Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

No, it is going to be interesting. There is a range of people to whom we could be listening tonight as alternative Labor Party leaders. We have had one gentleman down at the mine site in Tasmania, and he is obviously positioning himself for a tilt at the leadership. We look forward to his anecdotes of how he would run the country. We have another gentleman from the Labor Party who has been on the Kokoda Trail. He will give us a few anecdotes of how he is going to run the country. No doubt, Julia Gillard will give us a few anecdotes of how she would run the country. We have a multiplicity of possible policies that the Labor Party could come out with tonight, and I hope they all get a chance. We do not know who is going to be the leader of the Labor Party, but it could be one of them.

Let us look at what the Liberal-National government have delivered—because we deliver; that is the difference. They promise, they talk; we deliver. In the 2006-07 budget the government have committed an extra $120.5 million over four years to the child-care package. This is in addition to the $9.5 billion the Howard government will spend over four years to 2008. The Howard-Vaile government have doubled spending on child care compared with Labor. That is a very important point for the Australian people to realise—behind the rhetoric. This is the point: Labor are going to attack the budget on child care yet the Howard-Vaile government have doubled spending on child care compared with Labor. It is important to get that on the record.

The number of approved child-care places has doubled from around 300,000 in 1996—there are a few people in the Labor Party who were probably not born then; that was just after they got booted out—to 600,000 in 2005. On average, families now receive over $2,000 per year in child-care benefit. I know that is astounding, I know it leaves you without breath, but that is the fact of delivery of a Howard-Vaile government. It is going to be interesting to see what your future Labor leader Bill Shorten has to say about that. We are all waiting for Bill to arrive in the lower house to lead you out of the valley of gloom to take you to that higher mantle. We are looking forward to the arrival of Bill Shorten, the knight in shining armour who is going to save the Labor Party. But there are a few things he should be aware of. On average, families now, under a Howard-Vaile government, are receiving $7,700 in family tax benefits. They say, ‘Oh, that’s middle-class welfare.’ Well, so be it; we on this side of the house are happy to look after the middle class. They are the people we want to look after—the mums and dads. They are the people we go into bat for.

The Howard-Vaile government have removed the caps on the number of approved child-care places for out of school hours care and family day care. Long day care is already uncapped. This means that 99 per cent of places in the sector will be uncapped from 1 July 2006. Services will be able to be set up or expanded to meet demand where and when it occurs provided they meet the approval process, including quality and licensing requirements. Maybe the new leader, Bill Shorten, will want to change that. Maybe he will be throwing money helter-skelter so we can get ourselves into a $100 billion deficit again. It is the prudent economic management of the Howard-Vaile government that has given us this opportunity to look after the middle class—the people we endeavour to go into bat for.