Labor’s campaign on child care exposed as scaremongering

"The Labor Party’s campaign on child care has been exposed as nothing more than scaremongering," Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Mal Brough, declared today.

"In the first two weeks of Parliamentary sitting and the year’s first Senate Estimates, there has not been a single question on the issues of child care cost or availability, despite a barrage of media releases condemning the Government on these issue.

"Senate Estimates Committees gives the Opposition the chance to put senior bureaucrats under the pump; to question them in detail about government spending.

"Perhaps Ms Macklin didn’t want her Senate colleagues asking questions she knew the answers to, in case her campaign of deliberately peddling false information was be exposed.

"Nor has there been any questions from Ms Macklin during the first two weeks of sittings, when she had the opportunity to question me directly in the House of Representatives.

"Ms Macklin must know the truth. Under the Coalition, the number of child care places and spending on child care has doubled.

"This exposes Labor’s campaign against child care for exactly what it is; nothing more than an attempt to undermine the community’s confidence in child care.

"The effect of Labor’s reckless campaign is to discourage parents from seeking child care places and, in turn, undermine efforts to encourage parents into the workforce through the provision of high quality child care."