Matt Burnell
Spence · Australian Labor Party · Australia
“Christiana also said: We need Carnival to stop exploiting the workers. We work very long hours and get paid not even peanuts. Australia has built its reputation on fair wages, safe workplaces and respect for working people. Those values cannot stop at the water's edge.”
“Long shifts are routine, often stretching well beyond 12-hour days. Nobody should have to choose between protecting their health and keeping their job, and, after I heard this, nobody can convince me to go on a Carnival cruise in the future. The Maritime Union of Australia deserves enormous credit for exposing these practices.”
“This was about making sure those without a voice had someone prepared to stand up for them. That experience has stayed with me ever since. Perhaps that is why I reacted so strongly after meeting two former Carnival Cruise employees, Queen and Christiana, this week. What they described left me entirely appalled.”
“Queen and Christiana described having to purchase their own drinking water, Wi-Fi, toiletries and sanitary products while living on board. Basic necessities became another cost deducted from wages that were already impossible to live on. No employer should expect workers to pay simply to meet their most fundamental needs.”
“Thank you to the member for Mayo for that fine contribution to this House just now. Before I entered this place, I spent a decade working offshore in the Australian oil and gas industry.”
“I call on AMSA to ensure these rights are respected and enforced. I know the pride that comes from working in the maritime sector. I also know the sacrifices made by those who spend months away from their families to keep global trade and tourism moving. That commitment should never be rewarded with exploitation.”
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“The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network, ACCAN, wanted more and asked for direct regulation of the industry, hence this bill. In closing, this is a much-needed modernisation of consumer protections in this country. As I've pointed out, this is a welcome enhancement to ACMA's capabilities and the penalty framework they can enforce in order to ensure telcos are deterred from doing the wrong thing. It also incentivises these companies to educate themselves about their obligations and to conduct themselves appropriately. This is significant in itself. I want to finish by talking a little bit about what this bill means on a community level and what it means for families and households.”
“It aligns to other sectors, creating a uniform high standard of consumer relations, introducing a registration scheme for providers, to offer more transparency and accountability for customers. An example of what this is combating can be found in the form of Optus, which the ACCC alleged committed unconscionable conduct, breaking Australian consumer law. Optus are alleged to have sold hundreds of telecommunications goods and services that consumers did not want or need. Even worse, many of the consumers cited were experiencing vulnerability, financially and personally, and other disadvantages, such as living with a mental disability or limited cognitive capacity. Optus apologised and claimed to remedy the situation and take disciplinary action against staff.”
“On the first end, ACMA will have powers to take direct and immediate enforcement action against telcos who have breached their obligations to customers. It's a departure from the current two-step process. Right now, ACMA must issue the first direction to comply to offending telcos, no matter how significant the breach, and only take further action if noncompliance continues. Now, ACMA can do it straightaway. The second prong is that it increases the general penalty for those breaches from $250,000 to nearly $10 million. It also allows room for penalties to be based on the value of the benefit obtained from the effective offending conduct—as in a $20 billion benefit from an offence can be punished higher to the scale of the rorting.”
“The revised code will include improvements to important areas, such as responsible selling practices, and has been developed in partnership between the regulator, ACMA, and industry, through the Communications Alliance. This review is currently ongoing, with public consultation having closed on 28 February. That stakeholder engagement is also another facet of the bill, as this legislation has strong support from key stakeholders in the telecommunications sector, including the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network, Consumer Action Law Centre, the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, the Australian Communications and Media Authority and the Communications Alliance. Just to recap, consumer-centric protections for telecommunications customers are two-pronged—it strengthens ACMA, to give it teeth, increases deterrents on telcos.”
“In the same way consumers are deterred from doing the wrong thing every day via the law, telcos need adequate punishments, should they do the wrong thing, in order to stop consumers being taken for a ride. Schedule 4 complements the previous one, by allowing the minister to increase any infringement notice penalty ACMA can issue for breaches of telecommunications rules. Again, this is a modern bill for a modern industry, ensuring deterrents can be scaled appropriately and allowing for greater reactivity based on the circumstances of a breach. The Telecommunications Consumer Protection Code, from which penalties are enforced, is actively being reviewed right now, again as part of getting industry standard up to speed under this government.”
“This may seem obvious, but telcos are highly profitable organisations. This means that penalties for breaches of the industry codes and standards should match the wealth of the telco to provide an adequate deterrent. That's exactly what this bill does. It increases the maximum general civil penalty for such breaches from $250,000 to $9.9 million. The bill also modernises the penalty framework as a whole, effectively allowing for penalties to be scaled beyond the $9.9 million mark based on the wealth gained from the misconduct committed. For example, if a telco was found to have done the wrong thing and gained $15 million from its conduct, this legislation allows for penalties to go higher in order to account for that profit, as it should.”
“Currently, when a telco has breached their obligations to their customers, as set out under industry codes, a slow two-step process follows. First, ACMA must issue a direction to comply to offending telcos, no matter how urgent or significant the breach is, and, second, they can only take further action if the noncompliance continues. Before this bill, it's was if telcos could do the wrong thing once and not get penalised if it occurred again. This bill fixes that. Under the new legislation, if a telco does the wrong thing, ACMA can now take enforcement action the moment a telco does the wrong thing, rather than wait for further noncompliance. Telcos are powerful, and, if that power is being misused, it must stop the moment it is detected, to protect consumers. That's what this bill does.”
“This forces telcos, in particular retailers of telecommunications products, to become licensed before they sell their services. In turn, as a result of the licensing scheme, this increases the visibility of CSPs to both the public and the wider market. This means that telco operators whose services have are being sold can make sure their obligations are being met. It also means, because the market is more transparent with such a scheme, that ACMA has an extra leg up to better regulate it and enforce both obligations and penalties. This puts the conduct of telco retailers and, by extension, providers straight out into the open to be scrutinised and regulated appropriately to make sure consumers are getting a fair deal. Schedule 2 makes the industry codes directly enforceable.”
“Labor has also directed ACMA to include a domestic, family and sexual violence industry standard to ensure those who are seeking support over the phone or online are able to do so in a safe, secure and reliable manner. Measures as part of this include minimum requirements for telco policies and staff training, prohibiting alleged perpetrators being connected to victims and tighter privacy rules. This standard also removes requirements for victims to tell their stories multiple times, and, going back to cost-of-living measures, it makes telcos recognise domestic and family violence as a potential cause of payment difficulties and what disconnection could mean for someone vulnerable. Consumers are being looked out for under the Albanese Labor government. Schedule 1 establishes a carriage service provider registration scheme.”
“It means requiring telcos to offer specific assistance to customers facing hardship, such as payment plans, to help keep them connected, and this standard provides ACMA with strong enforcement powers to make sure this is happening. As well as ensuring Aussies are getting the fair go they deserve, this is another way the Labor government is helping take pressure off families. That's especially so up north. The reality is that thousands of families in Spence have had that tough conversation with a telco provider that they are dependent on to find another way to pay the bill. Labor is making policy with those conversations directly in mind.”
“This is what a healthy telecommunications sector needs in a modern Australia, and I'm proud to be able to contribute to the bill. The Labor government has already made significant progress towards enhancing our communications sector and, in particular, towards protecting consumers. This is exemplified in particular by ACMA's financial hardship industry standard, which was implemented in March 2024 in response to a direction from the Minister for Communications. The standard makes it mandatory for telcos to better support customers struggling to pay their phone and internet bills. This means telcos are now prioritising keeping customers connected, as they always should, when their customers are faced with financial hardship.”
“The Telecommunications Amendment (Enhancing Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2025 achieves this in two ways. Firstly, it gives the government more teeth, through the Australian Communications and Media Authority, to take immediate action against telcos that are breaching their current obligations. Secondly, it enhances the penalty regime in a way that both introduces the correct measures when a telco does the wrong thing as well as incentivises an entity to prevent their conduct from getting to this point at all. This bill is both reactive, in an effective, meaningful way to hold telcos to account as well as in a preventative one to ensure providers are aware of their obligations, how they should be met and the consequences for them when they are not.”
“Unfortunately, we have witnessed cases where carriers have been alleged by the ACCC to be doing the wrong thing and where the Aussies who depend on the telco's service have, instead, been a victim of them. For example, forking out for services they haven't asked for, perhaps not realising they are purchasing additional products. Worse still, in the particular instance I'm referencing, the Australians targeted were said to be financially vulnerable as well as those living with mental disabilities. While this matter is being followed up appropriately, and the telco in this case has acknowledged this issue, consumers are being exploited by the service they depend on. This cannot be allowed to happen. That is exactly why the Labor government is coming in with this bill, because we are working to ensure that it does not happen again.”
“For all of that technology, as the linchpin of the Australian public at home, work and everywhere, and as the fuel that drives the Australian economy—and on top of that our sovereign capability—and ensures our security, it is reliant on the telecommunications sector to operate it. An Australian at work, making calls, sending e-mails or whatever it is, is totally dependent on a carrier like Telstra or Optus to get that work done. Aussies are also totally dependent on telcos to get in contact with others, to receive and pay their bills and to access essential services. So it's clear that Australia's telcos have a huge role to play in people's lives and have a huge influence on the Australian way of life. But that influence means telcos must be held accountable by the Australians they serve.”
“When the internet is going slow or goes down completely, it can ruin businesses. It can cut Aussies off from essential services and prevent them from contacting their loved ones, as we found out in November 2023. That outage alone was estimated to cost customers and the wider nation approximately $2 billion or more in economic activity. On an individual level, that one outage meant that 228 calls to 000 couldn't be connected. It meant that 228 instances of an Aussie trying to get emergency assistance couldn't be done. That outage lasted just 12 hours and affected just one national network—in that case, the Optus network.”
“For some time now, the world has been fundamentally underpinned by technology. For better or worse, an Australian now treats the mobile phone as an extension of themselves, so much so that your pocket will sometimes vibrate despite nothing being in there. An Australian today will, according to one estimate, spend an average of nearly 17 years of their life looking at a screen. That accounts for work, play, education and socialising—absolutely everything that a human does. That dependence extends not just to the way we interact with our world but also to our behaviour and emotions, to a point where people feel as if they cannot live without that technology. As a collective, Australia, like the rest of the world, has that same dependence. Countries grind to a complete halt without their technological infrastructure and assets.”
“Yet the Liberal Party continue to push them down, voting against tax cuts and kicking and screaming at the thought of workers getting a leg-up on the cost of living. It's the only cut they won't do. The Liberals will cut 36,000 workers, the Liberals will cut Medicare, the Liberals will cut support for housing, and the Liberals will cut free TAFE. But the Liberals draw the line at cutting costs for everyday Aussies. The Leader of the House said it best earlier today: 'Robert Menzies would be turning in his grave.'”
“The No. 1 priority of the federal Labor government is fighting the cost of living. As the Treasurer got to his feet in this place last night, Australia took another step to undo the rot that set in under the Liberal government. This is a budget for the taxpayer—a budget for every worker in this country. Under Labor, every Australian worker is earning more and keeping more of what they earn. The tax cuts announced for every Australian in this budget, combined with Labor's tax cuts implemented last year, add up to an average of $2,394 extra in the hip pockets of South Australian taxpayers by 2028. This is for my electorate, which benefited the most from our better, fairer tax cuts last year, and for my community, which benefits the most from their government finally levelling the playing field. This uplifts the working class.”
“Labor delivered significant changes to the cost of higher education to make it more affordable. There is so much more I can say, but I will end on this. Everything I have mentioned, the Liberals have opposed at every chance they have been given. And, if given the chance, they will take it away.”
“On the ground in my community, across places like Elizabeth, Salisbury and Gawler, Labor has delivered an average tax cut of $1,217 to every single taxpayer in my community, with 91 per cent of those taxpayers getting a bigger one than what the Liberals had promised. Labor has delivered over half a million free enrolments into TAFE; that's half a million people, who can be disadvantaged or vulnerable, being uplifted. Labor has delivered policy to make child care cheaper—like the three-day guarantee, to help Aussie families get in front of their costs. Labor has delivered a freeze on medicine costs for pensioners and concession holders and has tripled the bulk-billing incentive so that taking care of yourself stays affordable. Labor has delivered policy to make it easier to buy or rent a house.”
“Since Labor has come to government, real wages have been growing again. Living standards are rising again. It is this Labor government that has recorded the lowest average unemployment rate of any government in 50 years, having overseen the creation of more than one million jobs since coming to office. Try as they might, there is no amount of Liberal mental gymnastics that can distract from these facts. That's the picture from the national level, and it's a positive one. It's one giving Australians a platform for prosperity, despite global uncertainty. But what I'm really passionate about is what has been delivered for households.”
“This is a change of pace, because, finally, the Liberals are suddenly concerned with the cost of living. It has taken them nearly three years to get to this point—not including the last nine before that, which they apparently refuse to believe ever happened. That explains why there is absolutely zero awareness of the devastating effect the Liberal government has had on my community, or any understanding of why costs are higher. I'll happily tell the House what the Labor government is doing to fight the cost of living, and maybe—just maybe—the Liberals will do something to contribute to that. That would be more than they did in those 12 years. When Labor came to government, inflation had a six in front of it and was rising. It now has a two in front of it and is continuing to fall.”
“Again, it seems they've come up with that on a hunch that doing so will win over the public, because there's no evidence at all that their policy—a $600 billion nuclear fantasy—would do anything to benefit everyday Aussies or fight the cost of living, but there is evidence that their policy will cost Aussies at least twice as much compared to the trajectory we're currently on. The worst part is that the Liberals know that. They know their nuclear policy is a complete shambles. They know the independent report they tried throwing in front of it is riddled with flaws. And we know they're aware of this because the Liberals haven't mentioned their nuclear policy all year. They don't want you to remember it! Having said all of this, I'll return to how I started.”
“I'd love to see the maths on that, but the Liberals are refusing to tell us. Instead of fighting the cost of living, those opposite have also chosen to fight dual citizens, with this opposition leader pushing a national referendum to deport them. You'll notice that his colleagues are desperately trying to hose this down. It's never easy when your leader says the quiet part out loud. That, again, seems to be distracting the Liberals from the cost of living, because, instead of focusing on that, the Liberals are working to dismantle the source of over 70 per cent of energy generation in South Australia by attacking renewables.”
“This matter before the House today is a real change of pace for those opposite. I say that because I think all Australians have just become so used to the culture wars waged by the Liberals. All they have gotten from this opposition leader and his Liberal colleagues so far, when they consider the cost of living, is nothing but dog whistling in a shameless attempt to win votes. Instead of fighting the cost of living, we've seen the Liberals fight public servants. They're claiming, with absolutely no evidence, that disrupting the jobs of 36,000 Australians will somehow make your bills lower and your food cheaper, and that by attacking the services that everyday Aussies rely on—playing with cuts to the NDIS, Medicare, DVA and Centrelink—those same everyday Aussies will be better off.”
“The red, white and blue on the guernsey reflects this, matching the Union Jack, and you can see that influence in our vibrant fan culture today, with chanting you'd normally reserve for a soccer match. But, most importantly to me, this is a club that brings people together. Kids growing up in the north fondly remember kicking the footy on the oval at half-time, enjoying hot chips and a Coke with mum and dad in the stands, making treasured memories with family and friends and watching the Doggies bring home nine flags in 11 years throughout the 2000s. This club is a symbol of our community and it deserves to be celebrated. Go the Doggies!”
“Deputy Speaker, I've got two words for you: you Dogs! That is the cry you will hear every weekend around Elizabeth from now until September as the Central District Football Club gets the 2025 SANFL season underway. I found time on the weekend to see our women's team get their second win in a row over Sturt, and I'm looking forward to the boys' first round on Saturday up against Woodville-West Torrens. This is a club cemented into the very heart of my community, bringing families and friends together throughout the year to get behind the mighty Dogs. It's a club with decades of rich history, reflecting the heavy influence of British migrants that settled in Elizabeth throughout the fifties and sixties.”
“If that man had his way, 40,000 fewer Australians would own their own home. If that man had his way, there would be 30,000 fewer social and affordable homes in this country. If that man had his way, there would be 80,000 less build-to-rent apartments in Australia. If that man had his way, he would take $19 billion from housing. What is that man's name? Well, it rhymes with 'cuttin''.”
“If you came down to my electorate in the northern suburbs of Adelaide, you'd find families who are worried about the cost of their homes. Those families are relying on their federal government to help them keep a roof over their head. That is exactly what this Labor government is doing. Labor has committed six times more funding for housing in three years than the previous government did in a decade. Labor is building five times more social, affordable housing than the Liberals bothered to. We are making housing accessible again. Labor has put over 1,000 families in the north into homes via the Home Guarantee Scheme. It's supported over 140,000 new homeowners nationwide through that program alone, more than twice the number supported when the Liberals were in charge. However, there is a man in this place who would take all of this away.”
“I'm extremely proud that this bill before the House today completes a raft of fantastic bills that we have brought forward to deal with silica related diseases, and I commend this bill to the House.”
“He knows all too well, like I do, that, working on the job, sometimes it's hard to say no and stop the job and stand up for the safety principles that matter to keep you safe on the job. That's why you need governments to legislate to protect workers to ensure that they have rights in the workplace so that, regardless of their personal understanding, they remain safe on the job. Stopping the import of silica based products into this country and ensuring that we have the right frameworks to stop unsafe practices in this country with these products is a very big step in making sure that we protect the young men and women that are doing their trade apprenticeships and working in these manufacturing areas.”
“When you speak to representatives from the AMWU and other unions that represent workers from the types of exposure areas that we see with manufactured stone and other silica related products—these are young men and women who have gone to work expecting to come home the same way they went there: healthy, strong and sound of mind and body. Unfortunately, that's not the case for some of these workers. They are often 19, 20 or 21 years old. They are indiscriminately exposed, and unaware of the potential risk and the problems that they are going to face, moving forward in their lives. Tragically, some of those people's lives have been cut short. It's an absolute travesty. It's why good governments need to legislate to protect young workers who don't ask the questions and don't say no. I see the member for Hunter in the chamber right now.”
“We want our Border Force operators in this country to be doing the things that they need to do to keep our borders safe. Giving them the ability to dispose of this in a timely manner will free up their resources so that they can better protect our borders—something that we are extremely proud of. Silicosis is incredibly damaging to the lives and livelihoods of Australians and their families, and it's up to governments like ours to protect Australians from that threat. That's what our Labor government has done and will continue to do. I just wanted to finish on the fact that I've had the misfortune of watching close friends and people in my family circle pass away from asbestos related diseases, and it is one of the cruellest things you can see.”
“This is progress that we want to see. But the job isn't done; more steps need to be taken to protect our communities. That's why this bill is so important. It's giving powers to the Australian Border Force to destroy seized engineered stone immediately. Similar provisions exist for dangerous and perishable goods, tobacco products, vapes and illicit drugs seized at the border. We all know that engineered stone, like those products, can cause significant harm, and it's only right that it's treated similarly. Without this amendment, that seized stone needs to be stored, and a significant volume too, which is significantly difficult and will take capacity away from Border Force to do the rest of its job and duties. This process needs to be efficient.”
“As the numerous diagnoses of silicosis among workers in the stone benchtop fabrication and installation industry have revealed, there is a pressing need to ensure the materials and practices that Aussies are exposed to are managed. That's why, on our watch—on Labor's watch—the manufacture, supply, processing and installation of engineered-stone benchtop panels and slabs were banned on 1 July 2024. This is something I'm extremely proud to have been part of. Following on from that, all crystalline silica substances have been subject to stronger regulations since 1 September last year. Both of these changes apply to all materials containing at least one per cent of crystalline silica, including engineered stone. The importation of engineered stone was prohibited on 1 January this year, further tightening these regulations.”
“To talk about silica and silica based illnesses, it's estimated that 600,000 people, according to the 2021 final report of the National Dust Disease Taskforce, are potentially being exposed to silica dust each year. That includes miners, construction workers, engineers, plumbers, handypersons, heavy-vehicle drivers, farmers, machine operators, animal and horticultural workers, scientists, metalworkers and electrical workers. The risk is so widespread. In 2012, a survey of the Australian working population found that 6.6 per cent of the Australian workforce—329,000 people—were exposed to silica dust when on the job, with just over half that number exposed to particularly high levels. That is hundreds of thousands of people—everyday people exposed to dust that can cause permanent damage or death.”
“Of the 3,307 deaths due to lung cancer in 2019, 802 were due to mesothelioma—99 per cent of which were due to past asbestos exposure—148 were due to asbestosis, 144 were due to ovarian cancer and 48 from cancer of the larynx. Each and every one of these diseases is absolutely debilitating, with profound effects on the family and friends of the affected individual. That 4,000 is part of an estimated 219,000 worldwide; that's as of 2016. The risk that harmful dust carries is exceptionally long lasting and, while asbestos has long been phased out—and subsequently banned in its totality in Australia in 2003—dust based illnesses still exist in workplaces in the world today.”
“We're on the precipice of a second wave of dust related diseases in this country, and without the measures that we're talking about today—the measures that we have introduced since coming to government in 2022—more people will be remembered at events like the one at Pitman Park every November. The association does some fantastic work, with a lot of outreach to families and people that are dealing with mesothelioma and other asbestos related diseases. I'm not sure if people in the House realise this, but an estimated 4,000 people die every single year in Australia from asbestos related diseases. In 2019, an estimated 3,307 deaths were due to lung cancer, and asbestos contributes to 30 per cent of all lung cancer deaths in Australia.”
“Asbestos is one of those dusts which people in my community and across the country have grappled with for decades, and it continues to cause significant harm in this country. I want to give a shout-out to the Asbestos Victims Association of South Australia. They are a fantastic volunteer led organisation in my community who have raised awareness around asbestos but also have expanded that scope to dust related diseases. They come together yearly in Salisbury, at Pitman Park, for a remembrance day for those people who have lost their lives to asbestos. The reason I raise this is that it's very relevant to where we stand right now.”
“We know that, when workers aren't protected, sometimes they don't come home, and the negative outcomes on the job include the risk of diseases, which is what we are talking about here today. Preventing this is a big reason why I'm part of the Labor Party, and it's why I'm proud to be part of our government, which is taking meaningful action to prevent the risk of silica related diseases occurring in workplaces and beyond in this country. Why is engineered stone so bad? Well, it contains crystalline silica, and the risk it carries—related to silicosis and silica related diseases—is something that workers must be protected from. The impact of diseases that come from harmful dust produced on the job, which then can devastate a person's respiratory system, is significant.”
“I really did look forward to the opportunity to be part of debate that puts forward laws that better protect workers in this country. It is an absolute honour to be part of a government that is getting on with the job of protecting workers, because that's what good Labor governments do: we take the needs of workers across this country and put them at the forefront of the policy work that we do in this place to ensure that they are safer and that the community is safer. It's something that I'm extremely proud to be part of in conjunction with the Albanese Labor government. In particular, this bill is part of our government's process that will lift and advance measures that protect workers—a continuation of the legacy that we will see in this bill.”
“Whilst they chair the parliamentary friendship group, there are a lot of members of this place and senators in the other place who are part of that group—I am one of them—and the work that gets done in that friendship group is very much required to raise awareness in our communities and to give passage to the type of work that we're speaking about today. The Customs Amendment (Expedited Seizure and Disposal of Engineered Stone) Bill 2024 is the last of a suite of measures that deal with engineered stone and, in particular, silicosis. When I was elected to parliament in 2022, having come from a working-class background and represented workers for a short period of time before I came to this place, worker safety was something that was at the forefront of my mind.”
“I want to start by acknowledging the previous speaker in the other chamber—before this came to the Federation Chamber—the member for Bendigo and her fine contribution. The reason why I want to start there is that it'd be no surprise to members in this place and in the other that the member for Bendigo and the member for Monash are the co-chairs for the Parliamentary Friends of Asbestos Related Disease. I think it's a really important starting place to recognise the work that they have done in raising awareness of dust related diseases in this place to ensure that legislation like the bill that we're talking about today has been brought forward and that the safety of people in our communities is put at the forefront.”
“No child in Australia should ever have to feel that way, and I fight to correct that record. The three-day guarantee helps do exactly that because, by guaranteeing 72 hours of subsidised early childhood and care and giving families unconditional and affordable access to these essential services, no matter who they are or what they earn, we take another step towards ensuring families can live without those pressures, towards ending cycles of poverty in the north and towards ensuring our children can live the way they should. I commend this bill to the House.”
“In our community in the north, which, again, is one of the most disadvantaged metropolitan areas in the country, there are very young children who worry about the cost to their parents when they go to the shops. There are children who turn down the chocolate bar, the bag of lollies or whatever it may be they want when their parents offer it because those children have developed in a household in Elizabeth Park, Davoren Park, Salisbury North or many other areas north of Adelaide where the financial pressures felt by their parents have filtered down into the character and behaviour of their children, where kids of a single-digit age have the household budget at the forefront of their minds, feeling their parents' stress, because they have developed under the sheer stress their family is under to provide.”
“Also, families caring for First Nations children will be guaranteed 100 hours each fortnight to help close the gap. I think this is very timely given Friday this week marks 17 years to the day since the formal apology to Australia's Indigenous peoples by Kevin Rudd. The previous system made it harder for low-income families to access the childcare subsidy. We are making it easier. We are making it easier because it's the right thing to do to ensure that our youngest people have the best opportunity at a better future, an opportunity that has been afforded to every person in this House, an opportunity that was afforded to every person that has been able to get ahead and can consider themselves thankful for the place where they find themselves. In closing, I refer back to my electorate of the northern suburbs of Adelaide.”
“As I said earlier, we are scrapping the activity test and we are guaranteeing every Australian family 72 hours a fortnight, three days a fortnight, regardless. It's fair and equitable. That will benefit over 100,000 families directly affected by the text before the House today in the most crucial stage of their development. Beyond that, it is estimated that more than 66,000 of those families will be better off in the first full financial year of implementation. Moreover, this policy leaves no families worse off. That's why we are retaining the measure to provide 100 hours per fortnight to families who record more than 48 hours of activity. Families that are relying on child care for their work need to be assured that these subsidies will remain.”
“That's what good Labor governments do. In 2019, the Department of Education told us that low-income families accessing care went from 32,000 in 2018 to around 6½ thousand in 2019. That implies that, without that help, nearly 30,000 children would've been left worse off. The approach that, if something's free, you don't value it has left childcare unaffordable for families in Spence, where people are already disadvantaged. It goes to a lot of what I've said. As of 2021 there were over 13,000 single parents in Spence, with 6,000 of those parents listed as either not in the labour force or unemployed. Those parents not only had their children's education cut short by the activity test; they also didn't end up in the workforce as the Liberals promised, further entrenching the challenges we face in the north.”
“The Liberals' approach via the activity test has the minimum childcare hours for a family at up to 24 hours per fortnight or two days per fortnight for families under $83,000 per annum or zero hours for families over that threshold. The member for Forrest came in here and talked about fairness and how it's unfair for people in the regions and remote Australia, but here we have legislation currently in place that says, if you earn under $83,000 a year, you are able to access 24 hours a fortnight of subsidised care, but, if you're over $83,000, you get nothing. I just don't understand that. If you look at what we are proposing in this bill, it is 72 hours guaranteed, three days, for every family in Australia. That's improving the lives of over 100,000 young Australians and putting the fair back into equality.”
“It removes the activity test from the childcare subsidy. It is something that came about in 2018, introduced by the opposition, which, in fairness, did limit the scope of two existing childcare affordability schemes. They were the childcare benefit and childcare rebate schemes. It merged them together and put in place this activity test. For those who don't know what the activity test is, it refers to the hours a caregiver will need to work, study or look for work to determine the amount of hours childcare is subsidised under the CCS, the childcare scheme. We've taken that away because we see that as a punitive measure, as the former premier of South Australia has said. We want to put the fair back into equality for early childhood education.”