Ms MACKLIN —My question is addressed to the Minister for Family Services. I refer the minister to her answer in this House on 12 December, when she claimed:

. . . in response to a letter from someone in Townsville recently who had been told that her child-care fees will be raised by $56.44 per week, we took the opportunity to ring that parent. We ran through the figures with her. We found that her child-care fees would be raised by only 56c per week.

The minister also said:

I am not sure whether this is a deliberate attempt to mislead the Australian public or . . . wait for it, whether the member has put the decimal point in the wrong place.

Is it the case, Minister, that the woman in Townsville will in fact have to pay, according to her child-care centre's calculations, an additional $38.03 per week for her children's care? Will the minister now correct the record?

Mr Crean —They protected you last time.

Mr SPEAKER —I warn the member for Hotham.

Mrs MOYLAN —I am pleased to have the opportunity to answer the shadow minister's question today. I have to say that at no time did I say that the member for Jagajaga wrote a letter.

Ms Macklin —Thank you.

Mr Tim Fischer —Just listen.

Mrs MOYLAN —What I did say was that, in response to a letter from someone from Townsville recently who had been told that their child-care fees would be raised by $56.44c per week, we took the opportunity to ring that parent. Clearly I was referring to a letter received by my office in a matter that concerned a parent. I did not at any stage say that those particular figures were provided to the writer by the member for Jagajaga.

There was no intention to link the shadow minister with that letter, but I do accept that had my words been a little clearer perhaps this issue would not have arisen. That my words were not so clear is in no small part due to the level of interjections by the other side during that answer. One only has to refer to the Hansard to make that very clear—that there was a very high level of interjection during the answering of that question.

However, the point I was making, from which I do not resile, is that Labor, under the guidance of the member for Jagajaga, has waged a deliberate and an irresponsible scare campaign aimed at frightening parents, particularly parents from low and medium income areas, into believing that they will be worse off because of this government's child-care measures.

Opposition members interjecting—

Mr SPEAKER —There is too much noise in the chamber.

Mrs MOYLAN —The child-care measures announced in the budget are evidence of this government's commitment to delivering a more equitable and sustainable child-care system, and more particularly to ensuring that the government's support is directed to families most in need. Labor's only response has been an ill-informed scare campaign against the very Australian families whose interests they, the Labor Party, pretend to serve.