Child Care

I echo the sentiments across the chamber. However, I rise today to condemn this government and this 'PM for women', and that they act to limit women's participation in the workforce by their cruel cuts to childcare benefits. I have a new moniker for the PM of many names—today I will name him 'the prime minister who boldly goes where no man has gone before', because never before has any government ever thought about attacking the means-tested and targeted childcare benefits. In my electorate of Lalor, that is nine and a half thousand families who receive some form of childcare support; that is nine and a half thousand women who may cut back their work hours. Never before has there been a PM who claims to be a friend to women had such contrary views on women and child support. On one hand, he cuts payments to families who earn as little as $42,000 a year—that will reduce family incomes. On the other hand he wants to coddle his so-called women of calibre with a rolled-gold PPL scheme in the name of workforce participation. Well, Australian women from all walks of life know a sham when they see one. The petition tabled today is a rejection of this PM's Starship Enterprise and the strange new world of the unfair budget.