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Tuesday, 23 August 2011
Page: 5165

Senator FARRELL (South Australia—Parliamentary Secretary for Sustainability and Urban Water) (13:05): I thank Senator Bernardi for the question and his interest in this matter. I know he shares Minister Ellis's concern about and interest in these matters.

Senator Bernardi interjecting—

Senator FARRELL: At the moment you might have but one never knows about the future. I can say this in response to your question. The impact of the national quality reforms on cost to families will be modest and will depend on a range of factors, including family income and the level of usage of early childhood education and care services. Independent analysis by Access Economics indicates that the average out-of-pocket cost increase for a family on an annual income of $80,000, with one child attending full-time long day care, would be $8.67 per week by the financial year 2014-15. As the changes will be introduced over a number of years, services will have time to adjust and the government expects there will be no sudden increased cost to families. Further, many services already operate at the required ratios and qualifications and so there will be little change.