Ms CRAWFORD —Can the Minister for Aged, Family and Health Services explain the benefits that will flow to families from changes to child-care as announced in the Budget?

Mr STAPLES —I thank the honourable member for Forde for her question. The question she has put before the House basically draws to our attention the most significant child-care expansion in the history of this country. This year the Commonwealth is spending an extra $75m and over the next three years an additional $400m. In three years time we will be spending twice as much on child-care as we are spending now. This brings quite clearly to the public focus the fact that this Government has implemented its commitment to provide this massive shift in the provision of social infrastructure through child-care. As a result of this unprecedented growth in child-care, aged care, medical and pharmaceuticals, family allowance supplement and employment support, and despite the very tight fiscal conditions that we operate under, this Government has provided that infrastructure for the ordinary family.

In child-care we see it exemplified in three particular ways: through accessibility, affordability and, very importantly, equality. By 1995-96 the changes that have been put into place now will mean that there will be a quarter of a million child-care places in Australia. That is more than double what we have now and about three times what we had when this Government came to office.

When it comes to the question of affordability, we want to make sure that people, no matter what their income as long as they need that child-care, should be able to afford it. Unlike the United States and Britain, where child-care is beyond the reach of normal ordinary working families, in this country child-care will be accessible and affordable. Under the new fee relief arrangements up to 125,000 families will benefit from the more generous fee relief system introduced in this Budget. Their parents will get some help with their fees on incomes up to $56,200 if they have one child in care. From 1 October, for parents who are earning $280 a week now, the fee relief ceiling will be lifted to $370 a week. They will get up to $85 a week for 50 hours of care. From 1 January 1991 parents with children in approved commercial centres will get help with their fees for the first time. I think that is a very important issue of equity.

In contrast, the Opposition's tax rebate policy would do little but inflate prices in a market where the demand is so strong. It would do very little about supply. In fact, the costs would blow out. That has been shown to be the fact in the United States, for example, where in 1980 the Government spent $956m on its tax rebate for child-care. That blew out to $3.4 billion in 1986, a massive increase in expenditure without really influencing the supply.

I am glad that the honourable member for Forde has asked this question because she has done a tremendous job over the last couple of months in addressing the very important issue of the extension of fee relief to people with children in commercial care. Very importantly, through a committee representing commercial as well as community interests and unions that she has brought together, she is addressing the issue of quality. The recommendations that the honourable member for Forde is bringing together with the work of that committee show a tremendous spirit of consensus in this area that will certainly in a very short period to come-in a matter of months-start to show benefit in the quality of child-care as well as affordability and accessibility for many thousands of Australian families.