Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Improving Assistance for Vulnerable and Disadvantaged Families) Bill 2020

Senator VAN (11:42): I thank Senator Pratt for raising the bureaucratic nightmare that we're seeing in my home state of Victoria—a bureaucratic nightmare that those on the other side seem to not only have a blind spot for but have turned a tin ear to as well. I've not heard anyone on that side acknowledge what is happening in Victoria. I find that disgraceful. As of today, 462 Victorians have lost their lives. There are over 3½ thousand active cases. What does that do—

Senator Pratt interjecting—

Senator VAN: Really? Let's talk about the disaster that's happening in Victoria, Senator Pratt. There are over 14,000 people who have had coronavirus in Victoria. In stage 4 lockdown, people can't even put their children in child care. Your Labor premier has locked up the state so hard that people can't work. People are being put out of business. People are losing their livelihoods. So when you're saying, 'Let's look after people,' let's get on top of the coronavirus in Victoria. Let's get people out of lockdown. Let's let people get back to their lives, Senator Pratt. Let people get back to their livelihoods. Let's look after their businesses and look after their livelihoods, instead of rabbiting on about this.

Senator Pratt: Lockdowns work.

Senator VAN: Lockdown isn't working. We've had six—

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator McAllister, a point of order?

Senator McAllister: I rise on relevance. There is a lot of latitude in these debates and senators make broad-ranging contributions, but Senator «Van» thus far is not really talking about the bill before us.

Senator Dean Smith: There is no point of order, Madam Deputy President. Senator «Van» had just started—

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: I think that is my decision to make, thank you, Senator Smith. I am listening very carefully, and I do acknowledge that Senator Van has not yet addressed the bill, but I expect him to do that fairly soon, otherwise I'll remind him to address the bill in front of us.

Senator VAN: I was talking about child care, and those families that can't get their children into child care because of the lockdown and the impacts it's having on Victorian businesses. Labor say lockdown works. We've been in stage 4 for three weeks already, we've been in stage 3 for over six weeks, and there are the hotspot suburbs that have been in lockdown for over 10 weeks. So, if this was going to work, it would be working better. Perhaps we should be concentrating on better testing and better contact tracing, because that's where the Labor premier, Dan Andrews, is failing Victorians.

I now am very pleased to speak on the Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Improving Assistance for Vulnerable and Disadvantaged Families) Bill 2020. Like all my colleagues on this side of the chamber, I recognise that good early child care provides the foundation for young Australians to grow and to learn and to form the confidence that they need for the future. During this government's time in office, we've invested heavily in making child care more affordable and more accessible for all Australian families. Just in the last financial year alone, we've invested over $8.6 billion into the sector, and you'll be pleased to hear, Madam Acting Deputy President Bilyk, that this will continue to rise. Over the coming years we will see this investment climb to more than $10 billion per year. But this is not just a large investment; this is a large investment that has ensured families right across the country are better off. This investment from the Morrison government has meant more families can now access child care, due to significant reductions in out-of-pocket expenses. A typical family is now better off to the tune of $1,300 per annum per child. In difficult times this is a tangible and welcome benefit to families. But more can always be done.

As I spoke about last night, my home state of Victoria is dealing with a state of disaster. Every day I get calls from distraught business owners, who are mothers and fathers, who are suffering because of lockdowns that have been brought about in Victoria due to the state of disaster because of the disastrous handling of the coronavirus by the Andrews government. With lockdowns, we've seen, comes business shutdown, and with that comes rising unemployment. It is, therefore, vital that we get the policy settings right to assist those who are struggling to keep their businesses afloat and those families who are struggling to make ends meet. The Morrison government's primary aim at the moment is to support families through the COVID-19 crisis. As part of that, we are supporting the childcare sector, ensuring that quality early childcare education and care is available to vulnerable and disadvantaged children and their families.

In response to the COVID-19 crisis, the Morrison government initiated the childcare relief package, which has seen around 99 per cent of childcare providers keep their doors open. I'm sure all in here will agree this is a huge achievement and something this government should be proud of. This relief package not only supported families during the early stages of the pandemic but also supported the work of childcare centre staff, ensuring that they stayed in work. Since 13 July, the childcare transition package has included a payment of 25 per cent of a provider's pre-COVID revenue. This transition package has continued to support childcare centres right across the country. In particular, centres in my home state of Victoria have benefited from additional support to the tune of an extra five per cent, in response to the situation that we are facing. I thank Minister Tehan, Treasurer Frydenberg and Prime Minister Morrison for making these additional supports available. As you can see, Madam Deputy President, the introduction of this bill clearly demonstrates that, with the return of the demand-driven childcare subsidy system in July, the Morrison government is committed to improving access to child care for vulnerable and disadvantaged children and their families.

The Morrison government pride ourselves on our pragmatism. We listen to the experts, and we are willing to address matters following feedback, because that is what good governments do. This bill is no different in that regard. This bill has been drafted specifically to address feedback from the childcare sector. Following the new childcare package implementation that occurred on 2 July 2018, and, more recently, in submissions to the Senate inquiry into the Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Building on the Child Care Package) Bill, stakeholders raised areas where improvements could be made to streamline access to additional childcare subsidies. This bill does just that.

The additional childcare subsidy is part of the childcare safety net. It is designed to give the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children in Australia a strong start through access to quality early childcare education and care. The additional childcare subsidy provides additional fee assistance to an individual or, in limited circumstances, to a provider for children at risk of serious abuse or neglect. This subsidy will ensure these children will continue to have access to child care, something that I am sure all senators will agree is a good thing.

This bill also seeks to reduce unnecessary red tape for providers, families and state and territory governments by extending the backdating of additional childcare subsidy certificates and determinations from 28 days to 13 weeks in exceptional circumstances; by extending from 13 weeks to 12 months the period for which additional childcare subsidy determinations can be given for children on a long-term child protection order, including those in foster care; and by clarifying that a provider is eligible for additional childcare subsidy in respect of certain defined classes of children, such as foster children. The additional childcare subsidy is a top-up payment in addition to the usual childcare subsidy. In 2018-19, the Morrison government paid almost $50 million in additional childcare subsidy, which supported 21,500 vulnerable and disadvantaged children and their families to cover childcare costs. All senators, and all Australians, should be proud of the contribution that we are making to the next generation of Australians.

In closing, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank childcare educators, both the owners of childcare centres and their teams—their teachers, nurses, cleaners and admin staff—for the outstanding work they do each and every day. Specifically, I would like to acknowledge the educators in Victoria, who have continued to provide high-quality support to children and families through the COVID-19 crisis. Our communities across the country are stronger for the work that childcare educators do. I know that sometimes they are looking after kids who, sadly, come from very difficult circumstances. Childcare educators are, for many of those kids, the ones they are closest to, the ones who provide the care they need and the ones who provide the few hours a day of normal life that children need to thrive. They are the ones who provide the time when children can really be children and not deal with the issues they face at home on a daily basis.

We've all heard of the 'blind pandemic' that's going on. This blind pandemic is not just family violence; it's suicide and it's depression. These are things people are struggling with every day across Australia but particularly, right now, in my home state of Victoria. We need to lift the lockdowns and get on top of health care in Victoria. Victoria needs to do better when it comes to contact tracing and better when it comes to testing. It needs to do more so that people's lives are returned to them—so that businesses can return to normal, so that employees can go back to work and earn money, so that children can go to school and child care and live normal lives. I call on the Andrews government to do more, to do better. Children in Victoria, the people of Victoria, deserve it. They really deserve it and they deserve it now. We're not seeing numbers come down fast enough. With less than another three weeks to go, it's hard to see how the Andrews government, because of their failures, will have any other choice but to use the one tool that they find available to them: all they have to resort to is locking down Victorians.

So it's time, if we care for our children, to get their lives back to normal, and we can only do this through better processes in contact tracing, in testing and, of course, let's not forget looking after people in hotel quarantine. The failures there are why we're in this position now, make no mistake about that; the failure in contact tracing is the added part to that. We've seen outbreaks in other states but they've managed to contain them. New South Wales provides the gold standard as to how to do contact tracing in a coronavirus pandemic—

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Van, there is ample opportunity to address the points you're currently making at other times. I gave you leeway at the beginning, but I'm asking you now—

Senator VAN: Madam Deputy President, I have 2½ minutes—

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Van, I'm not inviting you to argue with me, it's—

Senator VAN: Well, a point of order, then, Madam Deputy President. I am allowed to speak; I have 2½ more minutes. I have addressed the bill and I am allowed to continue to be—

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Van, please resume your seat. Thank you. Senator Dean Smith.

Senator Dean Smith: Thank you, Madam Deputy President. With all due respect, of course, I think it's impossible for Senator Van to talk about this particular piece of legislation, which is deliberately constructed because of the context of the pandemic that is the coronavirus, and not mention the pandemic and the coronavirus. So I think that Senator «Van» is in keeping with the expectations of—

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Thank you, Senator Smith. As I said, I allowed Senator «Van» leeway at the beginning. I'm asking you, Senator Van , to conclude your remarks on the bill. Thank you.

Senator VAN: Yes—

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Van, please resume your seat. I have another point of order. Senator Dean Smith.

Senator Dean Smith: Again, excuse me, Madam Deputy President, but Senator «Van» still has another 2½ minutes to make in his contribution, according to the clock.

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Yes. I was certainly not seeking to curtail his time. I'm asking him that in the remaining minutes to please confine his remarks, however broadly he wants, to the bill in front of us, which is the Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Improving Assistance for Vulnerable and Disadvantaged Families) Bill 2020. Thank you, Senator «Van» .

Senator VAN: I will. And I note contributions from the other side, which ranged very widely across a number of different topics that weren't constrained to this bill.

Senator Bilyk interjecting—

Senator VAN: Sorry, what was that, Senator Bilyk?

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Order! Thank you, Senator Bilyk! Calling out is disorderly and more so when you're not in your seat. Please continue, Senator Van.

Senator VAN: Thank you. I will conclude here by saying that for many children, childcare educators are the best people in their lives. But for them to resume a normal life and to be able to go to child care because their parents are back at work is one of the most important things we can do. I think all senators would agree with that and I call on the senators for Victoria on the other side to join with me in calling on the Victorian government to do more to get people back to work. Thank you.