Channel 7 with Hermione Kitson
E&OE
HERMIONE KITSON:
We’re joined in our Sydney newsroom now by Social Services Minister, Scott Morrison. Minister, we’ll discuss today’s childcare announcement in just a moment, but those scenes in Indonesia are just so upsetting. Is there anything the government can do to stop the executions going ahead tonight?
MINISTER MORRISON:
We’ll continue to make all representations, Hermione, that the Foreign Minister has outlined and the government has been exhausting every possible avenue and I think the issue about the legal proceedings being able to be exhausted before this horrible, horrible business is undertaken, I think is very important. So our thoughts and prayers are with the families and certainly for the two young men, as they face this. I think if there are two cases of clemency anywhere, with the transformation we’ve seen in these two young men over the last ten years, then these are certainly it and I think it’s in Indonesia’s interests fundamentally to exercise the clemency.
KITSON:
Has the government been tough enough? Commentators say we’ve been too sensitive towards Indonesia, and they haven’t shown us the same respect?
MINISTER MORRISON:
Well I think we’ve done exactly what a government should do to exhaust every single channel and diplomatic effort that we possibly can to press our case, we’ve taken the best of all possible advice from the experts who are there on the scene. I can understand the frustrations of so many Australians with what is occurring here but at the end of the day this is a foreign country where foreign laws apply and we are exhausting every channel of opportunity we have here and our thoughts are with the families and with Andrew and Myuran.
KITSON:
Moving on to your childcare announcement today, the $250 million pilot project, you subsidise nannies for shift workers, when will it start and who will be eligible?
MINISTER MORRISON:
Well this is the first of our major announcements on childcare, it will start in January next year, it’s focused on families who currently can’t access mainstream childcare services so that’s particularly key workers and shift workers, those in the police force or ambulance service, our fire brigade, our customs service, those who are working irregular hours as well as those in regional areas who don’t have the same broad array of services we do in metropolitan areas and certainly families who have children with special needs, particularly those with autism.
KITSON:
How much will parents get and how will the subsidy be paid; will it be paid to the family or directly to the nanny?
MINISTER MORRISON:
10,000 children will be supported under this programme with 4,000 nannies. The payments will be made directly to the service providers who are providing the nannies. There will be no payments direct to families or nannies themselves, there will be clear integrity measures to ensure that the quality standards are there in terms of safety, of health certificates and first aid as well as working with children and if parents want to have higher qualifications than for early childhood learning, then they will pick nannies who have those qualifications but that’s a matter for families to determine.
KITSON:
And what checks and balances will there be to reassure parents that nannies you are subsiding can be trusted?
MINISTER MORRISON:
Well they’ll be provided by registered and accredited service providers, they won’t just be walking in off the street and so they’ll be dealing with a trusted organisation and that’s who the government will be dealing with and at the end of the day we’re talking about families exercising good choices about the people they allow into their homes as well. We’re talking about police men and women here, very experienced in these matters and this is why we’re also having a trial to work out all these issues before any sort of broader mainstream application is entered into. But at the end of the day it’s about supporting families to stay in work and be in work, particularly for those key workers in our community who we depend on so much.
KITSON:
OK, Scott Morrison, thank you so much for joining us live this afternoon.
MINISTER MORRISON:
Thank you, Hermione.