TRANSCRIPT – ABC AFTERNOON BRIEFING WITH TOM LOWREY

Angie Bell MP
Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education
Shadow Minister for Youth
Federal Member for Moncrieff

TRANSCRIPT

ABC Afternoon Briefing with Tom Lowrey

14 February 2025

Subjects: Labor’s child care con, Australians hurting under Labor’s cost of living crisis, 2025 Federal Election 

E&OE…………………………………………………………………………………………………

TOM LOWREY:

The Parliament’s final act before rising yesterday for what could be the last sitting week of the term, was to pass Labor’s change to the child care subsidy through the Senate. It means parents will be guaranteed a minimum three days of subsidised child care regardless of how much they work or study, taking a step towards universal child care availability.

To get the Coalition’s view on the Bill, let’s bring in Shadow Early Childhood Education Minister, Angie Bell.

Angie Bell, thanks for joining the Afternoon Briefing.

ANGIE BELL:

Thanks for having me Tom.

TOM LOWREY:

The Productivity Commission, the ACCC and the Government have all argued the case that the activity test does more harm than good. Are they wrong?

ANGIE BELL:

Well, what we’d like to see is $15 billion of taxpayer child care subsidy go to those families who need it most Tom, and they are those families, those vulnerable children, those families who are working, studying or training or even volunteering. That is where child care is needed in terms of access to those places.

Remember that places are limited. This is about supply and demand, and so if you push it, all of these extra places, of this so called three day guarantee into the system, then you’re going to find that those working families are going to be competing with families who don’t need to work. And so therefore, what we see is the priority of access being removed from the child care sector, which makes it very difficult for those families who need to work to pay their bills Tom.

TOM LOWREY:

Does the means test deal with some of that problem, though, that the people who could arguably afford to not look for work, they’re likely to be means tested out of subsidies anyway.

ANGIE BELL:

Well, this is means testing. The three day so called guarantee is not about abolishing the means test, it is not free, either. This is simply about removing the activity test so that more people can access limited places. And so this is going to end up with those families who are working competing with those families who don’t need to work to access those child care places that are finite, particularly in the regions Tom.

So let’s look at what the Prime Minister has done. He’s promised cheaper child care. He’s now promising three days access. But he cannot promise that, because those people in the regions who don’t have a childcare place around them, a service around them, they cannot access a place that does not exist. And so this is another Labor broken promise. This is a failure from the Albanese Government, who has promised cheaper childcare, yet out of pocket, costs are up by 12.7 per cent and also, the cost of child care has soared under their government by 22.3% per cent.

This is another Labor failure in terms of families and in terms of the sector and educators. Let’s also talk about the worker retention payment while we’re at it here, Tom. I mean that you know the Prime Minister and the Education Minister, Jason Clare stood up and promised 200,000 educators that they would have an extra 10 per cent in their pay packets, $100 by Christmas. But what we’ve seen is 85 per cent of them miss out.

So this is another failure in a litany of failures when it comes to child care and access to early learning and care,.

TOM LOWREY:

Just sticking to these activity test changes for now. Would you look to repeal those changes in government should you win the election in a few weeks or months’ time?

ANGIE BELL:

We want to see those families who need to access child care, to work or to study or indeed to volunteer to be able to access those finite places, because there are only a certain number of places. And this is about crowding out families who need to work, study or train to pay their bills.

TOM LOWREY:

In that case, what are your priorities for the sector? Should you go into government? How do you get more child care centres open to deal with you know, the shortages, the limited places we do see?

ANGIE BELL:

Well certainly, we’re coming to the pointy end of our policy formulation. We’re heading into the federal election, so the Coalition will have more to say about that, but we want to see flexibility and choice for families. We want to see more places in the regions, and that is the top of my priority list when it comes to access to early learning and care. Let’s not forget about quality and affordability, which is the area that this government has failed in.

TOM LOWREY:

The Government says it’s striving towards universal child care. It hasn’t been exactly clear as to what that means. It might be, say, flat daily rate for child care. Do you think that aspiration is achievable?

ANGIE BELL:

Well, I think that there is very little support for a flat fee model. The sector does not support it. The Productivity Commission does not support it. It is something that the Albanese Government has because the Prime Minister wants some kind of legacy heading into this election, because clearly he’s out of his depth.

Australians are suffering around the nation. He is out of touch. He has no idea how Australians are paying their bills or not being able to pay their bills. The standard of living has collapsed. Their mortgages are sky high. Electricity costs are killing businesses. We’ve seen 27,000 businesses go broke under this Prime Minister, which is the highest amount ever. And so the country needs some relief when it comes to cost of living. They need a strong leader. Peter Dutton provides that strong leadership. Anthony Albanese is simply up to his old divisive games again.

TOM LOWREY:

On that flat fee idea, though the sector might not support, and I take your point on the Productivity Commission too. But do you think Australians would get behind the idea of a low, flat fee for child care?

ANGIE BELL:

Well, again, this is Labor after the spin, and not the substance Tom. They want to tell Australians what they are delivering, but in fact, it is more and more Labor lies, as we head towards the election and look at the numbers when it comes to out of pocket costs that are up. They have skyrocketed. Prices have soared, and so you know, parents are being told that they’re paying less, but actually out of pocket costs since the changes came into place, that was supposed to deliver cheaper childcare have gone up by 12.7 per cent. So families know that they’re struggling to pay their bills Tom, and this is just another cost on the pile. And thanks to this government who has mismanaged the economy, interest rates have gone up 12 times, a dirty dozen, let’s say, and that means that families are paying an extra $50,000 on their mortgages. That is a huge amount of money, and it doesn’t sit behind the couch.

TOM LOWREY:

Angie Bell, you’re back on the Gold Coast after two weeks in Canberra. What did you make of the sitting fortnight? And do you think we’re coming back for a Budget in March?

ANGIE BELL:

I thought it was very interesting that the Teals lined up to have champagne and do dirty deals behind closed doors at the lodge with the Prime Minister should he go into minority, Green, Teal, Labor Government. God help Australians if that will be the case, because Australians simply cannot afford another three years of Labor. It is Peter Dutton and the Coalition that can deliver for Australians and get our country back on track.

TOM LOWREY:

I will make the point that Teals have said the deals were being done back in Parliament House while they were having drinks at the Lodge. But do you think the Coalition’s ready for an election? I’d point out you’ve lost some front bench experience in Simon Birmingham, for example, Paul Fletcher, Karen Andrews, they’re all retiring at this election. Is the Coalition ready to govern should you win that election, whenever it does come?

ANGIE BELL:

Well, the Coalition has been working very, very hard on delivering the option for Australians for an alternative government. We have some very strong policy around housing, around energy, around cost of living. We have announced some of those which Australians would be aware of. And as we head into the election, we’ll be releasing more and more policy. But we do have the document, the key priorities document which you can find on the Liberal website for your viewers, have a look at the 12 priorities, but certainly it’s about cost of living, it’s about energy, it’s about housing, it’s about immigration, it is about government waste. I mean, this government has spent an extra $6 billion just on new public servants, and so there is lots and lots of wasteful spending from this government.

When it comes to the Budget, the question, Well, who knows? I’m not sure that the Prime Minister actually knows when he wants to go to the election. I think he’s looking at each week as it comes, did he have a good week, did he have a bad week? And then deciding when he’ll take the country to the polls. But that is, of course, a decision for him. The Coalition is ready and willing. We do have a lot of experience. We have some terrific ministers, or shadow ministers, I should say, who are ready to govern decisively to make sure that Australians feel safe in their community, to make sure that they can afford their bills, to make sure they have housing in this country. Under this Prime Minister, the country cannot afford another three years – it simply cannot.

TOM LOWREY:

Angie Bell thanks so much for joining Afternoon Briefing

ANGIE BELL:

Thanks Tom.

ENDS.