Michael Danby (Melbourne Ports, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I congratulate Jenny Macklin for her recent appearance in my electorate on a very moving morning with the Salvation Army. It was Overdose Awareness Day and it was a very important healing experience for families, including local families from my electorate, who have experienced the pain of suicide or the death of very close friends or family as a result of drug overdoses.

I also commend both Minister Macklin and the Parliamentary Secretary for Early Childhood Education and Child Care, Maxine McKew, on their assistance to the parents of Melbourne Ports in the area of child care. The new government has a very extensive childcare program and a very extensive program of assistance via government rebates for child care. The residents and constituents of mine in Melbourne Ports are finally going to benefit from this government’s support with two additional childcare centres, one in Port Melbourne and the other in St Kilda. It is good to see state, local and federal government cooperating to make sure that the parents and children of Melbourne Ports have some proper child care in our electorate. We appreciate the federal government’s assistance, which was absolutely key to seeing these two centres get up. The effect of the new government on the voters of Melbourne Ports is commendable.