cohuna/Leitchville families were waiting for family day care places – some since May 2022.

In the Wimmera and Southern Mallee at one point there were 300 children on local waiting lists and 84 additional staff needed to meet the demand, according to data collected by the By Five Early Years Initiative. In many rural towns with populations of less than 5,000 people, there is no childcare service at all, so waitlists alone do not tell the tale of the huge hole that is hurting families. There is no waitlist for a service that doesn’t even exist. Wimmera families and councils have been left to fend for themselves.  

Dedicated Rainbow community member, 41 year old Katherine Durant and her farmer husband Ben have two boys under 6 yrs. He works 7 days a week up to 16 hours a day, leaving Katherine to sole parent.  Katherine says:

“You just have to look at the faces of the rural women with small children during cropping and harvest. They are doing the best they can and, like me, probably cry every day in frustration. But we do it. We shut up and we do it.”

The lack of childcare in Rainbow and Jeparit leaves nurses and teachers unable to return to work.

This is a common issue across regional, rural and remote Australia. Gaps in childcare coverage – left unaddressed – threaten the future viability of rural, regional and remote towns. Some families tell me they may leave the district if a solution isn’t reached soon.  Healthcare workers and their professional organisations frequently tell me that a lack of access to childcare is a major barrier to getting the doctors, nurses, physios and other professionals we need in rural and regional towns to provide essential healthcare services. As the Shadow Assistant Minister for Regional Health I see childcare access, which relies on childcare supply, as a key strategy for boosting health workforce in the regions.

Now, (deputy) speaker, let me remind you that the families I described previously across the electorate of Mallee are families who are struggling to buy their own home or due to the high cost of rent, which is now 17 per cent higher than it was before this government came to office. They are struggling with health costs that have increased by 10 per cent in this same period, electricity prices that have increased by 32 per cent, and gas prices that have increased by 34 per cent. These are families who need two incomes to survive – they need to work, and they need childcare to work. They can’t get the childcare they need, and they need it now.

But this Bill proposes to make tax payer subsidised childcare available to a larger pool of families. It proposes to expand eligibility to subsidised care, by removing the Activity Test for three days a week, so that families who need childcare so they can work will be competing against families who may not be working/studying/volunteering at all.

Now when the former Coalition government introduced the Activity Test in 2018, it was designed to encourage workforce participation. It was also designed to ensure priority of access was given to vulnerable families, alongside working families.  

Members on this side of the house firmly believe in providing support to those most in need – and that is why when the Activity Test was introduced, it included several exemptions for children and families with increased need for care.

This Bill  will provide ALL families (up to a combined income of $533,000) with access to 72 hours a fortnight of subsidised childcare. For Indigenous families, this will be increased to the maximum of 100 hours a fortnight of subsidised childcare.

I have to add Deputy Speaker it sticks in the craw of rural families in childcare deserts that Australians on a combined income of over $500,000 get government subsidised childcare support, but they can not access a cracker because they are in a childcare desert.

The Coalition will oppose this legislation. This Bill is flawed in a number of ways. It increases access (re: demand) without addressing supply issues, it removes priority access for working families, it disincentives aspiration to be working/studying/volunteering if not taking care of one’s children, it does nothing to increase access or flexibility for families, and does not address current cost of living pressures. Of particular note is the fact it does nothing to help solve the unique problems faced by rural and regional families, like those in my electorate of Mallee.

Over the last three years, Labor has failed to meaningfully address supply side constraints. They argue their $1 billion Building Early Education Fund policy will boost supply, but history tells us they will not be able to deliver, especially outside of major cities. This government has a track record of de-prioritising the needs of rural and regional Australians by making schemes that were previously targeted at rural and regional issues less targeted – diluting the needs of rural and regional people amongst all groups with unique or increased need, as if to deny the challenges experienced.  

Or, as I have put it multiple times in this place, robbing regions to buy votes in the inner cities.

Labor does not have rural and regional Australian’s back when it comes to so many public policy issues, including equitable access to childcare.

Let me know discuss flexibility. Families have a right to choose what their work and family life looks like and the Coalition respects this choice. Labor’s three-day guarantee does nothing for families who choose to remain at home and raise their children until primary school, or families who use flexible arrangements such as grandparents or nannies by choice or because centre-based care arrangements or family day care don’t meet their needs adequately. The Bill also does nothing for parents who need flexibility, such as families who do shift work, or work non-standard hours eg. healthcare workers.  Again, these hardworking families will not benefit from this change, but families who aren’t working, studying or training will.  

And now, affordability. Some sections of the community have labelled the three-day guarantee a cost-of-living measure, but in reality, it is nothing of the sort. Since Labor came to office, the cost of childcare has increased by 22.3 per cent. The last time Labor was in government, the cost of childcare skyrocketed by 53 per cent in six years.  Almost one in three services are charging above the fee cap, as providers struggle to keep up with rising regulation and operational costs.

Australia’s budget is under immense pressure. The Activity Test plays an important role in encouraging workforce participation and creates a stronger culture of self-sufficiency among those who can, and should, support themselves. The Activity Test is not unfair. Rather, it ensures that the taxpayer funded childcare subsidy is targeted – that government funds are applied in a targeted manner. Yet this government not only wants to spend taxpayer money to enable additional families to access childcare, whether or not they are working or have other reasons for benefiting from the care, but they are not addressing the core issues at hand in rural and regional Australia, of improving access to care in communities where it is just not available.

Now, (deputy) speaker, let me talk for a moment about our record on early education and care. The Coalition almost doubled childcare investment to $11 billion in 2022-23 and locked in ongoing funding for Preschools and Kindergartens. We made the biggest reforms to the early childhood education system in over 40 years. More than 1.3 million children from around one million families have access to the Child Care Subsidy. Under the Coalition, 280,000 more children are in early childhood education. Our targeted extra support introduced in March 2022 made a real difference: childcare costs came down 4.6 per cent in the year to June 2022. We also saw women’s workforce participation reach a record high of 62.3% in May 2022, compared to 58.7% when Labor last left office.

As we approach the next Federal Election, the Coalition will continue to advocate for flexibility and choice for all families and the targeted use of taxpayer funds. I assure you, (deputy) speaker the Coalition is formulating policy in this area that is not city-centric and will deliver meaningful outcomes for Mallee families, ensuring the unique challenges in rural and regional Australia when it comes to accessing childcare, are addressed.